REVIEW: Boris Wild’s Marked Deck Project by Boris Wild and Big Blind Media
RATING: 9.5 out of 10
LINK TO REVIEW: http://straighttalkmagicreviews.com/boriswildmarked/
FULL REVIEW: Boris Wild’s Marked Deck Project by Boris Wild and Big Blind Media is a soup to nuts double DVD with Boris Wild showcasing his own marked deck. The Project has more than 4 hours of content and is a great resource for any level performer. For those of you that don’t read past the first paragraph, this is awesome!

On the first DVD, Wild explains how he created the deck and his own marking system and how anyone can create their own deck if they do not want to buy a premade marked deck. Personally, I would spring for a premade marked deck and save myself the time and aggravation of making my own. The Boris Wild Marked Deck (BWMD) used to be printed by the USPCC on rider back Bicycle cards, but they no longer do so. Instead, the BWMD is printed on Maiden backed Bicycle cards.

Wild uses his marked deck as an everyday deck. Although he does not use the markings for every routine in his repertoire, he explains that the marking system can be a safety net. Wild teaches three routines on the first DVD, two of which can be combined into one fantastic routine. In that routine, Zero Touch, Wild makes clear that he will not touch the cards at all and still be able to find a selected card. The spectator takes the cards out of the box and shuffles and cuts the cards to their heart’s content. Then, the performer cuts the cards into several piles and chooses any pile and shuffles them. At some point they will choose a card and drop it on another pile and repeat the shuffling and dropping until all the cards are back in one pile. Then the spectator shuffles they deck and cuts it again. No way anyone could know or find the glimpsed at card. The performer then holds the spectators hand as they wave it over the cards. He has the spectator remove portions of the cards based on his intuition and they are left with one card – and of course it is the selected card. Then, Wild reverses roles and has the spectator perform the trick for the magician while the spectator does not touch the cards at all. The spectator (acting as the performer) narrows the cards down to a few and then selects one and when the magician (acting as a spectator) names his card, it matches the face down card that the spectator/pretend performer isolated. It is a fantastic routine and will leave an indelible mark on your audience.

The second DVD contains five outstanding routines. Included is a superb routine in which a chosen card miraculously ends up between two jokers. Wild also teaches his version of ACAAN which requires solid fundamental card handling skills.

As we have come to expect from Big Blind Media, the production quality and camera work is excellent. The organization and structure of the more than four hours of material is also excellent.

If you have never used a BWMD before, it does take some practice and usage to get used to it so that you can execute with fluency. As you may, or may not know, the genius of the BWMD is that there is only one marking to spot and because of that you are able to find cards faster and eliminate cards very quickly.

This Boris Wild/Big Blind Media collaboration is an outstanding magic product and it is highly recommended for any card magician of all levels.

When are these going to be available for purchase? I can’t find them on their site. I can’t the John Bannon relesae you recently reviewed too.

Many tahnks!

I saw Boris lecture last night in Peterborough. Boris has this new DVD for sale on his UK lecture tour.
He said it will be released early April by Big Blind Media.

Actually, Zero Touch is an amplified version of Darwin Ortiz' Paper Chase which appeared in Genii magazine in March 1993.
I think Boris credited Steve Draun in the lecture. So I'm not sure who came up with the method (or rather observation) first. Maybe it goes way back, but has been overlooked by card magicians.

Boris is also releasing a Sensations dvd via Big Blind Media.
This includes Symbiosis , a very strong matching card effect with two separate decks.

Boris gave a great lecture. His new DVDs are very good.

Secrets Draun from Underground was also published in 1993.

I have just re-read the Darwin Ortiz article in the Genii archive. He credits Ed Marlo for the discovery.

Also just having seen Boris's lecture at Peterborough last week, I have to say he and his Lecture were great, including his products for sale. If you get a chance to attend I highly recommend, you will not be disappointed. The marked deck is no longer available on Bicycle Rider Backs, it is now PRINTED on Bicycle Maiden Backs. Still air cushioned and handle the same. In mho I do not think any one would really notice the difference.

Back to the cards, if your eyesight is good I am sure you will have no problem in finding cards from a face down spread. My eyesight is not as good as it was and even wearing specs, I am still having some difficulty. Boris does it in about 3 to 4 seconds, but he does have many years of practice! I only a few days.I have just ordered his marking system product which will mark 4 decks so I can revert back to Bicycle, and marking my own gives me flexibility of positioning etc. although the size of the markings I guess will be the same.

Forgot to mention, you can purchase these and other products direct from Boris, in France, from www.boriswild.com/magicshop. Priced in Euros, but he does accept Pay Pal

I had heard that Big Blind was going to release this in August. Just not sure when.

Is the DVD mainly geared towards Boris Wild's own marked deck? Or are the routines able to be performed with ease using any marked deck?

In other words, is this DVD really only useful for owners of the Boris Wild marked deck, or will owners of any marked deck be able to make use of all the tricks taught here?

Some of the tricks can also be performed without his deck. For example the excellent "Inexplicable". Other very strong tricks like his "Invisible Deck" or "PURACAAN" can be performed theoretically with every other marked deck. In reality you need to identify one Card very, very quickly and that´s why you won´t be able to do those tricks with a "normal" marked deck (at least I would´nt be able to do it) So the key is to identify one card very fast and that´s what the Boris Wild Deck does very well compared to other marked decks. Hope this helps.

This DVD/download is not very good in my opinion. His presentation style is frustrating and overly verbose. The tricks generally aren't that great. They're mostly different ways of doing pick a card, I found your card, with not much variety or interesting happenings in between. There are no multi-phase routines (unless you consider the zero touch spectator's version followed by magician's version a 2 phase trick....which would be brutal on the spectator, making them watch you cut the deck that many times just to find the card again). It is also needlessly long.