Guest Post: Atomic Deck by Craig Petty - My Biased Review [by Akshay Mishra]

Note: We received this guest submission before the latest Atomic Deck update. As of yesterday, Craig Petty announced an update for Atomic Deck that allows you to substitute your phone for a crib that "can be hidden in plain sight."

As you guys know, I used to be a mentalist. And at the time I was a kid and learning new things about magic and mentalism every single day, there was this sentiment parroted by the elders of magic about a 'Holy Grail'. It used to be common knowledge that this holy grail was not only the holy grail of mentalism but also the holy grail of card magic. To say that I remained unaffected in my own world would be a white lie. And so began my search for a good ACAAN.

That ended when Asi Wind released his version. I rationally thought about it and realised that as far as physical methods are concerned using an ordinary deck of playing cards, that was the closest we were ever going to get. Quite a few people in our community (lol) agree with me here but still, every few weeks a new ACAAN emerges, promises to be the actual, real, honest to the pagan Gods, HOLY GRAIL. Unsurprisingly, it is not and back we go, to create yet another convoluted method. The cycle of excitement, hope, expenditure, disappointment, self hatred, more hope, more excitement, more disappointment and more self hatred continues. Anyhoo!

These days, the Atomic Deck by Craig Petty is all the hype in the world of magic. Craig has created yet another product that claims to be the best till date of the genre (far from the truth, but I digress). So, without much delay, here is a very to-the-point review of the Atomic Deck. I will try to keep my subjective opinions for the very end and be as objective as I can. However, if I slip up and ramble, well, it is what it is I guess.

ATOMIC DECK - The Good

1. The effect is easy to do, which most good ACAANs are not.

2. There is no memory work needed, and no heavy sleight of hand techniques are employed. In fact, practically speaking, hardly any sleight of hand is involved at all.

3. The deck is self sufficient for the effect. You would not need to do anything extra with the cards. It is usable and reusable as it comes in the mail.

4. The method is very clever and is very unlikely to be deduced fully, not only by laypeople, but also magicians.

5. There is no moment of weakness. The deck of cards and the magician's hands can be scrutinized at all times.

6. There is no force of the card or the number. These are genuinely free selections.

7. The cards can be dealt face up. There is nothing to hide as far as the identities of the cards are concerned.

8. Only one deck is used, and it can be out in the plain view of everyone since the very beginning.

ATOMIC DECK - The Bad

1. You have to use a phone. And internet connection is required. Otherwise, the effect would not work.

2. The supposed 'reason' for using the phone is weak at best and illogical at worst.

3. The cards cannot be examined by the spectators.

4. Even though the card and the number are actually free choices (no force), the effect does not work for ALL cards or ALL numbers.

5. The spectator cannot handle the deck, at all. 

6. The magician handles the deck from the beginning to the end. The dealing down to the number is done by the magician which weakens the effect.

7. The deck is heavily gimmicked and cannot ideally be used as a regular deck for other effects.

8. Due to the construction of the deck, there is hesitation in the dealing process at times.

9. At first glance, the cards do not look durable at all. But I could be wrong on this front.

10. There is really no way to do it in case the phone fails you.

ATOMIC DECK - The Lies

I swear to God there are so many lies in the ad copy and the promotional material that it is infuriating. I will comment on some of these that I have taken directly from the ad copy that is present on the Murphy's Magic website.

Let's begin.

1. The first line of the ad copy says, "Any Card. At Any Number. The Holy Grail of all Magic... has been solved." Trust me on this, it is so far from the truth that it has already started becoming funny.

2. It says, "When David Berglas first created the ACAAN", no he did not. HE. DID. NOT. He didn't 'create' it, he 'popularized' it you dumb fucks.

3. It says, "Perfection. Every. Single. Time." Straight up lies. There are combinationations that cannot be achieved, specifically when very small numbers are involved.

4. It says, "...the exact card they were merely thinking of." Except they were NOT merely 'thinking' of a card.

5. It says, "They don't even have to tell you their card or number." Finally, some truth. Except that they have to enter both the things in a fishy looking website.

6. It says, "No roughing sprays." Technically the truth. Except that it is a rough and smooth deck after all, just not using a roughing spray. Go figure.

7. It says, "The Atomic Deck is a special deck of cards that does 90% of the work for you." Lie. The phone (and by extension, the website or the app) does 90% of the work, not the deck. 

8. Marc Paul, after seeing a performance of this ACAAN from Craig, says, "That is the Berglas effect... You've cracked it. This is every magician's dream... It's the closest version to The Holy Grail that I've seen anyone do." For fuck's sake, Mark! Have a bit of respect for yourself and the late great David Berglas. This is not the Berglas Effect, not even close. I know sales are necessary, but don't do this.

9. Peter Turner says, "That's better than any version of Any Card at Any Number that I've ever done... That genuinely is the cleanest version of Any Card At Any Number that I've ever seen in my life." Seriously Pete? Just a day ago I saw on your YouTube channel a performance by you where you got your spectator to shuffle a deck, name a card and a number and deal down to it to find their named card, all the while you never touched that deck. You are telling me Atomic Deck is better than that? Have some self awareness my man!

10. Finally, a bold claim, "This isn't real magic. But it is as close as we're going to get." Eh, we'll see about that.

That's it. That is pretty much it. I have laid it all out and it is now on you guys to decide. Me? I am not going to perform this effect. I have my reasons. You? You might. Or you might buy it as a collectible. Craig Petty and Lloyd Barnes are masters of hype and they have generated enough to make good sales. Also, after all is said and done, this is a very decent effect in my opinion. Murphy's, Craig, Lloyd and Joshua Riley (he did the technological aspects of the effect) really did a good job. Kudos to them!

What I am really disappointed with is the trend of 'big names' in magic saying literally anything to boost the sales. I am disgusted. It's like they don't even care about their own reputation at this point. If you were to take their statements about every second effect that is released at face value, you would think that that particular product is the best thing created since sliced bread. It is also concerning that these grand claims are made by them only for their friends. I have yet to see the Big Guys praising a new creator, no matter how awesome the release is. Eh, enough ranting! You are smart people, you can see all of these things yourselves.

Alright my loves! That will be it for today. If you like it and want to read more reviews like this, do let me know.

Till then, Love You!

- Akshay Mishra