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.
