Nathan, every Merz67 deck is rare and I don't see people here searching the ends of the earth to find them. Rarity alone is not a good reason to get a deck. It has to have other qualities to it to make it truly collectible. Perhaps in a hundred years, when few such decks exist, it will become rare AND collectible, just out of the sheer fact that so few exist, like the Honus Wagner card. But I don't expect either you or me to be around to see t
Having said that, the Split Spades Lions are a great deck. Quality stock, long lasting finish, very nice artwork. The name-brand recognition of David Blaine doesn't hurt. I'm not sure what was used, but I'd say the stock was likely Aristocrat, just based on the way it handles. I was using the blue stripper deck just last night - it's one of my go-to decks that I carry all the time.
Blue Stripper? Did you make one for yourself?
Split Spades lions were made on the on a slightly modified if not exactly old Tally Ho stock with a really good varnish. It doesn't seem to wear off. Very well made pack imo.
Blaine teamed with USPC to create a series of magic decks branded Bicycle Split Spades. The base design was that of the Split Spades Lions. The blue deck was a stripper deck, the red deck was a Svengali deck and the black one was a marked deck - fairly good and inexpensive, probably the cheapest decent-quality marked deck on the market. They're out of print now and the prices are slowly going up, but they're still available in many shops and on eBay.
Another cool product was the Split Spades Lions 2-deck set that Blaine produced. High quality box with a standard red and blue deck, but packaged with a black envelope containing some gaffs in the same deck designs. This envelope was also offered as part of the DB Variety Box.
And somewhere out there, I saw a signed black SSL joker with a gaffed back that looked like a vertical card spread. It's one of the few Blaine cards I don't have.
Nearly forgot: Tally Ho stock is no longer available since the move to Kentucky, possibly earlier. They use a modified Aristocrat stock instead.
