talkmagic.co.uk

Precognition Deck - Chris Kenworthy
Price: around £25 from Alakazam
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/

Difficulty: 3/5
(1=great for begicians, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Description Seige's own adaptation of the routine
A deck of cards, in it's case is placed in front of the spectator on a table, along with a small brown envelope. You tell the spectator you're going to influence a decision they're about to make.

The deck is in full view the whole time - this is worth remembering...

Now, you tell the spectator to concentrate - and think of two colours, red and black. Keep repeating - RED/BLACK/RED/BLACK then suddenly, you pause... and immediately follow 'now, think of numbers or picture cards, NUMBER/PICTURE/NUMBER/PICTURE' then suddenly, you pause... then 'right - it's almost done - now think of a card - the first card that pops into your head... and tell us that card without hesitating'

They do. It's (for instance) the King of Hearts.

You pause - and shudder. You take the deck at fingertips, and pour the cards to the table - the spectator is asked to deal them, face up, and count them - whilst also looking for their named card.

There are only 51 cards! And their named card is missing! Another pause...

You ribbon spread the cards, and ask them to look again for their card - it really is not there! You take the deck, and replace it in it's pack. You gesture towards an envelope, which has been on the table the whole time. They are asked to look inside - there's a moment of light relief as they look at the card inside - which has all fifty two cards printed on the face of a bicycle card!!! You say 'see, I told you I'd influenced your choice...'

When they reveal what's inside the envelope - you pause, 'oh, sorry, wrong envelope!'
You then reach into your pocket and take out another envelope...
Place it on the table. They open it... it's their selection.

Review
Nope. You're wrong. This is NOT an ID routine.
Neither are there multi-outs (do you REALLY think it's wise to walk around with 52 evelopes scattered about your person )
There's no forcing either. They GENUINELY choose a card at random.
The spectator also handles the deck - so you've really got no way of removing the card.
And if you're thinking that it's REAL mentalism - you're wrong again.

This routine is quite devious, and you'll need to be quite a bold and confident cardician to perform it. It relies on a principle that's very old, and anyone familiar with the old Jennings and Bean routine of 'Limited Edition' will know exactly how this is done - but with a full deck! And to leave the deck in the spectator's hands is a bold gesture indeed - and when I did this for the first time and it worked - I started shaking with delight at the diabolicalness of what had just occurred.

There's a few methods to pull off the 'kicker' at the end, but the easiest and most cost effective way is in the instructions, although my own method involves using a Q5, which means I don't have to touch the deck at all.

BUT...
It's moaning time: the cards are NOT Bikes, in fact, they're not even close. They're horribly printed, disgustingly uncoated, and awfully trimmed.
The quality of this deck is quite appalling for £25. It could quite easily have been made out of Bikes, but for some reason, they've opted for just about the cheapest gaff cards I've ever seen.

THEN AGAIN...
I'm a very critical person. I'm a graphic artist, who's used to scrutinising design and print quality. I know about artwork, paper, printing and cutting. So maybe I'm being cruel.
It's true that you can remove the deck from it's hideously constructed supplied packet and stick it in a lovely Bike packet - which makes it 'fit-in' with the standard you're accustomed to. And also, we're so used to handling cards, but the specs are not - so will they really notice?
In practise, no. Not at all.

The only deck I've ever got suspicion over is the Kennedy Mindpower deck - which has the most hideous backs to the cards you've ever seen... but, you can normally mask it by putting a Bike card on the top of the stack and keeping them in a Bike packet.

Overall
This is a very, very strong effect. Within seconds of naming a card, the card has disappeared from the deck, without you even touching it. And it appears in your pocket. There's even a comedy moment with the 52:1 card. Performed with confidence, you'll stagger the spectator. There's just no WAY you can do this!

Rating: Effect/item: 10/10, Quality of goods: 5/10, Value for money: 8/10

The bottom line...
Take the poor quality of this effect out of the equation for a moment: the effect is good. What more do you want? The price tag is a little high, though, even if the cards were decent Bikes. But as we all know, most of the time, you're paying for the professional idea and performance, not the gimmicks.

The only real drawback to this effect is the confidence and control - you'll need to mentally prepare your spectator and get them working fast, so they're not suspicious of what's happening in their hands. It's not really misdirection, but it IS a lot of pace-keeping.

This one is all about taking over the situation, in my experience. But that's not a hard thing to do - as usually, after a few killer one-on-one mentalism effects, you have the spectators eating out of your hands!

Is there any way that you could make up a version of the gimmicked deck in Bikes or is that unfeasable?

It's near impossible, without talking to the US Card Co.

The deck is very peculiar, and although there's nothing that COULDN't be done with Bikes, I've not got anything that matches.

I've got a range of bikes of just about any gaff you can name - and multiple quantities of the kind in question - and there's none that match...

If you stock gaffed Bikes, let me know, and I'll PM you to see if you've got anything similar...

No, we only have the standard stuff I'm afraid.

Just used this deck with great effect to a bunch of REALLY sceptical mates.

It was great - much better that I could have hoped.

The full three - phase routine is in the MO area.
(Includes: McLintock Twist, Precognition deck, One-way force)

Sometimes, I even impress myself!

This sounds VERY similar to Vanished & Gone by Peter Duffie

At a cost of £25 and apparently very poor quality product, I am surprised Seige gave this 8/10.
This same effect can be produced using an ungaffed deck that is stacked in a certain way. Well actually you need 2 decks, but the spec doesn't know that. The only difference would be that you produce the deck after the spec names their card, not before. This is the kind of detail that magicians might notice, but not non-magicians. The advantage would be that it is much safer to let the spectator handle the deck than if you use the gaffed version.
If you really want to show the deck(s) before they name their card, I have a 2 deck variation in which both decks are tabled, then they name a card, then that card is shown to be missing from one deck & found in the other deck (Red card in Blue deck or vice versa).
If you know the stack which the Precognition Deck is based on, you can do the effect with an ungaffed deck. So why buy the product if it is of shoddy quality?

Nikodemus wrote:At a cost of £25 and apparently very poor quality product, I am surprised Seige gave this 8/10.
This same effect can be produced using an ungaffed deck that is stacked in a certain way. Well actually you need 2 decks, but the spec doesn't know that. The only difference would be that you produce the deck after the spec names their card, not before. This is the kind of detail that magicians might notice, but not non-magicians. The advantage would be that it is much safer to let the spectator handle the deck than if you use the gaffed version.
If you really want to show the deck(s) before they name their card, I have a 2 deck variation in which both decks are tabled, then they name a card, then that card is shown to be missing from one deck & found in the other deck (Red card in Blue deck or vice versa).
If you know the stack which the Precognition Deck is based on, you can do the effect with an ungaffed deck. So why buy the product if it is of shoddy quality?

This review has re-sparked my interest in the pre cognition deck. This was one of the first "pro" tricks/mentalism style effect that i ever bought myself, must be nearly 2 years ago now.
When i first got it i too was a bit dissapointed with the quality of the cards and card case but i learnt the routine and it then got retired (a little too quickly) to the bottom draw, at the time it didn't really seem the type of effect that i wanted to perform.
Can i say seige that the idea of having the spec deal the cards after the selection very bold, but this makes the effect even more credible (this is he bit that re sparked my interest) I would have never have been so bold all that time ago when i first purchased it to give the specs a deck THAT GAFFED to deal off one by one. Now though with a lot more experience under my belt it seems to make sense that they should deal them so thankyou for a great review. This is one person whos going to get that bottom draw open and dust off a deck of cards.

P.s - Nikodemus i think you are a little misunderstood to what this effect achieves if you want another effect that achieves something similer to the one you explained there is a great effect by Jay sankey on the extras of his Magus Capsule DVD.

Hi,
Not sure what you think I misunderstood about the effect: the spectator freely thinks of any card. The cards in the deck are counted. The thought-of card is the only one missing. The missing card can then be produced however you want.

As I said, this can be reproduced with ungaffed (but pre-stacked) decks if you alter the presentation very slightly to produce the deck after they name their selection.
I notice Seige mentioned a trick called Limited Edition. I will have a look at that and Magnus Capsule - thanks for the recommendation!

BTW I had a pm from Seige who stands by the score he gave because of the power of the effect, despite the print quality of the cards.

I've also done a bit of swotting on Limited Edition (and there is also New Limited Edition). This is a nice variation on the Princess Trick (which uses exactly the same principle as Precognition, but on a much smaller scale).
Another one on my list!

Nikodemus wrote:Hi,
Not sure what you think I misunderstood about the effect: the spectator freely thinks of any card. The cards in the deck are counted. The thought-of card is the only one missing. The missing card can then be produced however you want.

As I said, this can be reproduced with ungaffed (but pre-stacked) decks if you alter the presentation very slightly to produce the deck after they name their selection.

Sorry mate, It was me misunderstanding your reply i think and not the other way round. Erm re-read and yeah definetly me never mind hey.
BTW just looked up what the trick is called on the Magus Capsule dvd and it's called "imposibler" and just to be a little more confuzing it's not like any of the other tricks that we've just discussed (Yes I've definatly lost it).
It goes something like this red deck is shown- card is picked , then same with a blue deck. - Cards transpose one red in the blue and a blue in the red (are you with me) the cards are the only ones in each deck to have a different coloured back. (shock) not only that when the cards are turned face up they are the only faced cards in either deck the rest are blank.
(amazed So was i when i first saw it) Sankey is fantastic.

Gonna PM you!