Two Ed's Are Better Than One: Volume One

Mental Topper, M.I.N.T. Vol. 1

Can you believe this effect? You spread a deck face up so the spectator, Bill, can see it’s normal. You ask him to think of a card. You shuffle and cut the deck, deal the four top cards face down on the table, and instruct Bill to place his finger on one of these cards. Finally, ask him to call out the name of the card he thought of, and then turn the card over. He’s found his own card.

Yes, this is a stunning effect. Sometimes. About 75% of the time, you must use an out: the card is the right value, wrong suit. You get a nice climax when you turn over the other three cards, showing four of a kind—but it’s a pale shadow of the main effect.

The Method

A stacked deck is behind this miracle. In Marlo’s description, two faro shuffles must be performed. I believe these shuffles give you proof of randomness that is necessary when doing card magic.

Marlo realized that not everybody can do faro shuffles, so he gave a second method. I believe this method changes more than just the way the four cards are selected. As I discuss Method 2, you’ll see what I mean.

The Stack

We need four banks of cards, stacked from Ace to King, with random suits. The simplest way to generate the stack is to start with a shuffled deck, and spread through it and take the first Ace you see and drop it face up on the table. Then drop the first Two on top of it and so on until all four banks are completed.

Starting Out

Method 1

Take the deck from the card case, turn it face-up and start spreading it from hand to hand so Bill sees the cards are face up. At the same time, look Bill in the eye and begin speaking, saying something like this: “Normally, when you see a card trick, someone asks you to take a card from a shuffled deck.” You should time your spread so that you complete it about the time you finish speaking the line. Continue by saying, “All I want you to do is think of a card. It can be any card in the deck…except the Joker. Tell me when you’re ready.”

Method 2

Removing the faro shuffles from this method takes away an element of fairness from the trick. The spectator must believe the deck is fair. The best way to establish this is to allow the spectator to shuffle the deck. Therefore, you must switch decks after the spectator has shuffled. I perform seated, so all I have to do is have the stacked deck in my lap. When I finish a trick where I had the spectator shuffle, we all relax; I drop my hands in my lap as the people around the table react and talk about what they’ve just seen. I leave the shuffled deck in my lap and bring in the cooler. It never fails. For those who perform standing, there are many relatively simple switches published. In Mnemonica, try pages 211, 245, and 247. In Card College, Vol 4, you’ll find at least seven starting on page 865. And let’s not forget about Giobbi’s Art of Switching Decks. You’ll find more than you can deal with in there.

Of course, instead of a deck switch, a good false shuffle is of use. A simple, but effective one is the Oh Calcutta shuffle from The Award-Winning Magic of John Cornelius, page 39. Your left hand strips some cards from the top of the deck as in a normal Hindu Shuffle. Continuing, tilt the cards upwards somewhat and strip off the cards from the bottom of the pack.

There are many books and videos that teach false shuffles. A video I recommend is Doug Edwards on the Zarrow Shuffle.

After a false shuffle, a false cut is in order. Since you’re holding the cards in your hand after a faro shuffle, a single false cut to the table is in order now. Mel Stover’s “Winnipeg False Cut” from Frank Garcia’s Million Dollar Card Secrets fits. The deck is in the left hand held at the fingertips. The thumb is at the left side, index finger at the front and middle and ring fingers on the right. The right hand comes over the deck and grasps it with the thumb on the left long side and your middle and ring fingers on the right side. Your index finger is straight out over the top of the deck, touching at about the top-right corner and stretching toward the lower-left corner.

The fingers and thumb take the lower half of the deck off to the right. The index finger maintains its position as the halves separate—maintaining the illusion that it is still the top half. These cards are slapped on the table. The remaining cards are taken by the right hand and slapped onto those on the table.

One more convincer

Another convincer you might use to show that the deck is not prearranged is to use a face-up Charlier Shuffle, instead of a simple hand-to-hand spread.

Here’s how to do it: Start with the cards face up in the left hand. Spread off five to eight cards and place them in the right hand. Now, use your left-hand fingers to push off 5 – 8 cards from the bottom of the left-hand’s cards and place them on top of the cards in the right hand. Follow up by spreading off some more cards from the top of the left-hand’s cards and place them underneath the cards in the right hand. Keep alternating this action until you’re out of cards. Remember: Cards from the top of the deck go underneath those in the right hand. Cards pushed off from the bottom of the deck in the left hand go on top of those in the right hand.

As you learn this, you’ll notice that you’re holding a very disordered bunch of cards in your right hand.

Good! Keep doing it that way. What better way to prevent people from figuring out how the “magic” works than having the perpetrator of said miracles thought to be unskilled.

Now you’re almost done with the introductory part of the trick. All you have to do now is one of the following maneuvers: cut a middle-valued card (four to nine) to the face of the deck; or memorize the value of the deck’s current face card. I think it would be best if you always manage to have a seven at the bottom of the deck when you begin, but as long as you know what card is on the bottom, you’re OK. You must subtract the value of the bottom card from twelve to arrive at a value you will use in the following patter. Assuming the face card is a seven: 12 -7 = 5. Therefore, you will use the number five in the following demonstration. (As I hope you can see, you should avoid having a picture card at the bottom of the deck. A very low card would be a bit cumbersome, also.)

“OK Bill, are you thinking of a card?”

Bill will eventually say yes.

Locking the card into the parietal lobe

This bit of the presentation is the method. It brings the four cards with the thought of value to positions 1, 14, 27, and 40. It is the key to the two methods that follow.

You continue by saying, “For me to accomplish this miracle, you must send me both the suit and value of your card. Sending me the suit is rather easy; all you have to do is visualize it. Please close your eyes and imagine the picture of a single club, heart, diamond, or spade, floating above your head. Please close your eyes and do this now. Open your eyes when you’re done.”

When he opens his eyes, say, “Sending the value of the card is more difficult, as a number is an abstract concept. We must get that number in the parietal lobe of your brain by performing a physical action. What I would like you to do is move cards from the top of the deck to the bottom corresponding to the value of your card. For instance, if your card is a Five, move five cards from the top of the deck to the bottom, like this.”

You now take five cards, one at a time, from the top of the deck, and place them on the bottom. (Position check: a king should be on top of the deck.)

Continue by saying, “If your card is a Jack, count eleven cards, if it’s a Queen, count twelve, and for a King, count thirteen. Do you understand?”

Confirm that he understands, and continue. “To make sure I won’t be able to see what you are doing, I’ll turn my back.” Give him the deck, turn your back to him (if you are both standing, arrange yourselves back-to-back, a few feet apart), and ask him to do his stuff. Give him enough time to move thirteen cards, plus another bit to account for amateur card handling. Ask him to give you the cards when he’s done. With your back still turned, hold your left hand out to your side, ready to receive the cards. You now have two methods to bring the trick to a conclusion.

Method 1

Do two faro shuffles—or one faro and a riffle or overhand jog shuffle. The shuffles can be in-faros or out-faros or one of each. Your cut should be easy—you just need to cut to the card that’s the same value as the face card of the deck. The first shuffle must perfectly weave the top fourteen cards of each packet. You have three choices for the second shuffle. You can do another faro, only needing to do a perfect weave of the top two cards of each half.

You could also do a riffle shuffle, just holding back cards on each half so that you drop the top two cards of one half on top of the remaining few cards of the other.

You can also use an overhand shuffle. After making the cut, take one packet in the left hand, the other in overhand shuffle position in the right. Shuffle off two cards and injog the third, then shuffle off. Cut the injogged card and above to the table and complete the cut. There are now four cards of the same value on top of the deck. Do a false cut and deal the top four cards to the table in a row in front of Bill.

All that’s left is to ask him to put his finger on one of the four cards, call out the name of his thought-of card, and turn over the card he’s touching. If he’s hit, you have a miracle. Pick up the other three cards without showing them and put them on the deck. You’re done.

If not, congratulate him for coming so close. Then turn over the other three cards and say, “I had a premonition you’d almost get it right. To prove it, I gave you the other three Eights." [Naming the correct value.]

Method 2

If you don’t want to risk messing up the first faro shuffle, Marlo suggests another way of finding the four cards. Place the deck behind your back and say, “I’m going to try to find some cards, without even seeing them.” Wait a few seconds, and place the top card on the table. Now, take the next twelve cards and move them to the bottom. Take the current top card and place it on the table. Move twelve more cards to the bottom…continue this way until you’ve placed four cards on the table. End as in Method 1.

If the spectator messes up

What do you do if Bill calls out the Queen of Diamonds and turns over the Eight of Clubs? When spectators must follow your instructions without being supervised, there is always the possibility that they will mess up. So, you must have a strong out in this circumstance. This is a good time to have an Ultra Mental (Invisible) deck ready to show that you had a premonition that a spectator would think of a card, but would not be able to find it. Then use the Invisible Deck to show the reversed card is the one that the spectator was thinking of.

One more thing

Besides being easier to perform, Method 2 has the advantage of being able to be reset rather easily. This way, if you are in a situation where you might want to perform this more than once, you’ll be able to.

I should note that you do not want to repeat this if people who’ve seen it once can see it again. Sometimes, it’s better not to do a trick than to do it and have an unruly spectator say, “That’s not the way you did it for me! And make a fuss.