A common problem

[Just Jamming]

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only who's found themselves in this situation, and if you haven't, then picture this:

You've just bought a brand new deck of playing cards, excitement is buzzing inside you. Carefully, you pick away the plastic prison that holds your luxurious Monarchs, Rebels, Artisans or other deck (Artisans FTW.) And then...nothing. You realised you can't bring yourself to break that seal.

I think at some point or another every magician/flourisher has faced this. It mostly happens when you are about to open an expensive or rare deck- In the end I could only open one of the six Daniel Madison Players- and personally I've never felt it when open just a standard deck of playing cards.

I'm sure I'll get many comments saying things like "That's so pathetic" or "If you really loved cards you'd never have this problem." I think in reality, the problem is I love cards too much. As I live in England, American cards are harder to obtain and shipping costs loads. I'm sure your'e wondering what I hope to get out of this thread, the answer is (drum roll) nothing! I purely just want to see whether others face this problem or whether I'm part of a strange minority.

BYE BYE!

 

[Lyle Borders]

You aren't alone. I can't resist breaking the seal on a new deck of cards, but I certainly feel where you are coming from. If I have a deck that I am really sure that I am going to want to keep sealed, I buy two. One is specifically to open and enjoy, and one is specifically to leave sealed. You can't fully enjoy a sealed deck of playing cards. You can appreciate the outer packaging, but there is something about actually breaking that seal and opening it up for the very first time. I have four "categories" I group cards into when I buy.

First, decks I don't care about. I buy one deck just to have it in the collection, and I open it. (For example, my recently purchased "Bacon" deck.)

Second, decks I like. I buy two (maybe 3 or 4). I open one, and leave one sealed for my own future use. (New Bicycle designs often fall here.)

Third, decks I think will have a high value in the future. These I buy large quantities of and I open one, keeping the rest sealed in my collection. (These are often limited edition decks.)

Fourth, decks I love and use every day. These I buy lots of, and I open one at a time as needed. When the deck starts to feel soft, I put it back in the collection and use it again in the future when the moisture has dried out of it. (These are my Monarchs and other such cards intended to be my daily drivers.)

I don't buy multiple of every deck, nor do I buy bricks of every deck. I sit back and try to figure out what I am buying the deck for and how I am going to use it. No matter what, I always open one of every style. I own one Jerry's Nugget, one White Centurion, and one Gold Monarch. They are all open, and I use and enjoy each of them. If I had a second deck, it would be sealed. This is simply how I handle the paradox you have found. Figure out how you want to approach this, and then simply stick to it. Don't open decks you left intentionally sealed, don't hesitate to open decks you previously decided that you would open.

My two cents.

// L

 

[Steerpike]

Sentimental value is something that's hard to explain to an outsider looking in. Though I've never experienced that kind of attachment to a rare deck (always saw cards as a means to an end, myself), I do treat my Criterion Collection copy of Seven Samurai with the reverence normally reserved for a holy artifact. When I say that I've seen that movie in double digits, that's not hyperbole.

 

[blakehensley]

I actually never got into the whole custom decks. Sure, I have a few from T11 that I got a while back. I really only use standard bikes because I'm a a magician. I have to use my cards and other tools to do what I do. If you flourish (props to you because that stuff is difficult) I can understand having custom cards because obviously look a hell of a lot cooler than standard bikes. But then again, there's nothing like opening a new deck if bikes. To me that is.

To each it's own.

Blake

 

[William Karlsson]

Just today, I found myself having this exact problem. Since I live in Sweden I too need to pay kind of much shipping fees, therefore I order maybe a brick or at least 5-8 decks a time. Today I realized that only had one sealed deck left. Ah. The worst is, I now that I need to order more before opening it. Ah. It's really frustrating, even though its just a standard deck of bicycle cards.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I used to have that issue. Then one day it just kind of stopped. I do tend to buy three of every deck, though. One to open right away, one to keep in the collection and one to either use later (if the deck does not suddenly undergo a change of design) or to keep or sell at some point.

 

[Just Jamming]

I used to have that issue. Then one day it just kind of stopped. I do tend to buy three of every deck, though. One to open right away, one to keep in the collection and one to either use later (if the deck does not suddenly undergo a change of design) or to keep or sell at some point.

An understandable and wise decision. I own several decks in my collection I don't like particularly that are rare so I've kept them sealed to sell in the future when the are more valuable.