The Crimson Deck by Laura London and the Other Brothers

With the Crimson Deck you can do several different effects which are pretty impressive and easy to do. The effect presented by Laura London is as follows: The spectator picks a card, returns it to the deck and its’ location is unknown. The performer guesses the card through a body language reading routine and then when the card is fanned on the table, the selected card is gone. The spectator then picks up the empty card box and in it is a mercury folded card…the selected card. No mercury folding skills needed.

With your $40 purchase of the Crimson Deck you get a gaffed deck of Bicycle cards packaged in a super cool box and a password protected downloadable set of instructional videos.

First, let’s talk about the deck. What you get is something that any magician is familiar with. The deck is mostly normal, with a few gaffed add-ins. What this does for you is allows you to perform effects that would require decent sleight of hand skills without any such skill. It would have been possible to sell the trick with just the referenced add-ins and to have skipped the elaborate packaging, as I will describe in a moment. This would have likely lowered the purchase price, which some may think is just a tad too much. You could perform some limited other card tricks with this deck, but you would need to pick some simple tricks that don’t require a significant amount of shuffling and spectator handling. Other than the previously referenced add-ins, the deck is a normal deck of Bikes.

The packaging of the deck is fantastic. It is the gold standard to present a deck of cards in a box, if you want to do that. Although the packaging box is not needed, because you just get a deck of cards, I am very impressed by the presentation. I like the way this gaffed deck is able to sit in the closet in the packaging and it is easily identifiable. For many of my other one-trick pony gaffed decks, I write the name of the trick on the bottom edge of the card box. This trick does not need that treatment because it has its own very special storage case.

You get four (4) videos with your purchase. The first is a presentation of Laura London’s routine and then her explanation. The entire video is 14 minutes. During the presentation London is sitting in what looks like a restaurant booth with three spectators. The presentation is good and I enjoyed the way she amazingly divined the selected card, but the three spectator’s laughing and overacting was somewhat annoying as was the poor audio quality of the recording. The second video is a very direct card-across type of presentation and instruction by Nicholas Lawrence. It is very good and fooling and very easy to learn and perform. The final routine is presented by one of the Other Brothers to his associate, Max, which requires a bit more skill (an Elmsley count) and it is excellent. The video is 11 minutes long and he explains how to make one card move from a small packet held by the performer into another packet held by the spectator. The final video is less than a minute in which Laura London credits the Mirage deck for the inspiration in creating the Crimson Deck.

With this deck, I think there are so many routines that you can create with a bit of imagination.

The ad copy states:

“The most innocent, yet diabolical gaffed deck of cards!

From television and the real-world working repertoire of Laura London, comes the most versatile gaffed deck of cards: The Crimson Deck!

The Crimson Deck is a brand-new utility in the world of trick cards that allows you to have a card selected in the fairest manner possible. Just spread the cards, and then let the spectator place their selection back into the deck themselves. So far, you couldn’t ask for a more fair process. The magician can then spread the cards and there are only 51… the spectator’s selection has vanished. It can then appear in the card box that just a moment ago held the deck and has been in the spectator’s possession, or anywhere else you want it to appear!

– Ready to perform right out of the box

– Comes with full routines by: Laura London, Nicholas Lawrence, and The Other Brothers

– Simple enough for beginners, powerful enough for pros.

– Includes multiple, separate, in-depth instructional videos

Unlike most gaffed decks, this is not a one trick pony. Multiple, different style routines are taught and once you have it in your hands, you’ll find yourself inventing your own routines as well!

You can perform standard sleight of hand card magic, then use the features of The Crimson Deck to achieve the impossible, then end with your favorite card trick closer, all without a single deck switch. Try doing that with an Invisible Deck!”

The Crimson Deck is great for magicians of any skill level. When you perform this trick you need to have a table or surface that is capable of fanning the cards. The deck can pass a visual inspection, but cannot be handled by your spectators.

This is a very clever application of an age-old magical technique that creates the ability to perform super fantastic effects with no skill. I have no problem getting behind this product as your spectators will reward you with accolades.

Thanks to Murphy’s Magic for sending me this deck to review. It is available at any Murphy’s Magic dealer for those that want to get their hand on this one!