Stoics Playing Cards - David Blaine

Cardians · Unread post by **Cardians** » Thu Apr 12, 2018 11:11 pm

Just released.
https://shop.davidblaine.com/products/s ... 8089418781

$15.00/deck or $90 brick (50% off for one day - April 13th)

Unread post by **MagikFingerz** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:46 am

The stock is called JN Finish...

That was painful to read

Website · Unread post by **PipChick** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:51 am

MagikFingerz wrote:
The stock is called JN Finish...
That was painful to read

blaine-ful*

anwar · Unread post by **anwar** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:56 am

If there is somebody in Europa who’s going to order a brick, I would love to buy 2

sinjin7 · Unread post by **sinjin7** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 3:33 pm

So this is Blaine's experiment with EPCC/LPCC. I actually found out about this over a year ago from conversations I had with Jackson. He told me Sullivan was really excited because he was in discussions with Blaine to produce a deck for him, and this is the result. I find Blaine's description of the handling of this deck interesting:

"The Stoics handle unlike anything on the mainstream market."

I'll give Blaine credit for not over-hyping the finish, or even flat out lying by claiming this is the best handling deck he's ever felt or some other BS like that. It's a fairly lukewarm endorsement, if anything. The other thing that troubles me is what is NOT shown in the promotional pictures of the deck: the back design. The only hint we get is the tuck box, but no picture of a card. A pair of his signature DB spades for the back design doesn't get me too excited. Plus, $15.00 (before shipping) for a EPCC produced minimalist deck makes this an easy pass for me. In fact this is going to be the only Blaine deck I won't have in my collection. This is a sadly distant departure from Blaine's heyday of his Split Spades collaboration with Stultzman. If there are some really unique hidden features for magic incorporated into the design, then I guess that could salvage this deck for magicians. . .

KT52 · Unread post by **KT52** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:54 pm

Reminds me of the Create Magic deck..not super impressed but its DB so i'll take a brick.. pm if you want in on it US shipping only.

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:28 am

anwar wrote:If there is somebody in Europa who’s going to order a brick, I would love to buy 2

I ordered 6 decks. Based in Romania. Will take some time until I get my hands on them though...

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:59 am

Aaaaaand they SOLD OUT people!

Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:54 am

I got a brick. I will assuredly be giving some away on my channel

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bigskybaby · Unread post by **bigskybaby** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:15 pm

It seems db was planning to sell them with "half" of the prices... There were around 1000 bricks at first and 580 bricks remaining after the first day.

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:22 pm

Where did you get this info? Curious...

bigskybaby · Unread post by **bigskybaby** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:25 pm

ralexv wrote:Where did you get this info? Curious...

I just put 9999 in the cart and it will notify me the max amount that I can purchase

Merlebird · Unread post by **Merlebird** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 5:00 pm

bigskybaby wrote:
ralexv wrote:Where did you get this info? Curious...
I just put 9999 in the cart and it will notify me the max amount that I can purchase

: reece.JPG (27.02 KiB) Viewed 4680 times

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:20 am

Hahahaaa! That's smart of you

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 1:53 pm

Can someone do a review already?! Its killing me not knowing how the cards feel (stoc, finish, handling, etc).

Sat Apr 21, 2018 2:25 pm

haven't received them yet.

ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:00 pm

TheGentlemanWake wrote:haven't received them yet.

Can't wait

Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:03 pm

mine have been received. Have discovered a few secrets thus far. They come stacked...uh...you know like all cards. And they make me think of gentleman's club you know where strippers are. and there's a bold thing happening with the indexes im not quite sure i get. Any other insights welcomed. PM me!

alric · Unread post by **alric** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:19 am

ralexv wrote:Can someone do a review already?! Its killing me not knowing how the cards feel (stoc, finish, handling, etc).

I got my deck today. Usually I order multiples of any of DB's decks, but since this is his first EPCC deck, I just got one to test and if it was good, I would order more. As far as handling goes, I'm underwhelmed. It just fanned OK fresh out of the box. I mean, they're slippery enough, but when I tried fans, they were uneven. I had to sit there and break them in for about 10 minutes before they finally evened out to a degree, which pisses me off because decks should fan real smooth when they're fresh out of the box. Real JNs are dimpled only on one side and smooth on the other, the Stoics are dimpled on both sides, but the dimples are so shallow they almost feel like plastic cards. The stock is fine, the cards spring nicely and haven't developed a click bend yet like a lot of EPCC decks do.

I don't do any magic, so if there are any special bells and whistles for magic, they probably flew over my head and I'm not one to appreciate them. I didn't think this synthetic paper tuck case did much for the deck, either. I guess its cool that it's waterproof and resistant to tears, but with the cards outside of the box, the tuck felt kinda flimsy.

This is only a mediocre deck for cardistry and I actually gave my deck away to a friend. I regret that because now that I think about it, the tuck was just marked as printed by EPCC, but I don't think I saw any mention what country the cards were printed in. I thought JN finished decks are only printed in China but this isn't mentioned anywhere. Someone please correct me if these are printed in Taiwan instead of China. But if these are printed in China, then that explains a lot about the handling of this deck. It's not utter shit like Legal Tenders, but I wouldn't consider these as great handling decks for cardistry by any means. And if these are actually printed in China but not mentioned anywhere, I consider that a bullshit move by Blaine and EPCC.

Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:40 am

This is the second deck I own with the JN finish. The first being the superior skill n bones v2. And they handle the same. You are correct in that they don’t fan easy however for magic (which these decks are clearly created for) the finish creates a suction-like sensation that makes moves like double lifts a bit easier to execute. So “handling” could be more in reference to their intended purpose. Definitely not a cardistry deck. I’ll have more in my video review.

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ralexv · Unread post by **ralexv** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:03 am

Thanks guys! Your info is appreciated. I'm still waiting for mine, shipping to Romania - ugh

bigskybaby · Unread post by **bigskybaby** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:14 pm

alric wrote:
ralexv wrote:Can someone do a review already?! Its killing me not knowing how the cards feel (stoc, finish, handling, etc).
I got my deck today. Usually I order multiples of any of DB's decks, but since this is his first EPCC deck, I just got one to test and if it was good, I would order more. As far as handling goes, I'm underwhelmed. It just fanned OK fresh out of the box. I mean, they're slippery enough, but when I tried fans, they were uneven. I had to sit there and break them in for about 10 minutes before they finally evened out to a degree, which pisses me off because decks should fan real smooth when they're fresh out of the box. Real JNs are dimpled only on one side and smooth on the other, the Stoics are dimpled on both sides, but the dimples are so shallow they almost feel like plastic cards. The stock is fine, the cards spring nicely and haven't developed a click bend yet like a lot of EPCC decks do.

I don't do any magic, so if there are any special bells and whistles for magic, they probably flew over my head and I'm not one to appreciate them. I didn't think this synthetic paper tuck case did much for the deck, either. I guess its cool that it's waterproof and resistant to tears, but with the cards outside of the box, the tuck felt kinda flimsy.

This is only a mediocre deck for cardistry and I actually gave my deck away to a friend. I regret that because now that I think about it, the tuck was just marked as printed by EPCC, but I don't think I saw any mention what country the cards were printed in. I thought JN finished decks are only printed in China but this isn't mentioned anywhere. Someone please correct me if these are printed in Taiwan instead of China. But if these are printed in China, then that explains a lot about the handling of this deck. It's not utter shit like Legal Tenders, but I wouldn't consider these as great handling decks for cardistry by any means. And if these are actually printed in China but not mentioned anywhere, I consider that a bullshit move by Blaine and EPCC.

Thanks for the review, I have not received the decks yet, as I live far far away from most of the countries in the world

There is one thing that bothers me for a while, I thought EPCC = LPCC = Made in Taiwan?

Unread post by **guru** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:56 pm

alric wrote:Real JNs are dimpled only on one side and smooth on the other, the Stoics are dimpled on both sides, but the dimples are so shallow they almost feel like plastic cards.

alric wrote:
I regret that because now that I think about it, the tuck was just marked as printed by EPCC, but I don't think I saw any mention what country the cards were printed in. I thought JN finished decks are only printed in China but this isn't mentioned anywhere. Someone please correct me if these are printed in Taiwan instead of China. But if these are printed in China, then that explains a lot about the handling of this deck. It's not utter shit like Legal Tenders, but I wouldn't consider these as great handling decks for cardistry by any means. And if these are actually printed in China but not mentioned anywhere, I consider that a bullshit move by Blaine and EPCC.

The finish on Divine Art deck was inspired by the finish on JNuggs. If you've it with you, you will find that they have dimples on one side & smooth on other. They do not feel like plastic though because I used better quality card stock.

I never had any intention to market this deck or subsequent decks as coming with JN finish but then I started hearing that EPCC is coming up with JN finish through the factory in China they contract with. Seems like they haven't been able to improve the varnish given the fanning issue you talked about. That said, I will say not to go with any marketing gimmicks or buzzwords on finish and stuff. You can say someone is inspired but even current technological advancements in paper technology or printing can't replicate the same finish or stock that was used in 1970s. You all know better so don't fall into any such claims or else you'll be disappointed in the end.

I also see that this deck doesn't show where it was produced (China or Taiwan) which is a departure from regular DB or EPCC produced decks or the decks produced in general. I think we can all read ourselves as to why it was done.

ChumpofSpades · Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:46 am

To be fair they say Made in PRC on the bottom.

Unread post by **guru** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 3:22 pm

ChumpofSpades wrote:To be fair they say Made in PRC on the bottom.

Thanks for letting me know. Seems like my inference after going through Alric's post was incorrect. It is mentioned that the deck is produced in China.

Unread post by **rousselle** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:58 pm

So, I used to run a print shop that imported some items from overseas and then we would affix our domed labels to those items. (Lapel pin backs, key chains, that kind of thing.) As a result, I learned a thing or two about importing goods from Taiwan and PRC.

The long and the short of it was that, at that time at least, every product that was imported for distribution within the US had to be clearly labeled *in English* where the product was manufactured. Things get tricky when a product is imported and then combined with domestic products to produce a whole different product -- then, do you label it as made in USA or made in the country of origin of that one part that was produced overseas? There was also the issue of: do you have to label the product itself, or the packaging it comes in. (In many cases, either would suffice, as long as the labeling was easy to read, accurate, and in English.)

This is why JR's mislabeling of one of his decks of cards -- saying it was manufactured in Taiwan when it was actually produced in the PRC -- was kind of an issue. He wasn't just misrepresenting the product (which annoyed more than one of us); he was also, as far as I am aware, essentially breaking the law. (I am not a lawyer and do not pretend to be, and it's possible that the laws that we had to follow have changed since I ran my print shop.) I totally get why he wouldn't want to re-print the tuck cases once that mistake had made its way all through the pipeline, but it was still annoying. That said, I am nonetheless inclined to believe that the mislabeling was a genuine mistake, even if not owning up to it later was deliberate.

All that said, if the rules are still in place that were in place back-in-the-day, customs won't let the product through if there is no labeling at all on either the product or the packaging that indicates the country of origin. And, they will sample the product. These crates of boxes arrive at a US port, and then some customs officer somewhere is going to look at the paperwork for the shipment, look at the boxes, open up a box at random, and then open up one of the bricks therein. If they don't see a "printed in China" or a "made in PRC" or some such (there's a list of legal ways to refer to each specific country of origin) on the outer packaging of the deck, they'll open the deck and look for it on a card itself. If they don't see it, the shipment ain't passing through until something is done to mitigate the lack of labeling.

I'm guessing that in the case of the aforementioned JR deck, the customs agent didn't notice that the country referenced on the packaging was slightly different from the actual country of origin of the shipment. That kind of error is easy to imagine. But, letting a shipment of decks through with no labeling at all? That's a lot less likely.

alric · Unread post by **alric** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:09 pm

ChumpofSpades wrote:To be fair they say Made in PRC on the bottom.

Thanks for clearing that up. Like I said, I don't have my deck anymore but I couldn't remember seeing that anywhere on the tuck. Damn, it surprises me that DB would stoop to Chinese made EPCC decks.

KT52 · Unread post by **KT52** » Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:05 pm

So the deck is advertised to have some hidden features for magicians.. so far I've noticed that the numbers are thinner on one side but not much more. Anyone find any easter eggs?

Fri Apr 27, 2018 10:14 am

KT52 wrote:So the deck is advertised to have some hidden features for magicians.. so far I've noticed that the numbers are thinner on one side but not much more. Anyone find any easter eggs?

Comes in Mnemonica stack. The deck is also a stripper deck. Three of diamonds reveal on QoS. Nothing else as far as I can tell.

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Unread post by **vasta41** » Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:31 pm

TheGentlemanWake wrote:The deck is also a stripper deck.

Was it advertised as a stipper deck? If not I find that kind of odd and if I bought one I wouldn't be very happy. I would consider this false advertisement if it wasn't made clear before purchase.