I got the three pack of different black decks from Magic Makers to see what the gaff cards are

Feb 24, 2021
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So I got this three pack of different black decks from Magic Makers off of Amazon. As far as I can tell, they are a Chinese Magic trick company with an office in the USA. They are selling both USPCC cards and non-USPCC that are probably Chinese made.

The whole reason I found these was because I was specifically looking for The Black/Yellow deck with a Scorpion after seeing a guy on Youtube use them. People on Ebay are selling these Scorpion decks for $15 plus shipping.

Individually, they are $13 from Magic Makers on Amazon, but $28 for a three pack that includes Black Scorpion Deck, Reverse Back Deck, and Black Spider Deck. Also, all three decks are supposed to include four gaff cards (no regular Jokers), so I went for it.

The Reversed Back Deck has the same back as an Ellusionist Tiger deck, but then the court cards are full of colors and look basically hideous. Imagine that the Black Tiger deck had court cards that were Black, White, Red, Blue and Yellow! The Black Spider Deck is like a ghost deck, but also with much uglier court cards.

The court cards for the Scorpion Deck are not great, but not nearly as bad as the other two. The gaff cards you get are pretty wacky, because some do not even go with the decks.

When I opened the first deck, the first thing I saw was a red back and I thought, o sweet a Red/Black double backer. No its a Red/Blue double backer!

The Spider Deck has a R/B double backer, and Extra Ace, an Ace with no logo, and a Joker with the spider logo.

The Reverse Back deck has a blank facer (which is kinda cool because the face is just all black), A Joker/Queen of Hearts double facer, Red (Rider Back) Bicycle Tuck box image on the back of a two of spades, Red (Standard) Bicycle Tuck Box image on the back of a two of spades.

What is especially whacky is this deck comes with a link to a video showing a simple trick with the Tuck box image gaff cards and they use a red deck with a red tuck box. The title of the video has "Black Reverse" deck in the title, but no black reverse deck is ever seen.

The scorpion deck has an Ace where the Scorpion is holding an Ace of Diamonds, an Ace when the scorpion is holding a card face down, a Joker with the scorpion logo, and a very weird card that is essentially meant to be both a 9 of spades or a 6 of diamonds reveal depending on how you hold it. Comes with written instruction on how to use the cards.

I probably will not be ordering more cards from Magic Makers. To me, there is a real sense of half-assery here. How hard would it have been to make gaff cards that actually go with the decks they come with?
 
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Mar 15, 2018
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boardgamegeek.com
So I got this three pack of different black decks from Magic Makers off of Amazon. As far as I can tell, they are a Chinese Magic trick company with an office in the USA.

Actually, no. It's an American company, run by Rob Stiff, who is a magician in South Dakota, USA. They produce a lot of magic products at fairly low prices. However they are sometimes criticized for ripping off effects from other magicians and producing them without proper credit. But they are certainly not Chinese based.

I probably will not be ordering more cards from Magic Makers. To me, there is a real sense of half-assery here. How hard would it have been to make gaff cards that actually go with the decks they come with?

Magic Makers actually has produced two versions of the Reverse Decks that you describe, and some changes were made between them. It sounds like you might be looking at instructions for a version different from the deck you actually have. As I recall, my decks came with a link to a page over on Magic Maker's site, which gave written and video instructions for magic routines using the gaff cards that came with the decks. In my case these did use the actual gaff cards I received.

I've written a detailed review article focusing specifically on the reverse back coloured decks that you wrote about. You may find it helpful to have a read of that, because it gives more info about what these decks include and why, and you might even have a more positive opinion about these playing cards as a result:

Review: Making Magic With Colored Cards from Magic Makers
 
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