Obsession with a "Borrowed Deck."

[eostresh]

Okay so some fella on another forum was looking for advice on how to do an effect and he set a variety of "conditions" that the effect needed to meet. One of them was borrowed pack of cards. It struck me as odd because the obvious, and most simple solution to his problem was a card index. A card index can be used with a borrowed deck provided you live in an area in which you are reasonably sure what kind of deck someone is likely to have, but it certainly isn't fool proof. The problem is that to truly do his effect without an index was leading him in an incredibly complex, sleight heavy, direction that included stacking on the fly and real time marking of a borrowed deck. All that because he wanted to do the effect with a "borrowed" deck!

So my question arises because I just don't think "borrowed deck" is something we need to overly concern ourselves with. Sure, it is nice to have the ability to perform magic with a borrowed deck but how often does this actually happen? And if it ever comes up I have a huge selection of effects I could do with one. Do we really have need to ensure that every effect we do is with a borrowed deck, especially if the "borrowed deck" version of an effect is 10 times as complicated as using a stack, index, or gaffed deck?

 

[Josh Burch]

I don't worry about this because the occasion to borrow a deck is few and far between.

 

[RickEverhart]

9 times out of 10 if I am at someone's house and they throw a deck at me....it is has a big ol' rubber band slapped around it and cards are barely workable for sleights. That's when I will perform a few self workers or mathematical effects with it and happily hand it back.

Magicians do tend to throw some emphasis on the phrase, "It can be done with a 'borrowed' deck" which supposedly amps up the level of magic astonishment...ha ha.

Now if you really want to mess with people...and I've done this...do a cups and balls routine with borrowed cups out of their cupboard and make a few little napkin balls. Wow...this fries them.

 

[Randy]

Yeah this whole phrase get's thrown around like it's supposed to be godly or something, when in fact it really doesn't add much to the magic. It's like saying that instead of doing Coin magic with Halves or Silver Dollars, you should do it with borrowed coins. The main problem with assertions like that is most people don't always have cards on hand or even coins.

 

[eostresh]

9 times out of 10 if I am at someone's house and they throw a deck at me....it is has a big ol' rubber band slapped around it and cards are barely workable for sleights. That's when I will perform a few self workers or mathematical effects with it and happily hand it back.

I realize I was a bit long winded but let me make clear....I have no problem with this! I agree that we all should have the ability to do that. But lets face it. Get through Royal road and you can do that.

My issue is not with that, but with taking a plot that is done the simplest with a stacked or gimmicked deck, or some tool like an index, and reworking it so it can be done with a borrowed deck. There is nothing wrong with pure sleight of hand methods so long as they are efficient. Example, if everyone could do Alvo Stockman's "Singularity" move as well as he does, then I think the Invisible deck would be a thing of the past. And though it is a burly sleight...it is efficient!

That is a big difference from eliminating a gaff or utility device merely for the sake of doing so. If your borrowed deck solution involves stacking an entire deck on the fly and conducting a sequence of passes, reversals, and half passes....well it's just dumb.

Incidentally, I have the same general opinion of gimmicks that replace certain sleights. A few "card appears at the top of the deck" gaffs hit the market a year or two ago. Most of them didn't look that much better than a Cardini change. Why the heck would I want to go through the extra effort of wringing in a gaff, performing whatever sleights the gaff requires, and wringing out the gaff when I could just do a nice color change?

It is just basically a vent post. LOL. Just seems that a lot of guys pat themselves on the back for cleverness without considering if they are truly adding something to their magic.

 

[RealityOne]

Just seems that a lot of guys pat themselves on the back for cleverness without considering if they are truly adding something to their magic.

I think that the "uses a borrowed deck" is pure marketing to magicians. I think the two most important things are:

1. What the spectators remembers. How about this, tell one of your spectators to buy a deck of bikes. As soon as they hand it to you, swap it out for a stacked / memorized deck in a wrapper. They will think that you did the effect with the borrowed deck. You've just replaced a bunch of sleights for a simple deck switch and the spectators don't know the difference.

2. The practicality of the method. I will gladly substitute a gimmick or self-working method for a series of sleights, but it doesn't make sense to utilize a gimmick where an easy sleight of hand method exists.

That being said, I understand the mental exercise involved in coming up with different approaches to solve a problem in an effect. Typically, each potential solution has trade-offs. The weighing of the trade-offs often driven by the performance situation (e.g. certain forces work better in parlor magic than close up) and personal preference (e.g. I can't stand any force that requires the magician to cut the deck to get a break).

 

[Josh Burch]

If I'm doing walk around I prefer to be able to do as much as possible with the deck that I use every day. I do use a Si Stebbins stack when necessary, as well as an invisible deck, Bill Abbott's Blockbuster or a pop eyed popper deck when I do stand up. When I do close up, or walk around I'll never use a Pop Eyed Popper to force a card, I don't need it. So for me when they advertise "can be done with a borrowed deck" it means that it is probably suitable for walk around.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

There is a bit of hype surrounding the borrowed deck idea, I agree, but I look for stuff that can be done FASDIU because I dislike carrying a lot of stuff (like gimmicks). I don't think that being a sleight of hand purist increases the magic at all, I just don't like stuffed pockets.

 

[Hugh Entwistle]

If anyone hands you a borrowed deck, the best tricks to do are :
ambitious card routine
out of this world (slightly more hard to do off the fly but you do have motivation to perform a prep/slight as you can check if it is a full deck)

 

[Ashrei]

I like to sell myself as a little bit more sophisticated. That being said, If someone asks, if I have a deck on me, I ask if I could use it. Also saying I broke it in to perform today if someone asks and most people seemed to be ok with it.

Sure it's great if you can do it with borrowed deck, but I don't think that adds as much to an effect as other borrowed objects (borrowed ring, bill, cellphone, etc), simply because most people aren't attached to their decks of cards. Which leads me to second slight tangent is for me to borrow something, it needs to 1. add fairness to the effect and 2. emotional attachment of the spectator. Borrowed cards just don't do the second part.

Or maybe I just haven't met someone who got hand-down deck of cards from generations above yet.

 

[Mike.Hankins]

Borrowed deck. Not a borrowed deck. Who cares if the deck is borrowed. The real question is: are you skilled enough to perform WITH a borrowed deck?