R.U. Siriu's page

I'm not sure if you're getting what I'm saying, or if I'm not getting what you're saying.

I'm saying to do this:

Split the deck and square up the halves by tapping them on the table. Take the ends that just struck the table, and interleave those ends when you shuffle.

If you're saying that the shorter cards still slide away from you because you can't put inward pressure on the outside ends, well, try it. Maybe you hold your cards differently than I do, but I find that the *downward* pressure I put on the outside ends is enough to hold those cards in place as they riffle together.

It must be a difference in the way we do a riffle shuffle. I know what you're saying but with the technique I've used for years (I handle cards all the time doing card magic) it just doesn't work. Instead when I shuffle them I have to basically square the ends up as you suggest, but then lay them on the table and riffle off from the outside edge of the corners so that the pressure is going sideways across the card instead of length wise. It's still a little tricky to get them to fall correctly and not have cards clump together occasionally, but it works. It's just very slow and tedious. Before I added the character add on pack I could pick up a deck and give it 12 good riffle shuffles in just a few seconds... Now it takes me a couple minutes just to get 4 or 5.

I don't want this to be a b*%&h fest. I guess you did what you had to do and what made the most sense for the company. I'm just saying it's a royal pain in the arse. I love the new cards... They are much better card stock and handle much nicer when by themselves. What I'm saying is it just would have been nice to have a much more identifying feature to tell them apart rather than the "Printed in USA" or "Printed in China" in very small lettering on the back. So that those who wanted or at least hoped to keep the sets paired up could.

As I recall you made one run (the first printing) and did all of the adventure packs and base sets at once. Adventure packs that are still sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting for their release dates. Did you not do this with the character add on too? Surely there must have been anticipation that most if not all of the people who purchased the base set would purchase the character add on? I guess I'm just wondering why you didn't wait till you needed to do a second printing for ALL of them and clearly mark all the boxes as such.

I mean it's like I said... Is it impossible to shuffle? No... But it sure does make it slow and a pain in the arse. At least for me. It would just be lovely if there was a way to avoid all that. Especially since from what I understand, the cards from the character add-on will be the ONLY cards like that. To be frank, if it wasn't for the fact that I NEED 5 or 6 players a lot of times, I would do away with it. Just not worth it.

While I applaud switching to a US printer, I'm afraid this change in card size is just... I'm not even sure how to describe it... You mention that if you square the edges it shouldn't affect shuffling... I'm sorry, but that's crap...

If you know anyone who is into magic (illusions, not the card game), ask them to show you their svengali deck. Actually there are lots of "gimmick" decks based on the EXACT same principle... A svengali deck specifically has every other card cut a half millimeter short. Those "short" cards are all one specific card... Like say all the 7 of clubs... This allows the magician to "control" the cards. If you riffle through the cards, allowing them to fall or be seen from one direction, you will see ALL different cards... (because you're only seeing the "long" cards)... On the other hand, if you riffle through them from the opposite direction, you'll see ALL 7 of clubs.... Again, because in this direction you are seeing all the short cards fall first...

NO amount of squaring of the deck will change this... Because no matter how much you square, when the cards are fanned off your thumbs it will put pressure on them, pressure which can't be "stopped" but the rear fingers... The point is, ANY time a short card is come to, it will ALWAYS fall along with the "long" card right before it... So your "thumb" will only be "catching" on long cards... ANY short will ALWAYS fall along with the previous long... If 2 or 3 shorts are together, they will ALL fall together... The only way they will get split up is if you catch a group where (sometimes 3) but usually 4 or 5 at least are grouped together... This provides enough of a break after a long that your thumb can "squeeze in" and catch the shorts and fan them as well.

The point is, this makes shuffling a nightmare... I don't care about the fact that the backs look NOTHING like the originals, they are MUCH lighter... I don't care that you can look at the deck and see which cards are shorts... What I care about is the fact that it's almost impossible to get these mixed in very well with other cards... At least in my experience. Can it be done? Yeah, i've done it... Usually by trying to fan from the SIDES of the deck... Even then its difficult at best and not ideal at all.