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I've watched this post (and a few others) progress and liked the effect and what was being posted so I bought the DVD last weekend.

I have to say that it is a sinch to perform, even for a non-cardie like me Took about 10 minutes to learn and another 15 to virtually perfect.

It can be performed with a borrowed deck but to be honest, the newer the cards are the better it looks. If you do perform with a deck of borrowed cards and they're old then you will most probably need to exercise some caution. Looks great with Tigers and there's a nice variation on the DVD for using Ghosts, if you're into these decks!

The DVD content seemed to be 'padded out' and repetative but the trick is a winner.

just to echo what eveyone else seems to be saying- this is great. I saw this a while back but wasnt sure about it. just bought it last night on download. excellent instruction.

performed this for my wife within around 30 min. she was well impressed. what I liked about the trick is that there are quite a few ways to end clean at the end so you can hand out the cards you hace been using for examination. I think that this really strengthens the effect and disels any theories that the audience might have had.

Buy It!

I agree that Mercury is a visually pleasing trick and a little different from your standard card trick. But in saying that, the basic sleight used to perfom this trick is an old one. So for any one who has been working with card sleights for a while should know how this is achieved almost instantly but for a layman it should still look amazing.

What I do not like about this trick is that suspicions run high at the most vulnerable stage of the trick. While I have never been caught performing this (mind you I have only performed it a few times) I tend to like tricks that clean up before the shock factor sets in or if the clean up has nothing to do with any suspicions. So I am much more comfortable when I am one step ahead of my spectator - even with the famous Ambitious Card and 2 Card Monte you are able to keep one step ahead.

So while the trick is relatively easy to perform, the proper clean up for this trick can be a little on the daring side. Just watch David Kong's live performances, to me he seems quite nervous when performing this trick (I mean no disrespect to David because he is still young and he did a descent job in teaching this effect.)

I did this last night for the first time publicly, and the audience really liked it. I handed the four kings back the spectator to look at, and then showed the four aces faces up in the pack. It all went down very well. I think there is less heat on the effect than we magicians would think, especially if you follow David's advice.

I'm hesitant to bump such an old thread but I thought I'd mention that this trick can be found in Racherbaumer's Ascanio Spread book. I don't have the book with me now so I can't check, but I'm almost certain that it's the exact same trick, move-for-move. I don't know David Kong so of course I'm not accusing him anything, these things just happen all the time. Still an ok trick though I never really got comfortable with it.

very cool trick with a real surprise ending, done it quite a few times but got caught but that was entirely down to my own lack of experience. If this tricks done right then its a real killer to laymen

i personally love the trick, easy to learn and if performed well with enough practice its impossible for the layman to perform adn you can end clean with a big misdirection at the end when you ask them to look through the deck.... though im still learning to start clean ive done it a few times and works a treat!!

highly recommended...

Works well with Paul Zenon's Foursight, and any ace assembly.

I am currently doing this order of effects

Foursight to find the four aces
Vernon's 'Twsiting the Aces'
Lenahan's McDonald's aces with the slop shuffle

Mercury could work in, but might be overkill

mcdonalds aces is probably the best finisher as i find it to have the biggest effect on audiences.... i love it.....