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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Playing Card Plethora => Topic started by: Paul Carpenter on November 14, 2011, 01:05:28 PM
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For this topic I'm not so much interested in your favorite to look at, but more about which deck works best for handling flourishes? I don't have too many decks now but can see some definite differences in how they handle and fan.
For me, I'd have to put my Artifice and Tally-Ho Viper at the top of my list. Those two seem to work great for me, consistently staying straight, cutting well and fanning smoothly. (Compare to my Sentinels, which I adore the look of but can't get to fan short of taking each card and laying it on a table one-by-one)
I'm curious what decks fellow cardists put at the top of their lists, to see if there are any great ones that I need to look for.
And here's a smiley eating a carrot :-X
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anything with uv500 airflow finish are great for cardistry. they fan great and stay together in packets nicely.
Aladdins are cheap and are great for cuts, but don't fan all that well at all.
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I love my Dr. Leons. :)
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UV500 does seem to be a really nice finish but there sure don't seem to be many decks that have it. Looks like it was an Ellusionist-only thing a while ago?
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UV500 does seem to be a really nice finish but there sure don't seem to be many decks that have it. Looks like it was an Ellusionist-only thing a while ago?
Correct, we were the only ones using the UV500 stock which we used for all our decks during that time. USPCC upped the price tag for us among other things which made it impossible to continue using it. The original Black Ghost decks still have it (1st Ed.), and the Masters might too. Don't quote me on that though, I haven't checked lately.
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shadow masters do dhave UV500 finish, i have one and its still fans perfectly after about 8 months of use
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tallys and massas ... i like vintage design bikes (fan backs are my favorites)
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Correct, we were the only ones using the UV500 stock which we used for all our decks during that time. USPCC upped the price tag for us among other things which made it impossible to continue using it. The original Black Ghost decks still have it (1st Ed.), and the Masters might too. Don't quote me on that though, I haven't checked lately.
Don't you guys operate this site?
http://arethereanyuv500decksleft.com/
Is the info here accurate?
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Don't you guys operate this site?
http://arethereanyuv500decksleft.com/
Is the info here accurate?
I run that site -- it's not affiliate with Ellusionist.
The list of decks that have the UV500 stock was taken from one of their blog posts. If you play around with their cart, you can try entering large numbers and see how many more of each decks are in stock. The actual inventory numbers on the site may be a few hours old at any given time, so don't trust them 100%.
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I run that site -- it's not affiliate with Ellusionist.
The list of decks that have the UV500 stock was taken from one of their blog posts. If you play around with their cart, you can try entering large numbers and see how many more of each decks are in stock. The actual inventory numbers on the site may be a few hours old at any given time, so don't trust them 100%.
Well, a few hours old sounds reasonably accurate. I was informed by someone at E that all their current-issue decks are now Magic Finish (no UV500 stock), the only exception being the blue 1800s, and that they're still selling off the last of the red and blue Masters in UV500. They have some all-white Black Tigers left in UV500 - and they're the last; no more print runs, it's being discontinued. I think the same is true of the Tally-Ho Viper Fan Back all-silver.
I personally find the one-pip-color wonders only suited to magic (I don't XCM). Couldn't play a solitaire game utilizing colors without going a little nuts in the process... I can get away with Ghosts and Gargoyles because of the little bits of red, but those others, nope.
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shadow masters do dhave UV500 finish, i have one and its still fans perfectly after about 8 months of use
None of the Shadow Masters decks we have in stock are UV500. Felt that I should clarify this so nobody orders thinking they'll get the old stock and finish.
Well, a few hours old sounds reasonably accurate. I was informed by someone at E that all their current-issue decks are now Magic Finish (no UV500 stock), the only exception being the blue 1800s, and that they're still selling off the last of the red and blue Masters in UV500. They have some all-white Black Tigers left in UV500 - and they're the last; no more print runs, it's being discontinued. I think the same is true of the Tally-Ho Viper Fan Back all-silver.
I personally find the one-pip-color wonders only suited to magic (I don't XCM). Couldn't play a solitaire game utilizing colors without going a little nuts in the process... I can get away with Ghosts and Gargoyles because of the little bits of red, but those others, nope.
Not quite correct - we have a small amount of cards with UV500 stock left, some decks are using the finish and stock we used after that, and all the newly-printed or reprinted decks are using the new stock and Performance Coating finish. (I've never been a fan of the term 'magic finish'. Can you tell?)
If I'm not way off, this list should be somewhat accurate, but don't quote me on it:
Air-Flow/Air-Cushion + UV500 stock
Black Ghost 1st
Blue Masters
Red Masters
Black Tiger White pips
Tally-Ho Viper Circle + Fan back
Air-Cushion + 'other' stock
Black Ghost 2nd
Ghost
Black Tiger Red pips
Bicycle Vintage 1800s Blue
Performance Coating + new stock
Artifice Blue (both versions)
Artifice Emerald
Artifice Red
Arcane Black+White+Gold
Shadow Masters
Infinity
Bicycle Vintage 1800s Red
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well looks like another Viper deck will be placed in my cart when I order up some Infinity in a week or so. :)
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Not quite correct - we have a small amount of cards with UV500 stock left, some decks are using the finish and stock we used after that, and all the newly-printed or reprinted decks are using the new stock and Performance Coating finish. (I've never been a fan of the term 'magic finish'. Can you tell?)
If I'm not way off, this list should be somewhat accurate, but don't quote me on it:
Air-Flow/Air-Cushion + UV500 stock
Black Ghost 1st
Blue Masters
Red Masters
Black Tiger White pips
Tally-Ho Viper Circle + Fan back
Air-Cushion + 'other' stock
Black Ghost 2nd
Ghost
Black Tiger Red pips
Bicycle Vintage 1800s Blue
Performance Coating + new stock
Artifice Blue (both versions)
Artifice Emerald
Artifice Red
Arcane Black+White+Gold
Shadow Masters
Infinity
Bicycle Vintage 1800s Red
Wait a moment - weren't the Arcane Gold a limited print run of only 5000, made BEFORE the release of Performance Coating?
And this does mean that "Performance Coating" and "Magic Finish" are the same thing in different names, right?
Can you confirm if the Viper Fan Back and the all-white Black Tigers are being discontinued? Are any other decks facing the same fate?
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Wait a moment - weren't the Arcane Gold a limited print run of only 5000, made BEFORE the release of Performance Coating?
They were printed before, that is correct. However the Gold Arcane was an experiment of sorts, as we decided to print it with the new finish in hopes it would work. It did. They handle like yumzers.
And this does mean that "Performance Coating" and "Magic Finish" are the same thing in different names, right?
Performance Coating is what we use at E, Magic Finish is the term being used by USPCC. If there's a difference? Well, if nothing else our name kicks ass. ;)
Can you confirm if the Viper Fan Back and the all-white Black Tigers are being discontinued? Are any other decks facing the same fate?
The Black Tiger with white pips are being discontinued. As of right now I can't comment on any other decks, but we'll let you guys know as soon as we make any final decisions about not reprinting a deck.
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The box of my Black Ghost 2nd Edition says UV500 finish.
I´m a bit confused right now :o
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The box of my Black Ghost 2nd Edition says UV500 finish.
I´m a bit confused right now :o
I believe the list Marcus posted was of the stocks/finishes that are currently available at Ellusionist. However, I think that your Black Ghosts - with the UV500 - were purchased before they were re-printed with the "other" stock.
It's all explained here - http://blog.ellusionist.com/the-last-of-the-uv500-air-flow-decks/ (http://blog.ellusionist.com/the-last-of-the-uv500-air-flow-decks/)
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About the black tiger deck, I personally like the white pips more than the red one.
Don't understand why they are stopping that.
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The box of my Black Ghost 2nd Edition says UV500 finish.
I´m a bit confused right now :o
I'm guessing it's an older deck then. They were printed using UV500 stock (not finish, the Air-Flow part is the finish) when we had access to that, but have been reprinted after that.
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About the black tiger deck, I personally like the white pips more than the red one.
Don't understand why they are stopping that.
Strictly guessing here, but I'd say they're killing off the Black Tigers white-only pips because not everyone goes for a single-pip-color deck. Again, if I had to guess, I'd say the red/white BTs outsold the white-only BTs. They revived interest in them for me with the recent re-release of the Black Tiger Gaff Deck - I'm told, though, that this deck, in order to conform with the new USPC legal requirements, doesn't have the same card selection as the previous printing did.
I used to have a Tally-Ho Viper Fan Back stripper deck - I loved that deck. They do handle well, and look pretty flashy for cardistry routines.
I'm not a cardist, but there's a lot of smooth-handling cards out there with good stock. Cards with Tally-Ho or Bee stock may handle better than Aristocrat or Bicycle stock due to the firmness and spring of the cards, as well as their ability to retain their shape. Smooth-finish cards likely don't handle as well for cardistry because they don't have that glide from all the little dimples a textured finish gives (much like why a golf ball will go further than a smooth ball under identical circumstances).
Have you tried Richard Turner Bicycle Gold Seals? He used Bee stock to make them and had them traditionally cut (a big plus for certain fans, shuffles, etc.). And the video I saw of Ekaterina displaying with a Gold Arcane deck was pretty awesome - as stated a few posts ago, they're Performance Coated with the new stock.