Hi just wondering anyone done a acr with a 51 card force deck then 1 card thats different? I guess it cant be a long routine, but i think the end would be quite a twist for the audience, signing the card would be enough i guess but i think it would be cool to sign the card then turns out all the other cards are the same. anyways just an idea i wanted to throw out and hear some opinions on

Daryl talks a bit about this on his Ambitious Card Video.


Sean

Thanks ^^, i will have to look it up.

Another option is to use a blank deck rather than a forcing deck. I think Greg Wilson has some work on this... maybe Aldo Colombini, as well.

I've used a blank deck as the kicker. If you're going to go that route, though, I'd suggest not having the selection signed. It's not needed if every other card is blank or the identical.

But the audience doesn't know that until the end, when the kicker is revealed. Thus, having the card signed can still dispel the idea of dupes while the routine is in progress.

Besides... signing the card isn't just about removing the suspicion of dupes. It's also a means of increasing spectator investment and interest.

That's true, but with a forcing deck as the kicker, you get to tell the spec that you know what they're thinking. That all the cards must be the same. Then you get to admit that it's true and show that they are identical, just not the spec's card. If it's signed, the setup of them all being the same is instantly dispelled and becomes random clutter that's not needed.

One person's random clutter is another person's souvenir of a memorable magic moment.

I'm just wondering, what do you think is going through the spectators mind when they see the blanks? Do they think "wow, it must have been my card going through the deck the entire time because they are all blank." OR "HUH? Where did he get a deck with blank faces on them? Did it start out that way, or did they lose their faces during the trick?"

Honestly, I think it's the second one. Why? Because I tested it out on a layman. At first they were surprised at the blankness, but then it look like they entered a state of confusion. One of the things the said was "wait, cards aren't printed that way? Where did the faces go?"

I think that it might be stronger to initially show the entire deck blank and only have one face card then do the ACR. Wouldn't that be stronger?

It may be. My thoughts on it would be to use it as a delayed kicker. Almost an afterthought. Let the moment from the ACR settle and then reveal the deck.

If you're going for an ACR kicker, I'd use a one way deck with a contrasting card rather than a blank deck. The cards are simultaneously uniform, recognizable and unusual. My gut feeling is that a blank deck, as ayli mentioned, is too weird for a spectator to connect to, at least in this context.

Also, with that kind of ending, you have to lead them down a garden path to it. That means changing the presentation a bit from a typical ACR. First, I agree with Exodus, don't have the card signed. You'll also want to keep this routine short, I'd say no more than 3 phases.

Here's how I'd do it: force the odd card out of the deck and say "Hmmm, interesting, you picked the four of clubs. Let me show you something weird about that card - whenever you put it into the middle, it comes right back up to the top."

[Continue on with two more direct phases.]

"Now normally when I do this, people think I cheat. They think that all the cards are the same. And normally, they're right. But this time I couldn't do that, because you went and picked the only card in the deck that isn't the Jack of Diamonds!"

This definitely changes the focus of the Ambitious Card plot; instead of a card to impossible location that builds with each repetition, it becomes pretty much a sucker effect. This isn’t the highest form of magic, but it’s the best way I can think of to make the one way deck kicker pay off. And honestly, it would be an effective climax, as long as the spectators really suspect that you are using duplicates. Endings are often the hardest part of a traditional ACR, so at least this presentation solves that issue.

One last note: If you go this route, I would follow up the ACR by having the Ambitious Card signed, and then doing something really strong with it, like a torn and restored routine.

P.S. Just thought I’d mention, Mark Jenest has an interesting approach to a similar idea on his Miracles While You Wait DVD. He performs a short, unsigned ACR, then reveals that every card is in fact the same. He has one of them signed, then does a pseudo-Chicago Opener routine with the signed card. As a final kicker, the deck is shown to have changed to a normal deck with 52 different cards.

It’s not the most practical routine, what with all the props, but it builds in an effective manner that gives you all the misdirection you need.

Also, Caffeinator mentioned a Greg Wilson routine. It’s on his DVD Pyrotechnic Pasteboards and uses a blank deck. Here you get the strengths that ayli mentioned of showing a blank deck first and then doing an ACR with an acknowledged unique card. Greg also takes every advantage of the double blank cards to make it a really impossible looking routine. If you like these ideas, definitely check out the DVD.

Got a decent routine now however was wondering how should i end it o.O? I wanted to do a reversed card in the middle of the deck, then show erverycard was diff, but the way i reverse a card shows the faces. Anyone got a good way to end this one way force deck acr?