Reviews

Osterlind rules!

I just love watching Richard Osterlind! With almost no special props he performs clean and incredibly powerful mentalism right before your very eyes. When he takes you through the explanations your respect for this man contines to grow. He just nails the effects with the simplest of methods and techniques.

The 2nd volume which is exclusively on his stacked deck (the Breakthrough Card System) is one of my favorites as he performs a whole act using the same stack each time, and each effect is wildy different. He also explains in detail the stack itself so you don’t even need to buy the book!

This is very practical mentalism from one of the best performers in the business. Highly recommended!

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This is more like it!

There are way too many locks and key effects on the market. This one from David De-Val has gone straight to my favorite list because it is so clean.

It can be used to lock a ring on the hasp, a box, bag, etc. The genuine, heavy, brass padlock is made in England by Squire. Of course after showing only 1 of the 7 keys unlocks the padlock, the performer or spectator can always choose the correct key.

What makes this method so clean is that at no time whatsoever does the magician need to touch the padlock or keys – either during the testing phase or the final choice of the key that opens the padlock. Once the effect is over the magician does need to briefly touch the padlock to reset it – but this can be done after the performance or just in the process of handing the padlock out again (if desired).

There are also no external pins, magnets, batteries or gimmicks to worry about. Truly the best version of Annemann’s Seven Keys to Baldpate type effect that I have seen.

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Great trick but where have I seen that wallet before?

Ok, this effect is a fine effect using a very well made wallet that allows you to perform a very direct and simple think of any hour type effect.

But just in case you already have the Heirloom Wallet, think twice before you buy this effect since the wallet is almost exactly the same. In fact, either the same manufacturer made these and made a slight change to one pocket at the end, or this wallet was altered slightly for the Heirloom Wallet. You could certainly use the Heirloom Wallet for this effect, but it would be nice to have the specially printed (and laminated) cards.

This effect is not as strong as Heirloom primarily due to the presentation. Otherwise it is still a worth having, just don’t buy both wallets – unless like me you fancy doing an easy any card from wallet and purchase 4 wallets!!!

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Nice Brass Chips and Clean Prediction!

This effect is a clean prediction of any one of 5 colors. It’s not new as I’ve seen the principle used in other effects, but the chips are nicely made and it also comes with a presentation to perform it twice in one setting which does add a good twist to the routine.

If you like brass magic with no sleight of hand and a simple plot then this is a well priced effect for you!

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How does he do it?

I don’t know how CardsByMartin (Neil Lester) creates his double faced cards – but they are as good as factory printed cards, making them perfect for card effects relying on specially printed cards.

This effect by Derek Dingle is a wonderful effect and now I have the perfect cards for it, what is to hold me back!

You can find out more about card splitting here and details of this effect here.

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Better than Twisted Sisters!

This is one of my favorite packet tricks of all time! I got my original one from Ron MacMillan in the UK over twenty years ago. Recently, I managed to remake it in Bicycle stock using some cards from Daryl. To my mind it is more impressive than Twisted Sisters (which is a great trick too), and is particularly convincing if you perform it 3 times in a row.

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This is Wonderful Mentalism!

Heirloom is a wonderful piece of clean and easy mentalism based on Kenton Knepper’s Kolossal Killer. The presentation makes sense and if presented with a modicum of acting ability is not only plausible, but truly unnerving. It does not require any sleight of hand or moves, and is very clean to the audience.

In the original version of Heirloom, the creators (Jamie Badman and Colin Miller) say that you don’t need a "special" wallet for this effect. This might be true, but finding one that was easy to set-up and use was quite a task until the Heirloom Wallet came out. Now this wallet is not as slick as The Predator Wallet neither is the mechanics the same – but it is 5 times less money and really works well for this particular effect. The wallet is a bit larger than a normal hip wallet, but it is not too thick and compared with some wallets I’ve seen is fine. For the price it is impossible to beat! It certainly makes it easier to present Heirloom, without even thinking about it.

The basic effect of course is as simple as asking a spectator to think of any card, and showing a single photo in your wallet with their card on. But with the presentation included it adds a lot more to the impact on the audience.

I had just finished buying all the wallets I needed, until this effect and wallet came along. This one is also certainly a keeper!

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Final or Complex FlashBack?

I have been trying for a while now to simplify my magic and I was hoping when this Final version of FlashBack came out from the great minds of Larry Becker and Lee Earle that I could throw the rest of my book tests away.

Unfortunately, this was not the case and I found the whole system more complex than I expected. To me this is magic for magician’s and mentalists, rather than for lay people. Larry and Lee have thought of all of these clever ideas and embedded them in these books. But it just seemed too much for me. I have no doubts in their hands it kills, but I just did not have the stomach for it.

The books are well printed and although some have said the books don’t look real, that was the least of my concerns – I just found the number of things you have to learn to perform this whole routine to be more work than I was prepared to put in. I believe part of the problem is that the routine provided is quite a long routine in the first place. I’m sure for many people this will be just what you are looking for, but they were not for me.

I’ll stick with MasterMind II and Dream Revelation. With these I have a very direct book test, that can be repeated on the spot and once set-up is easy to do.

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Ok so these are "Cool", but so what?

So there is a lot of hype around these new Black Deck Tigers. They are a nice quality card and do look "cool" if you like that sort of thing. However, if anything screams out trick deck more than these I have yet to see it.

It seems to me that these really only appeal to the young Ellusionist crowd who are much more into the look and pulsating beat of magic, than the entertainment, mystery and absolute wonderment of the spectators. There is the odd occasion as part of a bizarre routine, or some color change, or some flourishes that these can come into their own. But for the most part they just say "Look, I’m using a trick deck of cards for this effect."

There is nothing wrong with this of course, but don’t fool yourself into believing the hype that people will think you’re a cooler and better magician because you have these "cool" looking cards. The only people who will think that are other magicians who think these cards are "cool".

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Simple Method and Convincing.

This is a simple nut off bolt effect with a different method than others I’ve seen. It is kind of sneaky, but this is so often the case with magic that works well. Reset is a snap too!

Unlke other effects that I have seen like this, the bolt is not gimmicked and can be examined until the cows come home at the end of the effect. There is a gimmick, but it is probably not what you are expecting.

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