Alakazam presents Adrian Sullivan’s Eliminator, now in version 2.0 with a DVD. In a word, this gimmicked deck and accompanying routines taught on the DVD are awesome. This effect is so simple and incredibly easy to perform that it will quickly become a favorite.
The performer dribbles a deck of cards face so the spectators can see it to be a normal deck of randomly mixed Bicycle cards. Two spectators each choose a card by picking a number between 1 and 52 and taking turns counting down to that freely chosen number. To avoid picking the same number, one spectator picks an odd number and the other an even number. The chosen cards can either be removed from the deck or just looked at and kept in the deck. If the spectators just look at the cards and keep them in the deck, the performer can shuffle the cards numerous times and place the deck in his pocket and in an instant, without being told what the selected cards are, he can reach into his pocket and remove them. It is quite stunning. If the spectators remove the cards from the deck, the performer shuffles the deck fairly, several times, looks at the deck for an instant, and has the spectators place their cards somewhere in the middle of the deck. The performer then fairly shuffles again, several times, and places the cards in his pocket. The performer is able to describe as much as he wants about the cards, as if he memorized it a few seconds earlier, (i.e. they are both red, one is a court card and one is a spot card, they are both even numbers, or whatever he wants to reveal). Again, in an instant, the performer can remove the two chosen cards and can do it in order in which the cards were selected. Another amazing handling for which Marc Spellman is credited is taught in which the deck is fanned face-up on the table, faro shuffled and then the above-effect is executed.
Although Mark Elsdon is not published or acknowledged in the ad copy, promotional video or even identified on the DVD, he makes a guest appearance and teaches his own handling, which is a very strong memorized deck routine, called “Eliminate This”, in which one spectator pockets a card and the other spectator moves a card’s location within the deck.
The DVD is a total of 19 minutes long, more than 12 minutes of which are taught by Peter Nardi and almost 7 minutes is Elsdon’s cameo appearance. The instructions are in a studio setting and the methods are clearly taught and explained. As mentioned above, this is so easy to perform, that you will be fooling your audience immediately after watching the DVD. The ad copy is accurate and the three-plus minute promotional video shows the effect exactly as it is performed.
Although the deck can’t be examined by spectators or handed out, that is ok since the effect is so strong and the cards are openly riffled at the start of the performance. The price is very fair and you can even make up your own routines with this special deck, including strong mind-reading performances.
This is a special one worth bumping something else out of your limited pocket space.