This third episode of the Conscious Magic series is fantastic and a must-buy-now DVD. The creators present what I think is the strongest magic yet!
The first trick is Andrew Gerard’s amazing mind reading trick, Accuracy, in which he hands out 2 different denomination bills and a coin. He closes his eyes as a spectator crumbles one bill into a ball (which is then hid in the spectator’s hand), hides the other bill under another spectator’s butt (or any other place) and a coin is spun on a table and the face-up side is covered by a spectator’s hand. Amazingly, the performer then opens his eyes and is able to accurately call out which bill was crumbled, which was hidden under your butt and whether the covered coin was face-up heads or tails.
This trick is very clever. I like this trick and in order to work you need to be pay close attention to a certain couple of things to play the clairvoyant. There are no guarantees that this will work for you so you need to practice and feel confident that you can do what needs to be done. There is some set-up for this trick, but that can be done day or even weeks in advance. The setup is not something that can be done of the fly however. Frequently I caution that certain tricks cannot be performed in a quiet environment, but this is the opposite and this should be performed in a quiet environment without significant background noise.
The next trick, STFU, is a great card trick that comes with a necessary gimmick. STFU, by the way, is the anticipated and actual reaction you will get from spectators when you perform this card miracle. This trick is a 10 out of 10. With STFU the spectator picks a card which impossibly and immediately disappears from the deck. The great thing about the presentation by Pink and Gerard is that they each perform the trick to a real spectator in real world environments and the patter and approach are very different. In one version, the spectator cannot remember their card, despite the fact that they are photographed holding it and the card then appears in the performer’s back pocket. In another version, the spectator takes a card, does not look at it and then puts it someplace safe and out of reach of the performer. The spectator then takes another card which promptly vanishes from the deck and appears where the spectator hid the original unseen card. This is a great example of how the same trick can feel totally different with a different presentation and performer. After the explanatory section, Pink and Gerard brainstorm about the trick and come up with various ideas and uses, on the spot, for the simple but easy-to-use gimmick. This trick is very strong, requires no sleight of hand and is easy to perform.
The Formula, Gerard’s next trick, is a super strong any card at any number with a murderous kicker. Basically, the spectator takes out their phone and punches in a number, multiplies it by a number they pick and then adds another number that they pick. It is a sort of random formula for picking a thought-of-card. Then the deck of cards is mixed by the spectator on the table and cut. The spectator then counts the cards face down and stops at the number that they calculated. That dealt-to-card remains face down and the performer peeks at it and of course asks the spectator to reveal their card – and of course it matches. But, wait, there is more! The entire deck is revealed to be a blank deck and then when the chosen card is turned over, it is revealed to have turned blank too. This trick is, in my opinion, the strongest not only on the DVD, but in the entire CM series. I have performed this trick with blank the deck kicker and also, when not prepared to do the blank deck version, with a borrowed shuffled deck. Both are amazing.
The final trick is Ran Pink’s The White Room. This is a mentalism, thought of card routine that Pink uses as a warm up before he gets to something more sure fire. What I mean by that is that the routine requires some fishing and may not get you to the right card in certain circumstances. It is a sort of warm up. It has the effect of establishing a connection with your spectator so even if it fails, they are ready for something that will not fail and is guaranteed to kill, like Pink’s T-Rex (from Episode 1).
Out of the first 3 DVDs, this is the strongest in my opinion. This DVD and the other 2 are highly recommended. The work put into this project will result no doubt result in your status being elevated from magician to deity.
This fantastic DVD series can be purchased at your favorite Murphy’s Magic dealer!