Yesterday I received my first Mental Photography Deck, produced/distributed by Murphy's Magic. The trick is extremely good and you can quickly find videos about it on YouTube. In the beginning the deck worked great, you only ever saw either the blank cards or the printed cards. I love this trick! Unfortunately, over the course of practicing (about 50 passes in about 2 hours), the deck deteriorated a lot. If I only want to show blank cards, you can now also see the printed cards. At the beginning it only got worse very, very slowly. Then about 20 cards slipped out of my hand and onto the table and since then the deck hasn't worked properly, it can no longer be shown. I will try to restore the deck with the Spray Plasti-Dip (unfortunately currently I don't have a roughing stick). Does anyone here have any tips on how to ensure that the deck works well in the long term? One tip often given here is to buy a good deck, but I think the manufacturer Murphy's Magic is good. Someone wrote here in the cafe that the problem is not the wear and tear of the special treatment of the cards, but the dirt that gets on the cards. When practicing, I always put several piles on the table as recommended by Daryl in the instructions. Is that a problem? Is it better to just place the piles of cards on a close up pad? What is the best way to repair the deck? How can you prevent wear and tear? Is there any experience of how many performances/years it takes to replace the deck? Many thanks for any advice.

I sprayed the backs of 26 cards with Plasti Dip and afterwards the deck is like new and runs perfectly. Nevertheless, I would be very interested in the experiences of other owners of the deck.

It doesn't really surprise me that after 50 run-thru's with the deck that it needed more spray material. I think most all of us have experienced the same thing. I've been a member here since the early 2000's and this is a topic that comes up pretty consistently. Glad you're up and running well again!

In the meantime, I have continued to practice the trick often, but always put the stacks on a close-up pad and not on a table. The deck still works very well. The main problem, or probably the only problem, was apparently placing the stacks on the table. I have to correct myself: I sprayed all the cards with Plasti-Dip and not just the 26 backs. This makes the cards stick very well. Separating the cards during the routine is not a problem, probably due to the different lengths of the cards.