The Vault – Distant Assembly by Alejandro Navas – A Review

This is the Ad Copy:

Alejandro Nava’s brings us an Incredible Aces Assembly effect that happens in the spectators own hands!
Three of the Aces disappear from the spectator hands and reappear with the selected Ace in an impossible location even with the spectator’s on the other side of the world.

You can perform this:

– On virtual and live performances
– To more than one spectator at the same time
– With or without gimmicks

Once you see the power of this effect, Distant Assembly will stay in your repertoire forever!

My Thoughts:

There’s no way to deny the emergence of virtual performances. A recent article in a major publication declared virtual magic is here to stay.. regardless of when we once again revive live performances. I can’t argue with that…

Alejandro Navas, creator of The Evolution Project and Evolution Project 2, is one of the foremost innovators of interactive card magic. Both of the above projects feature several different effects for live or zoom presentations. DISTANT ASSEMBLY is an individual effect that requires somewhat more instructions.. and, I assume, the decision was made to offer it as a stand-alone effect. I certainly don’t have a problem with that…

I have sought out virtual effects for months. I meet online with friends every two weeks and am constantly looking for something I hope will give them reason to pause and ask.. ‘..how the hello did you do that?’. So far, I feel I’m batting .000 with my magical buddies. I did get an ‘ooh’ or ‘ahh’ once.. but I think they just felt sorry for me.

Thank goodness for DISTANT ASSEMBLY…

I will say, up front, this is the BEST virtual effect I’ve seen in my months of looking. There is a psychological aspect to this effect that will fool the dickens out of 95% of all magicians AND the general public. I am going to recommend this effect to any and all readers of my reviews and the Magic Roadshow. It’s a $15.00 download.. and worth every penny.

What happens is this… The magi takes four aces out of his deck. The audience, also equipped with their own deck, does the same. The Aces are laid out in a certain order and the audience follows suit. The cards are put face-down on top of each Ace. After a brief series of moves, the magi and the audience each place an Ace and three random cards under their .. uh.. derriere. Now, the other three packets, which were each shown to contain an Ace, are all shown to now contain random cards only. Finally, the Ace and three odd cards under your rear end are revealed to be all Aces. This not only happens for the magi.. but for the spectators as well. Because of a number of convincers along the way, this final outcome appears impossible.

The instructional video runs just over 21 minutes.. and includes a full performance and detailed instructions. I’m not going to say this is a perfect video.. but it is well suited to present one effect. The sound is slightly unsteady, but not annoying. Camera angles of the audience members could have been more inclusive of their hands, but this is remedied before videos end.

Three gaff cards are needed. You may already have them. If not, you can easily make your own with cards and glue (or double face tape). Despite the magi using three gaffs, the audience doesn’t need anything other than a regular deck to achieve their magic. One thing about virtual.. you can get away with these home-made gaffs rather easily on camera..

Again, I think this is a very unique effect. The affect on the audience WILL be dramatic. I don’t normally go all in on a single effect.. but I think this one is worth it.

Check out the video demo on Murphy’s Magic site to get a better idea of how it plays out… (You’ll see a number of big name performers, like Dynamo and Dani DaOrtiz, who have some very good comments about DISTANT ASSEMBLY..)

$15.00 .. Available as an instant download from Murphy’s Magic and their associates
https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=69655

Review by Rick Carruth