I bought 3 decks. All 3 had an inward, end-for-end warp. This made faroing considerably difficult. My search for a deck that facilitates a smooth faro-shuffle was my main reason for purchasing the 809s. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Further, one of the decks was considerably roughly cut--as if there were tiny burrs along the sides. White splotches were visible on the sides of this deck, as well. The two other decks had no splotching and weren't "rough."

The paper stock seems a bit softer than the 808s. I can't see any advantage-I think I prefer the slightly stiffer stock.

The above drawbacks aside, the design is a nice alternative to the 808s, and, incidentally, I ordered a set of (blue) Twilight cards--which are 809s--and they were not warped. They faroed fine.

The red-backed Mandolins that I get are perfect. The blue ones suck for some reason. It could be that I just got a bad batch. They are always warped inwards and when you square the deck and look at the sides, you see white spots all over.

Like the other reviewers, I received blue mandolin cards that were warped, although the warp is a very even bend. Of note, all the other decks in my order (i.e. not blue mandolins) were perfectly even and straight, as usual. The mandolin cards themselves are very high quality. They are well-cut and nearly as thin as my bicycle elites, so probably also crushed stock. I'm guessign they were stored improperly at some point in their lives since 2010, probably before Penguin got them. If you're willing to work to get the bend out of them, this could be a great way to get some high quality cards for half price. Otherwise, skip them.

These cards are of excellent quality and I truly love this inspired back design. I think even the creators agree with me that the new design looks massively superior, otherwise there is no point in making so many refinements. A change of the two center angels from riding a bike to holding a mandolin would suffice as "a significant alteration" for legal purposes. The four corner angels need not be replaced by butterflies if the intention was to look similar. Those butterflies are purposefully placed there because they look absolutely gorgeous. This improvement is visually illustrated by the ingenious revision of the angel wings. Total perfection!

Love these decks, because of the big angel wings. Was expecting a double backer, instead got a double blanker. Will work good with blank card tricks like Defaced. Use these with Wings & Twilight Angels for two amazing tricks by Paul Harris!

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recebei o meu em perfeito estado! adorei, vou comprar mais, obrigado