In our Gold Arcane Contest, competitors were asked to submit a video of themselves performing for an audience with either a black or white deck of Arcane playing cards. They were judged on their originality, proficiency, utilization of the deck's design elements into their presentation, performance and audience reaction.

Brandon Porterfield, the Okinawa, Japan-based magician, performed for a class of Japanese students who are still learning English. Porterfield, a.k.a. Mallow81 had a perfect mix of interesting presentation, technical difficulty and KILLER performance that had us loving this video from the first time we saw it. Watch his performance here.

Our judges were also taken with the performances by Joe G (great interaction and presentation), Ninja G (outstanding skills) and Clement (powerful creativity). But Mallow81 had the best combination of all of the above, and put the priority on the performance. And we're always going to value performance over other aspects.

For his entry: Mallow81 will be receiving our new Gold Arcane deck. Our only print run of this deck is at the U.S. Playing Card Company, running through its new Goss printing press, right now. Like the 1st ed. Black Ghost deck, it will be available only as a contest prize or promotional item. It will not be for sale.

Congratulations to Mallow81, to the finalists, and all 47 competitors. We saw some great live performances! We hope it encourages you to get out there and drop some jaws of your own.