What it is... and what not | for magic effect creators | Large Index Decks | Double-Deckers | Parlour Decks | Card Quality Comparison

What it is... and what not

The Phoenix Deck is not another deck in the long list of fancy decks that flooded the magic community over the past few years. Nothing against any fancy decks, they look cool and interesting and they find their card collector. I did not want to invent strange looking decks. In my opinion these decks are not usable for everyday magic as they look so unusual that they will easily arouse suspicion. At least lay audiences will always be more suspicious of unusual cards, even if they have no built-in features.

That is why the Phoenix deck does not look too modern or extraordinary, as it should not look too suspicious for lay audiences. By designing a completely new but classy design instead of imitating the well-known Bicycle design like others the Phoenix Deck is drawing no suspicion at all. Trust us, red flags normally go up when a regular card player sees a “Bike Look-A-Like” deck.

The Phoenix Deck is named after the mythical sacred firebird which has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle. Near the end of its life, it builds a nest of myrrh twigs that then ignites. Both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. (Wouldn´t it be a great story with which to start a torn-and-restore card trick?)

(In April 2017, a strange coincidence struck us, when our German warehouse was completely destroyed in a fierce fire and we lost all our inventory and machines. Like the mythical firebird, our Phoenix Deck and the community of magicians worldwide helped us to survive this hard time and we successfully started our own rebirth.)

The Casino Quality-Master Edition of the Phoenix Deck is a superior alternative to the often used Bicycle Deck; both are printed at US Playing Card Company. While Bicycle Decks are produced in Supermarket Quality, the Phoenix Decks are produced in Casino Quality, giving you the highest possible quality level US Playing Card Company can provide. The Introduction of the Phoenix Deck was just the beginning of a whole new era for card magic. (With the freedom of choosing the best suiting playing card companies and printers around the globe with our own card design, we are also able to produce other ranges of our Phoenix Decks.)

The best way to describe the difference of these two decks:

The Bicycle Deck is made for Poker players and is used for magic,
whereas the Phoenix Deck is made especially for magicians but can also be used for Poker playing.

In the past years the limitations of the Bicycle Deck got more and more obvious as the politics of US Playing Card Company changed dramatically for us magicians:

• no more trick cards where the Rider back design, Joker or Ace of Spades will be changed.
• no more Jumbo decks (meanwhile they printed again Jumbo Decks, but in a bad quality)
• no more marked decks, Twilight Angels etc. With the Rider back design
• the 808 card case design does not show the card back on the back of the card case, also the used colors have changed

Even if we think that magic is the most important thing in the world, people outside of our community think quite different.

This is why I started the Phoenix Deck! As a magician working for magicians and filling their playing card needs.