- What's up guys, welcome back.
I am back from vacation, really happy to be back, honestly.
Vacation was cool, not gonna lie,
got a little bit inspired going to
the Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios.
In fact, I have some B-roll.
Every chance I got I sort of broke out the camera.
Put together this really really cool little segment.
We're going to get into checking out a few decks.
We have someone who claims that
they have the best playing cards in the world,
and better than Bicycle, better than USPCC,
so we're gonna be testing that out to see how they fair.
But for right now, check out this B-roll segment.
I'm gonna go make some coffee.
Reconvene here in like two minutes, alright?
See you then.
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
(chill electronic music)
♪ Don't let go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ The way you do oh ♪
♪ Don't let go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ Way you do oh ♪
♪ Don't let it go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ Don't let go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ Way you do oh ♪
♪ Don't go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ Way you do oh ♪
♪ Don't let it go ♪
♪ Chasing a dream ♪
♪ Don't wait up ♪
♪ And let it go ♪
♪ Chasing a star cuz' we dunno ♪
Thank you for watching that
for those of you who did.
Hope you enjoyed that.
That was actually a lot of fun to put together,
and it felt good to just be creative on video side.
We're gonna be looking at two decks.
One of which, claims to be the best playing card company,
more durable,
better handling,
more,
stuff.
Triumph playing cards here.
I'll read you a bit of the email
that this gentleman sent me here.
He's like, "Hi my name is Dwight.
"We make playing cards for Casinos in the USA.
"Last year, we produced over 38 mm decks using Casino's."
I don't know if that's 38 million million.
But it seems like a lot.
Produced in Missouri, in the United States,
they have their own factory there.
He says they supply the majority of Casino's in Canada.
They had two independent labs test their cards
against Bicycle and Ace brands.
Our Triumph holds up better and longer.
Tests performed were dynamic snap, memory,
and durability, and were done by credited labs.
He says Bicycle has been around for over 100 years.
I worked with them for 20 plus years.
I know magicians are comfortable with
Bicycle playing cards.
That's because it's pretty much all they've used.
Just wanted to offer an alternative.
He also says he went to a toy fair
and he had a few magicians try them out,
and they really liked them.
He'd really appreciate my feedback on them.
So here is my, unbiased feedback.
Now, as most of you know,
I'm really really open to alternatives
when it comes to playing cards companies.
I think it's better if more companies are
producing and manufacturing playing cards
because that ups the game for everyone.
If they claim that their cards are more durable,
then this company is gonna make their cards more durable.
That's kind of how I see this whole
landscape of playing card business growing.
And I think that's a good thing for everybody.
For you, for me, and for the companies.
But that's a bold claim to say that
these are better than Bicycle,
and they hold up better.
Now what does that mean?
They're better in the rain?
Does that mean they're more durable
when they're shot with a forty-five magnum?
I don't know what that means.
I don't know what they test,
but today, you're gonna have a magician's/semi-cardist
test out these playing cards.
We're gonna keep an open mind.
I have not looked at them yet.
This is an unopened pack of Triumph,
and we're gonna put it to the test against
an unopened pack of these blue checkered,
anyone playing cards.
We're gonna put em' through three different tests.
The tests are going to be smoothness,
the second test will be stock,
and the third test will be durability,
where I'm literally going to be spreading them
across a dirty floor and seeing how they handle afterwards.
By the way, we're not gonna be focused on design here,
because design I don't think is important
to what this gentleman is saying.
He's talking about the durability
and the quality of the cards.
So I'm gonna ignore all design on both decks,
and we're just strictly gonna talk about the actual cards
and how they handle.
So straight out of the box,
here's a card fan with the Triumph trading cards.
Okay, as you can see,
the first thing I realize is that they are a bit clumpy,
and it does not create a perfect fan.
Secondly, what I do realize is when I try to close it,
it is a bit slower to close.
And that tells me that the finish on these,
although they kind of look similar and have that sort of
linen indented finish,
the finish isn't as consistent throughout the entire cards.
There are certain points on the back of this card,
where there are no indentations.
So it kind of makes it like those air pockets.
There's missing a few air pockets here.
They don't fan very badly,
they're not terrible.
But they definitely don't fan as well as a deck
straight out of USPCC.
Now let's fan out a deck of USPCC,
high quality playing cards.
So here we are with USPCC.
Now, this might be hard for you guys to see on camera,
but it does definitely fan a lot better.
It just feels smoother
like it's an effortless motion to get it to fan,
and the fan is, generally speaking, very even.
Also when closing the fan,
it's a very quick close.
There is no friction.
So all in all, I think finish wise,
I think USPCC.
It's just so effortless and smooth.
And you can tell if I hold them side by side
and jiggle them,
this one seems to be a little bit more clumpy,
and this one here just seems
to be a little bit more free moving.
Not a big difference but there is, for me,
a significant difference.
So let's see what these cards look like
if they're spread out on a table.
Okay, so pretty much, pretty good actually.
Not bad at all.
You see this spread just as well as USPCC cards.
Let's spread these out and see how they fair.
Yup. Pretty much even.
They're again, hard to tell on camera,
but there is, just more smoothness with USPCC.
They feel like they wanna glide a lot easier
than the other cards.
That being said,
so far, not too bad on the test.
Now we're going to test out a Faro shuffle,
with the Triumph playing cards.
Normally Faro shuffles can either be performed
from bottom to top, or top to bottom,
depending how they were cut.
Okay.
Not the best.
They are sort of, gripping extra cards here,
and they're very resistant to the Faro shuffle.
Okay we finally got a Faro shuffle.
Very, very difficult to have them Faro shuffle.
And that is a big, big no-no for me.
If I'm performing magic or cardistry,
I think Faro shuffling is one of the most
important things you can do.
And it just doesn't cut it here.
Versus a deck by the USPCC,
let's see how they Faro.
So these Faro from top to bottom,
and effortless.
They interweave instantly.
Very very nice and retain all the quality.
Everything you like to see,
you're not denting the sides of the decks,
by forcing them in.
So, so far in terms of smoothness and Faro,
USPCC is up two points.
How they handle under pressure,
and by pressure I mean like springs,
we're gonna look at the actual stock and see
if the crushed Bicycle stock holds up
against the Triumph cards.
So,
you can make out audibly that
there is a louder sound here.
Not so bad,
but there is a bit of a louder sound.
They do spring really well.
Here, lemme get a big spring.
Yeah that feels really good honestly,
compared to USPCC.
USPCC again, this is a crush stock,
so it does feel a lot lighter and easier to spring
with less resistance.
Let's look at,
Let's look at under pressure, see how it performs.
Okay.
So with under pressure, I do feel like I have to
straighten the cards a little bit more
as they don't glide as easily.
But, you can still perform under pressure
rather easily with the Triumph playing cards.
Let's try it under pressure with USPCC.
Here we go.
Yeah, just a lot smoother.
Like, that's just,
it feels like butter.
That being said I'm not too disappointed
with Triumph cards so far.
How 'bout an anaconda?
Here we go, this is probably gonna be a break situation
cuz' anaconda is one of those specific moves
that you need like a glide-y, slide-y deck.
This might not cut it.
Here we go.
A little bit clumpy, let's try it again.
Maybe it was just me.
You can definitely tell by the way they fall,
they're not falling evenly,
and they're not separating from the cards evenly at all.
That being said,
not too shabby.
In the case of USPCC, let's go.
Way smoother, just a straight line all the way down.
No effort required.
Gotta say, I mean,
definitely not holding up to my tests.
They kind of lackluster in terms of handling.
Last test before we get all my final thoughts,
the durability.
Alright so normally I wouldn't do this
with playing cards.
This is not something I suggest anyone do
with playing cards.
However, I'm just going to spill these on the ground each.
The floor here is pretty dusty and pretty dirty.
Simulates wear and tear maybe over a few months
of playing cards, so we're just gonna give these
a bit of a wash on the ground.
Basically we're filling up those pores
of the playing cards,
with dirt and dust.
The best way to test this would be weeks and weeks
and weeks of me using these cards.
This is kind of like a simulation environment.
You scooping them up is like difficult.
Here we go.
Still spreads kinda well.
It actually hold up better than the USPCC cards.
You know what the reason for that is?
The reason is probably because,
and this is just like my hypothesis,
but I think, because there are more
indentations on these cards,
as you can see right now,
there're a lot of little indentations on this card,
it's linen finish, this magic finish is being filled up
because there are more pockets,
so there's more dirt getting in,
versus here there're less pockets,
but, the cards are made to be frictionless
without those pockets.
Let's try a fan.
Fan still looks really good here.
Pretty good actually.
They're little bit more clumpy,
they still feel smooth.
Yeah, as you can see,
unless I do a pressure fan.
If I do one of these it'll look nice,
but if I just fan them out like that,
I mean they are still okay,
it's not bad, there's not a huge difference between the two,
there definitely is a little bit of difference.
Those one seem to handle better in this type of environment
where the card might be worn out a little bit more.
That being said, that's extreme case and
an extreme example of washing them on the floor.
Just the fact that these feel smoother,
in hands, they are easier to spring,
easier to dribble,
that over time,
these will feel a lot better
and these will stay clumpy,
like even I tried to.
Man, I gotta say,
not bad.
I think durability wise,
maybe the Triumph comes ahead of the USPCC cards
in this specific test, but that is definitely not
enough to persuade me to switch and jump ship.
Alright well that's it,
you heard my final thoughts.
I'm very very happy and pleased with
these playing cards,
the Triumph playing cards that is.
And it's another deck being produced in the United States,
which is very cool.
Maybe we should look at these cards compared to
the cards, money cards or the Taiwan playing cards,
to see how they fare but definitely,
definitely not a par with the USPCC yet.
If I had no choice, I will definitely use them.
But I do have a choice, so my choice stay the USPCC for now.
You guys, thanks for watching.
Hope you enjoyed that,
hope that was somewhat informative.
If you did like this video,
go ahead and like, subscribe if you're new here.
Also, if you haven't download,
below you can check out the link.
It is by Calen Morelli and Franco Pascali.
A really cool movie you guys can practice at home
on your down time to improve your sleight of hand skills.
Anyways, we'll see you guys on the next video.
(funky pop music)