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Insane - Andy Nyman (Theory 11)
Here's the advertising blurb to start with...
The spectator chooses any card and any number, and it'll ALWAYS match your face up prediction.
You show the spectator your prediction BEFORE the trick begins. The spectator shuffles and deals to any card. Their selection matches the prediction.
Do you believe in fate or destiny?
You remove an envelope from your pocket. It is sealed. There are no secret compartments or hidden flaps. You explain that inside this envelope, there is one prediction. One card, sealed. No matter what the spectator says or does, nothing can change the outcome. It is fate. It is determined.
You give the spectator a deck of cards. They examine. They shuffle.
You are completely sure of your prediction, and to prove it, you tear open the envelope, showing a face down card. You are committed. And to make things even MORE fair, you turn the card over. They see the identity. They see the future.
After they finish shuffling, you ask the spectator to start dealing cards one by one onto your left hand. Whenever they feel like it, they can stop - and deal the NEXT card face down onto your right hand.
When the moment feels right - when intuition strikes - they stop dealing.
They deal the next card face down onto your right hand, leaving just two cards: your exposed prediction, and their face down selection. Suspense builds. How could they POSSIBLY match? They examined the deck. They shuffled the deck. Nevertheless, their card is slowly overturned, and it MATCHES your prediction.
30 minutes of detailed instruction by Andy Nyman: actor, magician, co-writer, director, and producer for Derren Brown. Andy is a man of many talents, and within this DVD, you’ll get a front row seat showing the inner work of his dangerous mind. Everything you need is included, with specific, premium props hand selected by the creator.
The Effect
It a very simple effect. The spectator selects a card at random, and it matches your prediction.
Cost
£16.99 from Dude that's cool magic
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)
1 This is so ridiculously easy!
Review
I've held off reviewing this for a short while, as I don't feel that I want to be reviewing things that I haven't really road tested. So for the last couple of weeks I've been doing this for anyone and everyone...
What you get is a DVD, a small stack of special cards, and "something else" The something else is easy to buy should you run out, and I'm sure the special cards are replaceable as well. The DVD, being made by Theory 11, is done very professionally. The teaching is very thorough (exceptionally so, considering how easy this is.)
What I like about this is the simplicity of it. The plot is very simple. The spectator shuffles the cards. You take out your prediction and even show them the prediction. They deal the cards, stopping where they chose, and when that card is turned over, it matches the prediction. The gimmick is also simple, and very easy to make more of them should you need. (This is definitely a plus. Once a gimmicked card looks tatty is can really stand out in a new deck, so if you can easily make more of them, that's one problem solved!)
Not only that, by the nature of the gimmick it doesn't live within your deck of cards, so you can slot it into your normal routine very easily, and it's not that tricky to remove it cleanly after too!
So far, so good...
But... there's something that doesn't quite sit right with this for me. The gimmick itself isn't something that I feel comfortable working with, although it's worked fine so far. (That said, I have come unstuck with this once! In the DVD Andy suggests letting the spectator turn over their card... from my own experience, I'm not sure I'd recommend this!) Generally, if you follow what Andy says about this, particularly the bits about finger placement when separating the prediction card from the selected card, all will be fine
And I've found that the "something else" supplied needs to be re-done every 10-15 performances. The trick will still work if you haven't redone the something else (as long as you can DL), but it will prevent you from tossing the two cards down on the table in a nonchalant and extravagant manner! This happened to me only a couple of hours ago. My spectator was still impressed by the trick though.
Back to the good points again!
This is very easy to perform! (I did this first for our Mr Borden over a beer, and I hadn't even practiced it! I watched the DVD, set it up and took it to the pub. My performance wasn't exactly great... but the thing worked, and Mr Borden did seem a little baffled by it!) Not that I'd ever recommend using a trick that you haven't practiced, I'm just making a point as to how easy this is. And having practiced it, and got used to it by using it a lot, it's getting a decent response from people I now perform it for.
I think I'm starting to like this piece of magic.
Overall
This is a very simple trick that Andy and Theory 11 have released. It's so simple, it's amazing it hasn't been done already! But there's it's biggest plus points - Simple plot, easy to execute, the set-up is part of the trick, (so you don't have gimmicked cards in cluttering you pristine deck of bikes,) and the clean up after isn't exactly hard either.
Is it value for money? That's a slightly tough question! For me, it came in the same envelope as BBM's Ultimate Self Working Card tricks, and that has given me a whole stack of very nice bits of magic that I can do with any deck of cards at the drop of my proverbial hat... where as this is just one trick that I have to have the gimmick on me to do. (And it's not working as it comes from the box with my beloved Fourniers either!)
I feel I've been a little negative about this. I do have reservations. But it does appear to be a trick that works! (You know, there's some tricks that you get, try out a few times, then stick in the back of the magic box, never to be seen again... this one, despite these reservations, I'm still using, and plan to continue to use) This is one that, provided you have the little envelope in your pocket, you really can drop in to your card routine at a moments notice! In fact, that's how I will be using this. My audience responses have been good, so I feel this is something that can nicely punctuate a routine, changing the pace a little from some of the longer pieces I do.
As this is the "Overall" bit of the review... let's sum it all up.
Whilst this isn't an earth shattering bit of magic, it is very easy and practical to use. It has a clear plot, and it will fool your audience!
