It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call! Today's note is a bit retroactive, not specifically things I received in over the last week, but noteworthy nonetheless.

Let's kick things off with Vanishing Inc.'s 2024 Year in Review! As expected, their review starts out with their biggest, in my opinion challenge to date. In early June, a devastating overnight fire destroyed their warehouse, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of books, collectibles, and unreleased tricks. Fortunately, no one was injured. Demonstrating resilience, the team resumed shipping orders from a temporary location on the same day and retained all 48 staff members without delays in pay or unpaid bills!

By year's end, Vanishing Inc. fully recovered and returned to pre-fire operational levels. They introduced free worldwide shipping with no minimums, enhanced their customer service, and expanded their digital offerings, including making all their books available as ebooks. Additionally, they announced that "The Session 2025" will be live-streamed, reflecting their commitment to innovation and community engagement.

This summary is miniscule and leaves out a ton of detail, so if you're interested in catching up, give their year in review a read!

This month's issue of Love Letters landed in my inbox this morning. Or, late last night? Either way, it's here and I already skimmed the first few pages ... I'm gonna love this one!

In this month's issue, Jerxy is highlighting some of his favorite tricks from Genii Magazine from 2024. Coming in at 25 pages long, including the cover, we get an overview of 8 tricks and Andy's thoughts on each. As usual, he doesn't explain how the tricks are performed, only the effect themselves. Then again, I only skimmed so maybe he tells how they're done too 🤷‍♂️. I subscribe to Genii though, so I have the full rundown as it is!

In 2020, there was a Kickstarter campaign for "CC Club Playing Cards". What was "CC Club", you ask? Conjuror's Community... Club. It was more than just a deck of cards, it was access to an online training program with a ton of tutorials, chats, etc. And one of the add-ons was to get a copy of Aaron Fisher's revised 20th Anniversary Edition of The Paper Engine! I wrote about this a few years back, and honestly forgot about it for a good year or so.

Well, the latest update (... from June 2024) says that the book's ready, for the most part, and that Vanishing Inc. will be printing it! I haven't heard a peep about it from Vanishing Inc. though, and no other updates came out since then, so I'm slightly concerned that this isn't true... I guess I could reach out to VI and ask?

Oh, speaking about big promises and delays, but one that actually has decent updates and legitimate reasons: Dan Harlan's MasterWorks!

I met Dan Harlan at MagiFest last year and he briefly talked about the work he's putting in on his MasterWorks ... work. It'll be three volumes that total likely near 1000 pages. Anyways, what's cool about pre-buying it is that you're supporting his effort to actually write the thing, but better yet, he sends regular updates and often includes parts of the book he's working on! Like, the actual tricks!

Unfortunately, his latest update mentions a bit of a delay due to "needing to work to live"... but hey Aaron Fisher, you should emulate this guy, he knows how to interact with an audience!

Well that's about it folks. I did get a book in recently, but I want to write more about it so you'll have to wait before I share details about it. Okay, okay, it's Repertoire II by Asi Wind!

Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!

Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.

Though delayed, I finally opened my batch of 25 Mystery Decks from Art of Play!

If you want the suspense of opening each individually, watch the whole unboxing here:

This was not only my first video of 2025, but also my first since May of 2024! I was on a minor sabbatical -- non-voluntary -- but all is well and I'm back now (^_^)

About the Mystery Decks

As I mentioned in Art of Play's 2024 Mystery Deck List, Art of Play never published the list of available decks in the "mystery deck lot" this year. They only say:

So that's fun... but, my post linked above dives into what I think is the full list. Or, at least, close to it.

I ordered 25 decks, which is less than the "over 30 decks in the mix," so I'm guaranteed to not get all of them. This is absolutely fine though since I already have a lot of the decks in the list. I didn't buy any other Art of Play decks throughout 2024 though, both in anticipation for the end-of-year mystery decks, and because I don't have any storage space at home!

I didn't have any discount codes available, and Art of Play didn't offer free shipping on my order, so even with each deck at $12, the final bill came out a bit higher than last year's (which was $8.88 per deck). Regardless, $12 is less expensive than buying any of these decks at full price, so no complaints from my side.

Unboxing the Decks

If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch my unboxing video on YouTube. I not only unbox each deck, but I also open a few of them and give the cards a peek!

Every deck came in a new (for mystery decks) wrapping, each sealed with a wax "Art of Play" seal. I really liked how it looked overall, they do a good job with this each year. Like last year, they didn't include those little puzzle stickers with every deck, which I'm glad they stopped because I still find them in my card cabinet randomly.

After unwrapping each deck, here's the full list I received:

• 6x Lucky Draw
• 3x Dreyfus Art (black & white?)
• 2x Midway Gardens
• 2x Curious Wonders
• 2x Just Type, Edition 1
• 2x Just Type, Edition 2
• 2x Ultimate Deck
• 2x DKNG Gold Wheels
• 2x DKNG Red Wheels
• 1x DKNG Purple Wheels
• 1x Messymod, Edition 2

The decks that are bold above are the Mystery Deck exclusives -- based 100% on the fact that I can't find them for purchase when searching artofplay.com.

Out of everything, I received 11 unique decks. Of the 25 total, I already owned 12, so that's 13 brand new decks added to my collection... 4 if you omit dupes 🙃. It's the luck of the draw, so as you'll hear me say a lot: no complaints from my side!

A big shout-out to Art of Play for putting on yet another awesome Mystery Deck event and sending so many my way. And I just checked, the decks are still up for sale so take a chance and grab your own Mystery Deck from Art of Play!

It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call!

Each Monday (give or take), I use this feature to highlight a few of the things that have made their way in over the past week or so. Packages, purchases, and emails -- oh my!

It's the holiday season, so to keep with the festive mood I ordered Socks: Holiday Edition by Michel Huot! This trick is identical to the original Socks, except the cards and physical socks each have a Christmas theme to them. Heck, it even comes with the wallet! The instructions are with the regular version, but I honestly didn't expect them to make a second "how to" video just because there's a different pair of socks to put on 😋

While I was on Vanishing Inc.'s site (to order Socks), I also caved and picked up Joshua Jay's latest release: Particle System. I was hesitant. I saw the email before, but decided the $100 price tag was too high. I saw it again, and re-read. I wasn't sure. I watched the video, ugh, it looks too good to be true. So, I bought it. The regular edition, mind you. Not the $250 "deluxe" which, other than a fancy case and two decks, comes with a "Particle System Notebook", said to contain additional routines and ideas... but let's be honest, I can hardly touch read half the books on my shelves as it is, I doubt $150 for a small notebook is going to be a good decision 😅

So yeah, Particle System. While waiting for the book to arrive, I decided to check out the video that was added to my account. Holy crap, it's over 4 hours long! I've seen Joshua Jay tutorials before, for Inferno and Prism Plus, but this one just feels better. I'm not even 2 hours into it and I can honestly say, this video alone is worth more than the $100 price tag -- and he's upfront at the beginning of it that the book teaches more than the video. When the book arrived and I started going through it, I can confirm, there's even more in the book!

I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything, but the way he's marketed his custom stacked deck as a "system" is spot-on. The caveat to his stack, or the "one downside" that he acknowledges too, is that it doesn't look shuffled if you stare at the cards for more than a second or two -- but he does offer ways to still show the full deck face-up and have this not be an issue, if you need to. Other than that, I actually haven't found another downside yet, and the stack was easier for me to memorize than Mnemonica and Aaronson!

I've put "trying to learn coin magic" to the wayside for the last week while I've been diving head-first into the world of Particle System, and if you can afford it, I do actually recommend this one!

Last, but not least, I... mystery decks from Art of Play! This is the third or fourth year in a row that I've grabbed some of these, they're so much fun to open and see what's inside. I haven't bought any decks from Art of Play all year, and they've released a handful of new ones, so I'm bound to get something I don't already own... hopefully.

I haven't opened any of them yet, but I will really soon -- and, I'll record it and slap it up on YouTube!

Socks, books, and cards. Oh my!

Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!

Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.

Holy smokes, did you see that it's time for Art of Play's Mystery Deck drop?! This is one of the things I look forward to every year because it's a chance to get some really great decks at a fairly decent price.

If you're not familiar with what a "mystery deck" is, in short it's a random deck from a list of possible decks that arrive wrapped, so even after taking them out of the shipping box, you're still not sure what deck it is... until you unwrap it, of course. Art of Play pre-mixes their decks after they're wrapped, so there is a possibility of getting a duplicate if you order more than one.

Art of Play launches their "mystery deck" campaign each year, typically starting in December. Last year, it ran for a while. Not sure how long they will run it this year, but I've already placed my order for a chance to have the most variety available! Either way, if you're into playing cards, I recommend to order one or two (... or a dozen!):

Order now at Art of Play

Mystery Deck List

Whelp, unfortunately, Art of Play didn't share a list of the decks that are available in the mystery deck lot this year. They've shared a list every year that I'm aware of, but not this time. On their site, they currently have a scrolling banner that reads:

So that's fun to break down!

If we can assume that the graphics they post for the mystery decks show the actual decks in the lot, then we actually have a decent list ahead of us. Here are the ones I've seen, either from their Mystery Deck product page or the @artofplay Instagram page:

• Tom's Town Playing Cards
• Smokey Bear Playing Cards
• Cybernetic
• 69 Atlantic
• Calder Playing Cards
• Fulton's Thunderbird Room
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Midway Gardens
• Flying Dog, Edition 1
• Flying Dog, Edition 2
• DKNG Playing Cards (Red, Purple)
• DKNG Gold Wheels
• Overlook, Maze Back
• Messymod, V2
• Curious Wonders
• Peau Doux, Deco Back
• Peau Doux, Turquoise Edition
• Just Type, Edition 1
• Ultimate Deck
• Vertigo (pink edition?)
• Art of Play Brand Deck (new design?)
• Art of Play Brand (blue)
• Eames "Starburst" Black Edition
• Fairmont Palliser Playing Cards
• Fulton's Thunderbird Room
• Grimmlore Tartan, White Edition
• Lucky Draw (new colorway?)
• Cabinetarium
• Yosegi Playing Cards
• Fantasy Playing Cards

Also, we normally are told which ones are exclusive to the Mystery Deck pull and which ones aren't. We are told that there are seven exclusives and three gilded decks though. They show the gilded decks in their video, so we know that those are:

• Ultimate Deck
• Vertigo (pink?)
• Grimlore Tartan, White Edition

In the list above, any of the bold items are the decks that I believe are exclusive for the Mystery Deck pull. There are 8 though... so I'm clearly wrong about at least one. We'll find out soon I guess.

If you want to grab your own:

Order now at Art of Play

Good luck!

I'm sure there are other holidays in November, but the main three I'm referring to all kind of happen together: Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Though, this year Amazon labeled it "Black Friday Week" and a lot of companies had their sales going on for the entire month, but I still saw the biggest deals on Friday itself -- and Monday, we can't forget Monday.

I had a good Thanksgiving break, and I hope your weekend was great too (whether you celebrate or not). I didn't spend a ton of money on magic during Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year, and it's not just because I found amazing deals and literally saved... I just didn't buy a lot. Not a lot jumped out at me because I already have too much to read and watch, and not enough time to do either. I did order a couple items, but you'll have to wait until they arrive before I show what they are =]

Art of Play's annual "Mystery Deck" offering is opening this Friday, December 6th. We still don't have the list of what decks are going to be in the pool of decks that they choose from, but I'm thinking of buying a few like always. This past year, as in all of 2024, I have bought a grand total of less than 10 decks. I have zero storage space available for decks, and I don't go through them nearly as quickly as I thought I would.

Regardless, I really do love Art of Play's quality when it comes to decks. The card stock is great, the artwork is amazing, and there's that certain desire of rareness with some of the decks that I just can't quite describe.

As soon as the deck list is published, I'll reshare it here on the site. That, and I'll order a brick or two!

Last week I mentioned I was starting to learn coin magic and hot damn, I have been!

I haven't started any actual tricks yet, but I have been working on most of the palms and a few vanishes and switches. Yes, if you're wondering I am following Modern Coin Magic from front to back. What I really love is, last week when I mentioned it, I said that I have no idea how to do a finger palm. Modern Coin Magic says this gem:

And yet, I find it to be one of the more uncomfortable ways to hold a coin. Sure, my hand in classic palm can't get anywhere near "flat", but it doesn't look too unnatural. Finger palm just feels awkward to me, and I always need to have my fingers curled.

I am practicing with half dollars currently, and I wonder if my hands are just larger and that's the issue; maybe using a silver dollar would work better. I have a bunch of them, but haven't tried yet. Though, I figure that once you know how to palm, the size of the coin won't make a huge difference?

Oh, I've also been doing a coin roll -- where you make the coin roll across the back of your fingers across your whole hand! I can consistently get it to my pinky, but then it typically slides to the floor =P. It's pretty fun though, albeit not a "magic trick."

When I have something at least resembling some level of skill, I'll share more!