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Hi...

I just stumbled accross this forum and it seems like I have a LOT of reading to do!!! As per the rules I have stted that I'm an amateur hobbyist. My skill level is (in my opinion anyway) intermediate - my definition of that is that I know of many sleights and can perform the basic ones quite well (colour change / top change / jog shuffles and various other card control techniques / shapeshifter / DL, etc) and I can do some of the more complex ones at reduced (non-performance) speeds.

I want to purchase a gaff deck (maybe a Bicycle Ghost or Black Tiger from Ellusionist or even just a regular one from the local shop) but my question is - how good do you have to be to make use of the gaff cards? There are no instructions included as I understand, so would someone of my ability be able to make good use of the deck? A listing of a few useful sleights to use with a gaff deck would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You do need some skill, If you know the sleights you mention then you should be fine. If not then maybe it is best to start with a book or a DVD such as Born to perform or The Royal Road to Car Magic.

stephenmagic wrote:..... or The Royal Road to Car Magic.

Does that teach you to change my Renault into a Porsche?

azraelws6 wrote:I want to purchase a gaff deck (maybe a Bicycle Ghost or Black Tiger from Ellusionist or even just a regular one from the local shop) but my question is - how good do you have to be to make use of the gaff cards?

I think that, to a very great extent, it depends on what you want to do with a gaffed deck and how far you're prepared to push it. You could stick to the usual uses but that limits their usefulness.

My area of interest in gaffed cards is the stripper deck. With practice, you can pull off smooth stripper-based sleights that don't make sense with a normal deck. Because the stripper deck is also a normal deck, however, these can extend the range of its 'normal' mode in new ways.

I purchased the both Gaff Decks you mentioned along with the normal versions of the decks, and at the time my slights wern't all that good (I blame arthritis), but the cards made me practice like there was no tommorow! Now my slights are good and I have had to learn loads more of them as to put in some variety of tricks. With there being no instructions or sugested tricks and routines with the decks you are forced to be creative and make them up yourself!

At the moment I have only scratched the surface of the possible effects you are able to do with these cards.

I have always been very good at telling a story and entertaining people, this is a skill you must have to use these decks (IMO) the presentation of a good story is what makes these decks so special.

P.S, if you buy any of these gaff decks, you must buy the relevant normal deck too! otherwise you will have a pretty pack of useless cards!

There are some gaff decks that are just irresistable, ie. ID! My advice would be - buy the gaff version of whatever people are used to seeing you use. I use blue bicycles almost exclusively, then red bikes for tricks that are going to involve people writing on the card and possibly wanting to keep it (don't ask me why!).
I'm sure Ghost Decks/Black Tigers/Vipers/all the rest of it are nice cards to use, but here some problems I see with them:

1)If you want to be consistent, it's going to cost you a lot more to buy all your normal decks and gaff decks in this stock.
2)If people see very different looking cards, to my mind they are going to suspect something fishy ie. "magician's cards".
3) If the cards look like they're nice to hold, people will want to hold them! Bit of a problem if it's one of a number of gaffed decks.
4)Few of the special decks are as good for people to sign cards etc, necessitating an obvious deck switch - a totally innocent deck switch, perhaps, but again - suspicious.

As for the gaff decks themselves, if you can do some sleights, treat yourself to an I.D., and also look into a stripper deck and a force deck (Mirage Deck is particularly versatile). I think gaff decks can be an excellent way to motivate yourself to practice sleights - if they are already introducing a "wow - that's not possible" element to an effect, to put some sleights in there to really make it a stunner is an absolute joy!

I think he was talking about an assortment deck of gaffed cards. That's the idea that I got! In that case, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks by Hugard has lots of tricks using DF, DB, Stripper, Svengali, etc etc... You can always modify these tricks to suit your needs because some may seem "outdated", at least in my humble opinion.

Rdw1971 wrote:

stephenmagic wrote:..... or The Royal Road to Car Magic.

Does that teach you to change my Renault into a Porsche?

We all make mistakes

I have stripper, svengali and brainwave gaff decks, love stripper, svengali is ok but slightly limiting due to the gaff and brainwave is good but i would not buy this again. I have all these decks in bicycle as that is what my "normal" decks are. I got instructions for 2/3 basic tricks with all of these decks. Each deck has a sort of (in my oppinion) basic trick requiring verly little skill but the more skill you have the more you can do with the decks.

Alex

ohminku wrote:I think he was talking about an assortment deck of gaffed cards. That's the idea that I got!

Ah, in that case my apologies - again, just buy the gaff deck to match whatever people are used to seeing you use!

doesnt the tiger deck come as standard with a rather useful joker when used alongside prior knowledge and a DL?

magicmonkey wrote:doesnt the tiger deck come as standard with a rather useful joker when used alongside prior knowledge and a DL?

Yes it does, but that is one trick and a very good one I admit..... I have done it sevral times, to the enjoyment of my speccys

yes actually I was referring specifically to a deck with a variety of gaffed cards... (i.e. 4 of diamonds with the diamonds in all kinds of positions, 7 and a 1/2 of spades, 4 of clubs with 5 clubs on it, etc).

...and as for the tiger jokers... I have used those decks for a while and to my knowledge the jokers are standard (and identical). It's the Ghost deck with the special jokers.

I'll have to see exactly what comes in the standard deck of gaffed cards. Unfortunately there's no preview video for the standard stuff you can get at the local shop, unlike the Black Tiger and Ghost over at Ellusionist (which REALLY help to sell their products if you ask me).

Perhaps there's an open sample you can sort through to see what you'll be getting. The magic shop near me in Toronto, just got a new assortment of gaffed decks including cards along the lines of 3 1/2 clubs, and craaaaaazy cards... but I just spent $22 on twisted sisters so I couldn't afford it !! Next paycheck!

I just posted about this on another topic. Unfortunately I can't see an opened sample at the only store I know about. They have a "you must buy to see inside" philosophy.