The question I have is will the printing rub off like it does on other cards made of the same material?

Printing on the other plastic cards is just on the surface as it cannot be absorbed by the card material, so after just a little use and rubbing, the printing wears off.

Tony

I just received the cards a few minutes ago... They're fine, but some of the effects Anton James teaches are more mental magic than anything else... some effects are good tho.

About the quality, they're look and feel good, probably will last a few more time than a regular pack of bycicles.
I don't see myself using this often but the cards are nice.

I've been playing with them a bit and haven't noticed that happen yet. Maybe over time but as of right now (without changing over to another deck) they look exactly the same as new.

I wouldn't really say the effects are "mental magic" either (with the exception of the little pink elephant) BUT I believe it really depends on the presentation taken.

Thank you, Shawn.

Excellent review, Shawn! Thanks!



Gibby

Well a lot of people have already weighed in, but I will give it a go...

Creator: Anton James
Publisher: Magic Estate
MSRP: $ 30
Skill Level: Intermediate
DVD Run time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Type of effect: Deck of cards for performing mentalism

Manufacturer's Write Up: MSP is a new tool for the world of mentalism! Crafted to make it easy for you to perform a plethora of powerful mental effects. This special pack handles like a deck of cards and features custom artwork specifically created for mentalism.

How accurate is the ad copy? Spot on!

What's in the box? Deck of cards which consists of 26 cards and 26 extras, duplicates and gaffs. You also receive a paper pamphlet that contains a URL to the instructional teaching.

Key points:

Straight Forward mind reading.
drawing duplications.
impossible predictions.
Memorization routines, Readings and More.
KILLER applications for stand up and close up.
26 symbol cards.
26 additional cards and gaffs for even more effects.
PRINTED ON A SPECIAL synthetic polymer to last several times longer than a regular deck.

How are the production values: All of the videos are shot with a camera on a tripod, shot against a curtain backdrop. There are no extra angles or views. The music is kind of a "haunting piano" sound, but it's not distracting.

Is it well made: the deck is a special synthetic polymer manufactured from a "secret" deck maker that Anton is not revealing. However, the deck is water proof and virtually indestructible.

Is it well taught: Anton is a very articulate teacher and is enjoyable to watch

My thoughts (what I personally liked/disliked): I love that this is putting mentalism into the hands of a card performer and that you can take what you already know about cards and turn it into a working mentalism routine.

Storage? Does it "pack flat?" Absolutely, all you need is your packet of cards

Does it "play big?" Mentalism is so hot right now and so I think anytime you can "read someone's mind, it will always play big.

How practical is this in the real world? (can it really be done?) Absolutely, these are all "working" real world effects for both the parlor, walk around and even stage environments.

How original is this idea? Mentalists have always used pictures and or cards, but this deck is a wonderful marriage of both.

Overall score: 10/10

+ If you want to see my full review with even more of my opinions and ideas you can visit this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04VnJSTVVk

Or, going back even further - the Mental Pictoria deck.

Wow... the MSP deck itself is great. They look and handle beautifully (!), which is more than can be said for the Minds Eye Deck.

Robert

I've got a full review coming on this product very soon. However I figured I'd add my two cents on this thread.

I liked the MSP pack. There's some great things you can do with it. It's pretty much a gaffed deck for mentalism. The cards are a thin plastic kind of card, similar to like Kem brand playing cards. They're water proof, so they last a while. There's a basic stack you can use, and additional gaff cards to create other routines with. The tutorial videos are all online so you can pretty much watch them anywhere you can get a solid wifi connection at. A lot of the routines that are taught are some really basic traditional card routines but instead of revealing an Ace of Spades, for example, it's instead the card with the clock on it. This gives your presentation a different kind of theatrics to it.

The cards do offer a lot of open ended interpretation to how you want to present them, which is nice. You can use them for drawing duplication, readings, ESP tests, etc. The images can be printed out on larger stock so it does port well to the stage.

It's a solid utility device for mentalism limited only by your imagination.

I get the appeal of these but I don't think they are ideal for mentalism. How am I going to go from billet/minimal prop effects to taking out a deck of symbols? It just doesn't fit for me.

I'd be interested to know how others make it work, though...

Hello all,

In effort to find the most capable replacement to a deck of cards, I'm always interested in these types of products.

Can anyone answer if the cards have characterisitcs that would allow, say, an out of this world? A deck of cards gives us things like colors, hierarchy, pictures vs numbers etc - I'm just curious about to WHAT extent I could use these symbols as a replacement for cards.

Thanks all.

You could do a organic vs. man made. I believe there's probably close to a 1 to 1 ratio of images.

Hi Alwow...do you own the product?

Is there any easy way to seperate into organic/manmade categories? For example do they alternate with the stack, or would I have to put some effort in to make sure the categories are correct?
I guess I'm just trying to get a sense of whether or not these can replace cards, or really whether they replace one function - pick a card and ill find it.

Thanks for weighing in, it is appreciated.

Yes, I do own the product.

You would have to put a little effort into creating your own stack but, it wouldn't be too difficult given the images provided. I would say this can easily suffice as a replacement to most card effects you would want to perform.

Thanks for the review!

Are there duplicates of the symbols? I gather not all 26 symbols are in the additional cards (as there are gaff cards). But could someone tell me how many symbols have duplicate cards? Thanks.