"Thomas Baxter would be proud." - Brian Draven
"If you're a fan of the open prediction plot as I am, this is worth checking out. It's a very original approach, which combines existing methods in a unique and clever way." - Michael Gustav
"A very nice idea. I can see myself using this. Super easy to perform too." - Kevin Schneider
In this e-book, I want to share with you my own solution for the classic open prediction plot. The one major advantage of this version is that there is proper shuffling by the spectator just before the final deal - and the magician never touches the deck after these shuffles. These are key elements that I think any ideal open prediction effect should meet, and this one meets them.
Imagine:
The magician introduces a deck of cards which he hands to the spectator for them to examine and thoroughly shuffle. While they are shuffling, the magician openly names a card as his prediction.
After the shuffling, the magician takes the deck and says, "I want you to cut off any amount of cards like this [the magician demos] and look at the bottom card of the cut-off portion. That will be your target card. After that, give your cut-off portion a complete cut like this [again, the magician demos] to lose the target card somewhere within the portion. Then, you can either replace the portion on top of the remainder of the deck or bury it somewhere within the remainder." The magician gives the deck back to the spectator and they do as instructed.
Once the spectator is done and the deck is reassembled (with the target card lost somewhere inside), the magician says, "Now, it's time for you to shuffle the deck to further lose your target card. Actually, I want you to do this part while you see the cards, just to be completely fair. So, hold the deck face-up in your hands. Then, give the deck a few riffle shuffles - it's up to you how many. As you riffle shuffle the cards while holding them face-up like that, you will be able to see the faces as they are being shuffled into each other in real time. Like that, you can be sure there is no trickery involved." The spectator does as instructed.
After the shuffling, the spectator is asked to turn the deck back face down. At this point, they are invited to begin dealing the cards face-up one by one into a single pile on the table. They are told to stop dealing when they see their target card, at which point they are to deal the very next card face down off to the side. Then, they are to continue dealing the remainder of the cards face-up onto the face-up pile. They do all this.
At the end of the deal, they themselves turn over the sole face-down card and it is seen to be the predicted card!
Some important conditions of note:
- The deck contains no duplicates.
- The spectator shuffles the entire deck at the start of the effect - and the magician names his prediction while they are shuffling (not after).
- The spectator can select any target card (it is not forced).
- The spectator gives the deck as many riffle shuffles as they want to lose the target card - and the magician never touches the deck after these shuffles.
- The card that the spectator deals face down during the final deal is not switched - the magician never touches it.
1st edition 2024, PDF 7 pages.
word count: 1920 which is equivalent to 7 standard pages of text
