The Incantation Midnight Edition deck of playing cards is the sister deck to the Incantation Ritual Edition. Printed by Cartamundi in Belgium, it comes with your standard 52 playing cards plus an extra Ace of Spaces, a blank-faced card and two cool Jokers. One joker depicts a tuxedo donned magician (it invokes a classic Thurston the Great magic poster) looking down at a skull that he is holding in his hands with a cartoon speech bubble coming from the Skull’s mouth with the word “Joker” in the bubble. The suit symbols appear between each letter (Diamond, Club, Heart and then Spade). The other Joker is identical in all ways except that the heads are swapped so that the Skull is on the body and the magi’s head is in the hands. I really like that transposition.
Everything about this deck is custom. The symbols and pips have their own unique design. Each card has the value written in letters on the top right and bottom left corners of the cards. Even the layout of the pips of the card face has its own design. The Aces have huge symbols in the middle of the face and the Ace of Spades is about as cool as it gets. It has a huge spade with a large eye in the middle. The Court cards are completely custom and look nothing like what you expect when you open up a standard deck of playing cards. In the ad copy the drawings are described as “vintage Parisian”. You really have to check these out!
The backs of the cards are mostly black with white print for the graphics. The two-way backed design contains two skulls in the profile position, the suit symbols and a very nice design around the edge of the card.
The box has some design that is not seen on the cards as well. On the front, the word “INCANTATION” is printed in the white ink surrounded by a black background underneath bearing the text “MADE FOR SLEIGHT OF HAND” and “GAMES OF CHANCE”. There is a crystal ball with the eye on it that can be found on the Ace of Spades and two candelabras. The other side of the box has the playing card back design and the edges of the box have the symbol icons. The top of the flap bears the words “INCANTATION” and is surrounded by a border graphic.
The ad copy states:
“Inspired by the Spiritualism movement of the early 20th century, the INCANTATION series is a fully custom deck of cards – printed on the ultra-durable Slimline B9 stock from Cartamundi. The deck features 12 unique court cards inspired by the vintage Parisian design – each one was meticulously crafted to bring out the personality of each character while remaining recognizable for use in magic routines.
Available in two different colorsways – the classic Midnight Black Edition features a striking full-bleed black back design and the Ritual Edition comes in a gorgeous shade of seafoam blue.
With a custom pip layout, opposite corner indices and custom “nearly identical” Jokers, this is a truly one-of-a-kind deck with a unique character and feel, allowing you to add an element of story to your routines.
Features
A fully custom magician-oriented deck with 12 unique court cards, functional Jokers, a blank card, and a duplicate Ace of Spades.
Printed on the ultra-durable B9 Slimline stock from Cartamundi.
Limited print run of 1750 decks (Midnight Edition) and 720 decks (Ritual Edition)”
I always love decks with skulls on them and this deck is no exception. The graphics are great and the deck has a very fine design. However, I do prefer the Ritual Edition cards to the Midnight Edition.
I appreciate Murphy’s Magic asking me to review this deck and give my honest feedback. Aa stated above, the quantity is limited and I have no doubt that they will not last for long. They are available at any Murphy’s online dealer. Grab yours!
