Reviews of products by Dustin Marks
2 ★★★★★ reviews
1 ★★★★★ reviews
1 ★★★★★ reviews
2 ★★★★★ reviews
The Impossible Card Discovery
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Musa Awais (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 27 October, 2025)
I am very disappointed with this purchase. This was my first purchase from Dustin, and it’s a case of misleading advertising.
The effect as described in the ad copy is this:
Imagine this from your spectator's perspective. You are handed a deck of cards. You inspect it and shuffle the deck. When you are satisfied, the magician turns his back. You place the deck into a Crown Royal bag. You reach in, withdraw a single card from the middle and place it under your leg. The magician has not seen, touched, or asked a question. He turns to face you. He simply looks you in the eye and names your card: the Four of Spades.
However, in reality this is the effect (I am rewriting what the spectator actually experiences without exposing the method):
Imagine this from your spectator’s perspective. You are handed a deck of cards. You inspect it and shuffle the deck. When you are satisfied, the magician takes the deck from you and gives you a demo in regards to what he wants you to do. As part of this demo, the magician places the deck in a Crown Royal bag and takes the bag under the table, and after the demo, he brings the bag back out. The magician then removes the deck from the bag and gives it to you. The magician only now turns his back. You place the deck into the Crown Royal bag. You reach in, withdraw a single card from the middle and place it under your leg. The magician has not seen, touched, or asked a question. He turns to face you. He simply looks you in the eye and names your card: the Four of Spades.
It is not my place to expose the method here, but I think an accurate description is important so that people know exactly what they’re getting. If an accurate description - like my rewritten one above - had been provided, I wouldn’t have purchased the effect as I would’ve known how it was done. The only reason I purchased it is because an inaccurate description was provided with some very key moments missing.
The method isn’t bad, and it would definitely fool the vast majority of lay people. My only issue is the false advertising.
Thought of Card Miracle
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by hal barlow (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 12 October, 2025)
I feel this was overpriced for what it was.
Spectator's False Shuffle
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Yuan Liu (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 06 October, 2025)
NOTICE: this is not a full-deck false shuffle!
The Corner Short Card: A Seminal Work
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Steve Myers (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Saturday 28 June, 2025)
Great Information.
How to Create Your Own Cardbox
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by JONATHAN MAY (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Thursday 16 January, 2025)
Very helpful! Saved me a lot of time trying to start from scratch with the basic files. I am already having a lot of fun "playing" with these files. Thanks for such great info at such a great price! Although most of my decks are RED, I'd like to have the option to do the same things with BLUE. Can I purchase a BLUE box template, as well?
Thank you!
Estimation: a visual deep dive
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Mach (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 14 October, 2024)
Some very good advice and some interesting handlings, in the first 15 pages. I'm also glad he mentioned the pinky c...t as an alternative technique for a small number of cards. But after that, I found nothing interesting for me, and I think the paragraph on the three-way f...g deck is out of topic. This PDF does not say much about the methods to use if the estimate is not completely accurate. For that, read what Simon Aronson or Michael Close wrote on the estimation. Overall, good complement to other writings on the subject of estimation.
Shuffled Not Bored
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Cal Horelick (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 16 August, 2024)
Don't waste your time. I purchased this and it was a waste of time and money. I had in my files Aldo Columbini's predect-a-bility and it is 100 times better than this. This was very very boring and Aldo's version was way more fun. You can thank me later.
Double Impossible Prediction
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ben Williams (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Sunday 28 July, 2024)
Wow! This card trick is absolutely incredible. I love the thinking and combining of card principles. Using the spectator deck to produce a miracle is thrilling. The magician makes two predictions (no switches), and then the spectator shuffles the deck. It seems impossible, yet it's easily achievable. I've performed this five times and astonished everyone, including a seasoned gambler and cardman. This has become one of my go-to tricks.
Your Secret Weapon: The Corner Short Card
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Christian Mach (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 28 June, 2024)
This eBook is clear, well-written and includes well-chosen photographs.
The technical part is complete and suitable for beginners. I did not find any routines that I will do. One star less because the price is too high for a subject already dealt with several times otherwise.
Your Secret Weapon: The Corner Short Card
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Ben Williams (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 24 June, 2024)
I knew a little about corner short cards but didn't realize just how much of a game-changer they could be. This eBook breaks it all down - the two types of corner short cards, how to locate them in the deck, and even how to make 'em, which turns out, is super simple. Follow what's in this book, and I swear your card magic will be taken to the next level. You will always have a secret weapon in your deck that you can use anytime to create miracles. The photos are top notch. They really help you understand what the author is saying. If you're into card magic like me, you gotta get this eBook.
Free Will Switch
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Gregg Webb (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Monday 24 June, 2024)
The first person I saw use everyday objects for this was Charles Reynolds, Doug Henning's consultant. Not the dealer item, which used wooden discs with symbols which were marked adding an extra layer of deception. I also heard that it was in Greater Magic. Anyway, this version has a clever handling which favors which item gets left behind during the first choices, and some interesting switches at the end where the spectator can exchange the positions of various items.
I have written about this trick several times in my newsletters, but this one is not a bad way to learn the trick. I even came up with a stage version called Freed Will which uses 3 young ladies and a chair and a spectator does the choosing and holds the prediction about who will sit in the chair and who will hold your hand and who will hold the spectator's hand. The chair takes the place of a little box used in Charles Reynolds' version.
I think the objects used are open to more variation. Charles used a little ivory skull, a die, and an unusual old and foreign coin. Why not learn this trick, but feel free to experiment with various items.
Free Will Switch
Overall customer rating: ★★★★★reviewed by Dave Arch (confirmed purchase)
Rating: ★★★★★ (Date Added: Friday 31 May, 2024)
Very pleased with my purchase. Of all the Free Will versions I have read this one is equal to them all and the easiest for me to remember. Thank you Dustin for releasing this.