In mid 2019 the popular cardistry crew lotusinhand released Echo Playing Cards, which made the bold decision to remove all suits from the faces and replace them with the same circle shape that appears on the card backs. It proved to be a real hit in the world of card flourishing, and now we have something similar with the new Sphere deck from Magic Encarta and Vivek Singhi.



Vivek's previous releases include the Chess Club deck, and tutorials for a number of sleight of hand moves for magicians, and some card flourishes. With this deck he's especially catering to the cardistry crowd, hence the vibrant colours. The tuck box features a simple presentation that captures what this deck is all about: a solid multi-coloured circle, with a second multi-coloured circle around it.

The card backs feature the same design that's on the front and back of the tuck box, with twin circles, and a multi-coloured border that frames the edges of cards, in a one-way design. The colours and feel remind me a little of Sergio Roca's Odyssey decks, although with a different design courtesy of the circle shape. There's a lot of white space, but the intriguing and vibrant colours make up for that, with a circular design that is particularly geared to spins, twirls, and pivoting cuts.



But the real drawcard for me is that the faces of all the cards feature this same circular design, instead of the usual pips or court characters. For the faces the borders have been eliminated and replaced with simple indices, with red for the Hearts and Diamonds and blue for the Spades and Clubs. Even the Jokers get similar treatment. The ad copy says that the deck is "Inspired by the traditional art form of moulding multi colored lac using heat, compression and rolling techniques", and quite honestly I have no idea what that means. But I know a simple eye-catching design when I see one, and this definitely qualifies.

The two extra cards are both duplicate Two of Clubs but with a twist: one only has the inner circle on the card back, while the other only has the outer circle on the card back. This is begging for a clever colour change style magic routine, and perhaps the creators have something specific in mind with these; a video tutorial or performance would be welcome. Meanwhile USPCC's thin crush stock and modern cut ensures that the cardist will enjoy handling these straight from the box. We've seen a lot of cardistry decks emphasizing triangular and similar geometric shapes, so it's nice to have something minimalist and colourful which instead focuses on another shape that cardists can make good use of: the sphere.