The effect

The spectator chooses 6 cards from the deck and after they have been mixed selects one of them. The packet is shuffled and then mixed face up and face down a la Triumph. Then in an instant all the cards turn face down apart from the spectator’s chosen one. If that weren’t enough their selection is then shown to have a different colour back. And in a final kicker all the other cards are clearly shown to be blank.

Our thoughts

There’s a lot of magic here for very little effort. You are supplied with the necessary gaffed cards, succinct printed instructions and a link to a 16-minute video download. I love that you have both options for learning, because some of us still prefer written instructions (I know, we’re a dying breed…).

The teaching, in both formats, is clear and the routine is easy to do with little in the way of sleight of hand. You could do this as a straight ‘packet’ trick – but I think it is much stronger when the cards are taken from a full deck – so you’ll need to supply a matching red Bicycle deck to go with this.

Purists may not like this since you’re adding some ‘unusual’ cards to the deck which means you can’t use it for anything else. And John Bannon would tut quietly under his breath since the effect isn’t ‘fractal’ i.e. it doesn’t end clean and examinable. However, in return you get some very visual and strong magic in return. It really does play exactly as described above.

Mixed Perception is a neat little effect. And if the ‘one trick’ aspect puts you off, then you could use it as an opening effect, ditch the blank cards and then keep working with a normal (if slightly short) deck.

There’s not much to dislike about this. If I was being really picky, I didn’t like the contrasting back with my set. It came from the Karnival Fatal deck which is one of my least favourite Karnival decks. But more than that, the back design is so different from a normal deck that it may in a funny sort of way lessen the reaction from the spectator. A simply contrasting colour Bicycle card would be stronger in my opinion. But then you could very easily add one of those yourself!

I don’t think Cameron has ever put out a bad release and Mixed Perception is up to the usual standard. Great magic, easy to do, ready to go. Go out and get yourself a set…

You can pick Mixed Perception up directly from BBM (who kindly supplied the review copy) for £21.49

The post Cameron Francis – Mixed Perception – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

You receive some specially gimmicked cards and a link to an online teaching video (47 mins long). (You might be forgiven for expecting a DVD – it is that kind of packaging – but there is no DVD!)

Apparently the routine started off as a challenge from Juan Tamariz – and in some ways I think that shows in the method. It is designed to achieve a particular outcome (a very clean display before an instantaneous ‘solve’) – but the solution creates its own ‘problems’. The gimmicks will take quite a bit of handling practise to get really convincing – at which point you might just as well have learnt the original pure sleight of hand version. Nonetheless, I enjoyed hearing about the evolution and development of the effect – Engblom is certainly a creative guy.

A variation is taught with a borrowed deck – but since at heart it is the same method, you actually just create extra steps as you have to get the gimmicks in and out of position. I’m not sure that the benefit of using an extra deck is worth the extra effort. Certainly the original method looks so fair and clean (and ends examinable) so there’s not going to be much heat on the deck.

The other small disadvantage of this method is that it really needs to be performed seated. Whilst you probably could find a different way to ‘clean up’ from the one taught, I’m not sure how easy that would be. To be fair, most Triumph effects do work better in a seated setting.

The teaching is clear with good, if slightly steady, explanation. It’s all shot from a single camera angle but this isn’t really a limitation.  A few extra ideas are suggested using the same gimmicks. For example they can be used to make a peek deck or to perform a chaos to order type effect where a mixed deck returns to new deck order. I don’t think any of the extra ideas were that practical/useful in the real world – so you’re really primarily buying this for the triumph effect.

So we’re a bit on the fence with this one. Pieces is a nice addition to the genre, but I don’t think it will be finding its way into my set. If you want to put a little work in to fool people badly then this is certainly a clever idea. And if you’re just an avid collector of Triumph variations, then what are you waiting for?!

Pieces is available direct from Merchant of Magic for £27.99 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Christian Engblom – Pieces – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

The effect is the classic triumph effect – spectator picks a card, which is returned to the deck; the deck is shuffled part face up and part face down; in an instant all the cards right themselves with the exception of the chosen one. There is an added kicker in this version in that all the cards (apart from the selected one) change colour at the end.

What do you get?

You get the necessary gaff cards and a link to download the short – less than 7 minutes! – instructional video. You need to supply a regular deck of cards to make up the whole effect. On the plus side, it does come in a nice little black box…

The good

The use of gaff cards makes the final stages of this very clean. The mix looks extremely fair and can be handled very openly, the righting of the cards is instantaneous and the colour change reveal is also very open. (By the way, this is an effect which will work best at a table, not in the hands, in order to get the visually appealing spreading of the cards.)

The bad

The ad-copy is a trifle misleading. A couple of sleights are needed. The first – a force – is not even explained – it simply says use your favourite (face up!) force. Not a deal breaker for most magicians, but certainly an omission.

The second, a ‘half pass’, is at least shown on the video, and there is oodles of cover with no heat on the move. However, it does make the ad-copy a bit dishonest. Reset will take a while – so I don’t think you’d be doing this lots of times in an evening. And, of course, the deck can’t be used for anything else.

The teaching itself is fairly basic. It is all performed by a magician wearing gloves, who’s face is never seen (hence Magician Anonymous) and there are no verbal instructions, just a few subtitles to follow. This isn’t a massive problem since the routine is very easy to do, but it wouldn’t have taken the creator much more effort to improve this.

Is it an unexpected triumph?

Although my instant reaction was a bit negative, it has grown on me a bit. If you can get over the couple of ‘moves’ then I do think it is a clear and strong routine. I don’t think it will fool many magicians, but that’s not what performing magic is about! If you don’t have the skill/time to learn a traditional triumph routine using a regular deck, then this is certainly worth a look. With the extra colour change at the end it makes it an impactful routine.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £28.99 (at time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Magician Anonymous – An Unexpected Triumph – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Initial impressions were not good due to a slightly clunky DVD interface – I don’t know whether I’m just from the dark ages, but it wasn’t entirely obvious what the controls did at first. But once we’d got over that things got a little better.

One of the key elements in making a Triumph type effect convincing is the display where you show the cards are mixed face up and face down. I’ve seen many versions of this over the years, and although this isn’t the most convincing display, it is a pretty good compromise for the ease.

Indeed, if you’ve ever been put off performing the triumph effect due to the level of sleight of hand needed we have good news – this is very easy to do. And, which may be its biggest selling point, it can be done entirely in the hands, which makes it much more flexible for many working environments.

Variations on a theme

The DVD also teaches a number of variations. There’s an impromptu version – without any special cards or set-up – which may be the most useful version on the disk.

Tour de Four-Ace – is the same basic effect but instead of choosing a card at the outset, after the mixing process it is the 4 aces which are found to be face up in a face down deck.

Croque Monsieur – guess what? – this is a ‘sandwich’ variation – where the jokers capture the chosen card.

Neighborhood Watch – multiple selection (or ‘collectors’) version with slightly cute story about a house burglary and 4 kings (neighbourhood watch members) who catch 3 selections (burglars).

Tribute to Vernon – this is a tabletop shuffle variation.

Heckler – this is the normal effect but with the classic ‘magician v. heckler’ patter and a new deck order kicker finish.

The DVD also has an extra feature going into some detail on the Faro shuffle – a kind of mini tutorial.

So was it a Tour de Force?

I was slightly underwhelmed by the performance slots. They were filmed in some kind of bar [correction according to the end credits it’s a bakery!] – but it was all fairly atmosphere-less. To be fair I had some sympathy for the audience since they basically watched the same trick about 5 times.

On the other hand all the explanation sections were very clear and at a helpful pace. My only real gripe was the lack of any proper crediting – which for an effect like Triumph feels essential. There was an ‘influences’ page on the end credits, but that doesn’t really do the job for me.

All in all, I think this is a good little routine. It is a very accessible entry to the Triumph genre if you don’t yet perform this classic effect. If you’ve already got a favourite version, this is unlikely to displace it, but nonetheless worth a look.

Tour de Force is available direct from Merchant of Magic for £18.50 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Michael O’Brien – Tour de Force – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.