Chameleons from EPCC Designed by Asi Wind

[Justin O.]

Chameleons from EPCC
Chameleons is the latest incredible deck series from EPCC. Designed by world-renowned magician Asi Wind and made from Expert's Classic stock, the deck feels familiar yet superior to standard decks. It's engineered to be the ultimate deck for magicians to use to improve performance and is the first release for the Expert Signature Series of playing cards. This series will feature decks designed by the real superstars of magic and cardistry!

Deck Details:
Expert’s Classic stock ensures that these decks won't vary from deck to deck.
The cut is always perfect for faro shuffles (bottom up and tabled).
The registration is perfect, so they are beautiful and the borders don’t flutter when riffled.
The deck comes in Mnemonica order cut to the Ace of spades (on the bottom). Any Mnemonica user is ready to do miracles just by opening a brand new deck in front of a spectator, removing the jokers and cutting once.
And the most exciting thing is that these decks all come in tuck cases made of Expert's new exclusive synthetic paper. These amazing tucks are waterproof and will last and last. The worn out tuck box problem plaguing working magicians is now a thing of the past.

Metallic Red, $9.95
Metallic Blue, $9.95
Ultra Luxury Metallic Green with Foil on the cards, $19.95.
This version comes in a specially designed tuck with a die cut hole so that the beautiful iridescent foil stamped on each card back can be seen even while the deck is safely boxed.

[Don Boyer]

Guys, I got a few packs of these last week - I took photos of the green deck for a story in CARD CULTURE #8, out today, about Expert PCC stocks/finishes.  (I got a great shot of the iridescent foil on the card back, you can really see it reflect nicely!)

They're excellent - the stock has that "just right" level of firmness; not too stiff, not too soft.  It reminds me of Tally Ho and Aristocrat stocks.  It's a great working magician's deck and the synthetic tuck box material is incredible stuff - thin but strong.  (Just remember, the tuck paper is waterproof, but the tuck box ISN'T watertight!  Don't submerge your cards!!) 

[Justin O.]

I'm not familiar with Mnemonica order, but it seems like something that is relatively well known, though I haven't found a good explanation of what it is or where it comes from..?


Side note: I had a heck of a time getting the link to display, not as a url, but as the name of the deck, I probably spent 15 minutes fumbling through the code trying to figure out why it was making the entire paragraph a hyperlink or duplicating the link before I finally got it to work. Stupid coding.

[Don Boyer]

I'm not familiar with Mnemonica order, but it seems like something that is relatively well known, though I haven't found a good explanation of what it is or where it comes from..?


Side note: I had a heck of a time getting the link to display, not as a url, but as the name of the deck, I probably spent 15 minutes fumbling through the code trying to figure out why it was making the entire paragraph a hyperlink or duplicating the link before I finally got it to work. Stupid coding.

There's a famous magician named Juan Tamariz who wrote a book called "Mnemonica."  In it, he discusses working with a stacked deck - a deck that has been pre-arranged into a specific order.  Using his specific order, known as the "Mnemonica stack," allows a magician to start performing some really excellent magic from the instructions in the book.  Buying a deck that comes pre-arranged in the Mnemonica stack, cut with the Ace of Spades to the bottom face-down, allows you to make a single cut and start working stacked-deck miracles immediately, no need for fancy pre-arranging.  David Blaine often offers his decks in the same stack, though sometimes only in one of the colors he offers for a specific deck design.

Using stacked decks, you make some false cuts to keep it in the stack order or you do some faro shuffles to get the deck into a specific order that allows you to do some really cool magic, then faro it again to do something else, etc.  It's a very powerful form of magic, and if you're good at perfect weave shuffles (faro shuffles), you can rearrange the deck and know in advance what cards are where, etc.

There are other stacks out there, but his book is very popular among magicians, and I'd say that because of magicians like Blaine and Wind, it's currently the most popular deck stack in use today.

[HolyJJ]

Man, if my current account balance wasn't so dangerously close to zero, I'd have picked up a brick of these without second thought!

They look pretty cool. I hope LPCC have these for sale in the near future, because their international shipping rates are much kinder to my wallet.

[Don Boyer]

Man, if my current account balance wasn't so dangerously close to zero, I'd have picked up a brick of these without second thought!

They look pretty cool. I hope LPCC have these for sale in the near future, because their international shipping rates are much kinder to my wallet.

Don't bet on it.  The deck was made in a short run - the ad doesn't specify how much, but it's not a lot.  It could sell out through CARC and never see daylight at original retail again.  Seriously, if you can afford it, it's a deck worth buying.  Leave out the green one - it's really cool, gorgeous in fact, but it's also twice the price and if you want it as a working deck, reds and blues will be just fine.  Will there be another printing?  I have no idea, but second printings of limited custom decks like this are as common as outdoor palm trees in Reykjavik.

[HankMan]

Don't bet on it.  The deck was made in a short run - the ad doesn't specify how much, but it's not a lot.  It could sell out through CARC and never see daylight at original retail again.  Seriously, if you can afford it, it's a deck worth buying.  Leave out the green one - it's really cool, gorgeous in fact, but it's also twice the price and if you want it as a working deck, reds and blues will be just fine.  Will there be another printing?  I have no idea, but second printings of limited custom decks like this are as common as outdoor palm trees in Reykjavik.

You actually made me bought 3 decks... you could be a sales too Don... 

[Slowhand]

I think Don could, as that old cliche goes, "Convince an Eskimo to buy Ice!"...  call me Nanook... Just bought the 3 pack...couldn't resist..   

[Don Boyer]

Glad to hear it, guys!  Seriously, you won't regret it.  The box alone makes it a good buy, and the cards are fantastic as well.

[KaiH]

You make them sound so good Don! Can't wait for my decks to get in 

[Don Boyer]

You make them sound so good Don! Can't wait for my decks to get in 

If you join 52+J, you can see them for yourself, up close and personal, right now.  I did an article for CARD CULTURE #08, released this past Wednesday (same day as the cards!) on EPCC stocks/finishes and this deck (green edition) was featured in the pictorial as representative of Classic Finish.  I caught a really cool photo of the metallic foil on the back of the cards that really captures the iridescence very nicely, I think.  That article alone was six pages!  (Yes, I am long-winded...)

[HankMan]

If you join 52+J, you can see them for yourself, up close and personal, right now.  I did an article for CARD CULTURE #08, released this past Wednesday (same day as the cards!) on EPCC stocks/finishes and this deck (green edition) was featured in the pictorial as representative of Classic Finish.  I caught a really cool photo of the metallic foil on the back of the cards that really captures the iridescence very nicely, I think.  That article alone was six pages!  (Yes, I am long-winded...)

I really enjoyed that article, in fact I really like the classic finish. Just like the draconians they last so long and handle superbly.

[PrincessTrouble]

I was really looking forward to these, but have to say that I'm disappointed in EPCC. Registration is off and noticeable on the backs and fronts (look at the 5 of hearts). And the font on the 3s looks bold whereas other numbers look standard (not sure the proper terminology for it).  These issues exist in all three decks.

[Card Player]

Where were these printed, if I may ask?

I remember the Global Titans were manufactured in Shanghai. If these are not available at LPCC, they could be Shanghai decks.

[PrincessTrouble]

EPCC available through CARC.

[HankMan]

I was really looking forward to these, but have to say that I'm disappointed in EPCC. Registration is off and noticeable on the backs and fronts (look at the 5 of hearts). And the font on the 3s looks bold whereas other numbers look standard (not sure the proper terminology for it).  These issues exist in all three decks.

actually this is the same for all standard deck that EPCC created (Zen and Classic Gold)

Where were these printed, if I may ask?

I remember the Global Titans were manufactured in Shanghai. If these are not available at LPCC, they could be Shanghai decks.

it is manufactured in Taiwan, as far as I know EPCC has not used the Shanghai factory since Global Titan.

[Don Boyer]

I was really looking forward to these, but have to say that I'm disappointed in EPCC. Registration is off and noticeable on the backs and fronts (look at the 5 of hearts). And the font on the 3s looks bold whereas other numbers look standard (not sure the proper terminology for it).  These issues exist in all three decks.

The threes - and the twos, if you look - do sometimes appear marginally darker than the other numbers do.  It was never really anything I took note of.  Remember as well, there have been past Expert/Legends decks that used a special light/bold combination on all the card faces, where one index was light and the other was dark - it allowed one to orient the entire deck as a one-way design from the faces, giving a magician an alternate method for finding someone's chosen card.

The registration of that particular 5 of hearts is just a little bit off center, but only by a very small amount, certainly not enough to affect game play.  In your photos, I'm looking harder at the backs - there don't appear to be any off-center backs, right?  That would present a problem in terms of a deck's usefulness.

I looked my deck over.  My 2s and 3s are slightly darker than the other numbers, but not to the point of being a distraction - honestly, had you not pointed it out, I would probably not have paid any attention to it.  My 5 of hearts is centered perfectly and I've spotted no issues with a single card back being off-center.

If you feel that the product is defective, I'm positive that if you contacted CARC with the issue, they'd be happy to try to resolve the problem for you.  Bill Kalush is generally a good guy when it comes to paying attention to customer service.  Write to them at orders@conjuringarts.org and I'm sure they'll be glad to help you.