"The Excalibur Forcing Deck" by Devin Knight
Suggested Retail USD$15.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

"The Excalibur Forcing Deck", the latest by Devin Knight, is another in a long line of winners from the mind of a genius.

Big talk, but a big idea like this one is worth it.

I'll save you the dealer description since, well, this is a force deck after all and it's worth lies in its handling. "The Excalibur Forcing Deck", then, is one of the more worthwhile investments you can make in this type of prop.

Here's the way it goes. The performer brings out a deck, showing it freely and begins dealing the cards, one at a time, onto the spectator's hand. The spectator says "stop" at any time -- any time. The card stopped at is laid aside while both the card before and after the chosen card are shown to be two different cards. At this point, you've forced the card.

It's that clean. No, not really; it's actually cleaner than that. Knight has added countless touches that really sell everything and add to that cleanliness. For example, if you want, instead of you doing the dealing you can have the spectator do all the dealing and, effectively, almost all the work.

I can't go into details about what "The Excalibur Forcing Deck" is, of course. But I can tell you what it isn't. It's not some long-short thing, or a rough-smooth thing, or a conglomeration of the two. It's not some high-tech, infinitely-rigged device, either. I can say that it's a combination of three things: two different old force techniques in one deck coupled with some of the Devin Knight creativity that is so famous and so laudable.

Now, all of that -- the cleanliness and the lack of devices -- comes with a price. It's fair to say that "The Excalibur Forcing Deck" will not be the simplest forcing deck you'll ever use; you've got a fair amount of work to do to keep this one on track. However, the work is modest (and covered thoroughly by Knight in the instructions) and certainly not so difficult as to detract from the events at hand. Probably the most difficult thing about "The Excalibur Forcing Deck" is remembering to utilize the psychology involved.

Oh, crud. I used "the P-word". Now people will run away screaming.

Relax. There's no need to turn up your nose with this one. Here, "psychology", though appropriately used, isn't what you think it is. There are no verbal deceptions going on, no silent forces, no subconscious suggestion, or any of that other hit-or-miss stuff. No, the psychology Knight uses here is more along the lines of, well, "The audience wants to be fooled, so let it be." However, it's those psychological bits that make up the real work with this deck and care must be paid to get 'em right.

The rest of the work? Simpler than it could be but more difficult than a one-way forcing deck. And that's about all I can say about the methods used.

For your money, "The Excalibur Forcing Deck" is a bit of genius that has become my favorite forcing deck, hands down. This is one I love.

"The Excalibur Forcing Deck" by Devin Knight
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
It's a force deck, so you know what that means in terms of practicality. The only thing really worth pointing out is that using this deck for other things is a no-no; you'll definitely want to switch this one in and out if you're planning on other card effects. This is not a huge hit because Knight has thoughtfully included an insanely clean deck switch that leaves you with a standard, ungaffed deck in play.

Workmanship: 10
The cards are pure USPCC Bicycle. 'Nuff said there.

Documentation: 10
Knight does his usual masterful work here, an opus on using this deck. Everything, and I do mean everything, is covered.

Effect: n/a
It's all in what you do with it, of course. As for the deck itself, it's as clean as you can get so it generates no effect whatsoever.

Presentation: 10
The thing that makes any forcing deck is how clean it appears and this is one of the cleanest I've ever seen with all the psychological touches that make it seem like anything except what it is.

Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.