I am somebody who does almost all card magic FASDIU and heavily relies on slight-of-hand. But I decided to try out this deck of cards. They are amazing. They make it possible to do effects which are simply not possible to do otherwise.

My favorite trick is to do C.A.A.N. You can watch "The Grail" demo, which is that effect, but the magician has to touch the cards at some point. With Mirage deck you can shuffle them, even let the spectators shuffle the cards if you are careful (for example, let each shuffle two halves and you faro them together). Let the spectator give a final cut and put it back into the card box. Then ask another spectator to name a number from 1 to 52, ask them to take it out of the box, and ask them to deal down to the card. It works every time. There is no miss. This is by far the cleanest most amazing C.A.A.N. effect, and you can do it with just $5, it is better than all attempts people tried at C.A.A.N., as this is truly the near-miss hands-off method.

Here is some advice. Never, ever, never, ever, show the cards to be the same. Otherwise it kills this powerful utility deck. The spectators will instantly know that something is not normal about the cards.

I happen to strongly believe (and I am sure many will disagree with me) that forcing is lame. Especially the rifle force. I cannot imagine how magicians convinced themselves that the rifle force is any good. It looks awful, nobody actually believes it was a free choice. If you gonna force at least use the classic force. But with the Mirage deck you can do the most convincing force while being able to show the cards to be all different. This is as fair as it gets.

(Any magician who actually thinks the rifle force is any good. Here is a challenge. Do "any card at any stop". Rifle and ask a spectator to say stop. Then reveal your prediction matches the card they stopped at. I can assure you nobody will find that to be a good trick, and no magician will pay for such a lousy effect. So please stop using forcing, especially the rifle force. Get this instead and find ways to incorporate this deck into your magic. )

The short cards in the Mirage deck I received are too short, over 3mm shorter than the normal cards. This is one of the worst purchase experience as the deck is not performance ready.

am requesting a replacement or refund. Hopefully there is a positive response from Penguin Magic

Love this deck. I actually introduce it via Regal's Sudden Deck 3.0 (which gives me a reason to introduce a new deck). I'm able to "print" the cards, I ruffle through to show they are all different, and then spread them to show they are all different. These cards feel great. You do have to break them in a bit. You'll have the roughs holding on a little too hard at first, and the edges are a bit rough too, but just give them some shuffling while watching your favorite hour of something on Netflix and they'll be perfect and ready for performance.

This is a great force. You can show all cards and have them select one, and it will always be the one you want. Just use it as a great force, not a trick where all the cards change to all the same cards. This sends out red flags to the audience, and they want to see the deck. It's also pretty cheap. Don't tell anyone, let's keep it a secret.😉

PERFECT card force. Imagine spreading the deck showing every card different. The spectator touches the back of the card, and takes it. You then know EXACTLY what card it is! Imagine the possibilities! Mentalism, Mind Reading, Svengali routines, convincing Ambitious Card routines, etc. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I, like many others, got a Svengali deck, played with it a short time, and threw it in the drawer because of it's limitations. One of the biggest problems with the Svengali deck is the un-natural nature of the displays; that is, showing the cards "normal" or "all the same". It requires riffling one end of the deck quickly while the spectator watches the cards go by. When was the last time you proved the normality of a regular deck by doing that?

Now what if you had a Svengali deck that could be casually spread hand to hand with the cards face up, just like you would with a regular deck? How about a card force that APPEARS TO THE SPECTATOR to be every bit as fair as a classic force? Or an effortless dribble force? Or just ribbon spread the cards on the table and have them touch one - and the card is forced.

All the usual Svengali effects are possible: forces, impossible-looking sleight of hand, predictions, mindreading. Even the "show all the cards the same" aspect is infinitely more visual - dribble the cards from one hand to another, showing they're all the same, then immediately spread the cards (like a face up classic force) to show all the cards different. (But a little tip - don't do it unless you want to let the audience know its a trick deck. Otherwise, they'll never guess in a million years.)

Highest recommendation.

This is crazy! Though I no longer use this deck it was one of my favs when I did! Such a genius alternative to your average Svengali and looks way more natural! You can even spread through the cards face up! If you like a Svengali deck you will love this one! A lot less detectable to a laymen and so many possibilities with this!

The Mirage Deck is well made and fun to perform with. I love being able to spread the cards face up to show the cards all different and then have a spectator touch the back of a card to select/force one.

PS It's great being able to get free shipping to Canada.

This product worked correctly for approximately eight spreads and a single very cautious overhand shuffle!
If you want it done right... bring your own can!

5 stars as the deck is exactly as described. Shuffles and cuts without disassembling.