Here's my 2 cents. I have my deck I perform shows with (Blue Monarchs). Throughout the week I always carry random decks and switch it up. So one day I'll grab Jetsetters, another I'll grab Soundboards, etc. This is one of those decks. I do collect but I also use my cards (not daily of course). Sometimes people will ask me questions about the cards: Where did I get them? How many different decks are there, etc. By the way the whole myth about people thinking you're using a trick deck if it's not a "familiar" deck is complete bull. I have never had a single person say that. I have heard it all the time when I use Rider Backs however (I think everyone here is smart enough to know this by now tho). Moving on. For this deck I would say, it's a limited edition deck you could only buy on Black Friday 2015, only 500 were made, and then educate them if they get more curious. Magic doesn't have to be about look at me doing all these tricks. Most of the time I'll do a trick and talk to someone after about card collecting, which may lead to what they collect, what they do for a living, and next thing you know you made a new friend. This is in a casual setting: at paid gigs I do chat for a few seconds but then move on to another table.
I agree about how using a custom deck won't automatically trigger the thought that the deck is a trick deck. However, audiences tend to be more at ease - and less attentive - when you use cards that they're familiar with, or at the least ones very similar to what they use. It's one reason why performing magicians tend not to use custom decks. The bigger reason they don't use them as a general rule is that they COST A LOT MORE and can be costly or even nigh impossible to replace! I can't tell you how many custom decks I ruined by using them for performance in public. Third reason is that a standard deck, especially Bicycle Rider Backs, will match with the majority of gaff cards and gaff decks on the market, whereas a custom deck might not - unless you shell out even more cash for custom-deck gaffs.
As a magician, when I see a fellow magician using a pack of Bikes, I'm MORE suspicious, not less! If I see a custom deck, sure, maybe there's a hidden marking system, a gaffed card or a stripped edge or something, but the odds are a lot slimmer than they would be if he was using Bikes. The only exception would be when a magician is performing with their own deck design - in such cases, they'll often have custom gaffed versions created as well.
Point of all this - Black Friday is an odd choice for a deck theme. Might as well choose Maundy Thursday, Saint Swithen's Day or Payroll Tuesday... It's not a holiday like Christmas or Easter or Independence Day, it's not a sporting event like the Olympics or the World Cup - it's a day that, up until the last few years, was thought of as the busiest day of the shopping year. It's not even like Friday the 13th, a day closely associated with superstition and bad luck occurring a few times a year! Because of the impact of Internet shopping, Black Friday's significance has sharply dropped, to the point where fewer and fewer people bother with creating mob scenes. I'm told that this year, Black Friday was fairly tepid, especially compared not only to years past but to Cyber Monday. Talk Like a Pirate Day would be a better choice, I'd think - but that's just my opinion, for what that's worth. I'm sure all 500 decks sold at their full price and a few hundred collectors were happy to have them added to there collections - not every deck on planet Earth has to pass my standards! (If they did, there'd be a lot fewer decks...)
But hey - at least it's not dedicated to "Going Out of Business Day"...
(Read 2652 times)
