Gaff Decks
- Thread starter Seth
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i like them i want to get them but im not sure which is better the regular gaff deck or the ultra gaff....
they're practical to an extent. keep them in the back of your deck box and slip them in when you want to execute a routine with them.
if youre sleights are clean and have a VERY strong presentation they can be amazing.
a gaff routine is all about making magic happen, not just being slick with a deck of cards. if you can build up anticipation, some fear, some mystery and keep your cool then add some gaff to spice things up.
like any good trick, they're good in moderation.
The differences are in the cards that are in the decks and the effects you can do with each deck. Check out the various cards and see which deck has the most cards that you would use. Also, check out the DVDS. Army of 52 is for the regular gaff deck (actually the Ghost gaff deck, but all of the effects but one can be used with the regular gaff deck). Also, there are three Ultragaff DVDs for the Ultragaff Deck.
If you are interested in gaff cards check out Simon Lovell's Packet Killer DVD. It is a double DVD and it comes with the Blue Gaff Deck (which is different from the Ellusionist Blue Gaff deck). The beauty of that deck and DVD is that it uses gaffs but the spectator never knows that special cards are used.
Another "gaff" DVD to check out is Craig Petty's Blank which deals with, you guessed it, blank cards. It comes with the cards to do the basic routines, but you might need some blank face, blank back and double blank decks to do some of the bonus routines.
So his gaff decks is more just double sided cards not so much the crazy things that ellusionist does???
In my oppinion, the Ultragaff deck is alot better that the Ellusionist Gaff deck. Because the gaff deck deals mostly with cute little, "subtelties", as opposed to the ultragaff deck, which has actual effects. I've said this before, I'll always say it. The 100 dollar investment for the ultragaff deck and the 3 DVDs is an extremely good one. I use ultragaff effects on a daily basis.
For me, getting Ultragaff was one of the best 100 bucks I ever spent(I am not saying this will be the case for everyone, but it was a very good investment for myself personally).
For me, getting Ultragaff was one of the best 100 bucks I ever spent(I am not saying this will be the case for everyone, but it was a very good investment for myself personally).
Just to throw in my two cents - I feel that some of the gaff cards in UltraGaff scream "custom printed cards". There are some things that are just too much - for example the battery cards. I just think it's far too out there to be a convincing magic trick. You can't do anything with that because of the suggestion of trick cards.
I hear what you are saying, but on the same token, people will 99% of the time assume you are using a trick deck, even if all you do is convincing double lift. I dont know why, but people will never attribute the miracle of the trick to your skill, unless you do flourishes, or in some way make it apparent that you have skill.
The "Blue Gaff Deck" has a wide variety of gaff cards including blank face, split suits (Jack with top pip as diamonds and bottom pip as hearts), split back (looks like a blue card on top of a red card), double face, split cards (top pip is an Ace rest of card is a 2 or top half if 7C bottom is 5H), blank back, double back red/red, blue/blue, red/blue, Bicycle / Tally-ho), cards with multiple faces (e.g. showing a fan of 4 cards) and the junkyard dog card.
The beauty of this is that the spectator never knows you are using gaffed cards.
You can get the two DVD set and the cards for around $40 at MJM. Simon Lovell isn't as hip as the guys at Ellusionist, but the effects are well taught.
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I don't know how you perform, but my spectators never assume I'm using a trick deck. And I definitely don't do flourishes.