Bikes Meet Sentinels: Sentikes

[MalibuARMY]

Heya guys. The best cards to perform with are normal looking ones right? Right. I love performing and always perform with standard bicycle rider backs. However, I have never really used any special decks, (theory 11 brand decks) which are told to last longer and have better feel.

I finally was able to experience what they were talking about when I was able to handle a deck of Sentinels at my local magic shop. It was a house deck and I knew immediately what I've been missing out on. It wasn't that beat up however I knew it had been opened and left in the open for quite a while. It still was in great condition.

Let's just say the entire store was left with only one deck of Sentinels left…

That was about a month ago and I have only opened one of those decks. It is still in great order compared to bikes which last me about a week.

I love to work with the Sentinels now because of their quality however I can't perform with them due to the fact that they look so different. The last thing I want the spectator to say is "Oh, it's a trick deck." Even if I can give the deck to them the damage is done and that idea has gone through ALL of the spectators heads.

So, I've gone through the Bicycle Masters and let's face it. They suck. They warp and then the whole deck burps like the cannibal killers after they ate a whole bunch of cards. Not good.

***Theory 11 should make a deck of cards that look like standard bikes but with the quality and durability of Sentinels.

What do you think?

–Anna Harris

PS: They should be named Sentikes.

 

[saborfang17]

And Tally-Hos. But I have a feeling a spin on the normal tally-hos is going to come out soon, I've been hearing rumors... Blue circle back tallies with stock and finish like Sentinels would be ****ing great.

 

[mehar]

So, I've gone through the Bicycle Masters and let's face it. They suck. They warp and then the whole deck burps like the cannibal killers after they ate a whole bunch of cards. Not good.

E's masters?! I love their thickness, but w/e, each to their own.

I would really like the idea of t11 coming up with something that looks like Bikes but performs like sentinels.

 

[Toby]

Try Lee Asher's 605's. They look like normal deck of cards, but handle great.

 

[themagicmonkey777]

I would recommend getting bicycle rider backs but the gold seal ones. They look like stander rider backs but last more than twice as much as regular ones. I only get those now since i tried them out for the first time. You should give them a try.

I hope this helped.

 

[mehar]

Try Lee Asher's 605's. They look like normal deck of cards, but handle great.

I think that we mean a deck that is VERY familiar with laypeople.

 

[Toby]

I think that we mean a deck that is VERY familiar with laypeople.

Lay people are not familiar with decks of cards as much as you think. Not every layman knows bicycle cards, they are not that important to them. If you ask me, Lee Asher's cards has more common back than bicycle has.

 

[saborfang17]

Lay people are not familiar with decks of cards as much as you think. Not every layman knows bicycle cards, they are not that important to them. If you ask me, Lee Asher's cards has more common back than bicycle has.

Few people even recognize them commonly... Very few before them even recognize they're "Bicycles". Besides, the majority of decks wth "normal colors" or designs, ones that look simplistic such as Fourniers, Bikes, Tally-Ho's, etc.... They're all really the same to layman. If they're smart enough to realize they aren't bikes, they're smart enough to realize that there's also more then one type of normal deck of cards.

 

[MalibuARMY]

Lay people are not familiar with decks of cards as much as you think. Not every layman knows bicycle cards, they are not that important to them. If you ask me, Lee Asher's cards has more common back than bicycle has.

Um, no. Definitely no.

 

[MalibuARMY]

I would recommend getting bicycle rider backs but the gold seal ones. They look like stander rider backs but last more than twice as much as regular ones. I only get those now since i tried them out for the first time. You should give them a try.

I hope this helped.

I've handled those, they aren't as good as Sentinels. If there really were Sentikes I think they would be the most bought cards by magicians.

 

[notsoltd]

I think people are more familiar with bikes than you think. They may not recognize the name but they recognize the back design. Many people use them playing poker (my family does all the time) and also, check out justin millers autograph dvd - in the preview, the lady hands him her own deck of bikes. Is pit money on the fact that you will probably never see a layperson with a pack of sentinels or even tally hos.

 

[onimushalord89]

From my experience people recognize the color rather than the back. A deck with a blue or red beck is more comfortable to a layman than a deck of a different color. When I perform I use Split Spades. In my opinion they are better than sentinels, and they look like a regular blue or red back cards.

 

[notsoltd]

I think color has a lot to do with it AS WELL as design. Although the Stingers are black, they don't have a crazy design. I have used them in two shows and no one has said a word. No one has said anything about my 125s either. I HAVE gotten comments with Ghost, Sentinels, and Guardians. Most of the time I perform for people I personally know so when I pull out Guardians or Sentinels, they take interest and I show them the cards and designs, and it completely disarms them of any suspicions.

 

[byronblaq]

In my opinion from experience, It's all performance. The deck doesn't matter and your patter should cover that. The first thing i do is ask them to shuffle the deck. Never say "this is a normal deck", just say "Hey can you shuffle the cards for me" ... Once the cards have been in their hands it erases that suspicion. Now the cards are important and if your anything like me you buy better quality because in the long run it's cheaper than buying bikes. Don't let your spectators judge what cards you use ... instead control your audience and you won't have to worry about that kind of suspicion.

Cheers
Byron

 

[notsoltd]

I like that thinking byron. Another thing that I think is that character plays a big role. It would look strange for ME to be using an (ellusionist) black deck just because it doesn't fit me. I CAN however pull off Guardians and probably Centurions. In Daniel Madison's DVD Mysterious, he uses Guardians, Centurions, and Wynns, and never gets called out or any suspicion in the cards is shown

 

[MalibuARMY]

I think color has a lot to do with it AS WELL as design. Although the Stingers are black, they don't have a crazy design. I have used them in two shows and no one has said a word. No one has said anything about my 125s either. I HAVE gotten comments with Ghost, Sentinels, and Guardians. Most of the time I perform for people I personally know so when I pull out Guardians or Sentinels, they take interest and I show them the cards and designs, and it completely disarms them of any suspicions.

I don't know about that man. Though they don't say anything, that doesn't mean that they don't think they might be trick cards or just not normal in general. It has happened to me, when I was first starting out in magic I did some coin stuff and I heard my spectators talking afterwords saying I was using sleeves when I wasn't. I now am sure to always roll my sleeves up at least 5 inches before performing.

 

[MalibuARMY]

In my opinion from experience, It's all performance. The deck doesn't matter and your patter should cover that. The first thing i do is ask them to shuffle the deck. Never say "this is a normal deck", just say "Hey can you shuffle the cards for me" ... Once the cards have been in their hands it erases that suspicion. Now the cards are important and if your anything like me you buy better quality because in the long run it's cheaper than buying bikes. Don't let your spectators judge what cards you use ... instead control your audience and you won't have to worry about that kind of suspicion.

Cheers
Byron

Very good point. I would do that, if I didn't have an 11 card setup.

 

[MalibuARMY]

I like that thinking byron. Another thing that I think is that character plays a big role. It would look strange for ME to be using an (ellusionist) black deck just because it doesn't fit me. I CAN however pull off Guardians and probably Centurions. In Daniel Madison's DVD Mysterious, he uses Guardians, Centurions, and Wynns, and never gets called out or any suspicion in the cards is shown

Just because he uses those cards doesn't mean he doesn't get called out. You may not see him getting called out, but you don't really see him drop the cards and shout cuss words by accident do you?

 

[byronblaq]

Very good point. I would do that, if I didn't have an 11 card setup.

Well in a situation where you have a small packet of cards that are prep'd for a performance you could say "examine" rather than "shuffle". On the other hand if you have the skill you could have that packet in your pocket or palmed as you hand them out to be shuffled. I'd like to point out that i ONLY use custom decks, All different kinds ... and that i rarely (maybe once or twice a year) get told I'm using a "trick" deck (usually by the one guy in the group who wants attention and wants to get shut down). So i hand them the cards and ask them to "inspect" them. BIG TIP... If your confident they will just follow and never question you ... use that to your advantage.

 

[MalibuARMY]

BIG TIP... If your confident they will just follow and never question you ... use that to your advantage.

Exactly, even if one is not confident. When performing magic you must appear confident. We are actors playing magicians, why not play a confident magician.