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Magic with an ESP Deck: Third Revised and Enlarged Edition
by Sam Dalal



The Effect
Magic with an ESP Deck (MESP) is an A4-sized, 22-page booklet containing fourteen effects that can be performed with a standard deck of ESP cards.

Cost
£6 plus postage
from The Card Collection

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
All the effects are simple to perform. As far as sleights are concerned, they require nothing more than a false shuffle.

Review
First off, MESP comes with a deck of ESP cards with the symbols printed in five colours. I was surprised to see that the ink used to print the symbols had started to come away and the actual quality of printing is very poor. The quality of the card stock is acceptable. Having said that, some performers may actually prefer a slightly abused-looking deck. In any case, I didn't purchase this for the cards so it's not an issue.

The booklet begins with a very interesting introduction in which Dalal imparts some advice on how to present ESP effects and mentalism in general. I've been watching the Easy to Master Mental Miracles DVDs recently where Richard Osterlind said much the same thing. Dalal also details the lesser-known and slightly more picturesque ESP deck, called the Soal Cards. This is a deck which consists of five animals instead of the usual geometric symbols. Templates are provided for the reader to photocopy and enlarge; the images can then be glued to playing card stock. Dr. Soal's animal deck is not something I have seen before and it certainly opens up the possibilities for a more varied presentation. The standard ESP (Zener) deck is also briefly explained.

The next chapter gives a brief background of Dr. Joseph Rhine's work with ESP back in 1927. There are also more performance tips, which I found very helpful.

The following section on terminology also explains a couple of false shuffles and dealing techniques (very basic stuff!).

Considering there are only fourteen effects in this booklet, a good number of them are very good and I have not seen most of them in print before. I will be using at least ten of these effects and the 2-3 that I have already performed have all gone down very well. There is a nice Do As I Do effect where three different presentations are given. Timed Thoughts is fantastic and features a wrist watch which is used to make a novel prediction. Thought Force is a truly self-working effect and I couldn't quite believe that it would actually work until I tried it! Great stuff.

One of my favorite effects in this booklet, Think-A-Card, involves a spectacular... well, read the effect for yourself:

"The performer asks the spectator to think of one of the five designs in the ESP deck. The performer removes the deck from the case and shuffles the cards. Three cards are removed from the deck at random and shown to the spectator to check if he can see his card. They are discarded and another three cards are again shown to the spectator. This is repeated several times. The performer has never seen the faces of any of the cards, but he is able to reveal the design selected by the spectator!"

The method is quite ingenious. I love this one.

The penultimate effect is called My Favorite and I can see why. Briefly, the spectator shuffles an ESP deck, selects a card and puts it aside. He then gives the deck another shuffle before handing it over to the performer. When the spectator reveals his selected symbol, the deck is spread to show one card reversed in the deck. You can guess the rest! The method is quite bold but I can confirm it works a treat as this is one of the effects I have performed a couple of times now.

The booklet ends with a section on ESP stacking and an effect which utilises this ingenious stack is explained.

Overall
At £7.50, this represents excellent value for money. MESP may be a slim booklet, but it contains several quality effects that I will be using. Sure, there are a couple that don't really appeal to me, but the same can be said of any magic publication. For some reason, books/booklets on ESP decks are rare (I couldn't find many, anyway) and fortunately this one is superb. If you have an ESP deck knocking about somewhere and find that you never really use it, then I can highly recommend this booklet. And if you don't own an ESP deck, why not?! Get yourself a deck(Beyond ESP 2 springs immediately to mind, although none of the effects in MESP require a marked deck) and a copy of this booklet and I think you'll be very pleased you did.

Score: 9/10

Thanks for posting, a copy is now zinging its way to me...

I also struggle to find decent books containing a range of esp tricks, guess I could exercise my little grey cells a bit more and think up my own... this seems like it should give a good steer in the right direction.

Looking forward to this one, it's just what the Dr. ordered (terrible I know) it also seems really good value to boot.

Ta.

Matt

Never ever really been interested in ESP stuff, but for a start, this with a deck me thinks?

this is one of my all time favourite esp books...superb it is...

shame you reviewed it!

Been thinking about putting together an ESP routine myself, look like this could be a good place to start.

Well my ESP book and deck arrived the other day and I instantly stuck my nose in there and started to soak it up(read it), I must say Replicant you hit the nail on the head with your thoughts... I’ll put my 2 pennies worth in anyhow...

Firstly..The cards (25 in total, 5 of each symbol) are strangely printed, the symbols have a weird waxy texture to them, definitely an old style press used no doubt using food dye and potatoes to print. Having said that they do the job and I’m going to be using them.

There are some cracking self workers and as pointed out ‘Thought force’ is one you have to try to see that it actually works, you can repeat it and get different results but Dalal recommends you only do it two maybe three times max (I seem to recall) to ensure no one starts to cotton on. I’m sure to be trying one out this weekend.

Throughout the booklet the tricks use maths as a base and a lot will be down to presentation.

It’s interesting that at the start of the book Dalal talks about how a lot of adults see magic as kids stuff unless you’re Copperfield etc. How you present your ESP routines goes a long way here which is very interesting to read.

‘Think-A-Card’ is a great ESP gem, some great thinking there, present this well and you’ve got a really nice routine. This and a couple of the Do as I do’s I’ll also be trying out.

Replicant, fair play for performing ‘My Favoutite’ I’d be interested on knowing how you ‘do you clip thing’. I can see how timing would be key here, especially as you’ve got to make them reveal first...This could work well with marked cards so you don’t have to (hope this isn’t exposure, don’t think it is..) I can see how well this could play if you get it spot on, but it’s the most ballsey of the lot. As you may have gussed this aint no self worker.

For £7.50 inc postage this is great, I’m very pleased with my purchase.
It’s definitely possible to think up your own routines given that this gives you the building blocks...
It came v.quick as well.

M

MATTrix, I've PMed you regarding my presentation for My Favourite. It differs slightly from the presentation described in the book, but it works well for me. I'm usually adapting techniques, methods, sleights, etc. to suit me; as long as any changes you make don't take anything away from the impact of the final revelation and the effect on the spectator, this is never a problem.

Much appreciated Replicant,

Much more practical and should fly by.

I'm definitely going to be trying a few of these out over the weekend.

Ta.

M

My friend Marion once pulled a deck of cards in front of me, shuffled and took a card out from the stack. She told me to guess the card, and immediately upon that, I envisaged in my head the Six of Clubs.

True enough, it was the Six of Clubs.

My father always told me to never doubt the first thing that comes to my mind. Doubt would only cloud what was clear.

Coincidence...or ESP?

Like every one else, I recommend this book. There are a dozen or so tricks and you'll get at least six or so that you adapt / use - thats less that £1 a routine. Go buy.