Hi everyone! I'm very new to cardistry and close up magic, and to get started I bought two Virtuoso decks (
https://thevirts.leadpages.net/the-ss14-virtuoso-deck-is-sold-out/) new, on ebay. I started using one, and after about two weeks they became extremely worn. They don't slide or fan at all, and the sides are very grey. They even have black spots on them (no idea why :/)...
A picture of the new and old ace of spades. You can see the black dots at the top of the left card...
And a close up of only the lame, dirty card:
I read later that after short use, this deck is known to lose quality faster. I didn't know this when I bought them, but now I just started using the new deck and I've been cleaning my hands before use and keeping them on clean surfaces, in the box. What's interesting is that another, kindly crappy deck that I already had has kept up with everything that happened to my original deck and cans still fan and slide okay-ish.
What I'd like to know is why certain decks have a higher quality than others (I know that finishes exist, but not much about them). Now, because the deck I bought to use and practice with has degraded, I need a new deck! I'm looking for durability overall, but aesthetics matter too. Some decks I've seen that look great are the:
- Aristocrats 737 Blue (reviews said their finish picks up a lot of hand grease, so this is a probably not)
- Artisans (Durability was mentioned in the description, but I don't know what to do with that information)
- Sentinels (Another deck from Theory11 that mentioned durability)
- The Monarchs (When talking about decks, this is one that seems to come up a lot. That's really all I know about this deck)
My price range is $3-10 dollars, preferably around the $5/6 range. If you have personal experience with any of these decks, I'd love to hear your advice.
And info you guys have on the subject is welcome, and thanks in advance (I guess that's how you end a post :P)
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