How are is it a trick deck?

[William Draven]

I wouldn't count them. They have personal interests in the use and spreading acceptance of custom decks and other t11/ellisoonist products that extend far beyond just the magic.

Marketing lesson for you. The best buisness to be in is either food or health care. Reason? Because we all have to eat and we all have to die. There is no danger of the prospected market base to ever dry up. The next best business to this is products that people depend on for work or life. These products often aren't essential but they make life better to live. Products like gas for your car or laundry detergant. We magicians also have such a product; ...playing cards. They are cheap to make, easy to mark up, and quick to sell to people who have bought into the hype and fad.
IE: Pokemon and Magic the Gathering

We as magicians are never going to stop needing cards to do our miracles with, and if you already have a vested interest in magic, what better way to make a lot of good money than starting a new fad with a younger target market to insure the success of your product line for years to come? The answer is simple. You create a custom set of playing cards that are exclusive to your company or personal image and then market them to your target audience. You'll never have to worry about a lack of interest, and if the marketing of the product is good you won't have to worry about business either.

I would be far more interested if other working pro's that aren't riding this new wave of "street magic" fame train would start using said decks in question.

Justin Miller, Wayne Houchin and Daniel Garcia use Ghost and Master decks from E. I'd say those are custom decks.

Lee Asher uses Jerry Nuggest and probably any other card brands he can get his hands on.

The Buck twins use Nuggest and I think two other custom brands.

The whole argument of pro's not using custom decks is just destroyed and thrown right out the window.

David Blaine uses his Split Spades custom decks as well.

Need I go on?

 

[William Draven]

All of them.

Justin Miller used to be a Restaurant magician for few years.
Lee Asher used to work in Vegas and also used to do restaurant magic.
Wayne Houchin also performs for Lay people all the time.
Daniel Garcia most likely also performs for lay people a tons of times to as well.

Should I continue this silly argument?

Your reasons are still a bit flawed. I'll explain.

All of the magicians you named with the exception of Lee Ash just because I'm not familylar with him are all tied into Ellisionist or Other companies that make and promote use of (their) custom decks.

I would be far more interested in opionions of people like Rocco, Rick Merrol, Jeff McBride, Johny Ace Palmer, Jay Senky, etc

 

[Randy]

So... Why does it matter is they did work for other companies and had contracts. "Oh noes, they were contracted. Their opinions are now void! THE WALLS ARE CAVING IN! BLACK IS WHITE! UP IS DOWN!!"

It shouldn't matter who they were contracted to. Why would it. When they were performing for lay people it's not like they were like "You can buy these cards at Theory 11 or Ellusionists.com. Remember to also look up My DVD's and everything. =D"

 

[Steerpike]

I would be far more interested in opionions of people like Rocco, Rick Merrol, Jeff McBride, Johny Ace Palmer, Jay Senky, etc

Predictably, Jay hates custom decks.

Jeff McBride has never spoken one way or the other to my knowledge, though based on his background and his use of Magic Castle cards and his own custom decks, he seems rather ambivalent. As if he could take it or leave it. But of course, this is Jeff McBride we're talking about. You could hand that man the most suspicious looking prop in the world and he'd still entertain you with it.

 

[Randy]

Yeah I recall Jay saying he doesn't like them because supposedly a friend of his didn't get a trick to work like it should for a waitress.

Then again that could have less to do with the design of the deck and more to do with the fact that he didn't have any "prestige" as Darwin Ortiz would say. Behind him. He was just a guy with a deck of cards. In fact Ortiz even mentioned the same type of situation without cards. A friend of his did an effect where a rubber ball goes through a glass Bottle. The effect is awesome, yet it didn't do much to the waitress. Due to the fact that the guy didn't mention that he was a magician or anything. (then again in the story it was 2 am and I don't care how good you are. At 2 AM. Everybody sucks.)