Price$25.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedOct 21, 2003
The Cassandra Deck
Hilford, Docc
Docc Hilford
(Based on 2 reviews)
The Cassandra Deck is unlike anything you've seen before. Here are just two of the many effects possible:
* You write a prediction on a slip of paper and place it aside. The deck is slowly shown to a spectator. She sees that every card is different. It is riffled toward her again and this time she silently remembers any card she sees. You're able to tell her exactly which card she mentally chose! And better yet, written on the slip of paper is the name of the same card
* A deck of cards is shown to contain all different cards, then wrapped with a rubber band and tossed into the audience. Any number of people can peek at cards and you identify each person's card! Not all the cards at once, but each card one at a time
Important Features
* The deck can be ribbon spread on a table to show all 52 different cards.
* There are no specially printed cards, nothing added or taken away.
* Each card can be chosen by hand or examined by the spectator.
* You know exactly where any thought-of card is in the deck.
* The deck can be cut and shuffled repeatedly.
* The spectator never has to write anything.
* The effects can be repeated with different cards mentally chosen each time.
* Very easy to do! No memorization or difficult sleight-of-hand required.
Cassandra Deck on Bicycle stock and detailed instructions
Reviews
(Top ▲)
I had a chance to go to a Docc Hilford lecture. (Lecture highly recommended.)
When he flipped through The Cassandra Deckâ„¢ deck for me to chose a card, I noticed three duplicates of the three of clubs. Of course I did not mention it to anyone at the time. Maybe I have the fastest eyes of anyone you know. But I know I will never flip a pumping deck in front of anyone.
When he flipped through The Cassandra Deckâ„¢ deck for me to chose a card, I noticed three duplicates of the three of clubs. Of course I did not mention it to anyone at the time. Maybe I have the fastest eyes of anyone you know. But I know I will never flip a pumping deck in front of anyone.
(Top ▲)
In 1999 Docc Hilford made The Cassandra Deck(TM) available to performers of psychic magic. The cost was $100 per deck. When the limited run of fifty decks was sold out, they were declared unavailable.
Several years later, The Cassandra Deck(TM) is back -- at a quarter of the original price. One wonders how the individuals who paid a c-note for the original release feel about this development.
The Cassandra Deck(TM) is touted in its instructions and ad copy as "revolutionary" and "unlike anything ever before invented." It is neither. What Hilford has done is select certain features from some of the best gaffed decks of the past century and assemble them into a single, highly versatile forcing deck. The Cassandra Deck(TM) makes possible some impressive feats of mind reading, no sleight of hand required. (By the way, if you're thinking of marketing a product called "The Cassandra Deck(TM)" you'll have to think again because the name "The Cassandra Deck(TM)" is trademarked. I think.)
A basic way of handling The Cassandra Deck(TM) would be to riffle the cards with the faces toward a volunteer, requesting that he or she mentally note one card. Following a series of questions disguised as statements -- what one might call a "pumping" procedure -- the performer is able to identify the color, suit and value of the mentally selected card. This is just one of a number of possible approaches.
The Cassandra Deck(TM) is a well-made utility item, and it can no doubt be used to great effect. How great is dependant entirely on the performer's creativity and theatrical skill. In the wrong hands it will be a magician's prop, a gaffed deck. In the right hands it will be the basis for performing something more than a card trick. (The instructions conclude by strongly suggesting one purchase Fem Fatal: 64 Sinful Secrets of The Cassandra Deck(TM) reviewed here.)
Three and a half stars
Several years later, The Cassandra Deck(TM) is back -- at a quarter of the original price. One wonders how the individuals who paid a c-note for the original release feel about this development.
The Cassandra Deck(TM) is touted in its instructions and ad copy as "revolutionary" and "unlike anything ever before invented." It is neither. What Hilford has done is select certain features from some of the best gaffed decks of the past century and assemble them into a single, highly versatile forcing deck. The Cassandra Deck(TM) makes possible some impressive feats of mind reading, no sleight of hand required. (By the way, if you're thinking of marketing a product called "The Cassandra Deck(TM)" you'll have to think again because the name "The Cassandra Deck(TM)" is trademarked. I think.)
A basic way of handling The Cassandra Deck(TM) would be to riffle the cards with the faces toward a volunteer, requesting that he or she mentally note one card. Following a series of questions disguised as statements -- what one might call a "pumping" procedure -- the performer is able to identify the color, suit and value of the mentally selected card. This is just one of a number of possible approaches.
The Cassandra Deck(TM) is a well-made utility item, and it can no doubt be used to great effect. How great is dependant entirely on the performer's creativity and theatrical skill. In the wrong hands it will be a magician's prop, a gaffed deck. In the right hands it will be the basis for performing something more than a card trick. (The instructions conclude by strongly suggesting one purchase Fem Fatal: 64 Sinful Secrets of The Cassandra Deck(TM) reviewed here.)
Three and a half stars