I was at the twin city convention last year with Miller and Garcia. This deck is loaded with killer effects, and great looking cards......Garcia brought the full deck with him and it is a outstanding deck... I own the red gaff deck and I cannot wait for this and the DVDs to come out...... it is going to hit hard!!!!

Sebashtion H.
http://www.subdividedstudios.com

Hey Tyler,

While I haven't spoken to Josh about this effect being included, I do recall that he was talking to Danny about gaff ideas when they were culling thoughts from friends for the deck. It is possible that Josh gave the idea to him. However, it is strange since he is selling it himself as a stand-alone item.

I am curious how the rest of the deck will be credited, if at all.

Rich Aviles

Hey Rich,
Nope. When I was talking to Josh, he was quite surprised by it.

That's too bad. Josh's routine is too good to become public domain. I guess all I can hope for is that people remember who the genius was who created the brilliant concept in the first place: Joshua Jay.

Tyler Wilson

Hopefully it will be better than army of 52 though

You can now click the UltraGaff image on the E home page to see some images of a few of the cards from this deck.

Army of 52 was terrible

http://www.ellusionist.com/category/products/ultragaff.do

What was Army of 52 and why was it so bad? Will that be any reflection on the ultra-gaff release?

Army of 52 was a DVD that E put out to be an accompaniment to their various exisiting gaff decks, and mostly features the Ghost gaff, with a smattering of Tiger and Red Gaff thrown in.

It stars Justin Miller, and teaches a few different sleights and routines for some of the different cards in those gaffs.

Since Ultragaff is a completely new deck with some totally new and never-before-seen cards (supposedly), and the fact that it's supposed to be coming out alongside a 3-DVD set where Houchin and Garcia give you ideas with every single card in the deck, it looks like Ultragaff will be a much more "complete" resource.

The fact that Army of 52 was out earlier and wasn't an earth-shattering DVD should have no bearing on the Ultragaff.

Kevin

So is it just Jim's opinion that it was terrible, or is that the general consensus?

I have the Army of 52, and don't think it was terrible. There are other DVDs that I like better on the use of gaff utility cards, but this gave one some ideas on how to use some of the cards, and I enjoyed Justin Miller's teaching. That being said, I hope that the Ultragaff DVDs will be even better.
John

I too have Army of 52 and like it very much, Justin Miller is a first class guy and an excellent teacher.
There are more ideas on this DVD than anyone could ever use. Now that I am thinking of it, I believe I need to revisit this DVD.

Maybe its just me.

If it fits you great..it was designed for YOU..if it does not fit you then great..it is not for you.

Hint: why do you think we have so many TYPES of tooth paste..diff. pastes for diff. jobs.


Justin N. Miller

Besides I think my NEO impression was dead on! lol

Actually I thought your impression of Neo was horrible. Not once did you get distracted by shiny things or utter the word Whoa.

I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago and visited Misdirections Magic Shop. In talking with the owner Joe, he explained that there are two kinds of gaffs. One is the kind E produces and are on Army of 52 and will be in the Ultragaff deck. These gaffs are meant to be seen. Misplaced pips, smears, double printed, etc.

The other type of gaff such as are in the Packet Killer Gaff deck and Bike Assortment deck are not meant to be seen or recognized as a "gaff" card. Things like double backs, three cards side by side on one, two different indices etc. These gaffs simple make the effect work without the viewer knowing that you are using a "special" card.

I also enjoyed Army of 52, and I cant wait to see what the Ultragaff deck is all about.

I hope the cards are more practical then the last gaff deck. I'm not looking for a "spooky" set of cards with "edgy" effects. I'd love to see stuff like what was on the trailer, which I think meshes much better with a set of cards. It is a surprising card while still being coherent.

I agree with ragingoptimist. I have the ghost gaff deck and I honestly don't use a lot of the cards. While some of the spooky effects are nice, like the queen fade out and dead kings, are kind of nice and work well in the right atmosphere and with the right presentation, a lot of the "special" cards with a death theme are just corny and look like something you might find on a spinal tap album cover. I've occasionally gotten a couple of laughs by making fun of the cards after an effect. that sort of off the shelf, mass market spookiness is too hard for most people to take seriously; still there's only so much sarcastic humor you can do before your jokes about the ghost that haunts the deck obviously shopping at Hot Topic start to feel a little mean, and anyway I'd rather people didn't associate my effects with the crummy special effects in C grade monster flicks. I did note in the trailer for the ghost gaff deck that one of the gaffs I like the most was suggested by Danny Garcia, so I'm hopeful about this new one. although I often feel quite foolish paying thirty dollars for fifty four pieces of paper, and while ellusionist likes to make a big deal out of their UV 500 finish, I dispute their claim that the've bested the classic tally-ho feel.

I have found that these new Gaff decks from Ellusionist are not only a lot of fun to look at, but also they really get the imagination wheels turning.

I own the first pack and I will be picking up this new one as well.

Appreciatively


Scar