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The Exception
by Unnamed Magician


#1 Magic & Mentalism author
#1 Cards author
#1 with Demo Video author
$20

(3 reviews, 5 customer ratings) ★★★★★

PDF | by download [0.21 MByte]  
The Exception by Unnamed Magician

The trick that fooled the best cardmen in the world.

"'The Exception' totally fooled me. The method is diabolical. All the avenues to explanation are blocked. That's what an impossible location is supposed to do. And this trick does it." - Mike Powers

"'The Exception' is composed of several known and reliable methods arranged in a way that will make them unrecognizable to most students of card magic methodology. If you are looking for something quick and easy to add to your existing strolling set, this is probably not for you. However, if you're a fan of impossible locations that employ an ordinary deck that can be given away after your performance, this is a sound investment." - Michael Weber

"This shows why Unnamed Magician is the master of impossible locations. I don't see anyone standing a chance with layers upon layers to the method." - Tomas Blomberg

"A fooling mystery with a satisfying solution." - Ollie Mealing

"This trick fooled me and it will fool you, there are so many layers of deception that your spectator will have no chance. The combination of methods makes this the most fooling card location (done with a deck the spectator can examine to their heart's content) I have seen." - Kevin Aust

"If I was the creator of this method I would take it to my grave. Consider yourself lucky that a secret this good is being sold." - Tommaso Guglielmi

"Once in a while an unknown magician will surface with new and fresh ideas, creating astounding routines that baffle and surprise me. This card trick is no exception." - Darren Purshall

"This is an invaluable lesson in out-of-the-box thinking and any serious performer or hobbyist should learn from this. Things this fooling come out maybe once a decade." - Tony Bianco

In this ebook, I want to share with you a card location method that I've used to fool some of the most well-known and most knowledgeable card magicians in the world. Guys who you'd have expected would be impossible to fool, they were fooled by this. Guys who I've never fooled before, they were fooled by this. In addition to that, I've used this to fool some of my own magician friends who are far more knowledgeable and smarter than I am. These are friends who have pretty much figured out all of my tricks - all of the tricks that I've published so far and even the ones that I haven't published, when I performed any of them for these guys they eventually figured out the method. But they weren't able to figure out the method for this one - this is the one "exception" that fooled them.

I consider this effect to be my strongest creation to date. Not only that, but I also don't think any of my future creations will surpass this. It's a card location effect - a plot that we're all too familiar with. There are quite literally thousands of card locations out there. But the test conditions under which this one is performed separate it from a lot of others in my opinion. And I hope you will see that as well.

As for the effect, a written description isn't necessary because a friend of mine has taken the liberty to demo a full performance (with a spectator), which is shown below. However, I want to list some conditions that you should keep in mind before you watch the video (because, without the conditions, the effect is nothing special):

  • In the performance video, the spectator's deck of cards was used (a borrowed deck). It would have been too easy to replicate the same trick with a marked deck, so that's why it was important to use the spectator's deck. If the magician used his own deck, the spectator would have just assumed that it was marked. Moreover, it's a brand new deck that was used - this is important to keep in mind because, for the version performed in the video, the deck must be brand new. (But, in the PDF, there is a version discussed in which the deck doesn't need to be brand new.)
  • The magician does not peek at the faces during the deal.
  • The method is 100% reliable - the effect will never fail. So, as you watch the video, if you think of a method that is iffy / could potentially fail, then you've got the wrong method in mind.

Note: In addition to the above, there is a bonus routine taught as well (also a card location). It uses a completely different method and is very powerful in its own right.

1st edition 2024, PDF 22 pages.
word count: 8662 which is equivalent to 34 standard pages of text



Reviewed by Darren Purshall
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 14 June, 2024

I want to preface this by saying that this routine was taught to me by the creator. So, while I did not purchase it, I am in possession of the method. The creator provided me with a review copy.

And it most definitely is the “The Exception.” This trick fooled me so badly. I spent about four weeks on and off trying to crack it, with no avail. When the creator finally taught it to me, I thought to myself, “I’ve never seen anything like it”. Even though part of the method isn’t new, I’ve never seen it used like this before. It’s an exceptionally fooling card trick with lots more potential making it more fooling than it already is. I’ve already added bits myself to make it even stronger and easier to perform for me. The Unnamed Magician is definitely on top of the game with this ingenious gem. So so fooling.

  • ⁠The best impossible card location I’ve ever seen.
  • Great method and a well thought out routine.
  • Easy to perform.
  • In the PDF you get a second effect and a bonus effect.
  • Great Value for the money.
  • What more could you ask for?
The PDF is very informative both with history and credits, well written with step by step instructions.

You will enjoy reading and performing this effect, which will fry the brains of all the onlookers.


Reviewed by Chris Chambers (confirmed purchase)
★★★★   Date Added: Monday 10 June, 2024

This trick is a great combination of ideas, but only under very specific circumstances which the creator does a reasonably good job of explaining, but not quite well enough IMHO. I am an enthusiast, not a pro, so was very intrigued by the intro and video and subsequently bought the product. About a third of the way into the document I realized it wasn't suited for the way I perform. I do close up card tricks where I am often surrounded by people or outside. This trick is not good for those scenarios. It is best on a single person, or small group who are in front of you, ideally seated. It may be great for others, but isn't for me.

Reviewed by Richard Weber (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★   Date Added: Friday 17 May, 2024

I am familiar with many methods of working with cards, and locating a card, but the method used in this effect is one that I had not come across previously. I purchased this on the first day of release and have enjoyed reading the pdf. The method is indeed devious. The author goes into interesting discussions of why the method is so fooling, and how it compares to other effects using tangentially related ideas.

The effect is primarily designed to fool magicians. Lay spectators would perhaps not appreciate why the conditions are so much more challenging as in a run-of-the-mill card location trick (Dai Vernon's Emotional Reaction, for instance). However, I performed it today for a nonmagician friend and he was greatly entertained. He has seen many of my tricks and told me this is one I should definitely include in my repertoire when performing for friends. He truly believed that I must have been able to divine his card in an extra-sensory manner, especially since I revealed it just after saying "I hope you are still concentrating hard". The video of course only shows the bare-bones procedures of the effect. It can be dressed up to be more entertaining than the video might first suggest.

This product is listed under the following topics:

Magic & Mentalism / Cards

Magic & Mentalism / with Demo Video