A sneak peek into the the new trick decks produced by the United States Playing Card Co. featuring David Blaine. These are actually the prototypes for the products that will be available at the end of October with different names and graphics.

A few months ago a friend of mine sent me a gift. They were prototypes of three Bicycle David Blaine magic decks of cards that were supposed to be released in the fall. They are U.S. Playing Card Co. products that are being released to the general public. The decks were: Deception Deck, Decoder Deck and Hypnotic Deck.

Well, a release date has just been announced for October 31. Since then the names, graphics and instructions have been changed but I thought it would be more interesting to discuss and show the prototypes than the final products which will begin shipping in around three weeks.

On October 31st David Blaine is expected to appear on the CBS Sunday Morning show where the release of these decks should be announced. I should be receiving my decks a few days before the release date. Shortly thereafter they will also be available everywhere, both online and in most retail outlets that carry U.S. Playing Card products.

Keep in mind that the graphics and names of these decks have been changed since these prototypes. As a matter of fact I already know that the new titles are: Transformation Deck, Discovery Deck, and Mind Reading Deck. And the suggested retail price looks to be under US $5.00.

Before we begin discussing the products I should point out something about the playing cards. The quality of the cards are the standard, but excellent, Air Cusion Finish as used with all their Bicycle brands. The back design is the beautiful David Blaine Split Spades which he originally printed for his own use and later released some to magic shops. The cards come in Red, Blue and Black backs, one for each product so they can be differentiated.

Bicycle David Blaine Hypnotic Deck:
The classic Svengali deck which is probably the best selling trick deck of all time is back. What is interesting in this package is that you get two decks of cards and are shown how to assemble your own decks. So you are actually getting two Svengali decks, although with the same force card. It would have been better to print the duplicate deck with a 26/26 mix so the magic can be repeated with a different card. I assume the thinking behind giving two decks is that it would be cheaper than manually sorting millions of playing cards. But there is no guarantee that the final product will also contain two decks. But if it does you can buy these just to have a regular red backed Split Spades deck at a fraction of what the originals go for.

THE AD: Automatically reads minds, deck transforms itself and foretells the future! This custom-designed deck automatically performs ten of the most amazing effects possible with playing cards! Easy to read instructions are included. Requires no skill! Easy to perform! Great for beginners and pros! With this superb magician’s deck in your hands you will be able to: Instantly name chosen card -- Turn a normal deck into a deck of all the same card -- make a spectator’s card jump to the top of the deck.

THE GAFF: Two decks of cards that allow you to assemble two classic Svengali decks.

CONTENTS: Enclosed are two red backed decks of cards. The first is a regular deck that contains two optical illusion Jokers, a blank faced card with a faded back, a double backed card, a custom designed Ace Of Spades, and the faces of the picture cards have been altered. The second deck contains 55 duplicate short cards and a blank faced card with a faded back. Also enclosed is a sheet of basic instructions which states that the final product will have an instructional booklet with 10 additional tricks.

Bicycle David Blaine Deception Deck:
A classic of magic that has been marketed to the general public before. It is a stripper deck that was factory made and appears to be almost perfect. Although it might be too fine for the average layperson to use.

THE AD: A deck that automatically finds your Aces and even someone’s thought-of card. An amazing deck that can perform miracles. Easy to learn. Easy to perform! Great for beginners and pros! Spectator selects any card with out showing it to the magician then returns it to the deck. The magician then reveals the card in one of many various magical routines. Other routines and effects are described in the included booklet.

THE GAFF: A factory made stripper deck.

CONTENTS: Enclosed is a blue backed stripper deck of cards which contains two optical illusion Jokers, a blank faced card with a faded back, a double backed card, a custom designed Ace Of Spades, and the faces of the picture cards have been altered. Also enclosed is a sheet of basic instructions which states that the final product will have an instructional booklet with 10 additional tricks.

Bicycle David Blaine Decoder Deck:
This deck is by far the best of the three and every magician will probably want to have a bunch of them for use, especially if it does not become widely known to laypeople. Card cheaters would probably love them as well but will face even more problems than magicians if they become well known. It is a factory marked deck of cards.

THE AD: Know the identity of playing cards without touching them and perform ten miracle-class card tricks! A professional Pack of Marked Cards that allows you to perform ten astounding card tricks that only work with these cards! Easy to read instruction book with pictures shows how to perform each trick to amaze your friends. Can-u-c it? You have just purchased the finest set of magical readers ever devised. The secret is really simple.

THE GAFF: All the cards are marked for value and suit using the Leslie Juice Deck system with a Wild like placement.

CONTENTS: Enclosed is a black backed marked deck of cards which contains two optical illusion Jokers, a blank faced card with a faded back, a double backed card, a custom designed Ace Of Spades, and the faces of the picture cards have been altered. Also enclosed is a sheet of basic instructions which states that the final product will have an instructional booklet with 10 additional tricks.

*Once again I want to point out that these are the prototypes and the final product may be nothing like what is described above.

Instructions include information on how to use the deck and eight tricks you can do with it. Two of the tricks use it unassembled. Although there is an error in the assembly instructions that will make it very difficult to workout.

The deck is a stripper deck which is of much better quality for laypeople to use than the prototype. The deck also includes two advertising cards, an optical illusion Joker and a double backed card.

Instructions include information on how to use the deck and five tricks you can do with it.

Instructions include information on how to use the deck and nine tricks you can do with it, although some of what is taught does not require a marked deck?

As you might be able to tell there have been some changes from the prototypes above. As mentioned earlier the graphics and titles have been changed and the instructions for each trick have been written by Joshua Jay and they no longer contain ten tricks each. But the biggest change is with the back design. To differentiate these from the original Split Spade decks the border around the back design has been removed.

Two of the decks also include an advertising card which promotes a website (www.MagiTopia.com) that will teach you more magic you can do with these decks. You also get a password which will allow you to access the information. As of this writing the website does not exist.

Overall I like these very much -- although I am not the target audience and likely neither are you. And my intent is not to review these but describe them to you. The best of the set remains the marked cards which are of high quality and cost a fraction of similar decks. And who knows -- these could be the jumping off point for the next David Blaine.

---Meir Yedid