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 :)

Handlordz products are once again selling on eBay. Including a collector item!

The FunWithAces guys Ryoma and Nebelfuchs have put up three auctions with a bunch of “xtreme” products for the enthusiasts.

“With their private product forums being down ever since the old yuku board hack, getting the xtreme bundle at a better price has no inconvenient at all.”

Right now the price is really low but don’t expect these products to end up going for thousands like in other auctions…

Anyway, here are the goodies that these guys listed…

Xtreme Card Manipulation Products at eBay

Jerry Cestkowski’s Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes + Companion DVDs

“The Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes is the first of its kind. This current, comprehensive treatment of fancy card manipulation will teach you everything from the Charlier Pass to juggling cards. With 2,800 photographs and a wealth of informative accompanying instructions, this massive book will keep you busy for years. The only reason you will put this 545-page text down is because it weighs 5 pounds. Hardback, 8-1/2 x 11, lies flat for easy learning.”

SUPERHANDZ XTREME BUNDLE DVD SET + EXTRAS

Includes the following: Xtreme Beginnerz Vol. 1 two DVD Set, The Cobra Collection DVD & Cradle to Grave DVD
+ De’ring DVD + Superhandz Music CD

LIMITED EDITION SUPERHANDZ SPADE PORPER CLIP

“These are simply the finest card clips ever made! We worked with Joe Porper on this project, and the outcome is AMAZING! Each one of these magnificent card clips are engraved with our Superhandz Spade logo and are also signed by Joe Porper himself! These clips have a special design to keep your cards flat and ready to go at a moments notice. All other clips on the market just can’t hold a candle to these awesome and durable black clips.

If you ever thought about getting a card clip, this is the one you have been waiting for!

Only 100 of these awesome card clips were made and were ONLY available from our store!”

If you are looking for something less “retro” you might wanna check Kate’s post where she offers her “Secret Books of De’vo” as a donative to the Up and Coming initiative.

I’m going to bid on the porper clip, I’m sure I can find a way to bleach off that logo…

Just kidding ;)

-Alejandro Portela

Ekaterina Dobrokhotova (BabycatXD) was recently banned from Handlorz for doing this demo video with the arcane deck.

She was clearly one of the strongest participants in the XCM World Tournament this year.

Who do we blame? Those cool looking Arcanes or guys that think every day of the year is Halloween?

Anyway, I dont’t feel sorrow at all, I’m happy that she’s now going on her own and makes good use of her critical mind.

Now it’s time for you to speak out your mind.

-Alejandro Portela

If you missed last night’s iTricks clinic you can watch it right here.

Andrei Jikh and Justin Robert Young discuss some points on cardistry originality, how to stand out and find your own persona in the card flourishing world.

Andrei talks about his early days in the “Hardcore” side of Xtreme Card Manipulation, how he started imitating the man behind De’vo Vom Schattenreich and how he started to move away into the path that would lead him to being a “rising star”.

Pretty interesting video podcast where you can see some familiar faces, check it out.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that the Arcane Playing Cards have been officialy released?

I’m sure I did ;)

-Alejandro

If you were wondering what Motions and Demon Claw from “Secret Books of De’vo vol.1” looked like here is a nice example by the hardcore HLer XCMeijin.
…

In the spirit of “flourishing videos”, but in the style of Handlordz XCM.

Inspired by a popping/locking dance performance to create this video.

I forgot to mention ARMOND in the credits! ARMOND, you sexy beast, it’s only because of you that I have my book with me! Hi Five! HL4LIFE!

—

Use this coupon to get 20% off in your deck order at Ellusionist

The recently released “Secret Books of De’vo volume 1“, containing four of his underground concepts, has been spotted for sale on eBay.

That auction sounds like a great opportunity for those who missed their chance to get one of the 100 copies first, be it because they haven’t been online for the past few months or just because they “didn’t qualify” to order it.

Maybe an even better opportunity for the seller? Answer in 9 days.

On that topic, someone you probably have seen write a lot on my blog’s comments is preparing a review to be published soon here at .thecuso, stay tuned.

Do you think selling this on a public place like eBay where anyone can buy it is a good idea? Even knowing it was at first released to a selected few?

Good luck bidding!

—
Save 20% On Killer Card Work Bundle DVD Set

The Handlordz Team Presents the One Handed S-Fan Tutorial from their Christmas Tutorial Giveaway, taught my Max Vlassenko (max321). Create an S-Fan using only ONE hand, or try two S-Fans…one in each hand!

Big thanks to De’vo vom Schattenrecih and Jerry Cestkowski. To learn the particular fans used in this tutorial that make up the S-Fan, visit Flourishman.com to purchase the Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes.

Hey, ShoeMan here.

I’ve been following the HL tourney, and some videos really caught my attention, the artists are really good, but don’t get enough exposure imo, so decided to give them a hand.
It’s not that I want to help “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”, it’s about exposing some videos that would usually fly by unnoticed just because they were posted on a small community.

Round 4- choreographed routine

-Digital Artist

-Blackninja

Round 5 – Rare variety bucket

(Requirements for that were, a move using the foot, a move using a card clip or box, a move using clothing, a move using jewelry and a display including both the cards and a body part)

-VietHguyen

-XCMeijin

Enjoy

The continuation of the Kickass 2 video with various killer moves from the Handlordz Kickass Members.

A tribute to De’vo in 2005 from Handlordz members when he left the community to train for the Ulmen Trials.

What do you guys think about this stuff?

-Josef Runsten (Jrunsten)
-Jung-Shun Lin (Fatfingerz)
-Barrett (Webghost)
-Dinos Dinou
-Thomas Detlefsen (Doctor D)
-Julian Yrrazabal (Loom)
-Marcos Perez (Digital Artist)
-Max Vlassenko

Music by P.Diddy “Tell me”
Produced by: De’vo vom Schattenreich

Jaspas, Ling, Bowen and Leon met Eugene Soh some weeks ago at a mall in singapore and shot a short jam video.

I liked when Leon asks Eugene what does he think about De’Vo, Jaspas’ Passion flourish and that smoothie “5 alive” by Scott and Sean.

Marcos Pérez aka Digital Artist, a member of the handlordz community made this tutorial a while back and now it’s been posted at youtube so here it is for you guys.

I’ve never been a fan of the SSS (self standing sculptures) nor the HL style of flourishing or pure XCM but i’ve been changing my style lately and im drinking from all sources.

With this tutorial you will learn how to do a triangle sculpture on the back of your hand with a deck of playing cards using one hand only.

Currently i’ve developed a nice utility move to get a packet of cards onto the back of the hand lenght wise and you’ll hopefully see it in my upcoming videos.

The credit for this move goes to De’vo Vom Schattenreich of course, Handlordz and Superhandz leader.

The teaching is clear and the move is astounding. Five stars from me DA.

-Alejandro Portela

“De’vo invented the Vierek, a square self standing sculpture (SSS) done with one hand. Matt Lang pwned him.”

-Alejandro

I’d like to thank the ppl that allowed me to use their moves, Bone Ho, Daren Yeow and Jaspas Deck.

List of moves in order of appearance:

Double Lepaul – Bone Ho and Paul lepaul
Smear Fan – Classic
Mockingbird – Daren Yeow
Pressure Fan – Classic
Double One Handed Fan – Unknown Creator
Armspread – Classic
Kryptonite Variation – Cerberus and D&D
F.O.T.F. – Cerberus (inspired by Jonas Haglund)
Deck Twirls – Jerry Cestkowski
Fan Twirl – Jerry Cestkowski
Upside Down Spring – Jerry
Deck Flip – T.G. Murphy
SSS Triangle – De’vo
Broken Triangle – Bone Ho
One Handed Cuts (L-cuts, Charlier, Thumb Cuts) – Jerry Cestkowski
Fan Display – Dan and Dave Buck
Jaspas Cut – Jaspas
Index Angel Spin – Cerberus
Carnahan Fan – Dan and Dave Buck
360 Fan – Naoki Ogi

My friend TicaL has just contacted me because he listed some very rare auctions at eBay.

Two original decks of Jerry’s Nugget playing cards:

-One red and one blue. You already know about these cards…

Flourish/XCM DVD Bundle:

- Xtreme Beginnerz Dvd 2nd edition sealed from De’vo.
- The Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes “Performance Dvd” Parts One and Two – both signed by Jerry Cestkowski.

Manipulation DVD Bundle:

- Cradle to Grave 3rd edition – signed by De’vo
- The Cobra Collection 1st edition – includes signed card by De’vo.
- Xtreme Beginnerz feat. Jeff McBride, Daryl, Crack Irwin and Q also includes a signed card by De’vo.

De’vo (Bernd) would call this “The Xtreme Bundle” and sell it for $99.95 in his store – here you got chance to get them for way less money and still in perfect condition.

XCM or ECM (Extreme Card Manipulation) is the most visual branch of live performance with cards which is also called “Flourishing”.

Flourishes are not “works of magic” in and of themselves, but rather lend a difficulty and dexterity level to any magic routine that is performed. In their present form, playing cards have only been around for about two hundred years, but the techniques that are applied to their handling are ageless.

As those techniques are improved and refined, the Master Card Conjurer is able to not only find a selected card hidden in the deck, but so manipulate the cards through artistry that the magic “trick” turns into a “card kata” of sorts (much like the martial artists who know how to wield a sword, but at the same time, can place together a group of movements to demonstrate skill in a given set).

With the rise of 21st century media and the internet, there has never been such an explosion of concentrated interest in the artistic handling of ordinary playing cards. Taking the manipulation of cards to a level that goes beyond “pick a card”, shuffle, cut, and spread, the XCM master demonstrates a keen skillfulness in the art of card conjuring.

XCM is now in its most popular phase with the worldwide communication medium of the internet, and the ability to reach across the globe and band conjurers of like-mind together.

XCM “officially” stands for Xtreme Card Manipulation, though the ECM acronym is also used for Extreme Card Manipulation. XCM was first introduced by De’vo Vom Schattenreich and published for the first time in his interview in Genii Magazine in August of 2004.

XCM is set within the category of card conjuring, but as a subset of card flourishing. It relies solely on the agility of sleight of hand card manipulation without engaging the spectator in a magic presentation. It does not involve card productions, color changes, back palming, or other “mystery sleights” that are often accompanied by a magician’s patter. Rather, the deck itself is used in an ingenious manner to demonstrate the ability the card conjurer has in “manipulating” the 52 cards as a deck of cards.

As a matter of fact, the identities of the cards themselves mean little in XCM. The Ace of Spades, for example, is simply a card that is part of a larger stack of cards. It is the deck as a whole which is broken up into parts and moved with nimbleness that attracts the viewer’s eye.

The reason this art is not called simply called “card conjuring” or “card manipulation” is because of the nature of the act. It takes on the challenge of handling the full deck to move within extreme examples of agility and dexterity in both hands. The term “Xtreme” or “Extreme” does not refer simply to the difficulty of the moves but to all the aspects of an XCM routine. Now, the card conjurer who takes the independent moves of XCM and incorporates them in his card conjuring routine will benefit himself greatly.

The more a magician demonstrates ability in an art form, while at the same time creating card miracles, will be the real card conjurer.

-Dr. C. Matthew McMahon CardConjurer.com

Picture by Stein Halvorsen

This is an old video, made in Late 2005 – Early 2006 by my friend Scott, the brother of Sean. Yeah, Scott and Sean.
However, this is just Scott’s entry to a contest on 21Ace, which he won, becoming “a Card Trick Champion”. How weird that sounds lol.

Credits to Andrei Jikh, Bone ho, Dan and Dave, Jonas Haglund, Sean, De’vo and Jerry Cestkowski.

Enjoy, you better do.

Impossible…no more.

(The formation of a square from the back of the hand, a technique that was long regarded as impossible is finally a reality.)

-Andrei Jikh, creator. (developed in 2006)

Credits: De’vo for the idea of the square (method is original and was released before De’vo’s public release of the Viereck) Editor: Daren Yeow.

Those of you that have been following the discussions in the comments section of my previous post know that I received two emails from Superhandz (De’vo) in which he asked me to remove the content concerning these files because what’s in them is protected with copyright of his company.

I’ve been told not to publish these two emails (and I won’t) but I’ll sum them up for you to understand my position:

• He said that I commited ILLEGAL acts against himself and his company and told me to delete them or I would be in BIG trouble.

• He told me that he retirieved my personal information and my website server’s and he would take actions against me if I didn’t do what he said.

• He’s been kind enough to let me rectify with time because he said he would normally have had my site shut down first and go after me in court.

• As for now i have removed the link to the podcast’s episode 2 because there where some screens of the saved forum pages which he claimed to have the copyright to.

After some days of deliberation and talking to many people directly involved in this issue as well as others who have been ruling blogs and websites for years and have had enough experience with laws, copyright, privacy and security over the internet, I’ve finally come up with a decision.

As a blogger, I’m not going to host or promote these files in any way and won’t even say if they are, in fact, real or fake. I’ll keep this information for myself and my private conversations with other people in a different place than a forum, because I’ve learned with this that the internet is not a place to keep your privacy intact.

However, for those of you that might think I’m backing out, I want to let you know that my job in this field has been succesfuly completed.

Since the beginning, my main motivation was to share with my readers, both new and old, that there are some Handlordz saved webpages and files regarding the behaviour of the, as they like to call him, XCM Leader De’vo vom Schattenreich, that have been leaked and are in the hands of many people now.

I, as a blogger, never shared in public if I support what is in them or if they have been edited or left intact. I don’t have the files in other place than in my head for what I’ve read in them, somewhere, somehow. And, as I said, they won’t be posted in this blog to respect the laws.

However, as I also said, my job is complete up to this point because the information about the existence of these files has been made public and now NO ONE can stop them from being spread all over the internet.

I’m sure you won’t see any link to them in the blogs or forums, but there will always be illegal or alternative ways of sharing them like p2p networks, public file hostings like rapidshare, megaupload, zshare, yousendit… public chatrooms, private msn conversations, emails, PM’s at places like myspace and facebook and so on.

I don’t need to suggest, nor will I, for people to start sending these files around because I know this will be automatically done.

So, as a human being and card flourisher, I’ve learned a lot through this experience and now I know who to trust and who to give my money to in the future.

There will be no more posts about Superhandz / Handlordz unless I’m told to publish them by the staff and I won’t make any reviews or free advertising of their products or events as I’ve been doing for other companies.

If they want to stay apart and don’t want to see us all united, that’s fine with me – it’s their loss.

I want to give big thanks once again to all of you that participated, HLers or not, for sharing your opinions and being so kind and respectful. You have my regards, and I’ll keep praying for a united world for our beloved Art.

I’ll leave the comments open here and I hope you guys understand my position.

-Alejandro Portela,
also known as TheCuso.