In 1999 magic history was made. Less than 50 professional
mentalists were invited to own a new special deck and for
this honor they each paid $100! After the 50 decks were
gone, many pros tried to get one of these wonderful decks,
but were turned away. The secret was to be kept exclusive
for four years. Now that time is up and you can own the same
deck for much, much less!
The Cassandra Deck is unlike anything you've seen before.
Here are just two of the many effects possible:
* You write a prediction on a slip of paper and place it
aside. The deck is slowly shown to a spectator. She sees
that every card is different. It is riffled toward her again
and this time she silently remembers any card she sees.
You're able to tell her exactly which card she mentally
chose! And better yet, written on the slip of paper is the
name of the same card!
* A deck of cards is shown to contain all different
cards, then wrapped with a rubberband and tossed into the
audience. Any number of people can peek at cards and you
identify each person's card! Not all the cards at once, but
each card one at a time!
Important Features
* The deck can be ribbon spread on a table to show all
52 different cards.
* There are no specially printed cards, nothing added or
taken away.
* Each card can be chosen by hand or examined by the
spectator.
* You know exactly where any thought-of card is in the
deck.
* The deck can be cut and shuffled repeatedly.
* The spectator never has to write anything.
* The effects can be repeated with different cards
mentally chosen each time.
* Very easy to do! No memorization or difficult
sleight-of-hand required.
Comes with a Cassandra Deck on Bicycle stock and detailed
instructions.
Fem Fatal by Docc Hilford
64 Sinful Secrets with the Cassandra Deck
Docc Hilford's Cassandra Deck is a special deck of cards
that made magical history in 1999 when it sold to a very
select group of inside professionals for the unprecedented
fee of $100! Those few fortunate enough to own one, guarded
its secrets closely. Now, you can learn the innermost
secrets.
The Cassandra Deck is so much more than a special deck of
cards, it's a tool that enables the amateur or professional
magician to perform miracles.
This book contains 64 original tricks that are designed to
shock both your audiences as well as you with their
directness and mystery. You will also be shown what no one
has ever known before, exactly how to build your own
Cassandra Deck.
Each trick is so uniquely different you can do an entire
show with The Cassandra Deck and your audience will
experience a wide variety of magic and mentalism-not just
card tricks!
Absolutely one of the finest pieces of workable mentalism.
* A tossed out deck where you name each person's card
directly!
* A method for learning real contact mindreading!
* Poker and Blackjack demonstrations
* A Cards Across where thought of cards fly across the
room!
* Any Card at Any Number and you predict both the card
and the number!
* A Card in Cigarette with a thought-of card!
* And 57 more ways to learn pocket writing, swami
writing, sound reading, pencil reading, plus book tests,
billet tests, cold reading effects and more!
Staplebound, 64 pages.
MY COMMENTS:
"Less than 50 professional mentalists were invited to own a
new special deck and for this honor they each paid $100!"
As I remember the number was 100 and that was for a very
limited edition of this deck that included a handsome carry
case and other goodies. After these were gone, Docc then
sold this deck at lectures. I know because I bought one at
a lecture. So, as you might have suspected, the hyperboles
are flying high and thick in this ad.
But just what is the Cassandra deck? Think of a Koran deck
merged with a Svengali deck and you'll be on the right
track. That's not exactly what it is, by the way, as
there's more to it which is cleverly thought out and which I
won't reveal here. It is an ingeniously clever deck and it
is very versatile. Though it does come in Bicycle cards,
the companion book does explain how to make your own decks
so that you can use any brand you want. You'll be making
five at a time.
Let me address some of the claims in the ad:
"The deck can be ribbon spread on a table to show all 52
different cards."
This is what the participants will perceive. But there
are not 52 different cards in the deck.
"The deck can be cut and shuffled repeatedly."
For certain routines, yes. For others, no. Unless false
shuffles count.
"Very easy to do! No memorization or difficult
sleight-of-hand required."
Memorization isn't required, but can improve the effect.
In the meantime, a crib sheet is used and cleverly applied
so that it will be hidden.
". . .it's a tool that enables the amateur or professional
magician to perform miracles."
Yes, and a regular deck of cards can also be considered a
tool that would enable magicians to perform miracles, not to
be mention impression devices, PK gimmicks, etc. This line
doesn't mean anything.
"Each trick is so uniquely different you can do an entire
show with The Cassandra Deck and your audience will
experience a wide variety of magic and mentalism-not just
card tricks!"
Okay, the tricks may be different, but they all require
the Cassandra Deck! That means that they are all effects
which use cards! Sure, you could do a complete act with
just this deck, and that's pretty impressive, but is there
any mentalist who would do such a thing? I doubt even a
magician would.
". . . ways to learn pocket writing, swami writing, sound
reading, pencil reading,..."
There are effect which utilize these basic mentalism
principles. But don't mistakenly think that this booklet
will teach you all you need to know about these subjects,
not even all the basics of these topics.
Okay, I'm being pretty critical here. But I'm critical of
the ad, not the product. For a trick deck of cards, this
one is pretty special. One drawback is that this not a
regular deck of cards, though to the participants involved
it will appear to be. At his lecture, Docc claimed that a
performer who uses this deck makes up dozens of the cards
and then leaves them with the participant when he's finished
the routine. The other drawback is that, indeed, we're
dealing with a deck of cards, which may not be your cup of
tea. If you don't mind working with cards and you like
unique decks, then I recommend this.
Finally, the Fem Fatal book does contain info on how to make
the deck, so you can order it separately and make your own.
Making one deck involves buying multiple decks and trimming
cards, so you may want to take that into consideration.
And, though you don't need the book if you buy the deck
(since the deck comes with many routines to begin with), the
companion book contains very good additional material for
use with the Cassandra Deck.
