Let’s talk about the tricks

Interstellar OOTW
Here’s Liam’s handling and get in to Paul Curry’s classic OOTW. It’s got a nice presentational premise, works with a shuffled deck and is easy to do – though requires some bold handling! OOTW is a fantastic effect – and even though it takes a while to perform, there is little to beat it from a pure magic point of view. Liam teaches some neat handling subtleties on the way and using the first effect as a way to set up ‘in plain sight’ is genius – a superb start to the DVD!

Mates
This is a funny and clever way of producing four of a kind from a borrowed shuffled deck. You start by reversing three ‘prediction’ cards without changing the order of their shuffled deck. After an amusing start, you reveal their chosen card, and then the earlier predictions reveal the three ‘mates’ of their chosen card. I was caught out by the second phase – though it is actually delightfully simple. Love it!  (If you get to the end of the review I’ve included a performance video!)

Gemini Location
This uses an old principle in an unusual way. Under the premise of reading ‘body language’ or ‘vocal tellls’, you are able to correctly identify 3 different cards that spectators have looked at and lost in the deck. Liam teaches 3 phases but you could easily just use one or two of them if you prefer. I like this – and may well use it as an alternative to another routine I often perform with the same principle.

Silly Questions
The spectator’s chosen card is placed within a small packet, then a series of silly questions are asked which result in one card being found – the chosen card. This one didn’t really grab me, but I haven’t road-tested it with real people so it might come across better in the real world.

Wheel of Fortune
A pseudo fortune telling demonstration in which you manage to predict two cards at random locations from a selection from a shuffled deck. There feels to be a lot of freedom in the spectator’s choices and if you can do a little bit of cold reading too, you’ll have an entertaining and fooling routine.

Jack’s Poker
From a well-mixed deck, the spectator gets a poker hand worth of cards and merely thinks of one card which would improve their hand. They then manage to cut to their merely thought of card! Some lovely subtleties going on in this very effective routine.

Salto Triumph
This is a very easy routine with a triumph kind of feel to it. You and the spectator each take half the deck, and choose a card behind your back. You insert your cards into each other’s section and then shuffle the two halves into each other, half face up and half face down. With a click of the fingers, all the cards turn the right way round, with the exception of your two choices. Variations of this effect have been around for a while – so it doesn’t feel radically new – but it is nonetheless a great easy effect.

Last to Turn Up
This is the least ‘movey’ and most ‘procedural’ effect on the DVD and is based on an old Ken de Courcy effect (which immediately took me on a nostalgia tour). A card selected by the spectator is lost amongst three poker hands and then the spectator finds it themselves by following a simple procedure. I think you’d need a pretty compelling hook to make this one truly entertaining, but a completely self-working surprise.

Invisible Dice
An imaginary dice (die, technically!) is used to help the spectator merely think of a card from a random selection of six. The cards are then lost in the deck and the spectator pushes your ‘lucky’ card into the deck and manages to locate their merely thought of card. This is probably the most complicated effect to perform and is definitely pushing the limits of ‘self-working’ – since it requires a couple of ‘procedures’ one of which needs to be done somewhat covertly. That being said it is still not ‘difficult’. However, I personally didn’t much like the ‘outs’ used in this one.

One over the Eight
To a presentation about the so called ‘butterfly effect’ several spectators all deal random quantities of cards from a shuffled deck, and the card finally reached matches your prediction. In some ways it is a self-working CAAN effect. Entirely self-working but not, perhaps, the greatest mystery in the world.

So is it any good?

For me the disk falls in two uneven halves – six of the first seven effects are brilliant and though you may have seen some similar things before, they each merit inclusion on the DVD. The last 3 all feel a little weaker to me – but some real world road-testing may prove that wrong.  The fact that all of them can be done with a borrowed shuffled deck is amazing!

As ever I appreciate Liam’s self-deprecating style, clear teaching and the little tips along the way. All the effects and explanations are shot with classic BBM clarity – even if I do find the lightly jigging Liam on the DVD menus slightly disconcerting!

I’m always on the lookout for routines I can perform on the spur of the moment when challenged to ‘just show us a trick’ – and several of these would meet my criteria. So for the small cost of a DVD you’ve got yourself a lot of credibility!

Any shuffled deck, self working, impromptu miracles is available direct from MoM for £28.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by BBM.

Mates video as promised…

The post Liam Montier – Any shuffled deck, self working, impromptu miracles – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Of the making of many tricks there seems to be no end. And the title of this new DVD makes quite a bold claim – to be the ‘ultimate’. Let’s have a brief run down through the effects (slightly briefer than some reviews – see above!) before making a few more general comments.

Ace Thang
This is a nifty little ace location combined with an unexpected in the box sandwich effect. We love that you get yourself ready right in front of their eyes and that all 4 ace revelations look quite different. Quite a lot of moves – but no nasty ones. Liam Montier also provides a variation on Ace Thang which is slightly more technically demanding but looks very fair.

Sly Cheese
Sly Cheese follows on well from the Ace Thang routine. A selected card and pair of aces swap places in the cleanest possible way. Nicely routined.

Interchangeling
This is one of the few performances on the disk for real people [I don’t count BBM cronies as real people – though they are preferable to L&L audiences!] – and is all the better for it. 4 of a kind are distributed around body. A card is selected and lost in pack. Then the original 4 of a kind change one by one into the selected card and its mates. An interesting plot and very effective.

Hofwich – a little sandwich effect involving jokers and aces – which more or less works itself. Perhaps a bit involved – not what the late Arthur Setterington would have called a ‘straight line mystery’ – but neat nonetheless.

Zombieland – I suppose this is something like a cross between the cannibal cards and wild card plot on steroids – a whimsical little story based effect with a lot of magic. Requires a few moves but well within reach of all.

Instinct – well-constructed a two card location with a logical plot which manages to combine a transposition for a kicker finish.

Killer Trifecta – a 3 card location including a vanishing deck. All the work is well hidden. As featured on one of the BBMTV episodes…

Elevation – If you haven’t already noticed, Cameron loves his transpositions and this little elevator effect finishes with yet another one. A visual sandwich leads into an elevator/ambitious classic sequence which leads into the final transposition. Nice.

Wilder – a wild card effect with jokers which first adopt the value of a chosen card, and then become the mates of a second card. Uses a count I’d not seen before (the ‘Rumba count’ – which does require a table – though there is a non-table alternative mentioned). Cameron also takes you through an Ollie Mealing variation on the effect with only one selection.

Uppers – the four kings assemble from different parts of the deck and then (here’s the transposition again) turn into two cards selected earlier.

The P***ing contest – a hilarious presentation for magicians and probably quite entertaining for lay people too. 3 magicians trying to outdo themselves with increasingly small packets of card. Lots of magic. Fairly easy to do.

Getting Even – this is a really great small packet version of OOTW involving two spectators. Really like this and truly impromptu (see discussion below!).

Selected Assembly – after the apparent failure of a ‘find a card’ trick, an ace assembly in which the ‘discards’ become the mates of the spectator’s chosen card and the aces morph into the selection itself.

Some general thoughts

It is a good job Liam is there for the explanations because Cameron keeps on forgetting to explain some of the smaller steps until Liam prompts him! That being said, with his help, everything is well explained and well credited.

We love the look and feel – the inkblot graphics were very pleasing and enjoyed the variety of locations for the different effects.

When is impromptu not impromptu?
Magicians have a variety of opinions about this. Some would call a special prop which fits in your pocket and can be carried around all the time ‘impromptu’ because it enables you to perform ‘seemingly impromptu’ miracles. Others would prefer the effect to be possible anywhere without any special equipment at all.

In the context of card magic I suppose it is a little more obvious – it certainly means no gaff cards – and it should mean can be performed with any borrowed deck any time. It is those last two words that will divide some. Many of the effects on this DVD can be performed with a borrowed, shuffled deck, but still require some kind of ‘set up’. Cameron seems happy to do this in full view whilst chatting away to the audience – and I think most of the time you can get away with this. But I’m not sure I would want to do too many of that kind of trick in one sitting. On the other hand, there are some strong effects which would well answer the ‘show us a trick’ request so often thrown at magicians.

I leave the final decision to the magical philosophers, but I think most people would find several routines here which would serve them well.

Available direct from BBM or at your favourite dealer…
[If you’re wanting to buy other things at the same time we reccomend buying from either Merchant of Magic or Magic Nevin. Wherever you go at the moment it is £21.99.]

The post Cameron Francis – Ultimate Impromptu Card Magic – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.