Whoa, it's December already! I feel like November just didn't exist this year. All of the stores had Christmas decorations up since  August, Halloween was a flash in the pan, and Thanksgiving is a few years away from no longer being a holiday. What's going on in this country?!

But hey, truth be told, I'm already feeling the magic of Christmas spirit so I'm not complaining.

Normally, given it's Monday, I'd do a Monday Mail Call to highlight things I've gotten in... except, nothing really got delivered last week. Well, okay, that's not true. I did get in my Kings Wild Project Table Players decks, and my Art of Play Mystery Decks package arrived! Other than that, I'm just kind of waiting for the onslaught of Black Friday deliveries to finally show up.

Speaking of the decks above though, I'm really excited about them -- both KWP and AoP -- because I have big plans for both! For the mystery decks, well, I'm just doing an unboxing. However, depending on the specific decks that I receive I may be doing some other photo shoots and deck reviews too. There's such a huge assortment available, I'm bound to get at least one new deck.

For the KWP decks, heh. So, I'm currently looking to the side of my desk on the floor. I have 14 unopened boxes from them. Those are monthly subscription boxes. Next to those, on the floor, are 3 decks that I took out of their monthly deliver box, but have yet to open. Next to those, a large box from KWP's Lord of the Rings Kickstarter campaign.

I am going to do some massive unboxings, photoshoots, and deck reviews. Stay tuned here, on Instagram, and YouTube for all of the fun decks!

Earlier this year when I was visiting New York City, around February, I stopped by Tannen's like usual and finally caved and bought Repertoire by Asi Wind. It's not that I didn't want the book, I really really wanted it. For a long time... but, it's $100. And it's not really that "big". I have several books that have a price tag of 3-digits, but they're huge. Talk About Tricks, GSOH (Vol 1 and Vol 2), Secret Language, and several others all meet that criteria, but they have noticeably more content. Hence the hesitation.

But I did cave and I bought the book. I immediately, on my flight home, read the foreword and preface and was even more elated that I finally bought it! When I got home, I put the book my my desk to read more and a day or two passed without touching it. Another week passed and another book was placed on top of it. After a month, it was moved to a shelf with a stack of books. And last weekend, at the end of November, I moved my office to a new room in my house and had to move hundreds of books (and thousands of decks) and Repertoire ended up on the top of a stack, right in front of me.

Last night, I sat down with the book, a notebook, pen, deck of cards, and a tea. Not coffee, only because I was in a tea mood.

I read through the first two tricks, Time is Money and a.w.a.c.a.a.n. and took zero notes. The cards stayed in their case. The tea was drunk.

The reason I provided all of the backstory before getting into this is because I wanted you to understand the skepticism I went into starting this book with. I approached it with the mindset that it was overpriced and initially didn't hold my attention enough to fully dive into it. And that is where I was wrong.

Look, I'll do a full review of the book once I'm through it, but let me just say that so far, this book is beautiful. I have seen some books that do credits well, but holy crap... Asi has taken credits and footnotes to the next level. His verboseness is not just word-vomit on a page, it's all useful and precise. Just as there's justification for every move in his routines, there's exactness for the backstory he provides and how things are done, should be done, could be done, and where you can take it from there.

Time is Money, for example, is a trick with bills. Except, it's also an "object under spectator's watch" trick. But it doesn't have to be. It could be something else too. There are so many layers packed into the routine, and the same with his ACAAN, that you're not getting just one magic routine, you're getting a full masterclass.

Thinking on it now, the one thing I can think of is the proverb "teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Repertoire isn't just giving us a routine, it's teaching us how to create our own while providing structure and guidance along the way. Well, that, and giving us a routine.

So far, and mind you I'm only two tricks (out of 21) into the book, I would gladly pay the price of this book again. Without hesitation.

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

This past week, well, let's just say my mailman is well acquainted with the Vanishing Inc printed on the side of boxes =P. It was only 3, don't get me wrong, but they were each delivered on separate days, and he had to walk them up to the door each time, so I'm pretty sure he's not the happiest when he pulls up to my house.

First up, I got a new book! Gagnon's Inner Sanctum by Tom Gagnon.

I've had Gagnon Unfiltered sitting on my shelf, unopened, for at least a year now, so I figured "why not buy more!". The reviews for Gagnon's books are really good, and there's a mixture of magic in them -- but from what I can tell, it's mostly card magic. I have a special shelf, and I'm staring at it right now as I type this, that has 9 books (10 if you include Inner Sanctum, which I'll be putting there shortly). This shelf is my "to read" list. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the stack keeps growing...

Branching away from card magic just a bit, or a lot a bit, I caved and picked up Appearing Glass! While making a glass filled with liquid may be really cool, I might actually end up using it to... you guessed it, make a deck of cards appear. I know that I'll do that, but I think I might give the glass one a try too.

One of my absolute favorite openers is Lennart Green's FISM act opening where he makes a glass full of beer appear right before getting started with his card act. I have the Classic Green Collection where he teaches it, and I've tried it myself, but I didn't quite pull it off that one time. Having two methods of "making a glass appear", I like the idea. This way, if I ever finally pull off Lennart Green's approach, if they ever bring up the idea later I can "repeat" the appearance, but in a completely different and unexpected way. Assuming I'm carrying Appearing Glass with me, of course.

The last physical product I received this past week is Canon by David Regal. This was one of Vanishing Inc's new tricks that they released for Black Friday. It's an any card prediction system. I know, I know. There are a ton of these out there, and I even know a lot of them. But I really like David's work and this one looked good in the trailer. At least, the trailer was made in a way that telegraphed nothing, so either editing was expertly done, or it's that good of a trick.

What also sold me on this was the fact that David says that it can be done in many ways, including ones that I can come up with. So, to me, that says that it's versatile and customizable, something that I look for in a good magic trick.

The packaging for both Canon and Appearing Glass are pretty nice. I haven't watched the tutorials for either trick, nor have I fully examined the contents of either box, so I really hope I'm not disappointed. Expect reviews of each in the coming weeks though!

I also took advantage of Vanishing Inc's $0.99 video download deals on most days. One or two days, I already owned the video, but I did end up snagging a few. And then, I ordered a few other videos that were on my wish list too. All-in-all, this year I picked up the following:

• Three Blank Monte
• My Silly Tricks 2, Hangover Edition
• Aura
• Pluck
• Fringe
• Chromatic Trilogy
• Card on Ceiling
• Undone Delusion

It's going to be a lot to go through and I'm not sure if I'll be able to give thorough reviews for each, but I'll try!

That's about it for last week's haul. I ordered even more things that should arrive this week, so check back next Monday to get the scoop on what things were picked up and my first impressions.

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.

It's that time of the year again, time for Art of Play's Mystery Deck drop!

If you're not familiar with the "mystery deck" concept, it's kind of how the name implies. Art of Play will take a large assortment of decks and then wrap them so that not even they can see what's inside. Then, when you place an order, they'll send them your way! Art of Play pre-mixes their decks after they're wrapped (some companies don't), so the possibility of duplicates is there.

There are a lot of sites that offer mystery decks, sometimes only around Black Friday and other times at intervals throughout the year. Every year though, in my opinion, Art of Play puts out the best offering. For $12 (plus shipping) you get a deck from a large assortment. The list of decks available has been different each year, and the wrapping is too!

Typically, as far as I can remember, the mystery deck sale lasts for December and January, but it could be a shorter window. I actually don't pay too much attention to how long it's running once I've purchased my own lot. But, order early as a gift to yourself, or for someone else!

Order now at Art of Play

Keep reading below for the list of decks available!

Teasing the List

Art of Play normally pre-shares the list of decks in the assortment, but they didn't this year. Instead, on Instagram (@artofplay), they have only dropped a minimal number of teasers! A picture of a tuck, or the back design of a card.

Not including anything shared in their story, they started teasing their mystery decks with the Yosegi Playing Cards:

The tuck looks great, but the post's caption gives an even bigger teaser:

Other teased cards have been the black & white edition of Overlook Playing Cards, a cube styled deck (no name), a limited edition version of the Fulton Street Playing Cards by Fultons Playing Cards and Dan & Dave, Peau Doux, Deco Black edition, and the Grimmlore Tartan deck.

Mystery Deck List

This year's assortment is a random mix of over 70 decks, more than 15 of which are exclusive to the Mystery Deck lot (i.e., they can't be purchased directly and are specifically made for this list, they're out-of-print, or they're early releases). Here's the list, as shared by Art of Play:

• Yosegi Playing Cards
• Grimmlore Tartan, Black Edition
• Peau Doux, Deco Back
• Peau Doux, Deer Back
• Peau Doux, Silver Edition
• Peau Doux, Turquoise Edition
• Overlook, Carpet Back
• Overlook, Maze Back
• Braniff Playing Cards
• Damn Good Cards, No. 8
• Fulton Street, Black Edition
• Curious Wonders
• Eames "Starburst" (Random Mix of Colors)
• Ramen Heads
• DKNG Playing Cards (Random Mix of Colors)
• Imperial Hotel
• Smokey Bear (Random Mix of Colors)
• Dreyfus
• Cybernetic
• Messymod, V2
• Cabinetarium
• James Coffee, Green Edition
• Standards (Random Mix of Colors, including Gold)
• Just Type, Edition 1 and Edition 2
• Flying Dog, Edition 1 and Edition 2
• Toms Town
• Gaslamp
• The Lepidopterist, Patina Edition
• Tempo
• Dinosaur
• Lady Moon
• Iron Spades
• Henry & Sally
• HMNIM, Gray
• Vertigo
• If an Octopus could Palm

The decks in bold above are the exclusive decks!

Have you ordered your mystery deck yet?

Order now at Art of Play

I've mentioned a few times that I really like this time of year, especially for picking up new magic. I've joined a couple of mailing lists, and others have recently reminded me that I've been on them for a while, and wow are there are lot of huge sales going on.

I mean, this is expected for Black Friday, but throttle it down just a bit folks. Or not... the adverts have very clearly worked with me because it's not even Black Friday yet and I've made a considerable number of purchases =P

A new mentalism release from Harapan Ong, Jumping to Conclusions, hit the market a few days ago, part of Vanishing Inc's Black Friday "new releases" sale.

While the trick is based on Max Maven's "Drawing Conclusions" effect, my first thought actually went to a mat that goes by the same name:

The trick itself, apparently, has nothing to do with the "Jump to Conclusions" mat, but it does come with two sets of custom-made cards. At first, I was intrigued. But then I watched the trailer and became less so.

It looks like it's a decent trick that has an unexpected ending, and I would love to be a spectator participating in the trick, but I just can't wrap my head around how I -- the magician -- would justify having a small deck of cards with weird abstract images on them. I have the same apprehension towards any ESP deck, but it could also be aligned with the fact that I just don't have a set built around that concept, and I don't want one either.

I spoke to Magick Balay about this issue earlier this year too, specifically about a "prediction book" that he has as part of his EDC. I came out with the same prompt: how do you justify having such an odd and unique item to the spectator? wouldn't they immediately know that there's something fishy about it?

And... he convinced me! He had a whole story about it and he actually, even though it was part of his EDC, only brings it out when the spectator prompts the topic of mind-reading. I considered buying the book too, but I was still hesitant towards branching out from card magic at the time. I'm far less hesitant today, but not enough to jump on this one unfortunately.

I'm excited to see Art of Play's Mystery Deck released this year. On Monday, they posted a story to Instagram with a sneak peek of this year's deck wrapper and silly me, I forgot to take a screenshot of it. It also had a countdown timer of "3 days away" and a few hours, so my guess is that it'll be dropping sometime today or tomorrow -- I don't remember the exact number of hours, so it could be either/or.

I reached out to Art of Play for more info since they normally pre-share a list of decks that will be available in the mystery deck lot (and haven't yet), but they replied that they won't reveal any details in advance of the launch. They did say "please wait until Friday," which is very indicative that the launch itself is on Friday, but the 3-day countdown timer is causing my brain to do math without all of the necessary information. Maybe the hours that it had were a bigger number than I remember. Either way, they're coming soon!

As soon as I have info about the list I will re-share here with extended details (^_^)

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

Throughout the year, every year, I keep a list of books that catch my eye. Why not buy them all then? Well, that's just impractical. That, and sometimes they're sold out everywhere. Around this time of the year, what I've started calling "Black Friday Month", I pull up my list and start searching. Those books that are sold out, typically, still aren't available. The others, well, they're on sale somewhere!

This year, however, I'm excited to say that a book that's been on my list since 2019 has finally become available: Cards Against Reality!

At the time of this writing, it looks like it's still available at Tannen's Magic Shop. Unfortunately, it's full price and not discounted for any Black Friday sales... but hey, at least I was finally able to score a copy!

I already started flipping through Lorenz's book, which as the title suggests is all about card magic, and it looks like it has promise to it. It's tinier than I imagined. Not in page length, but actual size. That doesn't matter too much I guess since after all, it's not the size of the book that matters but how you can use it!

Last week, I made a purchase on Ellusionist and somehow scored a 3 month pass to Magic Stream, "The Future of Learning Magic." I've heard about the site a few times, but never actually jumped over to check it out. When they said "free!", well, I couldn't pass that up!

I haven't counted the videos, but I think there are a bazillion of them. I'll get back to you with a real number when I get into things more, and I'll definitely do a review, but I've only taken a look at a couple of things so far so I don't have a "full picture" yet.

From what I have seen, Magic Stream has a lot of everything. Not "a little bit of everything", but a lot. There's card magic, card sleights, coin magic, mentalism, street magic, even cardistry. Bar bets, gambling demonstrations, and more. Sheesh, this is going to take me a while to get through... I may need to extend those 3 months =P

If you haven't seen it yet, you can buy an annual pass to Magic Stream for only $99.95, or a month-by-month subscription for a little more. I, personally, can't say if it's worth it or not since I haven't gone through everything yet. However, I'll get all I can out of these 3 months and will report back as soon as I have a solid opinion =]

That's about it for last week's haul. I ordered a few things that should arrive this week, so check back next Monday to get the scoop on what things were picked up and my first impressions.

If you have any suggestions for books, tricks, or decks of cards, or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), reach out here.