Magic Roadshow

The Conjuror’s Community Kickstarter Deck and Online Experience – A Review

This is a project spearheaded by three of my favorite names in magic: Aaron Fisher, Adam Grace and Lee Asher. They had a meeting-of-the-minds awhile back and decided now is THE time for both a new, working deck of premium cards and an online training session like no other.

 

The CC Club Playing Cards and the Out of the Box Experience are the end result.

The cards:

The cards are traditionally cut, casino grade crushed Bee stock in a Bicycle blue seal box. This is the same grade used for the wildly expensive Wynn’s. These cards, unlike traditional Bee’s, have the white border. They also have traditional pips and suit cards.. which considering the extremes to which some of the newer cards have gone (Tech-Art).. I truly appreciate my familiar faces. The backs are a seldom-seen antique design from the early 1900’s. Magicorthodoxy referred to the back design as a ‘mountain bike design’.. which was new to me, but perhaps something you’re familiar with..

Don’t confuse this deck with Bicycle Elites. Elites use the crushed stock, which makes them super-plyable out the box. But, they are thinner than traditional cards, and this deck is the thicker Bee stock, which holds up much better over a longer period of time. You can compare them, thickness wise, to the Richard Turner Gold Standard or the David Blaine Split Spades.

I give every new deck I open the ‘faro test’. Honestly, most magic grade standard Bicycle cards will NOT faro out the box. It can take quite some time to work the edges to the point where you can perform a dependable faro. ( Some standard Bicycles never conform ). The CC Club Playing Cards performed a perfect faro on my fourth try, which I rate very highly considering the thickness of the card.

Two gaffed cards are also enclosed,, including a red/blue backer, and a joker with an opposite color back. Two traditional jokers are also enclosed. The joker is, I understand, a never-used-in-modern-times design from the 1800’s. I am really fond of this design!

The Online Events:

Included with the purchase of as little as one deck are tickets to an exclusive 4 week LIVE online experience in September for backers only.. You will learn a massive amount of card effects. Everything will be archived online so you can return again and again to perfect your magic. This experience, called Out of the Box Experience Online Events, will be guaranteed to everyone who backs their Kickstarter project. If you purchase even one deck.. you are guaranteed admission. I don’t think the times are established yet.. but you will be notified well in advance. The dates are:

Saturday, September 26, 2020
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020

This Kickstarter project set out to raise $5,000.. That total was achieved in less than one minute. Right now, as of August 29th, the total pledges are in excess of $95,000 dollars. (Your read that right..) This money will be used to bring you the best possible training from Aaron and the crew. If you’re curious about the Kickstarter project, here’s a brief summary of some of the packages and pricing.

$3 gets you a solid 5 hours of Aaron Fisher’s card magic training plus special bonus material.

$12 gets you a special CC Club Deck, plus, lifetime on-demand access to the Out of the Box Events. And.. everything in the $3 package.

$24 gets you Two special CC Club Decks, plus everything above.

$39 gets you a CC Club Deck plus Aaron’s amazing Pandemonium Vanishing Deck effect. This effect is only available during this Kickstarter campaign. Plus, you will receive all the special training sessions and videos listed above.

There are special formulations of half bricks, bricks, 2 bricks, and case pricings available for serious cardists.

If you would like to back this project.. or just check it out.. go to:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/conjurorcommunity/club-cards

I highly recommend this special offer. I know the guys involved and their endless love of magic and the magic community. I did receive au gratis cards for review purposes.. but have NOT been reimbursed for my recommendations.

Rick Carruth – The Magic Roadshow Journal of Magic

 

PERFECT SENSE – A Review

This is the ad copy for Perfect Sense:

With this routine, you have the SUPERHUMAN ABILITY to sense the IDENTITY of individual cards from a SHUFFLED DECK left in the spectator’s hands!

Say hello to Perfect Sense by Daniel Hiew. A color sense card trick inspired by Asi Wind’s Red and Black.

You start by SHUFFLING the cards or have your spectator cut anywhere they want. You deal the cards into two piles, and they get to choose any pile they want. Now, you demonstrate your superhuman “sixth sense” ability.

With Perfect Sense, you will not only be able to tell the color of the cards but also sense the suit, value and ULTIMATELY THE EXACT IDENTITY of EACH CARD! All done with a NON-MARKED DECK!

If you wish, you can instantly REPEAT the trick WITH NO RESET.

In this project, Daniel will share with you the details and subtleties in a crystal-clear manner.

What are you waiting for? Equip yourself with Perfect Sense and demonstrate your sixth sense with ANY pack of cards.

Buy Perfect Sense and start streaming NOW.

Features:
No marked deck.
The spectator can cut the deck as many times as they like!
The cards can be SHUFFLED!
Repeat instantly WITH NO RESET.
No crazy memorization.
Easy to perform. Almost self-working!
Blindfolded routine included.
Download the video and start learning!

My Thoughts:

I like this effect. I admit I’m not familiar with Daniel Hiew, but that’s my problem. I’ll start by saying this is a mathematical effect.. which I know will scare some of you.. but it shouldn’t. It’s not that you have to perform mathematics, it’s that the effect works because of mathematics. If you follow the instructions.. Perfect Sense is almost self-working.

The performer shuffles the deck and the spectator cuts the deck, several times if they wish. Twenty cards are dealt off the top of the deck into two piles by placing one card in pile one and the second card in pile two.. The performer then deals the third card onto whatever stack is designated by the spectator and then deals a fourth card onto the other stack. This sequence is continued, with the spectator selecting which pile receives the next odd card until all twenty cards are dealt. ( see the video )

The spectator then makes a choice of which stack to keep.. and the other stack is returned to the deck. The performer is now able to name the color of the top card, the suit of the next card, the value of the third card, and the value and suit of all other cards in the stack. Actually, he could name the value and suit of all ten cards if he wanted to… There is even a method that allows the performer to perform this while blindfolded.

In all fairness to the buyer, there IS a simple stack involved. There is also a certain order to the cards and you need to figure a simple two-card total throughout the effect. If you can add a 7 and a 6, for example, you can easily do everything required.. This is NOT hard stuff folks….

The amount of work by the performer is minimal.. compared to the amount of mystery created for the spectator. As performers, we often have to ask ourselves “Is it worth it ?”… In this case.. “Yes.. definitely.”

There is 28 minutes of instruction.. and the video and sound quality are typical
of Murphy’s Magic offerings. There is a bit of a dialog issue, as English is not Daniel’s first language.. but it’s not enough of an issue to fret about. I understood all the instructions.. and I’m sure you will too. Someone will inevitably complain though, so I’m going to touch on it for good measure.

Go to the site and watch the video. That will give you a good sense of the effect and how it plays. I am recommending it to Magic Roadshow readers and my FB friends.. Enjoy !

9.95 From Murphy’s Magic and their associated dealers..
https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=66653

Reviewed by Rick Carruth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Vault – The Real Invisible Deck by Chris Dugdale

The invisible deck with a regular deck of cards yours spectators can spread themselves!

No force. Performer never has to look at the cards after they come out of the box.

The spectator can spread through the deck and find the reversed card themselves!

My Thoughts:

There wasn’t a lot of fanfare when this effect came out. Actually, you can see by the ad copy, there wasn’t much said about The Real Invisible Deck in general. When I happened across this video amongst a group of twenty or more downloads I’d received.. I knew I needed to write a review.

The Real Invisible Deck is based on the Invisible Deck effect.. -except- this uses a regular deck. It’s a deck set up in new deck order. The spectator names a card.. and the magi spreads the deck, showing the deck in new deck order, until he reaches the card named by the spectator.. which is clearly reversed in the deck. Get this.. you can actually hand the deck to the spectator and let him/her deal down to their card.. and discover it reversed in the deck.

That’s strong stuff…

Straight up.. this isn’t the easiest of effects to perform. It IS an effect you can master with a couple of days practice. If you are a skilled card guy.. you may be performing this within 30 minutes or so. There are three sleights to perform that are well known to cardicians. Chris gives ‘thanks’ to Asi Wind for a method made known by Asi.. I think on his Acaan.

I would give you the sleights, except it would be too easy for some of you to watch the video and reverse engineer this effect. I’m not going to do that to Chris.. I will step out and say this.. you should probably perform this effect within a 180 degree radius.. as you do need to perform a turn-over pass..(not complicated) and you have to be aware of appearances. If you can conceal your pass.. no limits.

All else I can say is.. go to this link and watch the performance video. This will give you a good idea of how straight-forward this effect can be. It has my recommendation and is worth far more than ten bucks. This is something you’ll use for many years to come.

Available through Murphy’s Magic and their associates..

https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=66850

Rick Carruth for The Magic Roadshow

https://www.facebook.com/RMworldmusic/videos/301159564578937/?t=37