Ondřej Pšenička is a passionate magician coming from Prague, Czech Republic. He started doing magic since he was 10 years old. He continues his conjuring arts throughout his career, and then he had met with international magic community and found many friends. Ondřej is also a respected magician with countless lectures under his belt and he had appeared in several magic conventions. One time, he marked his name in a magic show hosted by magic legends - "Penn and Teller: Fool Us". Ondřej fooled them not one, not two, but THREE times! - becoming the greatest "Fooler" of the show. On 2021, after going through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ondřej established the brick-and-mortar store in Prague - a magic store in which he curated with great selection of magic books, magic tricks, as well as a variety of playing cards. He runs the business with two estemeed members of the team: Dominik (IG: @forest_of_spades) - the social media manager, photographer, programmer, and the creator of "Card Potions" [a single card stored inside a vial]; and Pavel - the store and customer service manager. When in Prague, make sure to drop by the Butterfly Magic Store!
About Butterfly Playing Cards
It all started when Ondřej performed his magic trick in "Penn and Teller: Fool Us" - he used his custom designed deck for his performance. This deck is a culmination of his exploration of edge-marked deck, creating a miracle worker for magic tricks. The marking system for this is by far the VERY BEST marked deck ever created - there are many things implemented onto this deck and the marking is well-hidden. The back design features borderless two-way butterflies surrounded with flowers and leaves. It is designed by Swedish artist and magician Stefan Eriksson. Most of the cards are printed by Cartamundi on their Linen Finish. The Aces feature custom-illustrated pips, with the Ace of Spades shows an arrangement of flowers and leaves. Courts and Pips are standardized for use of magic. Both Jokers feature an identical artwork of a butterfly - one is a solid black butterfly, the other is either colored solid/flower patterned butterfly. Butterfly Playing Cards decks are perfect for magicians to perform mindblowing miracles, cardists to perform amazing flourishes with the beautiful back, and collectors to immersed onto its grand beauty.
DISCLAIMER - To protect the secrets of the Butterflies, none of its marking system will be revealed here. If you wanted to know it first-hand, please consider getting the deck and/or its magic book.
Butterfly Series
There are a lot of Butterfly decks created ever since its conceptualized in 2016 and printed in 2017. As time goes by, there are slight improvements to the deck itself, as well as printing the cards to catch up with the latest technology of playing cards manufacturing. Most of these decks are created through crowdfunding platforms.
- Standard = The original deck which is crafted for magic. As it is standard, it is available in the classic colorway of Red and Blue. The box has a minimalistic design showing a black butterfly on the front. The color band ran accross on the bottom side: Red with blue line for Red deck - Blue with red line for Blue deck. Originally, the decks are borderless and marked. All cards are printed with Cartamundi Playing Cards in Belgium.
- First Edition - The very first decks of Butterfly Playing Cards are created through funding on Indiegogo. The cards are using thick B9 linen stock. The Red and Blue decks are available in "Marked" and "Unmarked". The campaign also funded the creation of the physical book about the deck and its magical routine tutorials - "The Secrets of the Butterflies".
- Second Edition - The second version of the decks are made to fulfill demands of more request for the decks - privately funded to produce the decks. The box have special artworks made with Spot UV ink, and the central black butterfly is done in thermochromic ink, which when heated, the black butterfly transforms into a flower-patterned butterfly. These decks come with with a special patterned paper wrapping with a sticker - this wrapper has a barcode that leads to the magic tutorial video of how to use the deck. There are Refill Decks, which the decks only come in standard box. Only available in "Marked".
- Third Edition - The third edition improves a few things to the marking system. The cards are printed on B9 Slimline Linen Finish, the thin paper stock which is now the standards of playing cards printed by Cartamundi. Each deck comes with a special customized thicker cover wrapper with a butterfly clasp. The wrapper has a barcode that links to an updated magic tutorial video of how to use the deck. As a fun add-on, each deck comes with a set of stickers which you can use to decorate to tuck box to personalized your deck on your own. There are Refill Decks, which are made to replace the beaten up cards after intensive use.
Every "Marked" decks comes with an instruction card on how to use the Marking System. The Refills don't come with this card, as they are decks to "refill" your decks - these Refill Decks have custom box.
- Black = The most luxurious series of Butterfly Playing Cards. It has a fully-foiled back, and there are some of the foiling on the details of the faces. Although, due to the needs of precision cutting of the cards, the faces will have border markers. The cards are gilded with metallic foil in France - it is the durable gilding, which it can't chip after intensive card routine. The box has a minimalistic design: the foiled butterfly with a foiled line run across the box. Each deck comes with patterned paper sleeve with a sticker seal. Also, the deck comes with a special custom-designed seal.
- Gold and Silver - The main color for this series is Gold and Silver. Each deck are foiled with golden or silver foil respectively, on the cards as well as the gilding and the tuck box foil. Each color comes in "Marked" and "Unmarked" deck - the seal of the paper-wrapping indicates it (Butterfly with letter "M" = Marked Deck - Butterfly without letter "M" = Unmarked Deck).
- Black and White - The non-foiled edition of the series, it only comes in black and white color. The edge of the cards is edge-printed with black ink. The box has only white ink on the butterfly and loop. This deck also comes in "Marked" and "Unmarked" deck - the seal of the paper-wrapping indicates it.
- Futterfly - Dubbed as the "Fool Us" deck, it is based on the Butterfly deck used by Ondřej in the second magic perfomance in "Penn and Teller: Fool Us". It is basically the black bordered version of the "Black and White" deck. The faces doesn't have border markers. The cards will have a black border, in which this deck will spark the "Border Series" for Butterfly Playing Cards. The cards are edge-printed with black ink, and it is "Unmarked". The box has black foil on the butterfly and loop. The deck is wrapped with plastic paper wrapper with buterfly clasp.
The Black series of Butterfly Playing Cards have two kinds for each colorway: "Numbered" and "Unnumbered". The cards are still the same despite being labeled this way. "Numbered" Black Series Decks are those coming from Kickstarter - the numbers are based on how many backers backer for each of the deck variant. "Unnumbered" Black Series Decks are the overprints of the amount of decks requested (since orders have to be in even numbers) - "Black Series" text replaces the number slot. Specially for "Futterfly", the seal will have "Border Series" text on the seal. The seals are illustrated by Chilean illustrator Paulina Diaz.
Black Series have a Gaff Cards Pack, only tailored for Butterfly Black and Gold. The Series also have customized Deck Sleeves: Forest scenery with a sloth - Cocoon - "This is not a butterfly" in French (all designed by Tereza Kovandová).
- Color Seasons = The most colorful series of Butterfly Playing Cards. The illustrations for the deck: Back Design, Aces, Courts, and Jokers are colored. There are four color schemes, and these are based on the Four Seasons: Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter. Color Butterflies create very beautiful fans as the vibrant colors blasted to your eyes. The colors are done by illustrator Tereza Kovandová.
- Bordered - It is the colored version of Bordered Butterfly Playing Cards. The tuck box features loop showing color swatches used for each Season and the Butterfly logo is in white. Each Season is only 1000 decks made.
- Borderless - It is the colored version of Borderless Butterfly Playing Cards. The tuck box features loop showing color swatches used for each Season and the Butterfly logo is flower-patterned colored based on respective Season. Spring and Winter are 6000 decks made, while Summer and Autumn are 4000 decks made.
- Deck Zero - Before the Red and Blue Butterfly, there is this deck - a concept deck in which the original fully-marked design is done in colors. In line-up with the release of Bordered Color Seasons Butterfly, this deck is printed only 1000 deck. 200 decks are released (100 decks to go within a set with the other Bordered Color Seasons Butterfly - 100 decks as standalone deck), while the rest 800 deck goes to stash in Private Reserve.
- Special = Butterfly Playing Cards which are made on special occassions. It's still functional as a worker deck.
- Magnolia - This deck is specifically made for an online streaming magic show hosted by Ondřej Pšenička. Audiences may enter the show through a special package containing an exclusive deck. This deck features a different illustration done by Chilean artist Paulina Diaz - diamond-framed magnolia flowers with flying butterflies and four flower corners. The show runs for three years, from 2021 to 2023. The deck is made with USPCC.
- For Ukraine - This deck is made during the troubling situation in Ukraine. The deck is based on the bordered Butterfly deck. It has a blue and yellow color scheme, just like the country's flag - colored by Tereza Kovandová. The central element of the back design is replaced with a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine. All the sales proceeding will be donated to help the cause to heal Ukraine. The deck is made with USPCC.
- Royal Purple - The special purple colorway is made in collaboration with Penguin Magic. It is based on the Third Edition of Standard Butterfly Playing Cards. As it name suggests, the color scheme used for this deck is purple. The deck is made with Cartamundi.
- Workers = Dubbed as "the missing piece of the Butterfly family", this Butterfly Playing Cards series evolved from its borderless marked deck into bordered marked deck. It is made for the sole purpose of the decks to be used mainly for magic and cardistry, making them more versatile and affordable. The tuck box features a clean minimalistic design of a flower-patterned butterfly with a loop on a white background with the back of the box showcase the cards's bordered back design - done on standard glossy stock. The card back features a clean white border around the original Butterfly back illustration. All the faces are standard US design. Both Jokers feature identical butterfly icon: one is solid black, one is flower-patterned colored according to the deck variant.
Butterfly Workers has a Gaff Deck tailored for the main Red and Blue Workers. Instead of a few gaff cards in an envelope, it's a full deck. The tuck box features black background with red flower-patterned butterfly and loop.
Eventually, Butterfly Playing Cards has joined the trend of holographic foil. The HOLO edition features all black colored background on the face and back with artworks done in holographic foil. The cards will be edge-printed with black ink. The deck is printed with WJPC.
Total Decks: 49
Decks listed according to the family series. Decks with italized entry are decks printed with USPCC. Decks with underlined entry are decks printed with WJPC. Decks listed with star are exclusives. Trick Decks and Prototypes are NOT INCLUDED
Standard
V1 Red Marked
V1 Blue Marked
V1 Red Unmarked
V1 Blue Unmarked
V2 Red
V2 Blue
V2 Red - Refill
V2 Blue - Refill
V3 Red
V3 Blue
V3 Red - Refill
V3 Blue - Refill
Black
Gold Marked Numbered
Gold Unmarked Numbered
Gold Marked Unnumbered
Gold Unmarked Unnumbered
Silver Marked Numbered
Silver Unmarked Numbered
Silver Marked Unnumbered
Silver Unmarked Unnumbered
B/W Marked Numbered
B/W Unmarked Numbered
B/W Marked Unnumbered
B/W Unmarked Unnumbered
Futterfly
Gold Gaff
Color Seasons
[*] Bordered Spring
[*] Bordered Summer
[*] Bordered Autumn
[*] Bordered Winter
[*] Deck Zero
Borderless Spring
Borderless Summer
Borderless Autumn
Borderless Winter
Special
[*] Magnolia Black
Magnolia White
For Ukraine
Royal Purple
Workers
Red
Blue
Gaff
[*] Purple
[*] Green
[*] Black
Pink
Orange
[*] HOLOGRAPHIC
[*] HOLOGRAPHIC Seconds
Purple - Green - Black Workers are Kickstarter exclusive decks, which are only made for the backers of the campaign. The courts are customized with colors based on its variant.
HOLO Seconds - During the production of the deck, Ondřej realized too late that he sent the wrong file for the box: the back of box has the inverted colors of the back design. He decided to keep this error batch and send the correct one for the printer. The first batch has some imperfections on the holographic foiling and printed on higher-grade paper stock - rather than this imperfection gets destroyed, Ondřej claimed them and have these cards repackaged onto the inverted back tuck box. Ergo, HOLO Workers has two variants:
- Regular = Tuck box that matches with the cards; Big solid pips on the Aces; Two duplicate Jokers; Extra Joker without the butterfly; White numbered WORKERS EDITION seal (XXXX out of 2000).
- Seconds = Tuck box with inverted back design; Big pips on the Aces; One Joker with slightly merged details; Double backer card; Don't have seal (2000 decks made).
