Cards in Magic & Conjuring: page 11

"It's not easy to improve on a trick by Dai Vernon, but Ian Baxter has managed to do just that!"

A timely observation from reviewer David Jones, who has hit the nail right on the head. Here is an easy, clever new treatment of a respected Vernon classic. Don't be surprised if you find yourself performing Refining Vernon's 1-2-3 over and over again.

Jones continues: "This streamlined handling of Vernon's 1-2-3 is so much cleaner than the original, more magical in effect and far easier to perform. It's a winner!"

This familiar, fast-moving card mystery has been 'doing the rounds' for decades:...

Ask the spectator to take any deck of cards, and to shuffle it well (it is useless, but it is very "magician"). Get a few cards, as many as the spectator wants, and then make another packet of the same size next to this one. You will ask the spectator to move, as desired, cards from one pile to the other, to divide one pile into two unequal packets, to look at a card of a certain number down the middle pack, and then collect the packets one on top of the other. Before concluding, remind the spectator that he made all the choices independently, he chose the number of cards to move from one...

This can be done with a borrowed shuffled deck that does not have to be complete. (The only requirement is that the deck is in decent condition, but it does not have to be a new deck.) There is no stack or prior arrangement necessary. Somebody hands you a deck and you go right into the routine. You ask the spectator to take about a third from the deck, shuffle it at heart's content, then remember the bottom card and burry that pack somewhere in the middle of the remaining portion on the table. This all happens while you look away. You then take the deck behind your back and find the spectator...

The contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.

From the introduction:

The contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.

• Proem
• About this Issue
• Excerpts Taken from a Photocopy of a Letter Written from Ed Whitford to Edward Marlo
• A Marlo Letter to Persi Diaconis
• Racherbaumer Letter to Charlie Miller
• Shall We Ask All The King's Horses and Men?
• Correspondence Between Jon Racherbaumer and Stephen Minch Regarding the So-Called Hide-Out Move
• Appendix: Paul Curry's "Out of this World"; a new version / Ed Whitford

1st edition 2014, PDF 30 pages....

Update on the 'Azlan' Card At Any Number.

"F**k me!!! This is ridiculous! Mate it's so, so, so fooling! Even after knowing the original method and watching it play out countless times." - Nathan Chandler

"Just watched the demo you sent for the Card At Any Number and I have no idea how it works." - Dreygon Hibbler

"I can't wait to learn it. Owning your previous work on this, I feel like I should be able to work it out but can't get my head around it LOL." - Matt Overd

This is not the same update for 'Azlan' which was taught in God Mode Sui Generis 2.

A prediction envelope...

An unexplored "classic": this has been for me, for many years, the "Australian shuffle". I learned it as a young man from Aldo Colombini, who often included it in his impromptu effects; later I studied John Scarne (and his wonderful idea in Phone Miracle, which we will comment on together later) and Max Maven.

Then I read Nick Conticello, and a new world opened up: I discovered that all the greats of card magic have tried their hand at the Australian deal; Nick, however, made me wonder a bit more: today I don't think there is more space to invent, but a lot to develop new routines, putting together various principles.

In my...

Here is a small collection of automatic and semi-automatic out-of-hand card effects, empowered by the "chaos" philosophy brought forward by Lennart Green and Dani DaOrtiz.

The effects are easy to do and they don't require you to be another "David Wiliamson" or "Dani DaOrtiz" in order to perform them. Just a regular, normal magician. More important than the routines you will see and learn how the chaos handling is applied to this type of effects - you will be able to apply those ideas later in many of your effects to make them more fooling and fun.

The effects included are:

Mr. Green Goes Red:...

A combination of "Disposable Color" and "B'Wave", both classics by Max Maven, makes each trick stronger and more fool-proof with just the addition of some scripting ideas and a few simple handling changes.

1st edition 2022, PDF 25 pages.

The All Backs Motif is odd. For one thing, it casts a revealing light on we magician's claim (when it suits our purpose) that we use ordinary cards. That is our decks, which we prefer to borrow, consist of cards that have faces and backs on both sides. Therefore, if we show a deck that consists of all backs and faces we are admitting that such anomalies exist and the cards being used are probably gimmicked in some way. Why do this?

A better question may be - What motivated someone to create such an effect using this kind of deck? That "someone" was Dai Vernon and my guess is that he wanted to...

A spectator card is floating over the deck instantly. This effect was inspired by several classic versions from different magicians but this one uses a different gimmick. Easy to create. Easy to perform. Requires some arts and crafts to construct the gimmick.

1st edition 2022, video 23:45.

The effects of "remote" mentalism (with the performer blindfolded, in another room, or, even, on the phone, with only the audio connection) generally use mathematical principles. Often, with a little pack of cards (or billets) real miracles can be performed: if the cards are to be shuffled by the spectator, it is necessary that the shuffle appears as random as possible, even if it must necessarily be a mathematical one.

With this publication I have addressed some well-known moves, used in different ways, alone or in conjunction with other shuffles or other principles; once the principle...

Learn six different marking systems for a Bicycle Rider Back design. There are both reader back and coder back marking systems shared here. Each marking system is unique and is suited for varying performing scenarios.

This is a compilation of all three volumes of Pigment and Pixel for the price of two individual ones.

[Reader Backs are marking systems where the value and suit are explicitly written on the back of the card (often hidden within the design). Coder Backs are marking systems where the back patterns/design is used to tell the value and suit of the card.]

There are no tricks with a marked deck taught in this ebook.

1st edition 2022, originally titled "Pigment & Pixel 1, 2, 3", PDF 35 pages....

ARCAAN is an ACAAN with two decks of cards that is not only very easy to do but a complete miracle. It works every single time and always with a different card. For fans of the theme, it is certainly a gem to try.

Two decks: one blue and the other red. The spectator chooses one. Let's say the red deck. The spectator cuts from the deck a completely random number of cards and then he counts them. Then he shuffles the deck and puts a Joker into the middle of the deck. The card on the right of the joker will be the suit and the card on the left will be the value. Now we have a random number...

Water and oil is an effect that has always fascinated me, but the principle is so simple that I think it is impossible to invent something more effective; moreover, the effect requires a secret manipulation that is impossible to replicate, if everything is expected to be done in the hands of the spectator, "on the other end of the line" (of the telephone).

I, therefore, followed a different path: to try to replicate, in the spectator, the amazement of finding the separated cards, when they were arranged alternately by his hands, in front of his eyes.

Also in this publication I propose,...

A magician holds a card and then changes it to a poker chip, paper money, a coin, or any small flat object. The method is based on a black-art principle and thus best suited for a stage or video performance where lighting and angles can be controlled well. Making the gimmick involves arts and crafts.

1st edition 2022, video 23:04.

I saw the first spelling effects a long time ago, studying Aldo Colombini's DVDs; they were in English and I gave up almost immediately, due to the great difference in seed letters and numbers: from diamonds to diamonds there was an ocean. I saw, I appreciated them ... and then I gave up. Some time later, trying and trying again, a light bulb came on: I thought I had invented my spelling in Italian; beautiful exceptional. Later I discovered that I had not really invented anything, there were dozens and hundreds of similar and ... almost the same. Then, continuing to study the great masters, I began to collect...

Performer shows the red back of a playing card. One can see a heart and an arrow is drawn on the back. Suddenly the arrow slowly flies towards the heart until it penetrates it. In the final climax the color of the red card changes to blue. Making the gimmicked card requires arts and crafts.

Special thanks to Patricio Teran for helping to release this effect.

1st edition 2022, video 36:59.

More than the fourteen major Marlo items Ed contributed to New Tops Magazine between 1984-1985 - not to mention new sleights, finesses, and subtleties - these items have been largely unavailable since their publication, almost 40 years ago. Wesley James has added these final two years of material, completing the full run of Marlo's New Tops articles, fulfilling Ed's expressed wishes, keeping his material available "for the guys."

As with Wesley's previous releases, M.I.N.T. III - M.I.N.T. V, these long-unavailable Marlo articles could have been all Wesley compiled. Such a volume would have been an important...

ABOUT RUB-A-DUB: The rhyme is of a type calling out otherwise respectable people for disrespectable actions, in this case, ogling naked ladies - the maids. The nonsense "Rub-a-dub-dub" develops a phonetic association of social disapprobation, analogous to "tsk-tsk," albeit of a more lascivious variety.

The Rub-a-Dub Move's inauspicious beginning began in 1909 at a time when, relatively speaking, magicians had a limited number of utilitarian sleights and techniques at their disposal. Besides, the Rub-a-Dub Move happened in the blink of an eye and was only an offbeat way to make a card disappear. ...

The performer shows the face of a 5-of-Diamonds playing card. A quick shake and the pips have changed their color from red to black. Another shake and it changes to the 5-of-Clubs.

Requires some arts and crafts to construct the gimmicked card.

1st edition 2022, video 37:11.

X Deck is a cyclical stack. Given any card in the stack, you can almost instantly know the next card. It is based on a couple of simple algorithms. The stack looks quite random both value-wise as well as suit-wise. An equally easy variation X Deck 2 is also included. Easy to learn and simple to use, you should be able to get this down in a few minutes.

1st edition 2022, PDF 9 pages.

J. Stewart Smith continues with his professionally-praised run of card magic routines, this one containing seven appealing card mysteries. Like his previous releases, all the work is accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. Only a few simple moves are necessary, easily within the grasp of the average magician. Smith strives to strip down his creations so every move is logical, from an audience's perspective. There is no confusion as to what happens. It looks like pure magic.

PARTIAL CONTENTS:

• A Transformation
• The Nostalgic Trio
• The Unseen Passage
• Two Faces Up
• Pure and...

12 card tricks based on the same principle.

Sneak is a collection of tricks based on an overlooked principle that allows you to find a selected card under impossible conditions. Thanks to the use of one readily available fake card, every trick in the book is technically effortless. This means most of them are self-working while a couple of them require the ability to hold a break or execute a double undercut. Also included for the sake of completeness are impromptu versions (except for New Deck Joker), based on a variation of a well-known card force.

1) GOOD LUCK: A spectator cuts the...