Cards in Magic & Mentalism

Pastiche II, loosely speaking, is more info. Its value depends on you - how your thinking is affected and, more importantly, if you can use anything in a meaningful way. Otherwise, it's glut soup, idle message units to fill the white space loathed by men who would be Erdnase.

I hope there are differences that make a difference.

• Hull-Scam
• Dry-Dock Divination
• Nominal Nexus
• Dunbury Lie Speller
• Eighteen-Card Version
• Guardian Angel
• How Big and Where?
• Blank-Wave II
• Hummer's Dream Scheme
• Lighter-Side
• Dueling Card Tricks
• Biddle Thought
• Initial Shock

1st edition 1993,...

An amazing routine of three linked effects with cards cut in half

Effect:

A deck of cards (giant or normal) cut in half is shuffled and divided into two piles. One of these is chosen by a spectator, who cuts it and sets it aside. From the other pile, a spectator touches any card, which is left face up in its original position among the others. The two piles are distributed by taking the respective cards from the top and distributing them simultaneously to the bottom. The card that corresponds to the one turned over in the other pile is set aside with it. No pair of cards forms a whole...

A genuinely freely selected card (which can be signed if desired) is shuffled back into a deck. The performer then mimes the removal of that card invisibly and hands it to the spectator to hold for a moment. The cards are then spread face up to show that the chosen card is no longer in the pack.

Squaring the deck, the spectator is invited to push the invisible card he holds face up into the now face down pack. Immediately, the cards are ribbon spread face down again across the table to reveal the selection face up in the centre! Just a regular deck required, straightforward handling,...

The spectator freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The magician inserts two Jokers, and the spectator table-riffle shuffles and cuts the cards. The Jokers progressively close in and finally sandwich the selection. On top of that, during the shuffles the spectator also separates the deck into three piles and locates the other three cards of the same value!

1st edition 2026, video 9:15.

The spectator takes half the deck, shuffles it, and then slides the bottom card out from the packet. After they shuffle the other half of the deck, they place it on top of that card and look at it - all while the magician's back is turned. After shuffling the entire deck together, the magician identifies the spectator's chosen card without asking a single question.

The spectator chooses and shuffles their own packet, selects a card while your back is turned, and then shuffles the entire deck themselves. You never ask a single question.

Instead of a simple "this is your card" reveal,...

You've surely heard the old magician's adage: If you find just one trick in a book that you can use, then that trick alone is worth the price of the entire book. But what if that 'one great trick' remains elusive when you're on stage? With standard cards, your magic simply... vanishes for anyone beyond the front row. The solution is to use a tool built for the stage from the very start.

Here's a book of power-packed Jumbo Card Magic - where you won't find just one or two tricks, but seven powerful professional routines the author uses in his own shows. This is card magic designed for bigger...

An incredible self-working effect in which the illusionist will have predicted exactly the sum of three cards chosen at random by a spectator from within a 3x3 square.

A new amazing automatic card magic effect where the mentalist will be able to predict what will happen shortly with a deck shuffled and cut by a spectator, having already written down on a blank card, sealed in an envelope, the exact sum of the values of three cards chosen from the nine that will ultimately be arranged to form a square!

The illusionist shows a deck of cards, shuffles it quickly and hands it to a spectator...

You show four jokers and they all have the same back. The spectator picks a joker, and it has a different back to what was shown before. You will receive three variations of the same theme.

1st edition 2026, video 7:57.

The performer reflects on how we like to believe we're in control of our choices - only to suggest that control itself may be an illusion.

He puts a deck of cards in its case on the table and gives a pair of dice to a spectator. The spectator rolls the dice to generate two numbers in two different ways. The two numbers are added together and their total is - for example - 23. The performer now removes the deck from its case and spreads it from one end to the other. The only odd-backed card is placed...

Effect: A deck is shuffled and then cut into four piles by a spectator. The spectator takes the bottom card of any pile and places it in their pocket without looking at it. Your back is turned the entire time.

Through a "reading" of their body language, you identify which pile they took the card from. But then you go further. You name the exact card in their pocket - a card that even the spectator has not seen yet.

Why it fools magicians and laypeople alike

• Two Powerful Reveals: You don't just find the card; you first identify the location, creating a double-punch of mentalism and...

A very direct ACAAN-style effect. The magician places a single card on the table. The spectator freely rolls two dice and chooses how to combine the numbers. A deck is brought out and shown to be all different, with no duplicates. The cards are dealt to the chosen number, and it exactly matches the prediction on the table.

• No force
• No gimmicks - a completely ordinary deck

1st edition 2026, video 13 min.

You start out showing four blue cards. One by one, they turn red, and they have a big hole cut in the middle. This hole is not a fake. You can put your finger through it.

1st edition 2026, video 2:07

An impressive (self-working) effect in which the illusionist will manage to find an incredible series of twin pairs starting from a card chosen by the spectator.

You will learn an astonishing automatic card magic effect based on the theme of couples and, in particular, twin pairs, consisting of any card and the one other card that shares both its color and its value.

A spectator receives the deck shuffled by the magician, cuts it at any point and, once completed, begins to turn the cards over from the top until they find the first card of even value (therefore composed of the sum of...

Grand Slam is the ultimate closing routine for your card magic act. It's a hard-to-beat routine that will allow you to end your act with a bang!

Read what Aldo himself says in the preface:

My Jazz Aces routine differs from the classic handling in both procedure and display, and it finishes with my own handling for a different ending.

1st edition 2026, video 9:22.

Effect: After the spectator shuffles the deck, he looks at a card in the fairest conditions and buries that card in the deck. He then freely selects a helper card (QD) and cuts the deck again. Unbelievably, the Helper card finds the spectator's card without the magician touching the cards.

Description:

Imagine a routine where the spectator does everything. They shuffle the deck, they look at any card - no force required - and they bury the card into the deck. You don't touch a thing while they "fairly" lose their card in the pack.

Why it's a must-have:

• Total Freedom: The spectator...

While the promo already covers most of it, here are a few important details it doesn't clearly point out.

The choice of card, number, and their combination is completely free. The deck stays in full view the entire time; it is never hidden or taken out of sight.

There is an additional secret action that happens while the performer is asking for the card and number. It is naturally woven into the conversation and presentation, so the audience won't notice it. From the audience's perspective, the trick hasn't even begun yet, moreover the deck remains in full view and more importantly away...

Six cards, three have a large red dot on their face, and the other three are jokers. The red dot cards change their backs multiple times.

1st edition 2026, video 2:35

An incredibly automatic mentalism effect in which the illusionist will be able to discover both the card chosen by the spectator and the role of knight or villain that he has secretly assumed!

A mentalism effect in which a spectator freely chooses any card from a deck shuffled by the audience and places it among a dozen or so other cards that he has taken himself, turning them randomly face up and face down, and shuffling them together. After a further series of shuffles and a few questions, which the spectator is free to answer either truthfully or untruthfully, the mentalist discovers...

A deck is shuffled and placed squared face down on the table. A spectator is invited to cut off a block of cards from the pack and to look at and remember the face card of the cut-away section.

The helper is now asked to cut his block of cards to lose the selection in the centre of the pile, and then he is requested to slip his pile somewhere into the middle of the cards still on the table, squaring the pack at the finish.

The magician has had no opportunity to catch even a glimpse of the chosen card, and in fact, the deck itself is put away in the box to preclude that possibility. Despite...

If you're a student of the Corner Short Card (CSC), this new discovery is going to captivate you. The ability to locate a CSC can transform your card magic - making your handling appear completely natural.

Say goodbye to holding breaks and using crimps. A CSC remains permanently hidden in plain sight, and this method lets you find it without suspicion.

You'll discover the most deceptive CSC discovery technique ever devised - so subtle it's practically invisible, even to seasoned eyes. This is a sleight-of-hand method; no external devices are used. Over a dozen crystal-clear instructional...

The spectator selects a card and returns it to the deck. The spectator cuts off a packet, then the performer deals left and right. Four consecutive times the dealt cards are not the selection, yet each one precisely names an attribute of the chosen card, and after the elimination, the final remaining card is the original selection. Even more, when the four piles are turned face up, together with the selection they form a Royal Flush.

During the spectator's cut, there is no crimp and no extra handling, yet the selection and the key cards can still be located with precision.

1st edition...

After the four Aces are lost in the deck, the spectator cuts to each one.

Obviously, this is not a new effect and can be accomplished in a myriad of different ways.

Why explain it yet again here?

The answer is in the methods used. The combination of methods to be described are virtually unknown and have never before been used together in this context.

Hidden for many decades in the vast literature of card magic, the secrets are finally revealed here for a new generation.

It's $7, about the price of a Starbucks Frappuccino Delight, and unlike coffee, this routine will elicit gasps...

An A.C.A.A.N. in which everything was already planned!

An amazing prediction trick in which a spectator freely chooses a card from which an experiment will begin, guided by the deck itself to lead to a predetermined outcome. Based on the "A.C.A.A.N." theme, made self-working thanks to a new stack: "Tricolor".

After introducing a deck of cards and shuffling it, the illusionist hands it to a spectator to cut and complete as he wishes. Meanwhile, he places a blank card on the table and announces that the back of the card contains a Prediction of what will happen shortly.

The spectator...

8 cards and a bewildering number of changing faces and backs. Watch the demo video below.

1st edition 2026, video 5:32

Effect: The magician writes a secret prediction and gives it to the spectators to hold. The spectators shuffle the deck. Under the fairest conditions, two spectators each look at a different card (no force) in different locations in the deck. The deck is cut by both spectators. The magician's prediction reveals the card in between the spectator's two chosen cards.

Description: The spectators never see the ending coming! This is not another prediction effect. This plays like the classic Magician in Trouble ploy.

With minimal magician involvement, a true miracle happens. Before the effect...

A quick, convincing, smart version of this classic. No heavy lifting here. The vanish is clean, the action deliberate, few if any angle concerns, little skill required. Can you afford not to invest the minimal effort required to include this startling vanish/production among your surprises? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

1st edition 2026, video 38s.

This project introduces three of my secret single-card reversal techniques. You can present them as a sleight demonstration or apply them within other card routines to achieve greater impact and utility. These three techniques have not been named yet.

1st edition 2026, video 7:43

Four cards are shown and counted repeatedly. Every time through the count, one card suddenly has a big hole through its center. These are real holes you can put your finger through. This goes on until all four cards have holes.

1st edition 2026, video 2:13.

The spectator selects a card and replaces it in the deck. The magician has the spectator cut the deck into three piles and turn over the top card of each pile. None of them is the selection, but the values of the three top cards add up to the exact position of the selected card.

No Crimp - the position is found purely by adding the values of the three cards the spectator cuts to. There is no secret cut involved.

1st edition 2026, video 10:28.

A very simple way to cut to the desired cards, ideal as an opening effect. A detailed application of a classic principle, ending with an unexpected kicker.

1st edition 2026, video 4:10.

An impromptu location effect, incredibly self-working.

The title, which could also be read, thanks to a play on words, as "How to catch one card," indicates an easy but amazing effect, performable in any context and incredibly self-working, of finding a chosen card lost in the deck, thanks to two other cards that the magician himself will choose, inside two piles shuffled by the spectator, in order to capture it in a way that is as simple as it is unexpected...

Strengths:

• The effect is completely automatic and impromptu.
• The magician does not necessarily need to know any card manipulation...