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Army of 52 dvd

http://www.ellusionist.com/order/Army-of-52-DVD.php

The Effect

# Features close-up pro Justin Miller with Brad Christian
# Teaches sleights, moves, and rare tricks with a gaff deck
# Proves why gaff cards are so effective in real performance
# Entertaining, cutting-edge DVD... tricks taught step by step
# Brad Christian shares his ideas for the new RED GAFF deck

Cost

$29.95

Difficulty

3-4
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Review

The long awaited dvd is here. First lets talk about the dvd cover. I like it very much. Very classic and unique. Dvd quality is good. Excellent sound and lighting. The teaching method is ok. I can say that Justin Miller did a very good job. Brad has a small part on this dvd explaining the red gaff deck.He give us some great idea how to use some of it .

This dvd also teach you some great color change,such as Carpenter's Impluse change, The paint brush change , Erdnase color change, Justin Miller's erdnase color change, Paul Harris Revolve change, etc. Most of these color change require a lot of practise. Unless you are an expert, i think it will weeks to master most of them.

You will also gain access to the Army of 52 private forum which i find it quite useful. Some of the ideas there are quite interesting, and worth having a go at them.

There are 16 routines taught in this dvd, some of them are excellent and some of them are just ok.Here are my favourite routines:

Pip Matix

The effect: You ask a spectator to pick a card. Suprising the spectator pick up the 4 of diamond! After examining the card, the spectator return the card to the deck. Magically, you move the pips one by one to the same corner. As if that is not enough, you restore the pips back to normal with a simple sleight of hand.

This effect is flipping great! I've shown this to a group of friends and they were floored. Although some of them knew i was using a "trick card" they never knew what's coming! It's like BOOM!! Right between their face! It's very visual and magical! The handling is very simple and it takes about 10-15 minutes to master it. In my opinion this is the best effect on this dvd!

Mirror Image

The effect: The magician print a blank card to 5 of spade

I like this very much. It's very simple but you will get a great reaction. People will be like :"What?? Do that again...". No difficult sleight of hand. You can learn this within a minute.

Spade o rama

The effect: The magician show the spectator a normal card box with the word "Bicycle" clearly written on it. Then he ask to the spectator to hold the box. The spectator then freely choose a card. The card is then place in the middle of the deck. The card box is return to the magician. With just a rub, the magician change the word "Bicycle" on the card box to the spectator choosen card.

I see alot of potential on this effect. If you do it right, the end result will be great! No difficult sleight of hand and no switch required but you do need to force a card. If you already have this dvd, dont buy "Tricycle", i think both of them are about the same thing.

Queen Transmit

The effect: Magician shows 2 cards that are Queen of Hearts and Queen of Diamond. He place both cards on the table face down and ask a spectator to choose one of the card. Let say the spectator choose queen of hearts, the magician then lift the queen of hearts and to the suprise of the spectator, the queen of hearts has transform into a blank card. The magician then spread the face down deck and in the middle of the deck, there is one face up card that is the queen of hearts. The magician square the deck and ask the spectator to name the last card on the table that is obviously the queen of diamond, but again to the suprise of the spectator, the queen of diamond also has transform into a blank card and again when the magician spread the deck, the spectator can find the queen of diamond face up in the middle of the deck.

Great card transpo! Easy to understand and very visual. Again no difficult sleight of hand, can be learn within seconds.

Overall

This is my first purchase from E, and i must say that I'm very satisfied! 5 days of international postage is just amazing! Usually i have to wait up to 2 weeks for item from US. Although i did not mention all of the effects on the dvd, some of them are quite good such as Stranger card and colt 45.
This dvd will give you alot of new idea how to use your gaff deck. Thanks to this dvd, i have utilise my gaff deck.

My verdict:
9/10

Buy this DVD now!

Nice review! thx, I wanted to buy this one.

Do you receive a gaffed deck with this order? or you have to buy it in extra because you need the gaffed deck from ellusionist to perform those routine, or not?

You can buy the 2 seperately or as a package but if you buy the DVD on its own you dont get the gaff deck

well, for me i just buy an extra ghost gafff deck, but E do sell a package where u will receive 3 gaff deck plus the DVD

thanks for replies!
And it's true that the pip matrix with the 4 of diamond look amazing in the video. With the shapeshifter at the end, it's BOOM !

merrr, it's just lots of expensive gaffed cards and some colour changes then. Use your imagination, it's free.

bronz wrote:merrr, it's just lots of expensive gaffed cards and some colour changes then. Use your imagination, it's free.

yep but those cards are **** beautiful!

IMHO the paintbrush change and erdanase colour change are both simple beginners moves. sounds like Ellusionist have done their usual job of re-hashing classic slights into the next 'must-have, cant-live-without, jaw-dropping, eagerly-awaited, years-in-the-making' pile of b******* lol

sounds like Ellusionist have done their usual job of re-hashing classic slights

What else is new?

i think the dvd is aim for beginners who want to learn some sleights of hand and those who are too lazy to come up with their own routines for the gaff cards.(like me )

If u r creative and comfortable with your style maybe the dvd is not for you. However it does give u some great ideas.

The goal of the Dvd wasnt to make you learn new sleight or routine. It was made to give you ideas on how to use this gaffed deck. Well for those who own this deck, this is a must!

you can get it cheaper from nums for 18 pounds

I just got my Army of 52 DVD from Ellusionist today. (It should really be Army of 54, as they use the Jokers also )

Just glanced through a bit of it. It looks very good. But anyway, it gave me a disapointment immediately. I bought the Red gaffed deck along with it, as I have lots of Red decks and the DVD focuses only on the Ghost deck. The gaffed Ghost deck and the gaffed Red deck are not gaffed in the same way. I checked out some explanations and the 2nd one I checked out on the DVD... I can't do it, as the cards don't match. I have to find better time to go thoroughly through the DVD.

BUT... I couldn't believe my ears, when Justin Miller actually gave away the secret of Mindbender in one of his explanations. He is going through variations of what to do with a certein card and he sais: Don't...bleeeeeeep (I'm not reveiling it here) ...because then you get the Mindbender effect... (or something like that). Woah... So I paused and played it again, did an experiment based on what he said and BINGO! I can do Mindbender. I am really surprised that Team Ellusionist was off-guard when they made this DVD.

But, anyway, I am very happy with what I saw on my DVD. Lots of breathtaking effects to add to routines.

You can see this is a "family project", because in one shot you can see Brad Christian himself as a camera man on the street, where they are performing and recording. It's a good thing, because it should keep the price down, I would hope

I've had something similar like that happen to me...except I bought a video from Penguin for like 10 dollars...and it taught a trick...and along the way, the Shapeshifter change which is valued at 25 dollars.

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