Any thoughts on Becker and Earl's The Banned Deck vs. Lesley's Marked Deck?

Sven

I don't know Becker and Earl's, but Lesley's is great. I use it all the time without fear.

I have it on order, but haven't gotten it yet. Will tell you more what I think about it when it arrives here.

In the meantime if you already haven't discovered, you can see how they are marked by looking at the "Mentalism Unlimited" site.

One think that to me is appealing is the deck comes right out of the box in BCS order. I also, as so many other, think the Lesley deck is great. One advantage with the new one, though, is you
don't have to mess around doing the marking yourself.

I'll second Ted Lesley's deck. IMHO the best marked deck there is. So easy to use.
You can even fool other magicians who don't know the secret, even let them inspect the cards if they want.

I use Ted Lesley's Marked Deck as well as Boris Wilde's marked deck. Both are excellent and have great routines available with them.

Kind thoughts,

Kennedy

I agree with some thoughts Doug Dyment shared on this forum a while ago. Basically he states that as mentalists we can't afford to get caught. Magicians have this "luxury" more than ourselves.

The Lesley marked deck is more likely to be seen than others, unfortunately. Some may take this chance, but I know I couldn't. The one Doug suggests and the one I use is Bob Farmer's Farmarx.

Becker's and Earle's marked deck is the best there is. Period.

Thom

...Only in your esteemed opinion. Period.


Dr. Zordas

I bought some of these at MAGIC Live. It is a cool thing which you can use as freely or as rigidly to the system as you like. In the end, however, I must agree; think long and hard about the chance of getting caught.

All that said, the devils, instead of angels, lend themselves to certain occasions. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Cheers,

Tom

Though I intend to find out more about this new marked deck, whenever I use a marked system I use Lesley's. It has always worked very well for me, and due to proper presentation, I've never been caught with it.

I second David's post. A working pro can't afford to get caught. Otherwise, he's no longer a working pro.

Thanks for the advices, guys!
I have never used marked decks, and didn't think I would.
However, I noticed an effect on one of the Lesley DVDs that could be interesting to try out.

Sven

I have been using the Lesley deck for two years now and have never been caught by a layman and only with close friends among magicians (and that's because they now suspect ANY card I hand them and EVERY deck I bring out.) I do realise I am not a working pro, but I have certainly performed more than twice a year with the deck. I have, however, had the opportunity to watch a pro work with this deck and fell this is true: if you handle the cards like they are just a deck of cards, you take more than 90% of the heat off of the deck. Then again, if you are a mentalist and are performing as such, you may want to look to as hands off a method as you can and just learn a good stack system to use in concert with your deck.
I am not advocating the BCS or any other stack, just suggesting you learn one. This would help to lend credibility to your performance.

*NOTE* This only applies if you use cards. Non-users can disregard to previous.

:bg:

Larry Becker & Lee Earles Marked deck is exceptionally clever, it doesn't just tell you what each card is but also the previous card which enables you to have a super clean peek. I love Boris Wilds and Ted Lesleys.

The most important thing with a marked deck is to rig it in and out at the appropriate time. I personally find that the first effect I do with cards is when I may have someone want to inspect the cards, infact on occassion I insist on it, then once the first effect is over I may go into something else then re-introduce a marked deck which they believe is the original deck. I have switched a regular blue backed bicycle deck with the Becker and Earle deck and not been caught.

M.S.

Friends:
your posts about my marked deck are very interesting. With the right handling and misdirection the marks are not detectable and I and zillions of other magicians have never been caught. Even today I fool versed magicians with it. Look at my card-stab for example (it´s on my DVD´s) In this routine it is really impossible to spot the marks.

Any questions? Feel free to ask!

TED LESLEY

Marc....

You are being very modest as you have your own take on the marked deck. Some have said one of the most undetectible marked decks in close up work. I know Peter Nardi regards yours very highly as he couldn't spot the marks even when he knew there were marks..

Peter mentioned it is on the DVDs but which chapter?

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

N.A.M.D. is my Marked Bicycle Deck, which I designed about four or five years ago. It is primarily used in close up as I use Ted Lesley's in Cabaret settings however some do use my marked deck in cabaret settings. Peter did have trouble spotting the system much to my delight...

M.S.

I just got Becker/Earle's Demon Deck. It came with bicycle backs and it is marked with the name of the card selected as well as the previous card in the stack. It also already came set upo in the Break Through Card System stack. If you do any of Mr. Oslerlind's routines with this marked deck, you do not need to see or take a peek at the face of the card to know which card the spectator selected/thought of.

Bedst regards,


Michael

Sorry Kevin,

It is on Chapter Four - The Initiated.

Marc, I'm looking forward to your videos and your MD approach in NAMD.

Regarding the Earle and Becker Banned Deck, I wonder if it is available in Red-backs Bicycles as all of my decks are red-backed

Juan D