Finally an inexpensive deck of marked cards. I agree with other comments that there are way to many
marks on the deck - it is overkill! I handed the deck to a friend and within one minute he spotted
the marks. Also the instruction video was so so. I will still be able to use with judicious
handling and proper spectator management. Are they worth the price absolutely- just know the
limitations.
Was the friend looking for the marks? (did you tell him) Or was he a magician too?
Just don't let them handle the cards that long???
You let them handle them for a minute? Jeez I don't know of anyone handing out cards for inspection. Just the spectator through choosing and holding a card or shuffling is enough proof that they're not gimmicked.
I could see the argument made that, if this is intended to be a worker deck that would be used for all of your regular routines, that would include signed cards (or torn cards, or folded cards, etc) that are intended to be given to an audience member as a souvenir. By definition, that's handing the card out for extended examination. So a word of caution, perhaps: try to minimize tricks for which marked cards are the only reasonable solution, so that even if the marks are discovered, it doesn't help ("yes I see that the cards were marked, but that doesn't explain how my card kept appearing on top of the deck").
The best approach is to switch the marked deck out with a regular deck of the same back design. Don't open a routine with a marked deck. Start with a regular deck and then ring in the marked deck. If performing only one effect, I'd avoid the use of a marked deck UNLESS the person has seen you perform before and "knows" that your deck is normal. It's all about experience, knowing your audience, and audience management.
This post says it all... 🤔
"Jaunty Jan 10th 2019 8:17am
Dude rule of magic: people are not going to find something they are not looking for.
For someone who has performed for so many years maybe you have forget the basics, no worry about the marks.
I have never ever seen someone spend more than 1 second looking the back of a card, Why on earth would they do? (Unless of course you want to OVER prove there's nothing strange and explicitily tell them to insepect the front and the back but that is just not intelligent tho)"
Very easy to spot the markings. Did this for a buddy of mine that is not a magician and he saw it in a second. Bought a brick because of the price.
This is exactly why this product is so terribly overrated. I bet your friend didn't even look for marks but ofcourse he/she still noticed because they're too visible. It's not worth the risk. Open your eyes, everyone.
The markings are just fine. Hell I accidentally took one of these decks from my stack of decks and we played all evening a dutch card game and only at the end when I put them back I saw P3 on the box and I'd realised I took the deck from the wrong stack. Now at this game there were 4 magicians, myself (a former mentalism/hypnotism pro), a guy who worked at a magic dealer and a high ranking amateur. And none of us had noticed it! And we know marked cards!!!
So when your spectator is properly managed, they have no reason to expect a marked deck. Most spectators don't even have that idea that these decks exist in their minds.
So as long as you don't do a modern-day Richard Osterlind by putting on your glasses raising your eyebrows and blatantly read. Then you are not signalling it's a marked deck. And when they think it is, just be confident and deny and hand them a card to examine -- and wonder by yourself what you did wrong to even signal that to a spectator.
So these cards are the perfect marked deck. Dirt cheap 60 bucks for 12 packs and handle great and marking (even for my 51 year old eyes) are very readable without having to do an "Osterlind" (it's a running gag these days as my eyes are getting worse too :D)
The marking on the upper middle side is an overkill and feels too visible.
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