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Liam Montier – Any Shuffled Deck Self Working Impromptu Miracles The Hype: This is the ULTIMATE collection of totally impromptu, any shuffled deck in use, self-working card tricks ever! Every single routine featured can be done from a borrowed shuffled deck, with no sleight of hand or prior setup needed. Someone hands you a deck, and you’ll be ready to fry their minds with TEN incredible self-working miracles. And these are NOT transparent, underwhelming tricks. We are talking seriously impressive, reputation making magic. Self-working these routines may be, but they will still make you look like a card magic ninja! EVERY routine starts from a borrowed, shuffled deck in use. Zero sleight of hand required. Use ANY deck of cards Be ready to perform anywhere, any time with any deck. Interstellar OOTW
My Take: Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. What really amazes me is the number of books he actually publishes. An enormous number and each and every book is high quality. How does he do it? I suspect he has a team of gremlins locked in his back chained to a bank of typewriters. There is just no way one person could be this prodigious. Until Liam Montier came onto the magic scene. It seems that he puts out a new DVD every time I turn around and each one is a gem. This new one is no different. If you have ever been someplace and someone tossed you a deck of cards and asked to see a trick, this is for you. Even if the deck is beat up, dirty and has puppy pictures on the back. This is for you. Here are the tricks Liam shares with you. Insterstellar OOTW – Paul Curry’s Out of This World is one of the all time classics in magic. Normally it requires you to sneak off and set the deck up. Using a bit of misdirection, Liam shows how to set the deck up right under your spectator’s nose. He also has a little addition that eliminates the usual tedious counting. Mates –Deck is shuffled and three prediction cards are reversed in deck. A card is selected then revealed by the magician. The three prediction cards are used to count down to the three mates of the selected card. Placement is subtle and deceptive. Liam’s silly patter actually adds to the trick’s climax. Gemini Location – Karl Fulves’ Gemini Twins effect is used to locate selected cards instead of as a force. Inspired by Annemann idea. Liam adds his method to assure you won’t forget the cards you are using. (Good for us old guys with short memories). Silly Questions – Based on a John Carey effect. Nice use of the plunger principle allows you to just make up a series of silly questions. As the questions actually have nothing to do with the trick, you can have a great deal of fun with this. Base your questions on your audience or if at a corporate gig, use questions about your client’s business. Wheel of Fortune – Based on a Martin Gardner math trick and inspired by a Steven Tucker effect. A prediction is made and a number of cards picked by the spectator are dealt around in a circle. A number is chosen and the cards counted to that number twice. Both cards landed on turn out to be the ones predicted. Trick is simplistic but saved by the presentation. Jack’s Poker – Spectator receives a poker hand, decides which one card would improve the hand then returns the cards to the deck. She then cuts the deck and says the value and suit of the needed card only to find they she has cut right to the needed card. Procedure is rather bold but effective. Salto Triumph – Here is something you don’t see everyday. A self working Triumph. This is probably the easiest version you will ever see and it is good. Magician and spectator each choose a card and return it to the deck. Half the deck is turned over, shuffled into the other half but when the deck is ribbon spread, all the cards except the selections have righted themselves. Probably my favorite trick on the DVD. Last To Turn Up – Spectator deals three hands of five cards then selects a card. This is added to the pile of her choice and the piles are stacked up, then counted out with one card faceup, then the next face down. The last card remaining is the selection. This is a trick you can perform over Skype or video messaging. Invisible Dice – A prediction card is removed from deck and set aside. The spectator is given an “invisible die” and told to roll it. Six cards are shown and the spectator remembers the card at the number “rolled”. The prediction is shown and then inserted into the deck. The spectator gives the selected number and a count to that number reveals the selected card. Another nice use of Bill Simon;s Prophecy Move. One Over the Eight – Liam’s take on the Butterfly Effect. Three people each shuffle part of a deck. The deck is reassembled and the magician pulls out a prediction card. Eight cards are moved from the deck and each of the spectators and the magician takes two cards of their choice. Cards totaling the two cards for each are dealt down. When completed, the card matches the selection. For my money, this is really the only weak routine on the disk. I am a bit of a math geek and the first time I watched the video, the method was very obvious to me. It may be a real stunner for people without the math skills and Liam’s audience seems to be fooled. Just not for me. Conclusion: Big Blind has been consistently pumping out great quality DVD’s and this is just their latest. I always look forward to anything coming from their stable. Whether you have no card skills at all or you can do all of the knuckle busting stuff, this would be a good addition to your library. And, if, like Stephen King, Liam has a team of gremlins chained up in his basement, I hope he keeps them working there. |
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