Mailbag #118

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Can you provide any additional information on the billet switch you mentioned in [a trick in the last book]? I’ve been getting into billet technique lately and like the look of the switch that was demonstrated in the appendix. —FB

Sadly, there’s not too much to add to the description I wrote in the appendix:

I act as if I’m going to open the billet in my left hand, but I just sort of touch my hands together and start unfolding the fingerpalmed billet in my right hand while curling my left fingers in. This move probably has a name in the world of billet technique, but to me, it’s just: “The Most Obvious Thing You Would Do To Switch In A Billet.”

Keep this in mind as you get into billet work… Normal humans aren’t on the lookout for a billet switch. As magicians, when we see someone write something on a little piece of paper, we already have it in mind there’s a good chance it will get switched. But that’s not at the front of regular people’s minds. What they are on the lookout for is anything that feels strange.

Magicians often use an awkward handling, that they think looks more fair, rather than a casual handling that is perhaps less objectively “clean.”

I wrote a post here once on Casualness vs. Clarity. With billet technique, I believe you should almost always favor casualness over clarity.

The reason you like the look of the billet switch in that GIF is because there’s no weird pause or unnatural action. Not because of some great technique on my part. The only additional bit of information I would give is that the billet that’s fingerpalmed should be ready to be unfolded, whatever that means to you. For me, it means holding it like this.

Then I just push that little dangly part forward with my thumb to start the unfolding.

If I was just getting into billet work, I would film myself handling a billet “normally” with no subterfuge. How do I hold it? How do I fold it? How do I unfold it? How do I take it from one hand to the other?

Then I would look for techniques (or create them) that are most similar to the way I already move. I would avoid awkward techniques, even if they’re technically “cleaner.”

Regarding the Jerxian Quick Start Guide:

Great. Really good notes. Thank you.

I was surprised by the step of saying “just kidding” but I’d imagine it’s a great setup to “except for this which is 100% real”.—JF

Yes, it’s a set-up for that moment, but really the purpose is just to be extra clear. At that moment, I’m prioritizing clarity over good magic or an affecting experience.

This assumes I’m performing for someone who doesn’t know me well.

I perform the trick. Then I give the fantastical explanation. What I don’t want them to think is that:

  1. I’m a lunatic, and I really believe the story I’m telling.

    or

  2. I’m a weirdo, and I want them to believe the story I’m telling.

That’s the reason for pulling the rug out from under the premise so quickly.

I like to give them a beat where they’re not sure what to think, but then clarify it for them quickly.

Do you think it’s too magician-y to carry around a Sharpie marker?—AJ

At this point in history, I don’t think it’s any weirder to carry a Sharpie than it is to carry any other writing implement with you.

If you look at the EDC subreddit and search Sharpie, there are a lot of non-magicians who carry a Sharpie every day.

That being said, the members of an EDC subreddit might not be the best measurement for what is “normal.”

My concern wouldn’t be that it seems “magician-y” so much as that it seems overly prepared. Which I generally want to avoid. So I don’t ever just have a Sharpie floating around in my pocket (despite what you assumed was the outline of a Sharpie Mini in my pants).

If I need a Sharpie for something, I’ll carry one around in my bag. This feels more natural to me and less like I’m Mr. Markerboy, the guy who left the house this morning planning to show someone this specific trick with a marker.

Until June...

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This is the final post for May. New posts will begin again on Monday, June 3rd. The next issue of the newsletter will be sent to supporters on Sunday, June 2nd.

The publishing rights to two of the posts I made this week have been purchased, and those posts will be disappearing from the site by the end of the month. Just FYI.

I’m curious how your daily work flow is managed. I understand you often work at coffee shops and such but do you have a tool that keeps you disciplined or a unique to-do list which has worked well for you? Sounds like you have multiple writing projects so I’m curious how you decide to divide your time or if you have real or pretend deadlines set up. —JF

This will be of use to no one, but it’s the most beneficial thing I’ve done for my productivity recently. It will really only work for people who create their own schedule.

The issue started because for years I’ve been trying to craft a schedule that works for me. Like maybe I should do work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and keep Wednesday free for errands and other things. Or maybe I should focus on work for the first half of the day Mon-Fri. Then tackle personal productive activities for the second half, and every other Sunday I’ll do some sort of self-care exercise. Blah, blah, blah.

My schedule is fucked up because I have my magic-related work which involves a lot of writing, but also a lot of meeting up with people to test out tricks and ideas for the newsletters and books. And then I have my other non-magic related work which requires a different type of approach and scheduling. And every scheme I came up with to plan out my time would solve one problem but create another. I’d always end up screwing myself over in some area of life: my magic work; my non-magic work; my everyday tasks and errands as well as productive time for exercise, learning, etc; and my relaxation/recovery time.

I was constantly rejiggering my schedule trying to get it right. And finally I came to a realization. I couldn’t get my schedule to work because I was trying to divide everything up on a seven day week schedule, and what I had to do just didn’t divide well by seven.

It did, however, divide up into a good five day “week.”

So now I operate on my own made-up calendar. With six 5-day “weeks” every month. The “week” always starts on the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th of each month. (With 31 day months I just have an extra bonus day at the end of the month.)

I had to come up with my own day names: Dawnday, Blossomday, Frostday, Twilightday, Moonday. Each day has its own purpose and concentration.

The plus side is that I’ve never been more focused and organized with my time. Everything fits so well for me in this structure.

The downside is that my friends think I’m a little crazy for creating my own calendar. And I rarely have any idea what day it actually is.

Something like this wouldn’t work if you have a traditional Monday-Friday job. It would just be unnecessary. But it might be worth considering if you make your own schedule. You might find the things you need to do are better broken up along some different schedule. Maybe three 10-day “weeks” a month. Or seven 4-day weeks. Or ten 3-day ones.

I know it sounds a little crazy, but if the ideal schedule for the work you do is two days on followed by one day off, and you’ve been trying to correlate that with a 7-day week, you will drive yourself nuts the rest of your life. Might as well just go with your own thing.

What is your current note-taking app/set-up? —OU

At the moment, I don’t use anything special. I just use Apple’s Notes app. I have it set up so the Action button on the iPhone automatically opens my primary note where I dump in ideas, thoughts, quotes, or anything of any nature that I want to follow up on later. Then every week or so I go through that one long “brain-dump” note and put the ideas where they belong.

Another note-related thing I’ve been using lately is a keyboard notepad like this.

It sits in front of your laptop or desketop keyboard.

I find it to be the least distracting way to capture notes and ideas that come to me while I’m working. I don’t need to change the screen on my computer or pick up my phone. Both of those things can end up derailing me.

So with this, I just have the idea, pick up my pen and jot it down. Then at the end of my work session I transfer those written notes to something digital.

I like watching movies, but when I’d put a movie on in my home, I would find myself dicking around on my phone or otherwise being distracted. In a way, I was thinking, “Well, I’m watching this movie for entertainment, and I’m on my phone for entertainment, so what difference does it make?” But I realized I wasn’t getting the most out of my movie-watching time. I’d barely remember anything about the movie, and it was kind of a waste of two hours.

So now I have a new movie-watching approach. I call it Movies as Meditation. I put my phone in the other room and don’t allow any distractions (except the person I’m with and maybe some snacks). The idea is that this isn’t solely for purposes of entertainment. Now, watching a movie is an act of focus and giving my attention over to something completely. Ultimately, I end up enjoying the movie much more. But I sort of trick myself into that by coming at watching a movie as an exercise in mindfulness.

Some other music-related tips related to Tuesdays post:

  1. The weekly Pitchfork Selects mix is a good place to find new music if you like a wide-range of genres.

  2. Here is the “minimum effective dose” to keep yourself somewhat attuned to the music scene. Find a good-sized subreddit for a genre of music you like. For example, indieheads for indie music, or hiphopheads for hip-hop. Once a month, go to the site and choose it so it sorts by the “top” posts over the last “month.” Check out the top 10 or 20 posts and take a listen to see what grabs your attention.

  3. I generally don’t have a lot of interest in top 40 type music. But I do like to follow this guy on youtube. He’s a musical genius. He can be critical of modern pop music being generally pretty terrible. But he listens with an open mind and gives a lot of respect to modern performers where deserved.

See you back here on the third!

Splooge: Finding New Music

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Do you use google sheets to keep track of your music listening or artists? How do you find new music? Is there an app like letterboxed or something (I've googled and searched and would not bug with this email if I'd found something great). —TH

I’m a big believer in the importance of music in people’s lives.

I know some people don’t really care about music. They give it no thought.

People who will go on a road trip and just drive along in silence, accompanied only by the sound of their tires on the pavement and their own Slim-Jim-farts muted against the car seat.

People whose first dance wedding song was At Last by Etta James because…well… I don’t know. Seems good enough.

People who don’t have a carefully curated sex mix for when they hook up with someone new. They just pop in this CD of “Cool Rock” and pump away.

But for most people, music is (or at one point was) an essential element to their lives. Essential for connection to the world around them. Essential for feeling out and processing emotions.

Despite that, if I ask most people over the age of 28 to name three new bands from the last 5 years, they will be unable to do so.

When we’re young, music can feel so vital, but still a time comes for most people where they’re just listening to stuff they already know or the occasional new song they’ve become familiar with because it’s overplayed on the radio.

Unless you have a system or a process to keep new music coming into your life, it can be easy to get left behind and fall off the path of keeping current.

Here is the system I use to find new music.

There are two aspects to it.

The Scattershot Approach

Every week, Apple Music puts out a New Music Playlist that is based on the music you already listen to. (I assume Spotify does something similar).

So once a week I’ll go through that list and note bands that I already like that have released new music. I’ll add those albums to a list of albums I want to check out.

I’ll also skim through the other music in the playlist and see if there’s anything else that appeals to me. Any song that sounds good, I’ll add to a Weekly Music mix that I’ll listen to throughout the following week.

At the end of the week, I’ll reassess the songs in that mix:

  • If I decide I’m not that into them, I’ll delete them.

  • If I like the songs, I’ll add them to a playlist that is sort of my Personal Radio Station. This playlist consists of all the music that is new to me over the past year.

  • If I love the songs, then I’ll make it a point to look more into the band and get their latest full album.

The Birthday Candle Approach

When you’re using a match to light candles on a birthday cake, you light the first candle, and then you use that candle to light the other candles.

Similarly, when I find a band I like, I use that band to find more new music.

  • I find out what bands this group has toured with

  • If they’re on a niche label, I look into other bands on that label

  • I find out if the members are in other bands

You can also use this site called Music Map to enter a band name and see what other bands are similar to them.

But perhaps the most fruitful technique along these lines is the following, which works best for more obscure artists. When I find a band I really like that isn’t that well known, I’ll put that band name into google, along with “best of,” their album name, and the year their album came out.

For example, last year I got into a Chicago indie band called Cusp.

So I put Cusp “best of” “you can do it all” 2023 into google.

And that search leads me to some other people who also thought this emerging band had one of the best albums of the year. And then I can see what other bands they were into, which will likely lead me to some other music I might appreciate, because we’ve already demonstrated similar taste for this lesser known thing.

Obviously, it’s not quite as significant if we share an appreciation for something that’s wildly popular. “Oh, you like Marvel movies? Crazy! Me too!” That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll share other similar tastes. But when you find someone who appreciates the same unsigned band, independent film, small-town, or out-of-the-way restaurant, you can often use them to guide you towards other things that will appeal to you as well.

The final thing to do is to make listening to new music part of a habit.

For me, I try to listen to my Weekly Music mix (which is a few songs long) and a newly released album each day. Usually it’s the same album for about a week. So that’s about 45 minutes to an hour a day of listening to music. I’m doing other stuff at the same time. I’m not just sitting in a chair staring into the void.

At the end of the week, I’ll decide what songs from the Weekly Music mix and the new album are going to go into my Personal Radio Station and I transfer them over. I listen to the Personal Radio Station whenever I’m in the mood to listen to new-ish music.

Then, once a month, I take anything from my Personal Radio Station that was added more than a year ago, and I transfer those songs into my primary playlist of all the songs on my Apple Music.

This system requires something like Spotify or Apple Music to work. But if you’re the sort of person who is going to benefit from an influx of new music in your life, then you should already be subscribed to one of those.

Splooge: On Getting Older

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When I put out the call for Splooge questions, I was surprised that most of the ones I received were philosophical in some way. Not practical. Which I guess makes sense. If I’m not talking specifically about magic, I’m unlikely to have practical advice. So I can see why I didn’t get questions like, “How do you get Strawberry Fanta stains out of a suede couch?”

But the thing about the Fanta question is that at least if I had an answer for that, I would be confident that the information I had was somewhat useful. With philosophical ideas, there’s no way of knowing. The stuff that makes a difference to me may be completely meaningless to you. So I can’t guarantee you’ll resonate with them in any way. But, oh well.

Now for the first email…

I've been following you since the early days of the Magic Circle Jerk so over twenty years now. This is probably just a function of the fact that you’re anonymous but you don’t seem to age even though you must now be in your mid/late 40s(?). I was wondering if you had any thoughts on aging. I’m in my 50s now and have been struggling with that feeling of ‘winding down’ for the past few years. This might not be the type of question you were looking for, but I’d appreciate any thoughts you had. —FE

Well, think about it this way… If I, in my 40s, give you some advice about “getting older,” there is going to be someone in their 60s or 70s who is going to read this and think, “What the fuck does he think he knows about it? He has no clue.”

But this criticism is actually the key to thinking about getting older.

Because there is someone who is 90 years old looking at the 60 and 70-year-olds and thinking, “You don’t have any clue what it means to be ‘old.’”

As we age, it’s so easy to focus on the time we wasted or the things we used to do that we can’t do now. If you’re 50, you might spend time thinking of all the things you used to do in your 20s—the fun you had, the activities you engaged in, the places you went.

Try doing the exact opposite. Instead of imagining the great things about being younger, imagine a terrible future for yourself.

I’ll do this a few times a year. At night, as I lay in bed, I’ll imagine myself in my late 90s. My body is weak and feeble. Every movement is painful. My mind is cloudy. My memory gone. My penis a useless bit of overcooked ziti between my legs. So many friends and loved ones are in the ground. I’m alone and lonely. Forgotten by most and a burden to the rest.

Oh, what I would give to rewind the clock 50 years and do it all over again, but really live this time. To appreciate everything and not take anything for granted.

I force my mind into that reality as I drift off to sleep. And in the morning I awake, and it’s worked! 50 years have evaporated overnight. I’m young again! My mind is sharper. Movement is easier. The ziti between my legs… occasionally al dente!

That is my ritual for when I find myself being a little bit of a bitch about getting older.

Try to appreciate where you are now. The truth is, the majority of people who are even just 10 years older than you would sacrifice most of their material positions if they could be the age you are now. And that’s true whether you’re 30, 50, 80, or 100.

If you have the feeling life is “winding down” it’s because you’re not doing a good job of creating a future for yourself. Start learning something new. Schedule something for this weekend. Have something “big” you’re planning for in the next year. And then have some audacious goal that’s at least five years away (10 or 20 years or more is even better). Maybe you’re going to write a Marvel movie and get it produced, maybe you’re going to get a gig at the Magic Castle, maybe you’re going to save up enough money to take a 6-month trip around the world.

Of course life is dull if you don’t have anything on the horizon. You need to be proactive in this respect. “But I don’t know what I want to do.” Well, then just pick any bold goal. It does not need to feasible. It’s just something to keep you focused on the future and growing.

But it seems like a lot of work, right? Focusing your free time and energy on a goal? I know. But this pursuit is exactly the sense of youthful vitality you’re missing in your life. You can’t just wish for it. You have to uphold your end, which involves pursuing a passion.

Yes, it’s easier to be lazy. Yes, it’s easier to watch Netflix. There’s nothing wrong with that if that makes you happy. But then you can’t complain that things are “winding down.” Unless you are proactively building things for your future, you will have no choice but to live in the past.

Dustings #110

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This is a heads-up for supporters of the site who are currently at the $10 level.

Amazingly—and for the first time ever since we started producing books—no books got lost in the mail this year. I mean, some did get lost, but they eventually found their way back to me via the postal service. So I have a few extra copies of the last book, Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon, available. The link to buy these copies will be in the email that accompanies the newsletter at noon (New York time) on Sunday, June 2nd.

There are only a few copies and they will likely sell within minutes, which is why I’m letting you know about it now. So if you’re interested, you can make sure to be at your computer at that time to have the best chance of getting a copy.

Yes, i know about Copperfield. Waiting for more details to emerge before I have a take on it.

A couple of people asked what trick I was referring to in Tuesday’s post. The one where I wrote:

“Did you know there's a way to get people to forget something just by tapping a specific rhythm on the table? Apparently it's a rhythm that mimics something that occurs in the womb during the pre-memory/pre-consciousness phase of development. And it makes people very forgetful. I'll show you. I'm going to draw something on my phone, I want you to remember every element.”

The trick is A Cute Memory Loss which is part of the Jerx App, but you can find other tricks out there with similar premises. I was inspired by a Sankey trick using the Out to Lunch principle. The cool thing about ACML is that you can use their phone to record the whole thing (from your perspective). So they have this video recording of you showing them a drawing (that they sign) on your phone and you can make them forget one element of the drawing. It’s been a go-to impromptu piece for me for years.

This is kind of cool. It’s a compass that you can make point to any location you want.

At first I thought there might be some way to use it in a magical context where your friend doesn’t know it’s a special compass. But that seems unlikely. However, it still may have some use in a magic presentation insofar as it would be a unique way to guide someone wherever you want for some magical purpose.

It’s launching on kickstarter in a month or so.

I want to get your thinking about something.

Take a look at this effect by Mark Mason called Quartet.

Now, when I watch that trick, I think:

“That looks great.”

then

“I don’t know how he did that.”

then

“I bet if I could look at those cards, I’d know the answer.”

That is my experience of the trick as someone who has been studying magic for 30+ years.

And I pretty much assume that’s the exact experience a non-magician would have.

By my definition, the trick didn’t fool me. I just don’t know specifically how it works. And so, by my definition, it wouldn’t necessarily “fool” a layman.

So my question for you is… When it comes to tricks like this, which comes closest to how you feel about things:

I’m not trying to lead anywhere with this question, necessarily. Like I don’t have a future post in mind when I ask it. I’m just curious what the consensus is.

Remember, next week is Splooge week. Come back in June if you’re not interested in that content.

Going Two Levels Deep

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“I used magic to…”

“I influenced you to...”

“I’m using the power of my mind to…”

These are all explanations of what you just did. How did this thing just occur?

Magic.

Influence.

Mind power.

What do people do with these sorts of explanations?

They forget them or ignore them.

They’re essentially meaningless.

But if you go another level deeper in the explanation, then you’ll have something that is much more arresting and meaningful and less likely to be dismissed completely.

Let’s take it outside the world of magic first.

Let’s say you buy your spouse some flowers. You come home and give her the flowers. “Why did you buy me flowers?” she asks.

“Well, because I love you,” you say.

That’s a nice gesture and a nice sentiment. But in this case, the explanation of “love” is like the explanation of “by magic.” It doesn’t necessarily carry a ton of meaning (assuming you’ve been with this person for many years and shown your love to them in 1000s of ways previously). In fact, the “love” explanation might carry so little weight that it makes them suspicious. What did he do that he’s bringing me flowers? Is he feeling guilty? Did he screw something up?

But if your partner says, “Why did you buy me flowers?” and you say:

“Well, because I love you. I was just thinking this morning, how lucky I am to have you in my life. It gives me the confidence to handle all the uncertain elements of my day, knowing that I have your love and support waiting for me when I get home.”

All you’ve done is gone another layer deep in why you love them, but you can see that it feels more believable. And is probably less likely to be questioned.

Some examples:

Magic

You put a red sponge ball in your fist.

“I’m going to make this sponge ball change from red to green by magic.” [Snaps Fingers.]

vs.

“I’m going to make this sponge ball change from red to green by magic.” You hold your empty hand above the closed one with the sponge ball inside. You slowly and with significant effort close your empty hand into a fist. “If I get this right, the magic will condense the wavelengths coming from the ball changing the color from red to blue, hopefully.” [Opens fist.] “Ah, green. Close enough.”

Influence

“The order in which I set the cards down influenced you to touch the 10 of clubs.”

vs

“I don’t want you to see this as a row of cards. I want you to imagine you're back in elementary school and this is a row of children, and you’re picking teams before some sport or game. I want you to try and actually see some of your classmates faces on these cards. I’m thinking this visualization will influence you to pick the card I want you to.”

Mind-Power

“By the power of my mind, I predicted you’d pick the 4 of Spades.”

vs

“We all have the ability to imagine different outcomes for certain events. But what I’ve found is a type of meditation that trains your mind to allow the incorrect outcomes to fade away from my consciousness. It’s complicated. But imagine I mediate on what card you’re going to pick. And in my mind, it’s like going down a hallway with 52 different doors off the hallway—each with a different card behind the door. But each time I mediate on this question, there are fewer and fewer doors. Until eventually, I query my mind, and I go down the hallway, and there’s just one door. The door to the card you’ll pick. Now, you could say I’m just deluding myself, and because I’m expecting the options to shrink, they do. But I did this process last week to know what card you’d pick, and the only door remaining led me to the 4 of Spades. What did you get?”

None of these examples actually “explain” what’s happening fully. There is still an element of mystery or magic in regard to what actually happened. But by going another level deeper into how this happened, you give the experience more substance and give the audience more to get caught up in.

“This happened because: magic.” You can’t even hope someone would entertain that premise because there’s so little there to consider.

It’s like asking someone, “Why did that war break out?” And the other person says, “Oh, anger.” Like, okay, we get it. But that doesn’t really give anyone anything to think about.

Going another level deep in your pseudo explanation gives them more to get tangled up in regarding what they just experienced. It’s the first step in a presentation that has the chance to capture their imagination.

The O.D.D. Technique

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For the past twelve months or so I’ve been playing around with a technique that has proven to be very strong (but surprisingly weak in one area).

Let’s call it the O.D.D. technique. The Obscure Duplicate Deck technique.

What I would do is, whenever I would visit someone’s home who I knew I’d be seeing again in the future, I’d make note of what deck of cards I could borrow from them. And then, whether it was some “fun” christmas deck from the 80s, or a deck they got for turning in “Marlboro miles,” or an ugly floral bridge deck from the 70s—I would track down a copy of that deck online and buy it.

It’s surprisingly easy to find matching copies of most of these old decks. If your friend already has this in their junk drawer, it’s probably not some incredibly obscure deck that you can’t find anywhere or that would cost you a fortune to get a copy of. It’s most likely something they made 1000s of at one point in time, and you can find on eBay for a few dollars.

You might be able to get a peek at the name of the cards and who made them if your friend still has the case. If not—if they’re just wrapped in a rubber band or something—just search vintage [floral] playing cards on eBay. (Substituting in the theme of the deck for floral.)

I did this with 16 “obscure” decks over the last year and was able to track down all but one of them.

Now, your first idea is probably the same as my first idea. I’ve got this obscure deck that matches a deck in my friend’s house. I can do a totally impossible torn and restored card (or otherwise destroyed and restored card).

Well, I tried a trick along those lines three times when I started testing ideas with this technique. Each time they were blown away. Magic trailer demo responses. And then, two minutes later or twenty minutes later, they’d say, “You must have found another deck that looked like that and had the extra card with you.”

The problem is, a destroyed/restored item is such an impossibility that the deck being obscure just isn’t enough to make the card seem like a unique object. Had I combined it with some other deceptions—a faux signature, or a torn corner—I think that would have maintained the impossibility. But the idea was to do something that didn’t destroy this deck they’ve had for 50 years.

Here are some ideas that do work incredibly well with the O.D.D. Technique.

Stacking and switching the deck

This is so strong. There is zero heat on the deck switch. You can have them shuffle the deck in the living room and then say, “Actually, let’s do this on the dining room table.” And just put the deck they shuffled in your pocket and remove the partially or fully stacked one from your other pocket as you walk behind them to the other room. You can then do a full poker deal demonstration, or a story deck, or a deck matching routine, or a card memorization stunt, or anything at all that requires a stacked deck, and it just doesn’t seem to occur to people that you could have a duplicate deck. Nobody ever even hinted at that as a method it when I tested these ideas.

Teleportations

Cards moving from one packet to another. Or into the card box. Or into your pocket. Or whatever.

This was one I was most wary of after my failure with the torn and restored testing. But this ending up working brilliantly each time I tried it. The “impossibility” of the transposition wasn’t quite enough to get people to think, “Well, I guess the only way to do that is if he had a duplicate of that card from grandma’s old deck.”

The Rep Trick

When I introduced the concept of Reps, I described this trick. You have someone pick a card and return it to the deck. Say the Ace of Hearts. “I will find your card,” you say. And cut the deck to one card. The 4 of Clubs. “That’s not your card? Okay. Shoot. No, that’s okay. I can make this work. What was your card? The Ace of Hearts? Okay.” You then do whatever color change you want to turn the Four of Clubs into the Ace of Hearts. (The duplicate of the card you forced, which you’ve had on you the whole time.)

It’s a cool trick. You get your applause or whatever and things die down.

Here’s where it gets trippy.

“Do you have a marker?” you ask. Why? “Uhm, just so I can note that this is actually the Four of Clubs. So if you play cards with this deck in the future. I just need a marker or something.”

It’s then that they go through the deck and find another Ace of Hearts. What they had assumed had happened (that you cleverly switched the 4 for the Ace via sleight-of-hand) is now completely upended. They have two Ace of Hearts in the deck and no 4 of Clubs.

This is a weird situation where the trick itself is decent, but it’s the repercussion of the trick itself that really sticks with people.

You can get a lot out of this technique even if the deck isn’t obscure. Even if it’s a common deck. Most (non-magicians) are unlikely to think you brought a deck that matched the one in their home. So this can work well even if you’re just bringing along a red Bicycle deck.

But when you’re able to track down something that feels unique and personal to them (because it’s been in their family for decades) it’s obviously considerably stronger.