Title: Svenlopes
Artist: Sven Lee
Producers: Murphy’s Magic
Link: Available At Your Favorite Murphy’s Magic Dealer
Retail Price: $24.95 USD
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Note: No Tutorial. Download PDF Only


I love me some utility props! Any avid reader of my reviews will know that I usually give strong reviews in favor of props that yield magical results without limiting the performer to a specific method of execution. Props that provide versatile applications that allow the magi to think, create, and incorporate their own style and character are sorely understated in the industry today. Svenlopes fall into that versatile prop category and do so with great delight, at least on my part.

The Svengali principle in magic is well known. Even hacks have made small fortunes hawking Svengali decks to laypeople. So as a performance option I think it gets overlooked a lot. I think a lot of people underestimate the power of a Svengali principle, and when it’s not presented in the context of a deck of cards, I think it will fly by most lay folk and magicians alike.

What you get is a PDF outlining the basic concept, and a few ideas of how to apply it, and 50 well crafted Svenlopes to implement in your dirty work. What you ultimately use them for is up to you, but I’d consider it a severe waste of an opportunity to limit them to simple card reveals. The paper in the envelopes are thick and kind of plastic like. They should hold up reasonably well thru multiple uses. Different colors are planned and currently in production, just in case standard black doesn’t fit your fancy. Though different colors are expected to retail at a slightly higher cost than the standard black ones. They handle well, and resets about as fast as any Svengali deck would; minus any additional reset needed based upon individual application. They come packaged in a nice plastic box which will keep them in good condition when not in use. Also you get 50 of them! You may not need to perform with all 50, so if you use less then you have extras in case you need to create a different routine or one of them wears out.

This is a tool. So it’s only going to be as good as the application used for. But with the right creativity, I think this could go a long way. From strolling, to stage this is something you’ll want to have in your tool box when creating your own magical routines. I highly recommend it!


When I give my product scores below I am measuring them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 Being absolute the worst score possible, and 10 being the absolute best, making a score of five average. The three points that I grade upon is Product Quality, Teaching Quality, and Overall Quality.

Product Quality: 9
Simple and easy to use. Wide range of applications, packs small and plays big.

Teaching Quality: 7
The PDF gives you some great starting ideas.

Overall Quality: 9
Great idea! Many applications.


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Thank You for this review, William. You have been writing up reviews for quite some time even back to the Penguin forum days. Your reviews have always been thorough, helpful and much appreciated.