From the introduction:
The Tossed Out Deck is an extremely popular and possibly the best neo-classical plot in mentalism. Over the last 15 years, this effect has made its way into the performance repertoire of many mentalists and magicians the world over, seeing a huge surge in popularity, likely due to the number of high profile performers’ personalized versions of the effect, such as Max Maven, Ted Lesley, and Docc Hilford.
I, myself, have used the Tossed Out Deck effect to open many stand-up performances, and feel it is genuinely one of the best opening routines for a performance. It packs a punch, is self-contained, and establishes quickly the performer’s ability to read minds. Yet despite all the greatness of the Tossed Out Deck, after developing several versions utilizing the core principle, most notably my effect “Touching On Hoy,” first published in the Coral Fang and further explored in my book 3510, I have discovered many problems.
Due to a large number of “speakers” featuring a demonstration of the effect, followed by an explanation of it under the guise of logic problems and lateral thinking puzzles, the most common problem with the Tossed Out Deck is that many corporate audiences actually know the method! David Ben has even published the method in his book Advantage Play, which is geared toward the general public. So the use of the effect in the corporate market has become more and more commonplace by speakers overexposing it in the corporate world.
I know that this is nothing more than a phase and the fashion will pass. However, for the moment, the truth is that we have to accept it. Just like the 80’s and the mullet, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re Billy Ray Cyrus.”
A second problem I have noticed is many spectators will feel as if something is simply not fair if they are not shown the deck at some point in the sequence. So in this extended version, I wanted to be in a position to display the deck casually, showing the cards to be different without making a big deal of the deck. I neatly wrap this problem up with the mental selection of cards from a spread deck.
Yet another problem I encountered with the effect involves multiple performances. I do not wish to constantly have the same cards as the “thought of cards” showing up in my routine. This is not the biggest issue for most performers. However for some, like me, it is desirable to have the revealed cards change with each performance. Interestingly, I have achieved this with 7 of the 8 “thought of cards” changing in each performance.
1st edition 2007; 18 pages.
word count: 6063 which is equivalent to 24 standard pages of text
