A five-phase card routine.
What if someone hands you an ordinary deck of cards and says, "Show me something"? No special cards. No elaborate setup. Just a deck, a few spectators, and five increasingly impossible effects.
Anytime... with a Deck of Cards is a practical, entertaining routine by Aldo Colombini, designed for those situations when you want to perform strong card magic without any prior setup. The routine consists of five effects that can be performed in sequence or used individually. The spectators do much of the work themselves - shuffling, cutting, dealing and making decisions - while the performer concentrates on presentation and timing.
FIVE EFFECTS. FIVE IMPOSSIBLE MOMENTS.
1. The Surprise Elimination
A spectator secretly cuts off a random number of cards and remembers a card whose position is determined by that unknown number. The cards are dealt, eliminated and dealt again until only one card remains: the very card they remembered.
2. The Lucky Card
A spectator shuffles and cuts the deck, apparently making the conditions as fair as possible. While the performer's back is turned, the spectator deals cards and calls them by name - yet one small substitution sets the stage for an astonishing revelation.
3. Face Up and Face Down
Two spectators freely cut packets and remember cards under seemingly impossible conditions. The cards are mixed face up and face down, apparently destroying any possibility of finding them. Yet the two selections can be located with remarkable precision.
4. Improvisation!
A selected card becomes the subject of a strange "card computer." As cards are dealt into two packets, their values and suits begin to reveal information about the selection. The procedure feels spontaneous and improvised, leading to a seemingly impossible discovery of the chosen card.
5. Blind Miracle
The spectator merely thinks of a card from a packet while the performer turns away. No fishing, no questions, no apparent way of knowing anything about the choice. Yet in the end, the spectator counts to a completely free number - and turns over the card they merely thought of.
WHY THIS ROUTINE?
The strength of Anytime... with a Deck of Cards lies in its simplicity. The spectators are constantly involved. They shuffle. They cut. They deal. They remember. They make the decisions. And that involvement makes the magic feel less like a series of demonstrations and more like a genuine impossibility happening in their own hands.
The routine is also remarkably practical. It can be performed as a complete five-phase sequence or broken apart and incorporated into an existing card set. The basic execution is straightforward, leaving room to concentrate on what really makes these effects memorable: presentation, timing and the reactions of the audience.
For performers who enjoy card magic that relies on clever situations, subtle ruses and spectator participation rather than an endless succession of flashy moves, this is a routine worth adding to the repertoire. One deck. Five effects. Countless opportunities to fool people.
1st English edition 2026, PDF 15 pages.
