With your $26 purchase you get an 11 minute DVD and half a deck of gaffed cards. The effect is simple. You fan a deck of cards in your hand and then are able to transform the deck into a different set of cards when you run your fingers across the fan.
The first effect, the windmill change, is when a blank deck of cards apparently turns into a regular deck of cards. The effect is very visual, but in of itself I do not think it is a routine or a trick. It seems more like a flourish to me or a fancy way to do a display. With your purchase you get the cards needed to do this effect and the cards are printed on Bicycle rider backed stock.
The second effect is a Triumph effect using the windmill change. In this effect, a card is selected, placed back in the deck and the deck is faro shuffled so when the deck is fanned in the performer’s hands it is seen to be half up and half down. Then, with the flick of the performer’s finger, the cards immediately are all backs except the selected card. This is a quality trick and will get good reactions. During the explanation of the Triumph effect, Kim calls the selected card the “key” card which can be confusing because in English that has a different meaning.
This very short video is performed and explained by Kim in a studio setting without spectators. He speak only in Korean so you will have to read English subtitles, which contains at least one typo that I saw. The DVD does not really adequately teach how to do a fan if you are a novice so you will need to go on the internet or find another resource. You cannot hand out the deck when you are using gaffed cards, but with the Triumph effect you are using just a regular deck of cards. At one point in the DVD I saw a bit of a flash of a card that you should not have seen. And although this trick is not hard to do if you already know how to fan cards, you need to be familiar with the cards you are handling. Don’t try this with old warped cards!
Because of the abbreviated instruction and the short length of this DVD, it seems overpriced. In my humble opinion, this should have been a $7 download or a trick in a larger project. I do not think this is s stand-alone effect.
The ad copy states:
“Windmill Change is from the Korean underground legend, Hyojin Kim.
A sleight that allows you to do insanely visual miracles!
• Turn a blue deck fan into a red fan with a snap of your fingers.
• Instantly print colors on a fan of a blank deck.
• Elegantly do a visually astonishing Triumph – while in a fan!
Endless possibilities with this incredibly easy sleight, Windmill Change!
You will be smirking because of its surprisingly simple mechanics. You will be screaming because of Hyojin’s clever subtleties and ideas!
At the end, you will be sending thank you messages to Hyojin for sharing this incredible Windmill Change with you.”
Overall, this effect is visual and stunning as part of a larger routine. Morphing your cards from red to blue or blank to printed can only add to your presentation.
Thanks to Murphy’s Magic for asking me to give this an honest review.
