Anglo Rug Back Deck Review
Price: $6.00
Initial Thoughts
There comes a moment in every educated red-neck’s life when someone turns him on to the fineries of Swedish snus over Copenhagen snuff. Ski bums as well may, at some point, be exposed to the added warmth and comfort of an authentic cardigan sweater over rag wool and poly-pro. It is high time my magic friends sampled their own version of Swedish quality. If you have read my review you know of my fondness for the Spanish Fourniers and I am happy to report the Swedes did not disappoint either. Offason, the manufacturer of the Anglo decks, has managed to combine a stiff springy stock with a fan that equals what North Americans have become accustomed to in a Bicycle. If you will recall that particular blend of characteristics was a large reason for my love of the USPCC Steamboat decks. The handling characteristics combined with a fresh new look in the design of a deck has quickly put these near the top of my favorites list. Provided they are a long lasting deck I expect they will remain there as well.
The Look
These are probably my favorite looking deck that I have reviewed. I always say that this comes down to personal preferance but if you like the basic design then you have six different colors to choose from. All Rug decks come with a thin white boarder and have gold design work inlaid into the primary deck color. Your options are white/gold, black/gold, red/gold, blue/gold, and green/gold. The gold decks use a primary gold color and inlay black design work on top. These decks have almost a circus like look to them. Though they are geared primarily towards magicians they don’t look like a “trick” deck: a criticism that seems to plague the E-decks and the T11 decks. The court cards are completely new designs. Another reviewer said they had an art deco feel to them and I tend to agree. Definitely a modern look. Poker purists might get uptight when they realize the King of Hearts is not stabbing himself in the head but for the most part I think they are tasteful new design. The Aces are a bit on the boring side. The Ace of Spades has nothing more than a small spade in the center. The Ace of Hearts is the unique Ace for the Rug decks with a small silhouette of a unicorn under the center heart and “Offason-Sweden” printed under that. The 7’s placed the odd pip in the center eliminating it’s status as a one way card.
Other things of note: Rug decks are jumbo index. Not a big factor for me but if you have effects that either don’t work or don’t look as good with a jumbo index then you may want to consider this before buying. Most of the suits seem to be elongated compared to North American artwork. This gives the clubs in particular a very unique, European look. Finally, there is a kaki box centered in all of the spot cards where all the pips are arraigned. I’d never seen any card in which something like this had been done before. It gives a little more attention to the spot cards. It doesn’t make or break the design but I thought it was a nice touch.
Construction Notes
The first thing to note is the finish. The box calls it an “Embossed Finish.” (I never really understand the significance of the titles card companies give to finishes…I mean has anyone ever actually seen a Linoid? My spell check doesn’t even know what that is!) There is a dimpled pattern on the deck, much like what we are used to with most USPCC decks, but the dimples are much smaller than with most other cards. The last time I used a card with a pattern like that was on the Massa deck and it didn’t seem to hold its fan very long. Let’s just hope that the final finish coating had more to do with that than the actual pattern.
Next differences to note are the rounder corners of the Anglos. This may affect some spinning moves but so far I have not noticed an obvious drop in performance.
The last major difference is the length of the deck. Wile the width equals a standard poker deck the Anglos are actually about a half a millimeter longer. Nothing you will really notice when performing with them but worth noting all the same.
In all the deck was about 14 mm thick. This makes it one of the thinnest decks I have reviewed and in a side by side comparison you should be able to slide 3 to 4 Bicycle 808s over the top of the Anglo deck. Total weight was 92 grams.
Handling Notes
Fanning:
Wow! These were awesome OOB but the fan deteriorated as quickly with these as they did with the Massa decks. If you will recall I was a bit leery about the extra tiny dimples. Seems to me that they may have done better to just go all the way and make it an entirely smooth deck. I have racked my brain trying to determine the thinking behind tiny dimpled decks. Splitting the difference between a smooth finished and dimple finished deck doesn’t seem to work IMO. The only thing I can figure is that they are intended to be a smooth finish deck with just enough air pockets to hold fanning powder. The boys at ReviewXCM even recommend a sort of fanning powder regimen. Indeed using this method it seems as if they got the fan to improve as opposed to deteriorate. If you are interested in what they did I would recommend you check out their video. It is fun to watch anyways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btlXpsQBhwE
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Spring:
I didn’t notice much decline in the spring energy until the second and third week. There is definitely plenty of snap in these cards. This will make some moves feel a lot more secure.
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Dribble:
The biggest issue with dribbles will be your own hand strength. For most people this will be a difficult deck to smoothly dribble.
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Crimp Hold and Recovery:
Overall a great performer in this area. Breather Chimps held for a week before needing to be re-touched and other crimps could easily be mended to near perfect condition.
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Single card glides:
Single card glides from top cards seemed consistently easy throughout the review but bottom card glides, and glides from the center(side steal) became difficult the more the finish began to clump.
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2+Obfuscations:
Put quite simply when you decide to pair two cards up they will stay paired until you want them to split. There is plenty of security in all the moves I use to evaluate this trait. The one and only problem I am still having is with the Hugard Braue Push-Off. I’m using a white, borderless, deck for the review and the combination of that plus the rounded edges have made it more difficult for me to find the right thumb position. I’m sure as soon as I find my sweet spot this move will be solid as well. Of particular note is in a single corner display. The European cut cards(rounder corners) sometimes take a bit of extra care for spin moves but somehow the Anglo Rugs perform this more securely than other cards with similar corners. Overall the best performing deck I have used for any of the 2 card obfuscations.
Flourishing Notes
A good card for one handed cuts, Aerials, and multi-packet cuts. Perhaps not the best for fan and spring heavy flourishes.
Final Thoughts
Wow. When this thing is good it is unquestionably one of the best decks on the market. Were I to rate only two factors, stock and finish, I’d give the stock a 5 and the finish a 1. The poor durability of the finish is my biggest disappointment in this deck, especially since, even as I retire the deck, I can still feel a lot of life left in this stock. Even with that disappointment I did keep it going longer than most decks , though I’m sure some would have given up on it sooner.
As a general recommendation I’d say that anyone who buys decks in the $5.00-$7.00 range should try out an Anglo Rug. The Rugs are definitely a unique experience in deck performance that I have yet to see matched by the standard high price decks that USPCC generally offers up. While a UV500 deck will likely outlast the Rug, a Rug deck has a performance that I have only seen matched buy Steamboats(no longer in production) and Fournier 605(an $11.00 deck.) Overall this is a recommended deck for intermediate to advanced card workers but, due to issues with the finish, I wouldn’t recommend a brick until you have tried out a deck or two to see if the Anglo Rug suits you.
Even with all its shortcomings I gave the Anglo Rugs a five star rating. It is beautiful, unique, and performs at a very high standard.
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