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The Effect
Seven identical bicycle cards are shown face and back. Three cards are placed face up and three face down on the table. The routine continues by saying that cards are constructed of three distinct layers, the front, middle and back. The face and back of one of the cards are ripped off dramtically to reveal the middle, or cardinal card. This is deemed to have special properties due to the intense pressure it has been under. The card is then placed sequentially in contact with the remaining cards which were layed out on the table resulting in the tabled cards changing one by one to resemble the blank cardinal card


Cost

£8.99 various stockists

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)

3-4

Review

Really great effect. There are a number of sleights used here which take a fair bit of practice to get right (not sure if I'm allowed to say which ones, but a couple of counts + a flourish) all of which are well described in the routine hand book. The routine is visually stunning but does require quite careful handling if you're not to give the game away. Definitely not in the easy category (at least as far as I'm concerned), but I would venture to say it's a good routine for someone with reasonable basic technique to push their card handling skills forward a bit.

8/10 and definitely worth 9 quid of anyone's money

Does this effect bear any semblance to Daryl's Presto Printo???

Sounds like it...

Good review, and being a Meir Yedid fan, I know this will be good.

Seige,
Just looked at an on-line demo vid for presto printo and (although it was a bit difficult to follow with my slow internet connection) it looks as though it employs similar moves, although the effect is pretty much the opposite. An advantage of the presto printo appears to be that the cards are examinable at the end as they all get used up. Definitely not possible with cardinal cards unless you went to the effort of a switch. May well get presto printo though. Looks very impressive, especially the smudging and whatnot.

Ahhhh... right, I see...

That's good to know (that it's not examinable at the end...)

The Daryl effect is VERY good, and highly recommended. It's both humourous and unexpected. I think I'll give Cardinal Cards a miss, though.

I know you say 'the opposite happens' - i.e. the cards 'lose' stuff rather than 'gain' stuff, but from the descriptions read, I think it may indeed be a VERY similar effect.

I have to say, if i'd seen the presto printo effect first I would probably have gone for it in preference to this one. Still a good trick however, and the necessary moves will come in handy for other things i have no doubt.