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As far as gaff's go, I always carry an odd backed card, a duplicate (short card) and a double backer to give me a few options.

As far as whole gaffed decks, I've been toying with a Rama Deck as it's really devious and can be fairly shuffled and spread as it's a completely normal pack of 52 cards.

I try to always carry an ID, because it's got one of the highest impact-to-ease-of-performance ratios of any gimmicked deck. Just the other day, while chatting to a staff member at a bakery I frequent, I used it: it's incredibly convenient - just remember which pocket you keep it in so that you don't get it mixed-up with whatever more-regular deck you carry (you always carry a deck of cards anyway, right?). I prefer the ID to the B'wave because, for my presentation style, at least, the Brainwave feels like it's "too much": the ID feels like it could actually be magic, but the B'wave feels like it's certainly a gaff deck.

I often carry a double-backer, because with a little imagination there's a stack of different effects you can pull off with it. I couple a red/blue double-backer with a menetekel, which is - in my opinion - the most under-rated gaffed deck. It's possible that the menetekel is under-rated because people simply can't see the value of it: Liam Montier does a wonderful multiple-revelation using a carefully set-up menetekel, and it's beautiful to behold.

The stripper deck "makes sense" to me, though I've never really used one: it feels like it might be a little obvious, to me. I ocassionally use regular- and reverse-svengali decks: again, they're possibly a little under-rated because the extent of their value isn't widely understood.

I wish I could show the same enthusiasm for the svengali decks as others seem to do. Alas it is not my favourite.

mark lewis wrote:I wish I could show the same enthusiasm for the svengali decks as others seem to do. Alas it is not my favourite.

It's doesn't quite use a "normal" Svengali deck, but take a look at iContact by Chris Congreave (official site; TM review; good minor 'variant' by a TM member): it's a easy to learn (and perform) trick with a very fast reset, and it really carries a lot of weight, especially when you (casually) dribble the deck to show it as normal, front and back. If ever there were a routine that could make you see the value of a Svengali deck (or, at least, something like one) then I'd say that this was it.

Dan Q wrote:

mark lewis wrote:I wish I could show the same enthusiasm for the svengali decks as others seem to do. Alas it is not my favourite.

It's doesn't quite use a "normal" Svengali deck, but take a look at iContact by Chris Congreave (official site; TM review; good minor 'variant' by a TM member): it's a easy to learn (and perform) trick with a very fast reset, and it really carries a lot of weight, especially when you (casually) dribble the deck to show it as normal, front and back. If ever there were a routine that could make you see the value of a Svengali deck (or, at least, something like one) then I'd say that this was it.

Mark may not be entirely unfamiliar with the Svengali deck...
See here:
ftopic54681.php

soveda wrote:Mark may not be entirely unfamiliar with the Svengali deck...

D'oh! So I see.

I'll show myself out.

Yes indeed. If you like fast food you might like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0rpyNJL8UU