Review of Disposable Deck 2.0

If you want to make a deck of cards vanish in a stunning manner, David Regal’s “Disposable Deck 2.0" offers a method to do so. The kit comes with 200 gimmicks for 200 performances and it’s great. While “Disposable Deck” can be a card trick on its own, it offers a great means to enhance other card effects.

In the basic performance, you bring out a deck of cards from a card box, talk a bit, and then, to the audience’s surprise, crush the deck of cards into a tiny, crumpled piece of paper. This is the basic routine, but there are many applications. Since the gimmick is slightly smaller in height than a regular deck, you can place a few cards for a packet effect on top of it. When you’re ready to perform your packet trick, you can bring out the “deck,” take some cards off the top and then crush the rest of the deck because you have no need for it.

Each gimmick may be easily constructed in under a minute. The well designed gimmicks arrive flat and all you have to do is fold the scored edges, moisten a couple of tabs and put them together. There’s no need for scissors, glue or additional materials. The gimmicks are easy to work with and require no difficult moves. By the way, the gimmicks come in red and blue Bicycle backs.

The accompanying DVD teaches you everything that you need to know to put together and work with the gimmicks, and Regal provides lots of insightful ideas. The disc also teaches an effect, “Hotel 52,” which is great on its own, but can be enhanced with a “Disposable Deck” gimmick.

In the brilliant “Hotel 52" plot, the magician presents a scenario where a fire if racing through a hotel filled with playing cards and audience members are asked a series of questions until a single card is identified. At the end, the identified card is discovered on top of the deck, even though the magician did not go near the deck. It’s an excellent and entertaining effect that promotes lots of audience interaction.

I have always liked “Hotel 52” and performed it several times. I first discovered it in Pete McCabe’s excellent book called “Scripting Magic” (you can read my review here). When “Hotel 52" is performed with the “Disposable Deck,” the identified card can be found on top and then the rest of the deck crumpled, as if the remaining playing cards perished in the fire. It’s a fantastic enhancement on a great trick.

The DVD teaches various deck switches so you can swap in a “Disposable Deck” after performing your favorite card tricks. Regal also teaches a short ambitious card style routine that ends with the deck crumpled in your hand. This one only requires foundational sleight of hand skills.

If you’re interested in vanishing a deck, there are other products on the market that offer a different take. “Disappearing Deck” offers a means to vanish a real deck of cards using a gimmicked card box. It’s great but you do have to perform this one while seated at a table (you can read my review here). Ethereal offers a vanish of a deck of cards from under a handkerchief with the exception of a spectator’s selected card (you can read my review here). “Ethereal” is a stand alone effect that can’t support another card trick the way that “Disposable Deck” and “Disappearing Deck” can. There’s a product by Angelo Carbone called “Humbug” (you can read my review here). This one offers a vanish of a deck with the exception of a spectator’s selected card. However, this one is fraught with angle issues. Aaron Fisher’s first rate “Panic,” on the other hand, offers a transposition. The deck of cards vanishes and trades places with four kings. (you can read my review of “Panic” here).

While there are lots of ways to vanish a deck, David Regal’s “Disposable Deck 2” offers the most versatile and useful system that I’ve seen that can be performed under the widest range of conditions. If you need to vanish a deck, this is probably the way to go.