One can like or dislike this trick according to one’s own tastes. The problem is, the trailer for
the trick gives a misleading view of what the trick is, and so it is not possible for a potential
buyer to get a true sense of the “personality” of the trick — what happens in actual performance. As
for me, upon discovering this “personality,” I was deeply disappointed.
The trailer
promises: “What if I told you that right now, you could name any card, and I would have that one
card here, in my wallet?”
Assuming that the clunky and all-but-impossible solution of
having 52 cards hidden in the wallet (and a way of getting to each one) is NOT the method (or
somewhat less clunky, having several wallets), this is a very powerful statement, promising a very
powerful piece of mentalism.
The problem is, the statement is not true in a majority of
instances. In fact, two out of every three times the trick is performed, the performer WON’T have
that card in his wallet. While it’s true that in all cases there will be some sort of happy reaction
at the end, the trailer misleadingly shows only those reactions that occur either when there’s a
direct hit (the minority of instances), or when the “wrong” card is turned into (relative) success.
In the latter circumstance — again, the majority of the time — the subdued and somewhat confused and
deflated reaction of the spectator in not seeing his chosen card revealed in the wallet is not
shown.
Some may argue that the “magician-getting-out-of-trouble” gambit, to bring the
effect to a successful conclusion, is more satisfying. This of course can be true in many
situations. But not in this case, where two-thirds of the time an essentially powerful and serious
effect must be saved by what many would consider a cheesy joke.
Penguin, to its credit,
allows readers to ask questions before purchasing a trick. The problem is, while we don’t expect the
advertising for a trick to be revealing, we at least expect it to be truthful. This guides us to the
right questions to ask.
Buyer beware.
In my experience the best reactions come from those 2/3rds of the times when the success is delayed, and you have to feign failure. So i can forgive the trailer since it only omits something that makes the trick even better (in my performing experience). But I perform as a hobbyist - as a pro you might not want that momentary appearance of a trick going wrong, even if it's temporary
*SPOILERS* (kinda): I have performed this effect all over the place, and I fully concur with the poster above . . . the 2/3rds of the time that it's a near miss are in fact the strongest result, and the one I'm hoping for, to be perfectly honest. And, tbh, some have sort of missed the point of this. This isn't a "feign failure" effect (total respect and no offense to the above poster), nor is it a "cheesy joke" out. Also, if the moment is played for more than the subtle, off-handed throw-off that it is supposed to be played as, then that kills the effect. When it's a near miss, you batt an eyebrow, and go "ew, close" and then after a quick beat you deliver the key line. I have literally had people go from "wow, that was close!" (which, btw, for mentalists [and mentalists will tell you this] is incredibly strong . . . just being that close is pretty freaky . . . only magicians ever shrug their shoulders and think "oops, no dice, you got it wrong") to wide eyed amazement when you reveal the twist. That's why whoever regularly performs this usually hopes for the 2/3rds of the time where it's the near miss. Also, in the original manuscript, there is an effect you perform before this one, using an invisible deck . . . not the trick deck we all know as the invisible deck . . . but a literal "invisible" imaginary deck, where they pick an imaginary card, and you tell them what card it is, and even if you miss slightly, it is still pretty freaky, and then you go into Kolossal Killer. Either way, this is really powerful stuff when presented as solid mentalism, but can be rather dull when forced into a mental magic or regular magic context. Probably better off performing OOSOOM or Mental Epic.
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Deceptive Trailer
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