The Evolution of Butterfly Playing Cards
Where did Butterfly Playing Cards come from? How were they created? How does the Third Edition differ from the First one? We answer these questions in this article.
What are Butterfly Playing Cards?
Butterfly Playing Cards are borderless playing cards designed and marked in a unique way, made with magicians in mind.
Their marking system lets you find any card in the deck at any time, even after it was shuffled by a spectator. You can cut to any card your spectator names. Find the identity of a card that's been taken out of the deck. But there's much more.
The main advantage of Butterfly Playing Cards is that they allow you to perform strong magic effects with little to no sleight of hand.
History (2015 - 2021)
The Creation
In 2015, Ondrej went to Sweden to attend a summer magic course. He met Stefan Eriksson there, a magician and designer. They worked together to create what would later become Butterfly Playing Cards.
It took eight prototypes and many discussions with knowledgeable magicians to perfect the design and markings before Ondrej was ready to release the First Edition.
The First Edition
The First Edition of Butterfly Playing Cards was made possible thanks to a successful Indiegogo campaign Ondrej ran at the end of 2016. The cards were printed and released in 2017.
There were two versions of the decks. The first one was made solely for the backers of the campaign, and the second one was produced with Murphy's Magic for general release.
The second version featured Spot UV Coating on the tuck boxes, a Tyvek wrapper, and a thermochromic butterfly on the front of the tuck box. You could rub the butterfly, and it would change from solid color to our flower pattern. We used these features again for the Original 2nd Edition decks.
We also printed an unmarked version, with only 1.500 decks in each color. We call them unmarked, but an observant user will find something hidden within the cards.
As this was the first for the whole Butterfly Playing Cards brand, the First Edition was quite a small run and sold out quickly.
The Second Edition
Ondrej joined forces once again with Murphy's Magic to produce the Second Edition of Butterfly Playing Cards. This edition first introduced the Refills.
What are the Refills? They are the same exact cards as the Original Butterfly decks, with just one difference - the Refills do not come with instructions. If you already know the secrets of our cards and are in need of a new deck, you don't have to buy the Original deck and pay for the instructions again. Hence the name Refills.
Ondrej adjusted the marking system for the Second Edition so that they were easier to see. He also used the classic USPC faces, however, with slightly adjusted colors.
Here's one interesting fact about the Second Edition. The Blue decks sold out a year before the Red ones. Why were they more popular? Honestly, we don't know.
The Latest Stage (2021 - now)
The Third Edition
In 2021, we printed the Third Edition of Butterflies and released it on Black Friday. Again, we produced it with Cartamundi, but since they switched their paper supplier at that time, the Third Edition was printed on a Slimline stock. It is much thinner and snappier than the Superlux stock used on the previous editions.
We enlarged the center pips on all Aces and dressed them in our flower pattern. We enjoy the larger pips because they are easier to see, even from a distance, and provide great visuals in packet tricks.
Each Third Edition deck includes a double backer, one of the most versatile gimmicks in not only card magic.
The Original 3rd Edition decks come with a brand-new, over-2-hour tutorial. As Ondrej was using the cards in every performance, he created new ways to utilize their features and shared them in the tutorial. In it, he explains the markings and 12 effects designed specifically for borderless Butterfly Playing Cards.
This new tutorial is by far the most complete guide to Butterflies. If you're looking for your first Butterfly deck and you want to learn and take advantage of all their features, the Original deck should be your first.
Even though there are lots of things shared in the tutorial, the cards feature "Easter Eggs." They are unique markings for specific uses, and they are not explained anywhere. So, will you find them?
The Conclusion
We've talked a lot about the cards and what they can do, but we know you'd like to see them in action. You can watch Ondrej perform several of his iconic effects:
We hope you enjoyed this article! 🦋