Just got a few Svengali Decks made up with Bicycle card stock (I needed a Poker size deck to fit my Card Duck, my pitch decks are bridge size).

The decks worked OK, but I was disappointed, especially considering the $6+ price. The key cards were not cut evenly, and they were not cut quite as deeply as I'm used to. Frankly, the pitch decks I get have better workmanship, even if the card stock isn't quite as thick.

These decks come from Paramount, California, so I suspect they are probably made up by Magic City. Somebody needs to sharpen their paper cutter! SETH

I believe they are the magic City decks. I've had stripper decks made by them that were so poorly cut they wouldn't work. I ended up using them to make 3 Card Monte. Sorry to hear things haven't improved.

Hello Seth and Sleeveless:

I just read your posts and I have good news for you! The finest quality custom cards, are made by Marty Martini out of Delta, Pa He has been making custom cards for 25 years now, and they are BEAUTIFUL Nice sharp cuts and smooth rounded corners.

I had a special Svengali deck made up for a card trick I was doing. Marty will make up any key card of your choice for the deck. it is a work of art and the price is only around $7.50 he makes up forced decks, strippers, anything you want. He also has publications and other card tricks for sale.

Email Marty, you will be glad you did, he is an all around swell guy to do business with and he is very prompt in getting the orders to you.

PM me for his e mail address

ROD

Just wanted to add this to my post......YES! they are BIKE card stock.

ROD

Thanks, Rod, for the info, I will definitely look Marty up.

Too bad I only need 3-4 decks, otherwise I would go to Wal-Mart, buy 4 dozen Bike decks, take 'em to a printshop for trimming, and make up the darn decks myself. SETH

I have known Marty for 40 years.He used to come in the Yogi Magic Mart that I worked in Baltimore back in the early 70's.Like Rod said,he's one of the good guy's.

Later,Don

Hello Seth:

Hey you are very welcome. Yes, Marty can make up any amount of decks you need. If you only need 3 or 4 decks made up, he will do it. His cards are so well done, that they feel like silk to perform with, he puts those all important rounded edges on the cards that really make the difference.

Hope you have a chance to do business with Marty.

ROD

Yes Don,

Marty does a great job with custom card work , and he really cares about quality. His work is flawless. See you down the road.

ROD

Anyone interested in the Svengali pitch should pick up *********'s "The Long and Short of It." I highly recommend it.

The "Long and Short of It" has NOTHING to do with the Svengali pitch.Save your money! ( I'm sure Mark will read this and he'll attack me at another fourm...but whats new)

Don

The "Long & Short of It" does have a couple of interesting handlings of the deck, which could possibly help you to be more natural when working with the deck. But overall I agree with Don, I feel it's more of a magician's view of the deck than a pitchman's -- so it's sort of optional for the pitch, which is more about saying the right words than having fancy moves.

And I still had to work out my own DL anyway, which is a bit different from the one that Don teaches or the one that Mark shows. In the end, you have to find out what works for you. SETH

I was right,he's attacking me at another fourm...hahaha.

I just bought a deck of Svengali at a local magic store.
I didn't ask for anything in peticular, but I got a Bike deck.
They charged me $10. I'm sure my jaw dropped when they did.

I just bought a deck of Svengali at a local magic store.
I didn't ask for anything in peticular, but I got a Bike deck.
They charged me $10. I'm sure my jaw dropped when they did.

Glad you got the Bikes, Kim, that's great. That makes it easy to ring in a straight Bike deck at the right moment! BTW, I have found that just specifying Bikes does not necessarily guarantee you a good quality Svengali Deck.

I recently got some Svengali Bike decks from Magic City in California, and a few from Haines House of Cards. The Magic City decks were a mess -- none of the key cards were cut the same length, and none had rounded corners. The Haines decks were great -- evenly cut keys and rounded corners, too. And they were cheaper than the Magic City decks! So go figure.

BTW, these were NOT for pitching (way too expensive for that purpose), I bought them to feed my Card Duck. The Magic City decks fed my paper shredder instead. SETH

HI Seth,and thanks. I was actually hoping to get a deck from one of the recommended suppliers to see the quality I'd get if I ordered from then AND to see what they actually sold for in a magic shop. I can't rememebr the last deck of cards I bought in a shop, I usually get cards 12 packs at a time nowadays at Costco or BJ.

I buy them from Loftus, and stripper bikes too ... never had a problem with the quality.

-JoeJoe

I love dealing with Marty, have so for many years also.

C

I like MM because: buy as many (or few) as you want same price, very slick, A of D key card (on the blue decks), neat free package to put both the deck AND the TCM inside, has a web site, shows basic moves. But: thinner stock, so more flexible, very small difference between key cards and indifferent cards, harder to do DL.

All in all, ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances (I think I've heard that somewhere...).

Jon