Kings - Madison, McKinnon, Ellusionist - MARKED DECK

[Card Player]

Yeah, definitely don't even consider using this deck for a poker game (or any game with money involved) - you might not walk away from that game...=P

My opinion of this deck and it's promotion aside, it's still a deck of 52 standard cards. Marked or Not, Gaff card included or not. It's not a "gaff deck". Don't know that I would have moved it. I respect Don's decision. I will leave it at that.

[hecrob]

Guys...

Calm Down...

Its true that the extra video for the Kings deck was filmed on someones patio.

But its a free vid, they are not charging you for the extras.

The videos are fine, its just them hanging out, sharing some ideas on how to use the deck. You have to understand that they sell primarily to beginners so they have to come up with simple stuff.
Its really fun to criticise but they never advertised this video as some breakthrough - must have video that will save your life.

I think the tricks that they teach are pretty basic, but get to the point of pushing you in the right direction.

This "chilling out" style vids give some viewers the idea that magic has to be performed relaxed and not as a stiff rehearsal of the routine.

Well thats my 2 cents on the vid stuff.

On the topic of the signed "prototypes"

E is great at making the best out of their mistakes.

Those 3000 were probably the first sample run of the "final" product, PM mentions in the vid that those really shiny decks (the ones being gifted and signed with each brick you buy), were "destroyed" coming of the line at USPCC factory.....
So my guess is that they had a bad batch, they changed the color of the box so they had a better product, and they tried to make the best out of the 3000 decks that were part of that bad batch.

[Marcus]

Oh, I thought you meant the price would be $7.95 with brick discounts - as in you'll get them at that price IF you buy by the brick.

I see. Perhaps a bit unclear by me, but I can blame that on the educational system!

Sure, it's working financially.  But who prototypes a deck in quantities exceeding 3,000 by a wide margin?  They weren't prototypes - they were sales gimmicks, and apparently worked very well for them.  They probably ordered 3,000 from USPC and USPC overran the order by a wee bit more than the usual 10%.

Actually, these weren't meant to be any special or limited deck. There were production issues that lead to them stopping the press almost right away. Sure, E took the opportunity to turn that into something positive, but it wasn't a planned limitation.

[DarkDerp]

Not hitting "resume" and creating a prototype are a taaaaad differant. I will say that  it's good to see magic brought back to its Cocaine fueled, blood soaked bank heist origins. You know, for the kids and stuff.

[Don Boyer]

Wow! Boyer moved the thread where deck threads go to die.

Die?  In the board with nearly 4,000 posts?  I think not. 

Just finished watching D+M and P+M in the "Kings" video, and you'll never hear me bad mouth them or "E" on camera, but.... wow that video was bad.

Is it nice to get a video download with a deck of cards? Sure! Could you spend a little more than an hour filming it in your back yard?

First P+M takes the cellophane off the deck and lays it off camera, and then later while he's talking it blows back across his table like a tumbleweed and he ignores it.

P+M then shows one trick with a Dbr 3 different ways and all of them are in a word... awful. The effect is so simple there's no way he "does this trick every day." Not to mention, that one time he performs a top change for the camera and then does it again, but he FORGETS and when he goes in for the reveal he glimpses his card and notices with the corner of his eye that he missed a beat and is holding the wrong card, so he stalls with patter (for you the viewer) until he feels you've forgotten and then he goes in for an additional top change.

One time he accidentally cuts the card to the bottom of the deck, but then realizes his effect is with a Dbr... so he says "you can cut it to the bottom... OR THE TOP" and then proceeds to show the trick with the card on the top. (how in the word would you use a Dbr with a selected card on the bottom?)

Another time he cuts the card to the top but does it so fast that when he lays the deck on the table, the card blows off and flips over on camera.

In the second half, D+M spends most of his time re-teaching you "Angle Z" but seriously why am I getting this gaff? The nature of the effect is I can only do it... once. Then my gaff is gone and yea....

D+M talks about the marking system briefly and then proceeds to teach an effect where you read the backs, but instead of reading the backs... D+M flips the card over and says "for time's sake this is faster." So... he hasn't memorized his own system.

And lastly, D+M has a last minute "idea" and proceeds to show you a simple force that he forgets the name to... and someone off camera reminds him that its the "cross-cross" force

oi vey

That. Is. HYSTERICAL!

Actually, these weren't meant to be any special or limited deck. There were production issues that lead to them stopping the press almost right away. Sure, E took the opportunity to turn that into something positive, but it wasn't a planned limitation.

When you look at the close-ups of the boxes, you can see spots where the gold seems to have dripped in blobs on the box.  But "almost right away" doesn't add up to 3,000 decks!  It was probably caught late in the run despite USPC's vaunted "Q1 quality control" and they probably tried to find some way to get E to eat the cost.  So, given lemons, E opted to make lemonade.

[Marcus]

Where did you get the number of 3,000 gold foil decks? It's under 300 from what I've heard.

[Don Boyer]

Where did you get the number of 3,000 gold foil decks? It's under 300 from what I've heard.

I was quoting someone else around here.  Hey, I could be wrong, they could have been wrong, we could be wrong.

300 sounds much more like, "Oh, accident - but they look cool so we'll take them anyway."

[aldazar]

I think it's....289!

[Marcus]

I've had it confirmed that it is less than 300 (ballpark - around 270-289) produced in case anyone's curious.

[Don Boyer]

I think it's....289!

I've had it confirmed that it is less than 300 (ballpark - around 270-289) produced in case anyone's curious.

Aldazar - you WIN!  Yay!  (Just don't ask what the prize is...) 

[Card Player]

Not hitting "resume" and creating a prototype are a taaaaad differant. I will say that  it's good to see magic brought back to its Cocaine fueled, blood soaked bank heist origins. You know, for the kids and stuff.

It's all about the kids.

You have to wonder! The loss of reality are all signs. They can't distingish between wrong or right. Some of us are parents and our kids like the same things we do. Where does Daniel and Peter think their future sales are coming from?

Just finished watching D+M and P+M in the "Kings" video, and you'll never hear me bad mouth them or "E" on camera, but.... wow that video was bad.

Is it nice to get a video download with a deck of cards? Sure! Could you spend a little more than an hour filming it in your back yard?

First P+M takes the cellophane off the deck and lays it off camera, and then later while he's talking it blows back across his table like a tumbleweed and he ignores it.

P+M then shows one trick with a Dbr 3 different ways and all of them are in a word... awful. The effect is so simple there's no way he "does this trick every day." Not to mention, that one time he performs a top change for the camera and then does it again, but he FORGETS and when he goes in for the reveal he glimpses his card and notices with the corner of his eye that he missed a beat and is holding the wrong card, so he stalls with patter (for you the viewer) until he feels you've forgotten and then he goes in for an additional top change.

One time he accidentally cuts the card to the bottom of the deck, but then realizes his effect is with a Dbr... so he says "you can cut it to the bottom... OR THE TOP" and then proceeds to show the trick with the card on the top. (how in the word would you use a Dbr with a selected card on the bottom?)

Another time he cuts the card to the top but does it so fast that when he lays the deck on the table, the card blows off and flips over on camera.

In the second half, D+M spends most of his time re-teaching you "Angle Z" but seriously why am I getting this gaff? The nature of the effect is I can only do it... once. Then my gaff is gone and yea....

D+M talks about the marking system briefly and then proceeds to teach an effect where you read the backs, but instead of reading the backs... D+M flips the card over and says "for time's sake this is faster." So... he hasn't memorized his own system.

And lastly, D+M has a last minute "idea" and proceeds to show you a simple force that he forgets the name to... and someone off camera reminds him that its the "cross-cross" force

oi vey

This coming from someone who spends less then 15 minutes in his basement on a tablecloth making videos. If its a free video, I'm not going to nail them to the wall for quality. I have not seen the video. If your telling me your production is better, then I would have to agree with your credible video making expertise.

[Marcus]

Just finished watching D+M and P+M in the "Kings" video, and you'll never hear me bad mouth them or "E" on camera, but.... wow that video was bad.

Is it nice to get a video download with a deck of cards? Sure! Could you spend a little more than an hour filming it in your back yard?

First P+M takes the cellophane off the deck and lays it off camera, and then later while he's talking it blows back across his table like a tumbleweed and he ignores it.

P+M then shows one trick with a Dbr 3 different ways and all of them are in a word... awful. The effect is so simple there's no way he "does this trick every day." Not to mention, that one time he performs a top change for the camera and then does it again, but he FORGETS and when he goes in for the reveal he glimpses his card and notices with the corner of his eye that he missed a beat and is holding the wrong card, so he stalls with patter (for you the viewer) until he feels you've forgotten and then he goes in for an additional top change.

One time he accidentally cuts the card to the bottom of the deck, but then realizes his effect is with a Dbr... so he says "you can cut it to the bottom... OR THE TOP" and then proceeds to show the trick with the card on the top. (how in the word would you use a Dbr with a selected card on the bottom?)

Another time he cuts the card to the top but does it so fast that when he lays the deck on the table, the card blows off and flips over on camera.

In the second half, D+M spends most of his time re-teaching you "Angle Z" but seriously why am I getting this gaff? The nature of the effect is I can only do it... once. Then my gaff is gone and yea....

D+M talks about the marking system briefly and then proceeds to teach an effect where you read the backs, but instead of reading the backs... D+M flips the card over and says "for time's sake this is faster." So... he hasn't memorized his own system.

And lastly, D+M has a last minute "idea" and proceeds to show you a simple force that he forgets the name to... and someone off camera reminds him that its the "cross-cross" force

oi vey

This coming from someone who spends less then 15 minutes in his basement on a tablecloth making videos. If its a free video, I'm not going to nail them to the wall for quality. I have not seen the video. If your telling me your production is better, then I would have to agree with your credible video making expertise.

This way of reasoning makes absolutely no sense.

[Card Player]

Just finished watching D+M and P+M in the "Kings" video, and you'll never hear me bad mouth them or "E" on camera, but.... wow that video was bad.

Is it nice to get a video download with a deck of cards? Sure! Could you spend a little more than an hour filming it in your back yard?

First P+M takes the cellophane off the deck and lays it off camera, and then later while he's talking it blows back across his table like a tumbleweed and he ignores it.

P+M then shows one trick with a Dbr 3 different ways and all of them are in a word... awful. The effect is so simple there's no way he "does this trick every day." Not to mention, that one time he performs a top change for the camera and then does it again, but he FORGETS and when he goes in for the reveal he glimpses his card and notices with the corner of his eye that he missed a beat and is holding the wrong card, so he stalls with patter (for you the viewer) until he feels you've forgotten and then he goes in for an additional top change.

One time he accidentally cuts the card to the bottom of the deck, but then realizes his effect is with a Dbr... so he says "you can cut it to the bottom... OR THE TOP" and then proceeds to show the trick with the card on the top. (how in the word would you use a Dbr with a selected card on the bottom?)

Another time he cuts the card to the top but does it so fast that when he lays the deck on the table, the card blows off and flips over on camera.

In the second half, D+M spends most of his time re-teaching you "Angle Z" but seriously why am I getting this gaff? The nature of the effect is I can only do it... once. Then my gaff is gone and yea....

D+M talks about the marking system briefly and then proceeds to teach an effect where you read the backs, but instead of reading the backs... D+M flips the card over and says "for time's sake this is faster." So... he hasn't memorized his own system.

And lastly, D+M has a last minute "idea" and proceeds to show you a simple force that he forgets the name to... and someone off camera reminds him that its the "cross-cross" force

oi vey

This coming from someone who spends less then 15 minutes in his basement on a tablecloth making videos. If its a free video, I'm not going to nail them to the wall for quality. I have not seen the video. If your telling me your production is better, then I would have to agree with your credible video making expertise.

This way of reasoning makes absolutely no sense.

That's because I was not trying to be reasonable. I was being sarcastic about MO criticizing the video quality. In addition, Peter has been really good to MO. People think I'm negative, but I do have a handful of people I never write $#it about no matter what. I thought Peter was one of those people for MO. I guess not.

[Don Boyer]

Guys, please - let's keep a civil tone.  Don't make it personal, unless you want to take it to PMs.

[Rob Wright]

I guess dressing up like gangsta's wearing skinny jeans, and playing with toy guns does sell cards 

Ellusionist: Magic Beyond Belief

5 hours ago

|| SOLD OUT || Well you guys have officially crushed it, the Kings playing cards are now sold out in only 4 days! More Kings news coming soon -->

[Card Player]

I guess dressing up like gangsta's wearing skinny jeans, and playing with toy guns does sell cards 

Ellusionist: Magic Beyond Belief

5 hours ago

|| SOLD OUT || Well you guys have officially crushed it, the Kings playing cards are now sold out in only 4 days! More Kings news coming soon -->

Of course it sells cards... That's why they did it. Next promotion will be the half naked woman in lingerie.

[Don Boyer]

I guess dressing up like gangsta's wearing skinny jeans, and playing with toy guns does sell cards 

Ellusionist: Magic Beyond Belief

5 hours ago

|| SOLD OUT || Well you guys have officially crushed it, the Kings playing cards are now sold out in only 4 days! More Kings news coming soon -->

Of course it sells cards... That's why they did it. Next promotion will be the half naked woman in lingerie.

Because that sells cards, too?  To women?  And impressionable children?  Who said sexism is dead! 

[Card Player]

I guess dressing up like gangsta's wearing skinny jeans, and playing with toy guns does sell cards 

Ellusionist: Magic Beyond Belief

5 hours ago

|| SOLD OUT || Well you guys have officially crushed it, the Kings playing cards are now sold out in only 4 days! More Kings news coming soon -->

Of course it sells cards... That's why they did it. Next promotion will be the half naked woman in lingerie.

Because that sells cards, too?  To women?  And impressionable children?  Who said sexism is dead! 

People are always finding ways to make their jobs more fun... I'd much rather be working with female models then guns. Although guns don't get cold and complain. I would not say its beyond them at this moment. I don't think guns, arson and bank theft appeal to a majority of woman and children either... In my youth, I was well aware of the things I was not allowed to see or have and found ways to get them anyway... Strange how that works. There needs to be a fine line in business between what one shows people as it relates to the product. The point is one should not do things just to do them.

On that note, I'm getting really bored and think I will take a break.

[Don Boyer]

People are always finding ways to make their jobs more fun... I'd much rather be working with female models then guns. Although guns don't get cold and complain. I would not say its beyond them at this moment. I don't think guns, arson and bank theft appeal to a majority of woman and children either... In my youth, I was well aware of the things I was not allowed to see or have and found ways to get them anyway... Strange how that works. There needs to be a fine line in business between what one shows people as it relates to the product. The point is one should not do things just to do them.

On that note, I'm getting really bored and think I will take a break.

Guns DO get cold.  But they don't complain.

The whole video falls flat because, among other reasons, they didn't release all the decks in the gold boxes they wanted to use.  Kinda loses its raison d'etre.

[aldazar]

Of course it sells cards... That's why they did it. Next promotion will be the half naked woman in lingerie.

Because that sells cards, too?  To women?  And impressionable children?  Who said sexism is dead! 

After that, they'll have a promo with half naked men, to avoid the gender discrimination lawsuits...=P *shudders*

[Card Player]

People are always finding ways to make their jobs more fun... I'd much rather be working with female models then guns. Although guns don't get cold and complain. I would not say its beyond them at this moment. I don't think guns, arson and bank theft appeal to a majority of woman and children either... In my youth, I was well aware of the things I was not allowed to see or have and found ways to get them anyway... Strange how that works. There needs to be a fine line in business between what one shows people as it relates to the product. The point is one should not do things just to do them.

On that note, I'm getting really bored and think I will take a break.

Guns DO get cold.  But they don't complain.

The whole video falls flat because, among other reasons, they didn't release all the decks in the gold boxes they wanted to use.  Kinda loses its raison d'etre.

Yes guns do get cold but I used the word "and" not "or". 

Of course it sells cards... That's why they did it. Next promotion will be the half naked woman in lingerie.

Because that sells cards, too?  To women?  And impressionable children?  Who said sexism is dead! 

After that, they'll have a promo with half naked men, to avoid the gender discrimination lawsuits...=P *shudders*

Ahhh was that the answer Don was looking for? Lets not give our production readers any ideas.

Boobs instead of guns, I think that's something most woman can agree on.

[aldazar]

Boobs instead of guns, I think that's something most woman can agree on.

And I'm guessing many (if not most) guys can agree that both boobs and guns would be better than either one alone! =P

[Will W.]

Boobs instead of guns, I think that's something most woman can agree on.

And I'm guessing many (if not most) guys can agree that both boobs and guns would be better than either one alone! =P

Boobs would be ok alone.... Guns, not so much....

[Don Boyer]

Boobs would be ok alone.... Guns, not so much....

Guessin' you don't listen to the Cramps...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnZDakp_v4

[Will W.]

Boobs would be ok alone.... Guns, not so much....

Guessin' you don't listen to the Cramps...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwnZDakp_v4

You would be right sir.... That video was terrible and the song even worse....