Why Don't Magicians Use Spanish Playing Cards?
From all the magic videos I've watched, I still haven't seen any major magicians use Spanish playing cards or a Spanish deck. I haven't found any somewhat well-known performers using them on Google or YouTube either. This isn't a criticism, but I'd really like to know why they're so rarely used. I think they're beautiful decks!
1
11
Join the conversation
Sort:
Hey there, @Andreuchi.
I can tell you that, for example, Woody Aragón often uses a Spanish deck when he performs in Spain.
When it comes to doing magic, any deck is fine:
Including Tarot decks or even UNO cards.
For card magic, any playing card works.
That said, it's true that the most "standardized" is the English or American poker deck.
Which, by the way, as with most things the English and Americans do, their decks are copied from the French one, simply by changing the names of the court cards and adding the jokers, and then they claim it's "their deck" 😂.
Cheers and happy magic!!!
Added Note: Just a quick heads-up that "naipes" is a general term for playing cards 🙂; it's not exclusive to the Spanish deck.
Hey there!
I love that you brought this up. As others have mentioned, I only know of Rubiales (and at one point W. Aragón) consistently using a Spanish deck. For a while now, I've been doing effects with a Spanish deck (Fournier 20 or 21), but what I'm mostly doing is just taking some effects usually done with a poker deck and adapting them to the Spanish deck. Obviously, this eliminates red-black effects. While the Spanish deck certainly has a short-long duality, it's nowhere near as visual as with a poker deck.
I'm doing this to get more accustomed to working with a Spanish deck, but more importantly, to see if I can find effects specifically suited for it: using the symbolism of the suits for the patter, leveraging the fact that the court cards aren't symmetrical like in a poker deck, using the fact that the aces are very noticeable if they're right-side up or upside down (with a poker deck, this isn't nearly as visually striking), using the symbolism of King-Knight-Page, ...
While I'm at it, if anyone can provide any information, ideas, bibliographical references, etc., on this topic, I'd be incredibly grateful.
All the best,
I'd encourage you to study the tarot deck, which contains the Minor Arcana (corresponding to numbers 1-10 and court cards of a regular deck) and the Major Arcana (which are 22 archetypes).
You'll find a wealth of symbolic, historical, and magical material there.
Swords refer to the intellectual world, the rational, the air element.
Cups to the emotional world, the water element.
Wands to the instinctive, creative world, the fire element.
And Pentacles to the material, physical world, the earth element.
The book Jung and the Tarot can help you out with that.
Cheers!
Thanks a lot, pal 👍👍
I know this probably belongs in the 'Decks' section, but I'm still a little confused 😅😅
Hey everyone!
I've already moved it to the card magic section.
I figure it's mostly tradition that they're poker-sized, especially since gimmicked decks are usually only available in poker size.
Let's see if anyone else wants to add anything! 😊
Juan Luis Rubiales!!
Whenever I've seen him perform card magic, he almost always uses a Spanish deck; it's like one of his trademarks.
I've noticed Luis Piedrahita often performs poker-themed magic.
I think the reference in this video is to Juan Luis Rubiales, not the guest (Piedrahita).
Ahhh, thanks, but Piedrahita still uses poker cards.