Black Lions - David Blaine

[Card Player]

Earth/Faith, tattoo or marker?

[Don Boyer]

Earth/Faith, tattoo or marker?

Elephants in Denmark.  No soap, radio!

[BiggerDee]

In case you haven't seen, Black Lions, Blue Edition, $6 each, today (1/15) only.

[ksi]

I received my Black Lions yesterday.

I opened one deck and took some measurements immediately.
The deck I opened is in modern cut. 
52 cards thickness is 14.8mm and weight is 86.5g.

The pictures were taken upon right out of the box, before any cutting and shuffling.

The deck seems thin, soft, and a bit naturally bended.  Not the type I like.

[fenderdemon]

"Would some kind soul tell me who the J♦️, Q♣️ and the K♣️ are based on, please."

Looks like

JD is Doug McKenzie
KC is Dan White
QC is Alizee Guinochet

those are my guesses......

Hey

Thanks for the reply, however, they are most definitely not your guesses, I'm afraid, with the possible exception of Dan White being K♣️.

Doug McKenzie is usually the K♣️ (but doesn't seem to appear in the Black Lions) and Alizee is always the Q♠️. The J ♦️ is still an enigma...

[Card Player]

Earth/Faith, tattoo or marker?

Elephants in Denmark.  No soap, radio!

LOL No Elephants or Hippos. Earth/Faith on DB's wrist. Is that a tattoo OR written in sharpie (marker) ink?

[Blockheads88]

So are we going have the shipping issues with the Blue Decks?

Got tracking number a couple a days ago and still no movement. Looks to be same issue as with Black Decks.

[HankMan]

I have not even get any tracking number..

[Wilko]

Not had any update on my order. No tracking number. Nothing.
I never found Blaines own shipping problematic. I can understand them wanting to farm it out to another company though. Problem is who do you contact to raise your concern. You contact Blaine, who has to contact GW, blaine then gets back to you with the update. Maybe it would be easier if they just handled it all themselves.
Plus I never had any customs charges when Blaine shipped out precious decks. The last decks I had (black lions) shipped by GW got caught for a charge!

[Don Boyer]

I received an email notification on the 19th.  Checked the tracking - they were received by the USPS at Grand Prairie, Texas on the 20th, the very next day.  I'm assuming that's a suburb of Dallas, as Gambler's Warehouse is also located in a Dallas suburb.

Not had any update on my order. No tracking number. Nothing.
I never found Blaines own shipping problematic. I can understand them wanting to farm it out to another company though. Problem is who do you contact to raise your concern. You contact Blaine, who has to contact GW, blaine then gets back to you with the update. Maybe it would be easier if they just handled it all themselves.
Plus I never had any customs charges when Blaine shipped out precious decks. The last decks I had (black lions) shipped by GW got caught for a charge!

As far as Customs charges, Wilko - that's not the fault nor responsibility of the shipper, it's the responsibility of the recipient and the fault of your nation's Customs regulations.  It's all a matter of whether your country's Customs Office decides your shipment falls in a category requiring Customs fees.  If you weren't paying them when Blaine was shipping them before, count yourself lucky but don't expect that to go on indefinitely.  If you don't like the fees, talk to your elected representatives (assuming you live in a democracy) about eliminating them.

Earth/Faith, tattoo or marker?

Elephants in Denmark.  No soap, radio!

LOL No Elephants or Hippos. Earth/Faith on DB's wrist. Is that a tattoo OR written in sharpie (marker) ink?

Looks like magic marker to me.  Tattoos are usually better-defined, even when done in a prison with a sewing needle and ballpoint pen ink - those look smeared by sweat and skin oils.

"Would some kind soul tell me who the J♦️, Q♣️ and the K♣️ are based on, please."

Looks like

JD is Doug McKenzie
KC is Dan White
QC is Alizee Guinochet

those are my guesses......

Hey

Thanks for the reply, however, they are most definitely not your guesses, I'm afraid, with the possible exception of Dan White being K♣️.

Doug McKenzie is usually the K♣️ (but doesn't seem to appear in the Black Lions) and Alizee is always the Q♠️. The J ♦️ is still an enigma...

This is a quote from the Playing Card Wiki with the most recent info they have on David's courts, coming from the Split Spades Lions:

"Some of the court cards feature special faces; The King of Spades is David Blaine, The Queen of Hearts is his mother, the Queen of Spades is Lonneke Engel (a close friend), the Queen of Clubs is Denise (one of the producers), the King of Hearts is Bill Kalush, the King of Clubs is his friend from HS named Lou, the Jack of Hearts is Mark Stutzman (who drew the deck), the Jack of Spades is his brother, the Jack of Diamonds is Dan White, and the Jack of Clubs is Doug McKenzie."

PCW was a great resource in its day but is woefully out-of-date today.  I wish it could have been maintained.

[Blackjacker]

So are we going have the shipping issues with the Blue Decks?

Got tracking number a couple a days ago and still no movement. Looks to be same issue as with Black Decks.

I got a shipping notice and tracking # on the 19th for a blue brick.

Just got notice that it was delivered at 11:11 this morning. Hopefully I get home before the blizzard buries it.

[PrincessTrouble]

FWIW, the registration on my blue decks is better than the registration on my black decks.  Though it's probably just luck of the draw.

[krisnapati]

Hi, just got my black lion 3 days ago and its traditionally cut, but for me it doesn't matter if it's not, the more important is how the card handle and feels, over all they not good as Gator back, i had my gator last longer than black lion, 1st i pull the card from the box hold it in my hand the bottom and the top card start to banded, after few table shuffle the start bending all of them, but after few break spring cut etc i place them into the box clip in card clip they good to go again, i don't like the fact that the marking system is really hard to read, especially when you are performer, i prefers madison marking system more easy to read, if you magician, hidden or not people not really care about it as long as they enjoy your performance. but over all i love the black lion, they stand out and really cool deck by it self

CMIIW

[Don Boyer]

Hi, just got my black lion 3 days ago and its traditionally cut, but for me it doesn't matter if it's not, the more important is how the card handle and feels, over all they not good as Gator back, i had my gator last longer than black lion, 1st i pull the card from the box hold it in my hand the bottom and the top card start to banded, after few table shuffle the start bending all of them, but after few break spring cut etc i place them into the box clip in card clip they good to go again, i don't like the fact that the marking system is really hard to read, especially when you are performer, i prefers madison marking system more easy to read, if you magician, hidden or not people not really care about it as long as they enjoy your performance. but over all i love the black lion, they stand out and really cool deck by it self

CMIIW

The marking system is more of an unadvertised extra feature - they aren't ideal for many applications because of the difficulty of reading them, but at the same time they're more difficult for a spectator to notice, especially because they aren't in the typical location for card markings (the top left and bottom right corners, as these are the corners most likely to be exposed when a player is holding a hand of cards and you can only see the backs).

[52whitelions]

Has anyone else noticed that the cut of the black lions vs the white lions (black label) is different?  Im not 100% sure, but the stock, quality, and cut feel different.

For instance, I cant faro shuffle consistently with any of my white lions, but the black lions will practically faro themselves.  Anyone else have a hard time faro'ing with the white lions (series b/black label)  ?

[Don Boyer]

Has anyone else noticed that the cut of the black lions vs the white lions (black label) is different?  Im not 100% sure, but the stock, quality, and cut feel different.

For instance, I cant faro shuffle consistently with any of my white lions, but the black lions will practically faro themselves.  Anyone else have a hard time faro'ing with the white lions (series b/black label)  ?

Regarding faro shuffles, I noticed that the White Lions will faro top to bottom while the Black Lions are the reverse, faro shuffling from bottom to top.  It has to do with the cut made when the cards were die-punched from the paper.  White Lions use the "modern cut", where cards are punched face-up, from back to front as the die penetrates the paper, making them beveled for a top-to-bottom faro.  Modern cut is more efficient for manufacturers, but not as good for table shuffles.  Traditionally-cut cards are cut out face-down, with the die penetrating the face and coming out the back.  This allows for easier shuffling and bottom-to-top faro shuffles, meaning you can table shuffle them face down and make a faro rather than having to hold them face up.

I learned from USPC at the last 52+Joker convention that the company occasionally has trouble feeding paper in the cutter one way and will flip it before cutting it if this is the case, so the Black Lions were "accidentally" traditionally cut likely because of paper feed problems.  Many magicians prefer the traditional cut and casinos for the most part insist on it for their custom-made decks.

The quality of the paper is a little more subjective, but the consensus seems to be that the WLs had a better stock than the BLs.

[52whitelions]

Regarding faro shuffles, I noticed that the White Lions will faro top to bottom while the Black Lions are the reverse, faro shuffling from bottom to top.  It has to do with the cut made when the cards were die-punched from the paper.  White Lions use the "modern cut", where cards are punched face-up, from back to front as the die penetrates the paper, making them beveled for a top-to-bottom faro.  Modern cut is more efficient for manufacturers, but not as good for table shuffles.  Traditionally-cut cards are cut out face-down, with the die penetrating the face and coming out the back.  This allows for easier shuffling and bottom-to-top faro shuffles, meaning you can table shuffle them face down and make a faro rather than having to hold them face up.

I learned from USPC at the last 52+Joker convention that the company occasionally has trouble feeding paper in the cutter one way and will flip it before cutting it if this is the case, so the Black Lions were "accidentally" traditionally cut likely because of paper feed problems.  Many magicians prefer the traditional cut and casinos for the most part insist on it for their custom-made decks.

The quality of the paper is a little more subjective, but the consensus seems to be that the WLs had a better stock than the BLs.

Thanks Dan! You seem to have a plethora of knowledge when it comes to cards!  So, are  you saying that if I take my White Lions and flip them (face up), i should be able to faro them as normal as I can with the traditionally cut Black lions? 

[HankMan]

Thanks Dan! You seem to have a plethora of knowledge when it comes to cards!  So, are  you saying that if I take my White Lions and flip them (face up), i should be able to faro them as normal as I can with the traditionally cut Black lions? 

Well practically yes, that will be the case. However it you continue to break in the deck you should be able to get both deck to faro easily both way facing up or facing down.

As I did to the black lion, I start with the face down faro and repeat that a few times then try doing the face up faro. If it doesn't work repeat the process. You can also add other things such as riffle shuffle, dribble, spring lepaul spread in between.

Check out on youtube (52kards) the break in process and once you get that done, faro shouldn't be a problem both way.

[52whitelions]

As I did to the black lion, I start with the face down faro and repeat that a few times then try doing the face up faro. If it doesn't work repeat the process. You can also add other things such as riffle shuffle, dribble, spring lepaul spread in between.

Thanks!  Did your black lions come traditionally cut as mine did?  A lot of people seem to have received theirs modern cut and arent able to faro them out of the box.  I think we may have lucked out and got some from a batch that was cut traditionally...   

[HankMan]

Yup I got mine traditional cut as well. but I only open 1 out of the 12..

[52whitelions]

Yup I got mine traditional cut as well. but I only open 1 out of the 12..

Just opened my second deck of my brick and its traditionally cut as well...so far so good!

[HolyJJ]

Whilst I'm definitely not the world's biggest USPCC fan, I did like the White Lions decks very much -- the cards where thicker, and definitely a lot more durable than present day USPCC output.

I used quite a lot of White Lions decks back in the day, and all of them were traditionally cut, and that was another reason why I liked them so much.

The Black Lions cards were probably amongst the worst I've ever handled... but the White Lions were definitely amongst the best USPCC decks I've ever handled, along with the Richard Turner gold seal Bee decks

[fenderdemon]

Whilst I'm definitely not the world's biggest USPCC fan, I did like the White Lions decks very much -- the cards where thicker, and definitely a lot more durable than present day USPCC output.

I used quite a lot of White Lions decks back in the day, and all of them were traditionally cut, and that was another reason why I liked them so much.

The Black Lions cards were probably amongst the worst I've ever handled... but the White Lions were definitely amongst the best USPCC decks I've ever handled, along with the Richard Turner gold seal Bee decks

I couldn't agree more, Holy. The stock the White Lions Series Series A (Blue) offered and Series B offer, is exceptionally good. I'm sure the Series A Red is just as good, however, I don't see the point of opening one of mine.

When David was selling the Series B Collectors Boxes, (12 decks in each box) I managed to snag 8 of them for $99.99 each. That equates to $8.33 or £5.78 at today's conversion rate. An absolute steal, IMHO.

In fact, I'd go as far as saying, that they're one of the best decks I've ever handled and they last ages, to boot.