Easy To Master Card Miracles, Volume 4 - Michael Ammar

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Easy To Master Card Miracles, Volume 4 - Michael Ammar

Postby Le Petit Bateleur » Jan 25th, '09, 18:14



Easy to Master Card Miracles (ETMCM) Volume 4
Performance and Instruction by Michael Ammar.

Quick note on the series:
This is the fourth DVD of a series of 9 covering a huge range of classical card effects. This volume was originally published in 1997.

What it says on the box:

… “Michael Ammar is a Close Up Magic Gold Medalist, best selling author, lecturer and teacher. His first three Easy to Master Card videos took the world of magic by storm. The consistent quality of every effect in the series was unprecedented. Now, by popular demand, the series continues with an all new collection of equally astonishing magic”

What you get:

As per Volume 3, you get 11 card effects, and the gaffed cards required to perform the last one, plus detailed explanations about the methods involved and ideas about presentation.

The Effects:

Dunbury Aces (Charlie Miller, Dave Lederman):

A card is selected and returned to the deck. The Magician turns over a few indifferent cards looking for clues about the Spectator’s selection, and places them face down on the table. Unknown to the magician, one of the “clue card” is actually the selection; he missed it. It is not as it seems however, since when the Spectator reveals the name of his selection, it is found in the magician’s hand. Checking that the selection does not have a duplicate on the table, the magician turns all the “clue cards” face up to reveal the four aces!

This makes me think of a turbocharged “Design for Laughter” from RRTCM mixed together with Magician vs. Gambler plot. It’s really surprising and a joy to watch.

Your signed card (Brother John Hamman):

One card is set apart on the table face down. The Spectator picks another card and signs it on the face. The signed card is placed face down, opposite to the first card. The magician adds the 4 aces to the Spectator’s card, and invisibly transfers the signed card in place of the first card set apart by the magician.

Nice, but not my favourite. Not sure if it’s me, but I couldn’t quite suspend my disbelief with this one.

Ambitious Classic (Larry Jennings):

A Spectator’s selection is inserted several times in the centre of the deck, but always invisibly finds its way back to the top. Attempting to understand the working of this puzzle, the magicians tries an ambitious experiment with 5 cards only. A card is selected, returned to the center, yet comes back to the top. Eliminating one card, the magician tries again with 4 cards. The same thing happens again. With 3 cards only, the card plays acrobat and turns face up, and then face down again. With two cards, the card jumps to the top, and with 1 only… it turns into a completely different card.

I love the idea of trying to analyze the “root cause” of the ambitious cards by designing an experiment and reducing it to a 5 card effect and still ending none the wiser. I find that very smart and a great way to end an ACR.

J.C.’s Super Closer (J.C. Wagner):

The deck is cut into 4 piles. The spectator shuffles one pile, the magician another. Another spec shuffles the third pile, while the magicians shuffles the last. With 4 shuffled piles still on the table, the magician turns over the 4 top cards, which turn out to be the 4 Aces. The piles are re-assembled on top of each ace, at which point the magician finds each ace again by spelling its name, still maintaining the four piles. The spelling is repeated to find the 4 kings. Finally each pile is turned over to reveal that the four piles are actually segregated by suit!

This requires a set up obviously and is going to be great if presented properly. It’s actually quite hard to reconcile in my head that the deck has been shuffled by three different people, and still ends up rearranged by suit at the end! You get hit surprise after surprise. However, in my opinion, it could feel a little drawn out, unless it was the only cards effect you did in the middle of a non-card routine. I may be well off-base in practice though, just my thinking.

Reset (Paul Harris):

8 cards : 4 Jacks and 4 Aces. The Aces change place with the Jacks, one card at a time, in the magician’s hand. Then they all change place again.

This is nice and visual, simple to follow from the spec’s angle, and yet looks impossible.

Untouched (Daryl):

The magician thinks of a card. The spectator holds the deck, and allows the magician to point to his thought-of card, which is tabled by the Spectator, face down. The spec deals a random number of cards on the table, and deals that pile again into two separate piles. The card on top of the first pile reveals the number of the magicians card, the card on top of the second pile, the name of the suit.

The reason I really like this one is that it all happens in the spectator’s hand and is totally impromptu. Next time somebody asks me to do a card trick with his/her deck, I’ll do this one.

Lazy Man’s Card Trick (Al Koran):

Without the magician ever touching the deck, the spectator selects a card and cuts it back in. Few more cuts are made, but still, the magician is able to announce a number, which, when dealt by the spectator, locates the card.

Also in the hands of the spec, but requires a set up which I think would take to long to do in front of the audience, so you could either start the routine with it, or switch decks. I don’t know how to do the latter without arousing suspicion, so I am left with this as a starter. Personally, if I was to start a routine with a stacked deck, I would go for OOTW, the result doesn’t even begin to compare, OOTW being nothing short of miraculous. So, all in all, I like LMCT, but don’t know what to do with it.

Rubber Band Surprise (Bert Fenn):

A card is removed from the deck. A rubber band is placed around the deck, and the deck is given a cut. The card is put back on top of the deck, under the rubber band. Placing the deck on the table, a spectator is asked to put her index finger on top the deck and slowly release pressure. The selection jumps to the middle of the deck, face up, while the whole deck is still wrapped in the band.

A surprise “reverse” ambitious card, while the deck is held by a rubber band. This is a really funny, startling effect. I like it a lot, because it would be a nice card transition in or out of a rubber band routine. I am thinking along the lines of ACR into Rubber band surprise into Crazy Man’s Handcuff.

Card through Table (?):

A card is selected and returned into the deck. The deck is tabled, the spectator puts one hand under the table, and with the other hand presses firmly on the deck on top of the table. Suddenly, one card passes through the table and falls into the spectator’s hand; his own selection!

One word: beautiful. I am still new to magic, and I look at these effects with the eyes of a spectator. To me, card through the table is just wonderful, full stop.

Dr Daley’s Gambler vs. Magician (Dr Jacob Daley):

Betting he can successfully cut to a four of a kind, the magician manages to cut the deck three times to find 3 kings. Unfortunately, he fails on the fourth cut and cuts to an ace instead. So to make things right, he turns the three kings into the remaining three aces. He then shows that the four kings have travelled to four different pockets in his trousers and jacket!

What killed me there was the reappearance of the kings into 4 different pockets. You haven’t even finished to fathom how the guy turned the kings into aces, that he clubs you over the head with the next even more impossible surprise. The cardies amongst you experienced magicians will probably find me easily impressed, or the technique not much to speak of, but as a spectator and novice, this really blew me away.

Factory Misprint (J.C. Wagner):

The magician turns 4 blank cards into 4 printed cards one at a time.

I like this visually, but am not sure how / when to use it, as you cannot just put the cards back in the rest of the deck and start another trick.

Cost:

I purchased mine directly from Michael Ammar’s web site http://michaelammar.com/ for USD 27.98. You get a 10% discount on your next purchase.
The publishing company L&L Publishing sells it for USD 35. www.llpub.com

World Magic Shop stocks it at GBP 25.99: http://www.worldmagicshop.co.uk/

Difficulty:
(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)

Between 2 and 3, some sleights are used, but they are simple and well explained.

Review:

For me, Card through the table is really magical and is my favourite effect. I also really like Untouched which takes place in the spectator’s hands. Rubber band surprise is very funny, and a kind of reverse Ambitious card. All the other effects are also really visual. Like I said, Lazy Man’s card trick and Factory misprint are also nice to look at, but I don’t know how I would routine them (this obviously takes nothing away from the effects since I am just starting to think about what routining means to me! :) )

Overall:

A lot of very visual magic in one DVD, I really feel I got my money’s worth. The teaching is clear, and it makes me want to put my own small routines together based on the effects taught here. In summary: great DVD, classic effects, good teaching, great value.


Other Volumes of ETMCM also reviewed on Talkmagic:

ETMCM Volume 1:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2548
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2719

ETMCM Volume 2:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic26672.php

ETMCM Volume 3:
http://talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic28661.php

ETMCM Volume 6:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1833

Last edited by Le Petit Bateleur on Jan 25th, '09, 18:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Le Petit Bateleur
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Postby Lenoir » Jan 25th, '09, 18:17

I will one day get round to buying some Ammar stuff, but for now, I can say that the "Your Signed Card" routine is brilliant. I learnt from Hamman's book, but I'm sure it's taught well here too.

"I want to do magic...but I don't want to be referred to as a magician." - A layman chatting to me about magic.
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