REVIEW: Night Flight Deck by Steve Dela
I’ve just returned from the first ever Chris Congreave Convention – CCC’24. A small, uncomplicated magic convention which as they say, did exactly what it says on the tin.
It brought people together to enjoy magic. With lectures from the best U.K. magicians a good range of dealers and an atmosphere which encouraged socialising. It was a brilliant weekend.
Steve Dela was there with his Night Flight Deck. Now I’d never met Steve before and hands up, despite the glowing reviews I’ve avoided the Night Flight Deck over the years.
The idea of marking cards is probably as old as playing cards themselves, and obviously how they are used is obvious. But for me the turning point was the Boris Wild deck. I saw Boris lecture and do effects which never so much as hinted to the cards being marked.
You had to make the deck yourself with Letraset letters, but its design was ground-breaking. It was the first deck I’m aware of which put the markings were on the side as opposed to the middle of the card enabling you to read the cards from a spread on the table. And his use of the marking was genius too.
Placing the markings on the side is now commonplace and really there is little to choose from most marked decks – Ultimate Marked, Boris Wild, CardShark or Penguin.
For the last few years I have used the Penguin Marked deck, it is cheap, as good as anything else out there and until recently I found it easy to read. (I now require reading glasses)
I saw no way the Night Flight Deck could lure me away from the Penguin Marked deck. It was made using plastic cards for heaven’s sake.
Steve Dela has done what none of all the others have done, rather than copy he has innovated.
The markings are well hidden in same location as Boris Wild’s (and the rest) but thanks to the back design they are much bigger and clearer yet still invisible. I can read them instantly from across the table, the only other deck I can do that with is the DMCs. The back design is similar to the classic Rider back and doesn’t stand out as anything out of the ordinary.
They are also marked for colour, now obviously if you know the value of the card you also know the colour, but with this feature you only see the information you need, you get to skip a cognitive step. Using marked cards is about often about speed and Steve understands this. He proves this with the great idea of a standout key card, a card which can instantly be spotted in the deck without looking for the marks.
Moving away for the markings, Steve has incorporated card reveals on the Joker, the Ace of Spades and the Queen of Spades as well as the three on the box! The box also has a Magic Square crib to boot – hey why not.
You also get a double backer should you need it for some of your regular tricks which is again is great thought and helps to make the deck more useful.
However the elephant in the room is the fact these are plastic cards, so none of your linen air cushioned finish and this is where I confess to previously misjudging this deck so badly.
These cards handle better than I could have imagined. They take a couple of minutes to get used to as they aren’t as stiff as Bicycle stock, but after that your usual controls etc are just as easy as with a regular deck. They fan surprisingly evenly too and thanks to the face design a reverse fan shows a lot of white and gives the perfect illusion of a blank deck. But best of all (from my point of view) is that they Faro well.
My only real gripe is they make a noise, but that is me practicing in the quiet. I’ve been using these for a few days and no layperson has questioned the feel of the cards or for that matter the back design. They remain in tip top condition and faro just as well.
It isn’t cheap at 24.99 but it is resistant to crimps, moisture, and the usual mishandlings from the public so it is durable enough to outlast your standard deck many times. The edges on mine remain good as new.
Honestly, it’s not going to be my regular deck, but it is now my number one marked deck and the deck I would take to the pub with me. I would have liked Steve to include the odd trick with it, just to give people an idea of what can be done with all the features.
Otherwise, the Night Flight Deck is almost as good and as much fun to play with as Steve himself. Almost.