The Svengali deck was invented by Burling Hull and marketed by WD LeRoy in 1909. Most magicians will be familiar with the deck as they will have used one when they started out in magic.
Without any sleight of hand, the magician can easily perform some very impressive visual magic and be accredited for having great skill.
The problem with the Svengali deck, and the reason why most professionals do not use them, is the quality of the gimmicking of the deck.
1. The cards were cut with a very deep cut, the corners were left unrounded, or rounded to the wrong size.
2. Looking at a force card it would be obvious that something was amiss. The short sides of the deck also looked terrible.
3. The major problem with the Svengali deck was that if you wanted to let the spectators cut the cards and successfully arrive at one of the 26 shortened force cards, they had to cut the deck using only the short ends.
These problems are now a thing of the past!
The Svengali decks/ Diamond Edition, are made on the world’s finest jig, supplied by Eoin O’Hare www.theperfectshuffle.com
A 1.5 millimetre precision cut is applied to the short sides AND the long sides of the cards.
This may seem like an exceedingly small amount, but it is the ideal cut for the deck to work perfectly and be almost invisible. Corners of the cards are then re-rounded to the correct size.
The deck can now be cut from any side or even the opposite diagonal corners, which is a game changer.
Cards can be dribbled by either the corners or the sides to show them all different or all the same.
Force a card by dribbling the cards from hand to hand and having a spectator calling out stop. Or make multiple plies of cards and have the spectator look at the top card of any pile.
Riffle spread the cards across the table to show them all the same.
With a little finesse you can even perform a regular tabled riffle shuffle and the cards will automatically stay in long and short order.
All the force cards are marked with a centre dot matching the colour of the deck, so you will intuitively know where a force card resides.
The decks ship to you already made, up ready to go.
The non-force cards are also made up of 13 red cards and 13 black cards, not just any random cards thrown in there for good measure!
The force card will not appear in the regular cards.
As these decks are made by hand, we can take the time to give you a perfectly made bespoke deck. You will not find a Svengali deck with all these features commercially available.
No instructions are supplied with the deck. Google Svengali decks and you will find an abundance of free resources available. The deck is extremely easy to use.
We are also exclusively manufacturing Reverse Svengali Decks/Diamond Edition, made with all the same features as our regular Svengali Deck/Diamond Edition.
Imagine a regular Svengali deck made in reverse. The 26 indifferent cards are cut short, both long and short sides. The 26 force cards are left untouched. This gives you some strong bonuses, such as the ability to dribble spread the cards face up on the table, showing they are all different.
In December 2007 David Britland published his amazing “The Bogus Effect” in his Blogspot “Cardopolis.” (If you do not already subscribe I would do so now. It is a fantastic resource and is free!)
A thought of card at any thought of number, in the cleanest fairest and easiest way that you can imagine!
This really is brilliant and went under a lot of magician’s radars. It is my sole reason for producing the Reverse Svengali Deck/Diamond Edition.
David has very kindly given his permission to provide a direct link to his “Bogus Effect.” In fact, David has gone way better than that!
He has now very kindly revisited his “Bogus Effect,” updated the handling and instructions, making it even more fooling!
David has added a performance video featuring our Reversed Svengali Diamond Edition deck. As well as a hints and tips video for the deck and routine, for which I am extremely grateful to him.
If like me, you missed this brilliant effect first time round in 2007 do not make the same mistake again. This is worker and something that you will want to use, no matter what your skill set.
Do not forget to hit David’s ‘Cardopolis’ subscribe button, to say thank you for the gift he has given you!
I have fried layman and magicians alike, in person and lately online. This is a perfect trick for Zoom, just switch a regular deck off camera, and you have a miracle on your hands.
'A very nicely made deck.'
'Precision work as always. At least something good has come out of lockdown! Love the Reverse Svengali Deck and The Bogus effect.'
'The quality of your work and all the little extras make this a no brainer. With free postage these must be the cheapest and best professional grade Svengali decks available!'
Available in either Blue or Red Bicycles as standard at £17 per deck, including first class postage for UK orders. For International orders please email for shipping rates david@handcut-stripperdecks.co.uk
All our decks and cards are produced with real care. If for any reason you are not 100% delighted with your order simply let us know.
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Hand Cut Stripper Decks is part of Corporate Illusion Ltd.