When I started I used to love stripper decks but when I got past Royal Road and into Expert Card Technique I gave it up. I could do most the tricks my stripper could do with sleight of hand alone. So my question, for those of you who consider yourselves intermediate to advanced card workers, do you still use trick decks? Which ones? and Why?

I love the stripper deck, but I am a newbie. I just bartend, and use it behind my bar. I still get some fantastic reactions. I don't plan on doing any shows, but behind the bar, these work really well.

I don't use my stripper anymore, just because many of the things it can do can be achieved with a regular deck, although not as easily.
I still use a svengali sometimes and a invisible deck simply because they make impossible tricks possible, (although I hope I can replace the invisible deck with the singularity once I hear some reviews for it...) just look at the svengali demo by oz, there's no way I can think of achieving that 1st trick so neatly without a svengali... (unless I want to get burned doing like 3 forces, a deck switch or two etc. )

I love trick decks (used in moderation). Haunted Decks are da bomb at Halloween time. A haunted deck effect would be impossible without a gimmicked deck. I also love the Cartoon deck.

I just got something called a Knockout Deck (Magic Makers) that is pretty cool. Ribbon fan the deck showing 52 different blue-backed cards. Go through a free-selected card bit. Card jumps to the top, card jumps to the bottom, then all 52 cards change to the selected card. Then the blue backs all change to red backs. You could not do the complete deck changes with sleight of hand (or at least without massive deck switches). This is not a svengali.

Furthermore, I love gimmicked cards. So much you can do with a few gimmicked cards in your otherwise normal deck.

Obviously, trick decks have there limitations but in a mix of close-up effects they're killer.

Oh of course! Don't mistake my question. I am referring to full decks and not individual gaff cards. I myself use quite a few variations of gaff cards.

And as for Singularity...the release of this effect is what inspired the question. Good card handling seems to make the Stripper deck obsolete. Will Singularity make the Invisible deck obsolete?

Nope, I don't think ANYTHING will ever do that. But I may be wrong.

Think about it. How could you honestly achieve the FAIRNESS and COMPLETELY FREE CHOICE of name ANY card in the deck and there is CLEANLY only ONE face down card in the deck that the invisible deck offers. I'm just not convinced.

The only trick deck that a magician should own is (or hopefully was) the Invisible Deck. I hope that Singularity will be better.

but the thing is...singularity is exactly that. it just takes much more practice than an invisible deck

Invisible deck and svengali deck are the two i use mostly..

The Card-Toon deck is the only trick deck I use. The trick packs so small and plays very, very, big. All the other card tricks I use are based on sleight of hand.

That depends on what you mean by "gimmicked deck."

On one hand, you have something like CardToon or the Invisible Deck, in which pretty much every card has been modified in some way, making the deck unsuitable for use as a "normal deck;" on the other hand you have something like Color Burn, which involves a normal deck to which a single gimmicked card is added for the duration of the effect.

Most "haunted deck" effects I'm familiar with are more like "Color Burn" then CardToon in that they do not use fully-gimmicked decks that could not be used as normal decks; rather, they are completely "normal' decks which can be handled and used freely prior to and after the "haunted deck" effect. A relatively simple, small gimmick is added for the "haunted deck" routine, then removed.

Having said that, I suppose it also depends on what you mean by "haunted deck effect." The classic slow movement in which half of deck moves in one direction, a single card slips out, then the shifted half moves back again is almost always acheived with some sort of a gimmick. However, there are "haunted deck"-esque effects which are done with completely normal, ungimmicked decks but do not acheive the same type of motion.

If you're asking about full-deck gimmicked decks like CardToon or the Ultra Mental Deck or the Mental Photography Deck or what have you, it ultimately depends on the context.

In walkaround scenarios, where pocket space is a crucial aspect of prop management, CardToon is pretty much the only full-deck gimmicked deck I'll use.

In stand-up scenarios, in which I have a lot more leeway for structuring covert and overt deck switches, I don't worry as much about avoiding "one-trick ponies" if they get the job done. I'll use things like a Tossed-Out Deck, Mental Photography Deck, Smart [edited], as well as a few specialized decks designed for single tricks (things from Colombini, Regal, et al) which need to be built/assembled rather than purchased off-the-shelf.

As for the "why" part of your question... it's because they work.

You can do a very good haunted deck effect with a normal deck using IT. i think i 1st saw Jon Le'Clair do it on his "who's afraid of invisible thread" video.

That's why I love ITR of almost any variety. They each have their own unique style of the haunted deck. One of my favorite effects!

If Singularity proves to produce the same effect as an invisible deck, then really I see no need to use "trick decks." I certainly use gaff cards though. I really don't use the invisible deck too much either, though I have on occassion. I enjoy performing effects that utilize sleight of hand so much more. I hope that Singularity will prove to produce the exact same effect as an invisible deck, with just a normal deck of cards that can be borrowed anywhere at anytime.