Never did we expect such a tremendous turnout of submissions, let alone great ones, when posting this contest to YouTube last month. We thank each and every one of you who participated; your continued support and love of this art form will not go unseen. Keep practicing and always try to push your limits.

152 Submissions, 3 winners… Drum roll please

WINNER Contest #1: Preqel® by nicobva
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UofW7jlh5U
Comments: This video is clean, simple, and to the point. It shows Preqel® in its original form and then offers several unique variations.

WINNER Contest #2: Preqel® + Pandora by niKolanikola13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip-SMsN1_y8
Comments: We tell everyone to use our flourishes as building blocks for their own creations. This was the only video in this category that went above and beyond the simple guidelines of showing Preqel® + Pandora so naturally it wins. And of course that insane Royal Flush production at the end had nothing to do with it taking first place. 

GRAND PRIZE Contest #3: Helix by nastydodger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_PCSx1Ozgo
Comments: I really enjoyed this video along with the descriptive meaning behind it, “2 pairs of hands combined, 2 styles intertwined. Like the “helix” in our blood, the engine for our minds.” These two guys took a simple concept, found a great location, matched it up with original flourishes and edited it to great sounding music. Congrats!

HONORABLE MENTIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM6hOrskuvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuzwmLzpIVc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-TGFtjWt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_We6fBwR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn1DVRpb4qg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZGgfeLc5O4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA98Ut2kJMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcn83M3omNM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJeqdGq6GWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIx6bqk8p6o

You can view all 152 submissions at: http://www.youtube.com/video_respons…?v=o4hR_16TWCw

This contest was just a small way for us to say thank you. Every now and then some motivation is needed to push the boundaries. Hopefully we succeeded.

Judged by Dan Buck, Dave Buck, and Alejandro Portela (.thecuso)

Until next time,
DAN & DAVE

—

NOTE: The best videos will be posted here as promised. Stay tuned!

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• Tim Burton Competition 2nd Place – Valence
• Tim Burton Competition 3rd Place – Story of a Deck
• Tim Burton Competition 4th Place – TeleVISION
• Tim Burton Competition 5th Place – LOST
• Tim Burton’s Card Flourishing Competition at .thecuso
• Help Kate and win the “Secret Books” of De’vo

Remember the Holiday Giveaway? It’s back and it comes with some real GOLD nuggets. Here are the details…

http://bit.ly/freegoldarcane

Time to go shopping, you can get one of the best Ellusionist classic decks and a stainless steel card clip for free!

From now until Thursday at midnight ALL shippable orders over $75 will receive a FREE Ghost deck AND a free Ghost Steel Card Clip

Make sure you use the coupon code ELL313 to get an extra 5% discount on your entire order.

Click here to go to the special promo: Ellusionist – free ghost deck and card clip

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Now, one of the darkest decks to hit the street is now on sale for almost 50 percent off. Until midnight Thursday, you can buy our Bicycle Shadow Masters decks for $3.87 each (limit of 12 decks).

The Shadow Masters are used by magicians and flourishers because of their shaded design and incredible durability, so this Memorial Day you can spend it weaving your dark art in style.

If you use the coupon code DECKPROMO during checkout you’ll get a 10% extra!

Act fast, this awesome magic deal ends Thursday night.

Click here to go to the sale: Ellusionist Shadow Masters

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Hey guys, I got six decks of Tim Burton playing cards in the MoMA museum in New York. I thought I could give them away in a little contest…

But I want to keep a couple of them for me so I’m going to giveaway 4 decks and $20 via paypal so you can buy a few more. Sounds good?

All you have to do is make a card flourishing / xcm video with a Tim Burton feel. Can be the editing, your clothes, the flourishes you use… It’s up to you, but you have to give it that special Tim Burton style.

For those of you that don’t know who the guy is…

Timothy William “Tim” Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director and producer who specializes in dark and quirky-themed films such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but has also produced cinema blockbusters, including Batman, Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland.

This is not a promo or anything, just want to give you guys something for free from my trip to NY, and hey, you rarely get payed directly for making a video so work you ass off and put the youtube link down here on the comment’s section.

Deadline is Sunday, April 11.

You have a whole week.

I might post photos and videos of my trip to NYC on my twitter and facebook so go stalk me there if you want.

If you have any questions, leave a comment.

GOOD LUCK!

-Alejandro Portela
.thecuso

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I’m working on getting you some cool freebies and deals with my BestMagicDeals website. This one I think it’s pretty good…

I’ve been talking to Alex from ExoMagic to give you guys some Massa decks for free since it’s one of the coolest decks they carry on their store.

He told me he’d throw in 6 free decks for everyone who orders at least two of these cardistry dvds, until supplies last.

I got my deck of Massas on Magic Weekend 08 and filmed Valiente with it at David Pedersen’s. These cards are cool for collecting and fans look really awesome.

If you don’t have them or wasn’t sure about where to get them from then now you don’t have any excuses. Go get them, they are free… for a limited time :P

Here is the list of products…

The Trilogy (3 DVD Set) by Dan And Dave Buck
The Trilogy: Andthensome by Dan And Dave Buck
The System by Dan and Dave Buck
Generation Extreme By Brian Tudor
Card Sharp By Brian Tudor
Generation X By Brian Tudor
Cradle to Grave by De’vo
Xtreme Beginnerz by De’vo
Secret Books of De’vo
Xtreme Beginnerz II by De’vo
Cobra Cut Collection by De’vo
Surfaced by Chad Nelson (Clipshift)

Here is what you have to do next

Make sure you add the 6 massa decks and 2 of the above dvds to your cart and use the coupon code “bestmagicdeals” during checkout to get them for free.

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Ekaterina, BabycatXD, has a new contest for you and she’s giving away her first edition “Secret Books” of David Beyer, De’vo, and some Arcane Playing Cards.

Not the best prizes but at least you can resell the book on eBay.

Just kidding…

All you have to do is vote thumbs up (I like) on a facebook fanpage to get her a webdesign upgrade. Just watch the video and you’ll understand.

Here is the link for you to enter the draw: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Montreal-QC/Passion-DLN/294921208797 Just click I LIKE on her wall post.

Thanks and good luck,

Alejandro

Edit: 1 secret books winner and 4 arcane deck winners :)

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“My name is Antariksh but most people know me by my nickname Chotu. I’m 19 and from India. I was into magic before but flourishing gripped me more so I shifted my gears last year .This video showcases what I have achieved till now and I hope you enjoy it.

Looking forward to your feedback on improvement – Chotu :D ”

I’ve chosen this video for the third Up and Coming entry because I was shocked when I saw this guy. He opened me a chat on facebook and said, “Hi i’m Chotu, check out my video, I’ve been flourishing for about a year now”. I was like, ok… let’s see (I have to do this like dozens of times every day so I wasn’t expecting it to be this good, seriously)

So I saw those super cool moves and told him, man, you are going to be in the next Up and Coming!

So yeah, congrats Chotu and I hope the guys here can give you some advice on how to spend your following years in this community. Welcome and thanks for your potential contributions ;)

-Alejandro Portela
.thecuso

Read more about the Up and Coming initiative if you want to know how to win some cool prizes by helping the future stars of card flourishing. Visit the original post here: Up and Coming: A new section to push the art forward.

Any help will be appreciated and rewarded.

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The last couple of weeks I’ve been talking to Michael from BMPokerworld to give you guys a nice deal on this deck they have produced exclusively with the USPCC.

They got a really small run printed and I thought you wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to get your hands on one of these for your collection.

Brown Bicycle Rider Back

I didn’t present myself as .thecuso but “the guy from Best Magic Deals“, so after I explained what the blog was all about he thought we should do something together.

I tried my best to get you a 50% discount but that would only happen on my dreams… Instead, I managed to squeeze a cool contest that will be up until the end of february.

Brown Bicycle Contest

For every $10 spent from today to the 31st of march you will get an entry for a raffle where you can win a $100 gift certificate to spend on their store. Be it playing cards, poker chips, accessories… (milf not includded in the package)

NOTE: It’s very important that you write a note on your order saying that you want to enter .thecuso‘s raffle.

Wan’t free decks

I also managed to get a coupon code that reads:

“Buy 12 Brown Bicycle decks or more and I will throw in 2 extra decks for free”.

If you want to know how to get this coupon code head over to BestMagicDeals.com and find out ;)

EDIT: Ok, the coupon code is “bestmagicdeals”, feel free to use it but if you find it useful go subscribe to the god damn blog!

-Alejandro Portela

.thecuso

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• Free Arcane deck with your Porper Clip
• Carnahan & Dunes at the Smokin’ Aces 2 Trailer
• Arcane Playing Cards Review by our Singaporeans…
• Sunday Cards – Variety Pack (Cartamundi, Arrcos, Aladdins and more)

Ok guys, i’ve just got SICK in the mail so after a first quick look through the contents here is my review, I’ll keep it short and direct.

First, if you are a noob (and sorry for that but I couldn’t find a better word) stay away from this.

This DVD is for the passionate only, I’m not bad with coins but haven’t put as much time into them as into my cards so I found it really hard and technical (this is just a first impression, we’ll see in a couple of weeks hehe), but then again, that’s just the way I like it.

Another point to mention. Ponta uses big silver dollars for most of the routines and only half dollars on the matrix ones.

There is a reason to that. I tried with my halves and found it impossible but then I watched the matrix and said… Ok let’s start with these :>

You will need big coins for some of the sleights. Maybe you can practice with poker chips or chinese replicas but if you were planning to make an investment on Morgan dollars, now it’s the time.

About the teaching… You all know: silent, over the shoulder and first person view, slow motion, a couple of text annotations here and there… I think it’s enough.

This DVD will last you a few years to get down. Not only the technical aspect, if you are like me you won’t stop practicing these routines until you’ve mastered them 100%, and that includes achieving Ponta’s level of smoothness.

Good luck with that.

-Alejandro Portela
.thecuso

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