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The Effect
This DVD contain thirteen of Andrew's fine card tricks. None are too difficult for beginner to intermediate performers, yet the illusions themselves are strong.

Cost
$39.95 (Although I have seen UK retailers selling this for GBP36.00!)

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)
2-3 DL, false cut and false shuffle, which he teaches.

Review
Interactive Mindreading
An incredible effect in which Andrew guesses your thought of card in an amazing and original way!

Card Under Tablecloth
A freely selected Card vanishes...appearing under a table-cloth just seconds later! This one will fry their brains!

Under My Spell
The definitive spelling trick!

Clock Miracle
A freely thought of time is revealed by the magician in an unbelievable, three-phase revelation.

Twins
The 'twins' of two randomly selected cards are found in a mind-bending manner!

Hummer's 20 Cards
Fool your fellow magicians with a routine that will have them completely confused and baffled!

Shuffling Lesson
Chad Long's amazing 'Do as I Do' routine. This effect alone is worth the price of the DVD.

Chicago Opener
A freely chosen card turns out to be the only card in the deck that has a different colored back!

Fabulous Four Aces
An amazing multi-phase ace routine

Out of this World
Andrew's handling of the famous Paul Curry Routine.

Topsy-Turvy Cards
A freely selected card reveals itself in a surprising way after the deck is completely mixed.. updside-down and inside-out!

Impossible Location
The title says it all!

Master Poker Deal
The secrets of the Card Cheats!

The Last Trick of Dr. Daley
An amazing four-card transposition!

Bonus Chapters
A few necessary sleights explained in detail.


Overall
Andrew Murray is the only professional magician to win four top awards from the Magic Circle. So, his credentials are tops. His presentation style is laid back and subdued. This quiet manner affects his teaching style also. It is enjoyable to watch, and the information given is detailed and most clear. He frequently throws in a few gems such as "Never announce that you re going to shuffle/cut the cards..."

Let me comment on a few of the tricks.
Out of this World Most everyone knows Paul Curry's classic. Andrew takes this trick and adds a few surprising touches. First, he displays the cards to show they are mixed. Then he shuffles the cards. (or allows them to be freely shuffled.) Finally, his presentation of the spectator's "spectacular" abilities is as clean and honest as I have seen.

Twins Every magicians needs a few tricks that can be performed at a moments notice--often with a borrowed (grubby) deck. All you prestidigitarians can smile smugly, but we lesser beings need something like twins. No preperation, no sleights, easy to do and best of all, it lends itself to a multitude of stories that can be invented.

Bonus Finally, at the end of the DVD Andrew shows how to do a jog shuffle and three versions of the DL. I have seen several DL lessons, but Andrew adds a neat move to make getting the initial break and then a special move he uses to get the break when returning the cards.

I recently posted a review on the beginner's DVD, Card Trick Magic by Stephane Vanel. Well, Mr. Vanel never produced his promised follow up DVD -- he didn't need to. This is it. Slightly more difficult, but significantly more impressive.

Rating
9/10 .. Excellent.

I'm quite surprised there are no replies to this thread.

This has to be the best DVD I have bought yet for card magic. Andrew Murray's delivery and explanations are great. He makes each effect extremely easy to watch and learn.

His take on OOTW is absolutely superb. The effect really sells itself and doesn't need much in the way of patter. It's such a great build up and the finish is astonishing. I've had some brilliant reactions. The handling at the final part makes this version by far the easiest I've seen. Nothing looks unnatural, there are no odd moves and it works very, very well every time. The DVD is worth buying for this effect alone. If it were the only one on the disc, I'd still be a happy bunny.

Twins is a close second for me. Completely impromptu, no setup, any deck and a fantastic finish. It's a nice quick trick to use any time and anyone, including the complete beginners, can do it with little practise. The only thing, and it really is very minor, you have to watch here is that at the start it could be angle unfriendly. But, that's entirely up to you to control the audience. You can do it surrounded if you're careful and aware. Then again, thinking about it, the spec would have to be incredibly observant to glean anything even if they were stood next to you. Maybe, I'm just really over cautious.

My third favourite is Clock Miracle. Each phase is strong and could work nicely alone, but to have three very strong climaxes (ooer!) is much better. I do have one reservation about this one and it relates to something I nearly encountered on the first time I performed the effect, which would have been a bust. There is a slight danger you need to think about before performing, to do with numbers.

I wasn't struck by Card Under Tablecloth. It's a decent enough effect, but I don't think he picked the best venue to sell it. This would work brilliantly at a dinner party type affair. Still, it's not my cup of tea.

Shuffling Lesson is another one I loved. I haven't tried this one yet, but I'm itching to learn it. I agree with TerryC that it's worth the price of the DVD. Another very strong effect.

This is the absolute favourite DVD in my growing collection and I am so glad I bought it. There are at least four effects out of the thirteen you could blow people away with. Andrew teaches them very well and is thorough enough for anyone to pick them up and use straight away. Even when a (rare) sleight is needed, he goes through the technicalities and shows how to perform it. The ones required are few and far between, but still easy enough for anyone to try fairly quickly.

I can't rate this highly enough. There isn't a single effect on this DVD that comes across as filler material or that looks weak, which is unusual. Top drawer stuff from an accomplished magician.

i could have sworn i reviewed this when it came out!

goes to show how bad my memory is...

anyway - i bought this when it first came out, and i was getting back into card magic...i did enjoy it...i just found his "i give the deck a twist" speil a little annoying...like sankey's "boom!"...

but he is a good teacher and the effects are solid...

IAIN wrote:anyway - i bought this when it first came out, and i was getting back into card magic...i did enjoy it...i just found his "i give the deck a twist" speil a little annoying...like sankey's "boom!"....

Really? It didn't bother me at all until you mentioned it Iain, so thanks for that.

Sankey is great with some effects, and I just want to punch his lights out with others. He's top of the list for being the most annoying git in magic. He redeemed himself a bit with Invisible and spoilt it again with 22 Blows.

Thirteen by Andrew Murray

All this and he still has time to play at Wimbledon. What a guy!

themagicwand wrote:

Thirteen by Andrew Murray

All this and he still has time to play at Wimbledon. What a guy!

Hmmmmmmmm. If I had a nickel for everytime.. Let's not get down that road again.

This is a great beginner's DVD . This + Simon Lovell's Million Dollar Card Magic is good enough to put up a show !!

The only effect from this DVD that I perform is OOTW. I found the way that Andrew performed the effect a little annoying. for example stating the obvious... And Red, and Red, and Black, and red etc.

However the handling of the effect I think is wonderful. I performed it a few of times over the Christmas period and got some great reactions from it.

It is sooo clean too... I borrowed a pack of cards, Spec shuffled them and then removed the key two cards. Passed me the deck and the magic happened. The best bit is the spec vivdly remembers that it was their own deck that they shuffled so their couldn't have been any funny business.

I bought this DVD at around the time it was released and it's definately worth taking a good look at if youre a new or internediate level magician.

There's good variety and all are easy to learn AND perform. I thought they were reasonably well explained too.

I recently bought this too. Excellent especially for beginners and not so skilled card magicians. Some very strong effects. I already replaced the OOTW that I used to do with this one and I absolutely love Twins (easiest thing to do, strong effect using a borrowed deck). Haven;t performed extensively any of the others yet.

I too bought this ages ago and had forgotten all about it!

I think I might have to bring Twins in to my close-up/walkaround sets... dead easy to put a mental-ly spin on that one!

Received this DVD recently, just thought I’d say the routines are much simpler to work than I assumed they would be. I mean this in a good way though, as a very much beginner it’s always good to get some pretty nifty effects that I actually CAN do (although I'll still make sure to practice them, stupid mental impatience! )

Agreeing with Nightfall, I’ll be replacing my current OOTW routine with the version Andrew Murray provides. The cleanup is excellent.

I recently got this and loved it. Simple and yet some very workable effects.

However, he keeps using a very deceptive false cut, a sort of triple false cut which I have also seen on other DVDs and never found anywhere that teaches it. On this DVD he mentions it about 3 times and says "This is explained elsewhere on the DVD" yet I cannot for the life of me find it anywhere!

On the false shuffle section there is a similar simpler one but not the one I want.

Am I just blind or can someone please tell where abouts it is if you know the one I am refering to?

Thank you

JD

Hmmmm I looked on you tube and the 3 or so tricks Andrew Murray had posted up have been removed due to a complaint of copyright issues from Michael Ammar. Am I to take it then that Andrew has put well known tricks like Dr Daley's last trick on his DVD without credit being given and without permission from the trick inventors or their families?

Raz