Gaze upon the King of Clubs fondly. Your first chance to grab a rare, never-to-be-sold Gold Arcane deck awaits in our Arcane video contest.

In the coming weeks, we’ll announce how everyone will get a chance to snare one of the 5,000 of these decks that have been printed. But in the meantime, your skill and performance could put one of these in your hands.

In a nutshell: Surely, you’ve had your chance to get a few decks of Arcane playing cards. Now, we want to see what you do with them. Hit the mall, the boardwalk, the park, anywhere there are spectators, and blow some minds with either a black or white deck. Or use both. It’s your routine. Our judges will pick the best video based on creativity, skill, presentation and audience reaction. Here’s the rules:

• Only one video per person. If there is any appearance of multiple submissions from the same person, the videos will not be judged.
• Vid must be no longer than four minutes. Handy tip: TIME YOUR ROUTINE BEFORE PERFORMING.
• Your performance must be for at least one genuine spectator.
• Your performance may include any trick or effect that utilizes playing cards, and those cards must be from a deck of Arcanes.
• Creativity is encouraged. Use the glyphs or the smoky face cards as part of your routine.
• Your video may include any kind of editing, but your trick or routine must be uncut.
• Submit your videos in the Member Videos forum with the words “Arcane Contest” somewhere in the title.
• All videos must meet our submission guidelines. Any videos that do not will not be judged. NO EXCEPTIONS. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.
• If you have any questions about the rules, ask them in this thread on the Ellusionist Forums.

Submission deadline: 12:01 a.m. Monday, March 1 (Central time zone; GMT -6). Good luck!

Ellusionist Web master David Mitchell reminded us of Greg Frewin’s upcoming Christmas special, “Greg Frewin Magic Man: Home for the Holidays,” which will be shown tomorrow by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The show sounds pretty interesting just from the CBC’s description (only Canadians can access the accompanying online-exclusive videos).

But a series of stories by the Niagara Falls Review make it downright compelling. Reporter John Law scored exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to taping for the show and preparations for a big stunt at the end; his three-part series was published this week. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.)

Frewin, a former Vegas entertainer, invested almost everything he had into converting a factory into a 700-seat theater. The bold move paid off after its bumpy first year in 2005 — it now sells out every summer and has become a top attraction for the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. But he knows that it’s TV that will push his name to legendary status, he said. Instead of emulating Blaine’s urban shamanism or Angel’s shock and raw, Frewin’s hook is to show life behind the curtain, as a husband and father of two.

Lee Asher, Frewin’s street-magic consultant, vouches for his work ethic in part one:

“Greg is cut from a different cloth. Greg will do a show, and when he’s done he’ll go backstage and weld his props. When he’s done with that, he comes out and manages the theatre. When he’s done with that, he gets to go home and be a dad. He’s constantly doing something, constantly pushing. Hopefully, they’ll film that. There’s no one like Greg, there really isn’t. Greg’s working on the lights … I don’t know anyone (like him) who does that. They’ll wait. Greg, he doesn’t have time for the light guy. He’s gotta get down there and get his hands on that board. We work with Greg. We don’t work for Greg.”

Larry Wilmore doesn’t mind tellin’ you… his classic palm is terrible. He usually messes with a deck of cards when he gets the chance to practice. But he is well versed in magic: He can tell you about Ascanio, Marlo, Jennings and he can even tell you why he performs like Vernon.

Wilmore, senior black correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, took the time to catch up with us about magic — mostly about that incredible “race card” routine he performed on the show last week. The author, writer and actor also talked about his upcoming work with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, the importance of being yourself when you perform and how people have seen a lot of magic — but haven’t seen a lot of sleight of hand.

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Before we tell you about Cincinnati magician Christopher Oberle (as part of our unofficial “stunt week”), we’d like to tell you about the golden orb weaver spider. One of the larger members of the class arachnida, the golden orb spider is more known for the strength of its silk. Perhaps you’ve seen this picture of a bird falling prey to one of its webs.

With that mental picture in mind, think of a magician in a coffin with about 160 of those suckers. That’s exactly the picture that Oberle is trying not to dwell on.

“To tell you the truth, I hate spiders,” he told us via e-mail. “But, I think that I need to face my fears.”

Oberle, 24, will attempt to break the world record for the most spiders on his body for 30 seconds. The current record is 153, held by Shane Crawford, of Australia. The stunt is set for sometime in December at a location to be announced.

His goal is to raise funds for the Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, where Oberle regularly performs for sick, disabled and terminally ill kids. The money will be used to buy a Vecta Distraction Station, a very high-tech piece of equipment that is used to engage children with special needs, including autism spectrum disorders.

“I know what I’ll be going through in that coffin is much easier than what the kids go through,” Oberle said. “Some of those kids don’t have families and live in fear.”

Oberle has been a magician for seven years and performed for colleges, corporate events and casinos around Ohio and Indiana, including a gig for Big Black from MTV’s Rob and Big.

Remember, on VH-1′s Celebracadabra, the incredibly patient magician who was paired with Ant?

That was Asi Wind, a magician who has performed on TV and for countless live events. He will be the featured guest on this week’s iTricks clinic, at 8 p.m. Eastern this Thursday. Get your performances ready to go, clinic with the man, and try not to be as difficult as Ant, OK?