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OCD Deck

Andrew Gerrard

SM Productionz

(Based on 2 reviews)
This deck does everything for you and you can even perform it surrounded. Imagine having the spectator holding a shuffled deck of playing cards along with their signed card somewhere in the deck. They shake the deck, and the entire deck, including their signed card, rearranges itself back into new deck order; Ace to king. It's a jaw dropping miracle that you and your audience are going to have a lot of fun with.

Reviews

Jeff Stone

Official Reviewer

Jul 12, 2014

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a bit OCD . . . it runs in the blood of the magi. I'll bet many of y'all (yep . . . y'all) are a bit OCD as well. We've all dreamed of or actually seen an effect where the totally shuffled deck un-shuffles itself by the snap of a finger, wave of the hand, [insert magic gesture here], etc. Here's another in a long line of effects that solve this "problem."

  • Effect

  • Method

  • Ad Copy Integrity

  • Product Quality


Effect


A card is "selected" and signed. It's replaced somewhere in the deck. The deck is spread and is clearly mixed up. A moment later all the cards are in order. No deck switch. Keep in mind that this is a one-trick wonder. So if you want to go on to other effects, you'll have to switch out the deck. Also, if this is not your first trick in the set, you'll have to ring in the deck too. When I say no deck switch, I'm referring to the fact that during the effect, only one deck is used, and a switch is not used to create the effect of the shuffled deck "un-shuffling."

Method


Basically the gimmicked deck does all the work for you. My guess is that you may have a thought about how the method works, and you're probably right. However, this deck has some built in subtleties that really add to the illusion and is slightly different from other versions of this kind of gimmicked deck. The method is very easy and very doable.

Ad Copy Integrity


The ad copy is actually very good. There is one small consideration, however. In the ad copy it says that the spectator holds the shuffled deck and then shakes it causing the cards to rearrange into new deck order. This is actually true. However, they're actually holding the card box with the cards inside of it. In other words, if they were to handle the cards while out of the box . . . ooopsie . . . cat's out of the bag. Other than that, the ad copy is legit.

Product Quality


The gimmicked deck is very well made. The design of it makes the handling of it super easy and super smooth. The cards are Bicycle brand so you know the quality's good. The box also has a nice little marking on it that let's you see at a glance that it's your OCD deck, so it's easy to keep it separate from your standard deck. That's a nice touch. The DVD was simple and straightforward. My only complaint is that there is 29 minutes of commercial, and 9 minutes of instruction. Granted, the 9 minutes was enough to pretty much cover everything.

I certainly like DVDs that don't over-explain everything, but I'd also like it to not under-explain everything either. This one comes pretty close to striking a good balance between the two, but is a little bit on the side of under-explaining.

Final Thoughts


For $35 you get a very easy to use, well made, super clever gimmick and a super short instruction DVD. If you liked the effect explained above, you'll be ecstatic about your purchase. It's money well spent. Go for it.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!

(Top ▲)

Bryce Kuhlman

Official Reviewer

Feb 18, 2014

This is one tricked-out deck!

The effect is exactly as described in the product description and demo video. A shuffled deck rights itself into order, with even a selected card in its rightful position.

Let’s start with the card box. Yeah, the card box. No, it’s not gimmicked. But it does tell you exactly what deck it is on the bottom of the case (where the UPC code usually resides). Since this is a one-trick-only deck, that’s a pretty clever way to keep it from getting confused with other decks (normal or gimmicked).

For those of you who are sticklers for accuracy, you should note that the “righted” deck is not actually in new deck order. Rather it is in Ace-King order (from the face) for all four suits. Unless you’re working for people who play cards all the time, this order actually looks more natural than true new-deck order. So I tend to agree with their choice. However, I believe you could rearrange the deck and have it end up in new-deck order if you want (but don’t quote me on that).

The method is not new, but the folks at SansMinds have made some adjustments to the method to make it more foolproof for this particular effect. They also have some optional touches for the final display that you can choose to incorporate, or not.

The basic effect requires no sleight of hand, whatsoever. Just show the mixed-up deck, put it in the box, and dump out a deck that has righted itself.

But with a little more effort, you can really turn this into full performance piece. Add a few shuffles. Have a card selected, signed and returned. After the effect, you can give them the signed card. But note that the selected card is not a “free selection.” If you want to give the card away, or change the card from one performance to another, you’ll need a tiny bit of time to reset.
(Top ▲)