Dean Dill’s Sports is a neat little close up effect. You show five cards with pictures of different sports balls on them. One is chosen by the spectator and you ‘snap’ the ball out of the card leaving a regular ball and a blank card. The picture probably gives you a clue about which ball is ‘chosen’! A cute trick. £39.99

Next up is a new release from the ever-inventive Peter Nardi. It is a little difficult to get a description of the actual effect – but the Butterfly Effect appears to be a very clever impromptu prediction effect, playing with the ideas of chaos and fate, which is virtually self-working. We’ll try and get a copy in to review, but it looks worth a punt – Peter’s material is always strong and Titanas (who granted, may be biased) describes it as his “favourite ever impromptu effect” – which is quite a claim! £21.99

If you’re mainly here for the playing cards, then here are a couple of decks worth a peek.  The Victoria Deck has some striking design work  with custom pips, jokers and court cards. It also has a subtle one-way feature – handy for magicians, as is the unusual order of the deck which means it is only one faro away from the Mnemonica stack.  £8.99  Another very different, but very beautiful, release is the Verana Deck by Alex Chin. £14.50.

A quick mention for quirky little release we spotted.  Riveted Monte is yet another take on the Monte effect – but this time, inspired by an Angelo Carbone idea, the cards are all riveted together in the corner – but still the odd one out moves around the selection in a mysterious way. £13.50.

If, like me, there’s nothing you’d rather do in the summer than curl up in the sun with a good magic book, the intriguingly titled Applesauce by Patrick Redford looks well worth a look.  It’s a good-looking book, and is named after his special take on the ACAAN plot. 13 routines, 156 pages, hours of fun. £42.50.

That’s all for now. Let us know if you’ve seen anything interesting in the magic world…

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The Different Deck is possibly the most original deck I have seen in a LONG time.  The concept is simply – instead of having 5 clubs on the five of clubs, you have a club made up of fives.  Take a look at the picture (and follow the link for more) to see what I mean.  This looks wonderful and really appeals to my sense of quirk!  £10.99

More conventional in design, but striking and elegant, the Verana (summer) deck is the latest in the Seasons series from Alex Chin.  JP Playing cards have a very good price on this at only £10.99.

I really like the look of this updated take on Tommy Wonder’s classic Ring, Watch, Wallet.  Heist is Jack Wise’s streamlined presentation – well honed in many performances – and given the Vanishing Magic treatment which should guarantee good quality props and instruction.  A fantastic opening routine which would work in close up or ‘parlour’ setting.  Well worth a look. £79.49

So this next one’s a bit of an investment, but Dani Da Ortiz has gained an enviable reputation in the magic world in recent years, and this new release looks to be full of good stuff.  The quality of these Luis de Matos DVDs has been consistently high (I’m just working my way through Bravura – which is also excellent) so you won’t be disappointed.  Reloaded is all card magic – but not just the tricks, the psychology and all the pro tips – 4 DVDs worth (10 hours!) to keep you going.  £127.50

And I can’t resist mentioning one more.  The trailer for The Ultimatum Deck looked really good to me and offered yet another version of the Card at Any Number plot plus a couple of other different routines.  And it promises to be easy to do.  What’s not to like?  We haven’t played with this ourselves yet, but Alakazam usually put out decent releases – so if this is your kind of thing I think it is worth a punt.  £25.99 [Update – we have now done a full review of the Ultimatum Deck]

That’s all for now.  There are a number of effects  I would have like to include but we’ve got them coming up for review in the next few weeks – so didn’t want to steal their thunder.  What would you most like us to review and why?

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