The Trilogy: Tricks

The video and audio quality was crystal clear, the navigation simple (though the tricks could have been ordered in something other than random fashion), and the over the shoulder video shots useful. The teaching was clear and never left anything out, though it would have been nice to hear a little about common mistakes or good ways to present.

I did a whole half-triangle chart weighing each trick against the other and got the tricks in order of (what I think is) easiest to hardest. The reviews for the individual tricks are given below in that order.


hand to mouth: The participant pushes a card into a fan and it appears in the magician's mouth. --> This is a great trick for beginners (the "swoop" force in the beginning isn't even necessary, though it looks nice and makes sense) because it is so easy and is so hard hitting. I showed it to a friend at school and she jumped around screaming "holy ****!" in the hallway for a number of seconds. We're at a private Christian school where people do not shout profanities, so that's pretty impressive. Of course, most deduce that the card they stuck in wasn't the real card, so the trick is somewhat weak in that sense, but it is very versatile, so that problem can be solved. It's also stronger if followed up with another trick like subway so the spectator doesn't think about how the trick was done. (You can actually place the card in your mouth into the spread at the beginning of collectors.) This works well in a jumping card routine. (3/3) Personal favorite.


subway: A card is pushed in one packet and out of another. --> I like this one a lot, though it, like collectors, only gets moderate reactions. (Not at all a bad thing, really. Though it can be annoying to get blank stares as one does the queens then get a scream when one does hand to mouth. Yeah.) There's no set up, and the sleight happens so early on that it seems like nothing happens until the trick itself occurs. This is a good solid idea, though it's not particularly versatile and I can't think of combining it with anything other than hand to mouth. (3/3) Personal favorite.


69: This is a lovely packet trick in which four sixes turn into four nines. --> This gets great reactions just because it's so original. With Chris Kenner's four for four switch you can make it look like four nines are being lost in the deck, then take the sixes and turn them into the nines. Very, very nice, and flourishy, which is nice for a packet trick. It seems to catch people off guard enough that they in my experience have never thought of the fairly obvious method. You could go from this trick into the queens and then into collectors if you wanted to routine. There's enough solid color on a nine that the vanishes in the queens would look sweet, as would the appearances in collectors. (3/3) Personal favorite.


hofzzy ozbourne: A miraculous discovery, then a miraculous transpoduction (transposition and production in one). --> Upon watching it I really liked the transpoduction ending, and was glad to see that the sleights involved aren't too too difficult, though the riffle force is rather knacky. It's a very versatile effect, so you can switch things around, take them out, and change them with other things. There is a set-up, but you can get into it while preforming. You need the aces, so it's fun to throw in real time in the beginning (or part way through) or the riffle shuffle ace production in everythingelse. (Or Four by Aaron Fisher. Or anything, really.) This trick is a bit of an exception because it takes closer to a minute to do and isn't quite as visual. It's one of my favs. (3/3) Personal favorite.


card across: A card jumps from packet to packet. --> I don't do this one because I find the final sleight uncomfortable, though I might work on it in the future. It works well as a start for hand to mouth, so one could potentially do a card across-hand to mouth-subway routine. Some of the movement in the first part of the trick is somewhat excessive, but that can be dealt with easily. All in all, not too remarkable, but no problems, either. (3/3)


hedburg's peak: A transposition of the top and bottom card that actually doesn't happen. --> This trick has a really good idea behind it; finding patter is fun with this one. You can actually work it out so the person thinks that the initial part of the trick isn't really happening (you're only making them think it's happening). Or not. In that way it's versatile, and it's fairly add-on-able mechanically, as well. Apparently there's an extended version in andthensome. (3/3)


swiss made A card is stuck in the middle of the deck, then a spin change is executed. Basically, it's just a spin change with an extra sleight to make it look smoother. --> Upon first watch this trick really didn't do much for me. It seemed as if the five was switching with the three (not turning into it, which by the motion of the card just isn't believable) but the three was face up and... It was obvious something tricky had happened, and I only saw exactly what I was supposed to see. The clean up for the change also looked a little awkward. All in all it's not a bad trick (the two sleights are good ones, especially the first), but I won't be using it as given. (1.5/3)


collectors: Two cards are buried in the deck and are flashily appeared sandwiched between four aces. --> This is a nice trick, though reactions are never more than moderate. (You're the one "losing" the cards in the deck, and you're the one finding them. They know you have mad skills after popping that mad mecka flourish but are still fairly impressed.) Though one move is moderately knacky the ending is quite visual. There is a set up with no hopes of getting into on the fly unless you do the queens trick and the connector described in everythingelse. (2/3)


tivo 2.0: A clear transposition. --> Nothing remarkable about this trick; it just looks good. The whole trick is done with the cards close to the deck, so it's good for tight circumstances. (3/3)


the queens: Four queens are vanished one by one, then reappeared. --> It's super visual, super flourishy, and a D&D trademark. I've been mentioning it through the whole review. If you want people to know you have mad sleight of hand skills, do this trick. Collectors really does put a great finish to this effect, if you can master it. ("It" referring to the queens. Learning collectors is scratching your nose in comparison.) It's actually more for a flourishing routine than a magic one, but it can go either way. (3/3)


twinsplit remix: A three is split into a two and an ace. In a bonus, and eight can be fissioned into fours then twos then aces. --> This is super knacky and super angley, but if you can get it down people with love it. It's not the most brilliant trick (as in difficulty of invention), but will certainly be remembered by the spectator. (2/3)


tivo transpo: Another clear transposition. A little more rustic. --> Don't worry; this one isn't any more remarkable than it's second version; just a little bit more knacky. (3/3)


deja vu: A transposition that seems to happen before it happens. --> This trick combines hedburg's mind bendy-ness and hofzzy's longer length and tabled cards. There are two difficult sleights to learn, and it's very important that you've got them down well. But when you do you'll be rewarded with a really sweet trick that gets people interested. No way they can figure this one out. It's somewhat versatile and requires a minor set up, so I've come up with an alternate beginning that shows the aces outright and makes the spectator think there's a red and black on top and bottom. I like doing it in a slow, relaxed manner, letting each phase sink in. (3/3) Personal favorite.


All in all, these are thirteen good tricks without a single dud, and all can be used on real people all the time. Most are somewhat angley in that they can't be looked at from the side and some can only really be seen by one person, but other than that they are fully practical. Most are best for "show me a trick" type situations and not so much for routines, though if you combine them together like I've shown you can turn them into the time-equivalent of other tricks. They're sure to wake your spectators up.

Of course, value is the critical value. Bought alone, the tricks DVD ends up costing $2.30 per trick. Not bad, considering that they are some of the more worthy 1-on-1's at a price of $5 over there. If you buy the whole Trilogy it ends up being more like $1.75 per trick, or thereabouts. This has been my first set of really good tricks, and I am very happy with it. Now excuse me as a I go work on the queens...
 
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Nov 10, 2008
149
0
Upstate NY
I think it depends... Queens was super easy for me, because i have a understanding and practice of Sleight of hand, but depends! If one uses the Clipshift for the last vanish it's the hardest, otherwise it's pretty easy!
 
You make a good point; for someone with a good amount of experience in card manipulation the actual moves wouldn't be too hard to perform. The tricky part for me is getting it perfectly smooth. And this is a trick whose value is in its smoothness. But yeah, I can see how for others it might not be the hardest trick of the lot. I might do a revaluation of the index.

Edit: I have now reordered the tricks.
 
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