Do you guys think the design of the back contributes to suspicion? For example, Ghosts are clearly a bicycle deck which has been severely faded. On the other hand Centurions look highly customized. Which do you think will arouse more suspicion?
Another question is, what about color? Can somebody show me a deck you can buy in a convenience store which is mostly black on the back, let alone on the face? Personally, I think that outstanding colors (like dark black) definitely attract suspicion simply because most people would not see such a color on a deck outside of a magicians performance.
Clearly the presentation plays a role. Like Wayne said, most people don't have a thorough understanding of regular cards, let alone trick cards. So when you insist that they make sure the cards are well and good, in the act of seemingly removing doubt you are contributing to it. Most people in your audience would not know what a stripper, or a Svengali deck is. At best they will have some inkling of a possibility of trick cards existing. So when you tell them to make sure your cards aren't tricky, you are confirming to them that trick cards do exist.
There is also something to be said about being too nonchalant about your sweet deck. I'm assuming that's what happened with the Stigmata shoot. Clearly, the cards that you are handling aren't some run of the mill thing you pick up in a gas station, so why handle them as if they are? I think that either the timing of the tricks need to be adjusted, or the cards need to be shown to the spectators prior to the tricks so that they can get past the point of marveling at them. Ghosts are a good example. I mean, come on. Black outline around hearts/diamonds? That's absolutely gorgeous. We all know that you spent the first hour after first opening the deck to look at the details on every single card. But by the time you are using them to show tricks, you will be taking their outstanding look for granted. It might be this disconnect that trips people up during your performance. Of course, I'm only speculating.
I think there might be a positive side about people thinking you are using a trick deck. Hear me out, this logic is based on a principle that a routine involving a trick deck contains highly similar types of tricks. I think most of us know of a trick which "teaches" the audience how a certain move is done, meanwhile a different thing takes place. This is misdirection at it's finest. We all know that you are not teaching them nothing but where to look during the effect. Isn't it possible that if the spectators think that you are using a trick deck, they will stop carefully looking for specific moves that you are making? And honestly, how many (uniquely different) tricks do you think you have to perform for the same person until they can't logically think that the secret behind all of them is the exact same trick deck? 3? 4? I don't mean come out and say that you are using a trick deck, but try to perform different types of tricks (which is good advice in and of itself) to remove suspicions of a trick deck, instead of telling people to check each card carefully. What do you guys think?
And lastly, for a long time everybody had to use the same plain cards, which were clearly guided for the lowest common denominator. Recently however, we got the ability to create our own custom decks. I think we went overboard. I think that this will change. I think that in the near future we will see custom decks which have a refreshingly simple (not in your face) back design, painted with a simple yet sophisticated color palette. The quality of which will significantly surpass that of the common decks. And I think that this will be the new norm for custom decks.
