Magic Tricks

You all remember Debbie Downer, right? She was a character on Saturday Night Live. No matter how happy everyone around her was, no matter the occasion, whether it be a family dinner or a festive social, she was always able to kill the happy vibe by pointing out facts that exposed the negatives. Well...

Hello. I’m Debbie Downer.

It seems like everyone loves this trick when I read these reviews. To be honest though, I’m really scratching my head as to why. First off though, let me say that Mike is a likable guy and I really wanted to like the trick. In fact, I do feel bad for giving this buzzkill of a review. But reviews are supposed to be honest and, when I want to buy a product, I always look for the one negative review just so I can feel like I have a shot at getting the whole picture as to whether or not a product is a good one.

Let’s start with the positive, as I do not have any axes to grind. This truly is an anyone, anywhere trick. There are no gimmicks or difficult sleights. The only move required is one that any magician should know. It’s an easy trick and I will also say that this trick has a lot of potential. If you are beginning mentalist, this trick uses a basic principle that you will likely know but if you don’t, you’ll need to learn it. Another positive is that Mike does not stuff the explanation full of filler. He teaches the trick and then he’s done. Simple as that.

That said, here are the negatives. To me, the presentation is very lackluster. It’s boring (sorry Mike... just my personal opinion. No offense). There is only the one performance and even the spectators’ reactions are like “um ok. Neat.” I really would have like to have seen at least two more presentations that demonstrated his recommended handling for when different negative scenarios played out. Also, when I watched the presentation, I felt a little bad for him because I felt a sense of struggling or reaching in trying to read the spectator. There seemed to be no fluidity between the three guesses he was trying to make. This doesn’t feel magical or impressive to me. I think it’s because of the way he asked the questions and then revealed the answers. I don’t know how to put it... there were no surprises or ah-ha moments. The trick is there. But it doesn’t ever say “Ta-daaaaa!”

I guess that’s my major beef: the presentation needs work. It doesn’t flow. I think with a little creativity, rework, and showmanship though, there is potential. As it is, I personally will not use this presentation. The principle behind it, yes. The presentation, no.

If you are a beginning mentalist, go ahead and get this trick for the principle (though honestly there are better teachings of it. Luke Jermey does a really good job teaching this principle). It’s certainly affordable.

If you’re experienced at all, I can’t recommend this unless you’re just curious. Again the price point is low enough that you can say “oh what the heck” and get it. But it is a gamble. (Well, everyone else gave this trick great ratings... so maybe I’m the only one. Oh well just trying to be very honest.)

I was leaning toward giving this 2 stars. But based on the fact that a beginning mentalist should learn this principle and perhaps they would really benefit from this video more than I did, I’ll give it an extra star. 3 stars from me from this trick. Sorry, I feel like Debbie Downer:.. but Mike, I do hope that you will come out with another trick soon. I feel like this was just a poor start but that you as a magician have many tricks up your sleeve to share that will blow me away. I’d love to see one of those.

By the way, I always try to be honest and straightforward in my reviews, while being respectful to the magician. If you appreciate my reviews, can you please click the "Yes" button below beside the question, "Did this review help you?" It's not like I actually benefit in any way by your clicking it... but it would be nice to see if my reviews are helpful or not. I hope they are. If you ever have suggestions or comments or questions about my reviews, please feel free to leave me a constructive comment. I'm just trying to be helpful. I love the Penguin community and hope that I can someday contribute my own product. :-) Thanks for reading and for any (hopefully positive, but either way, at least kind) feedback.