There is one technique out there which seems to be heavily relied upon, yet not discussed in any detail whatsoever in any of the literature; “Toying With The Deck”.
Allow me to just come out and say it; I, Tyler Wilson, am a terrible toyer.
This admission makes me feel inadequate and less of a man, but what can I say, I have troubles getting into Si Stebbins from a shuffled deck or setting up the Aces in CHaSeD order 26th from the top with the centre two reversed with the remaining Royal Flush Spade cards in between by simply “toying with the deck” as per the instructions. I’m ashamed.
What makes me feel worse is that nearly EVERYONE mentions this as an acceptable means to setup for tricks in front of an audience, so I feel like I’ve got to be missing out on one seriously hot and versatile technique. Someone really needs to write a book on this one topic and Giobbi needs to pound out a Card College P.H.D edition dedicated to resources such as “toying”.
Until this happens, may I please ask you authors to either describe your technique for setting up in front of an audience or just come out and tell us to set it up beforehand (I won’t think any less of you, I pinky swear). Teasing us by telling us to “toy with the deck” does no one any good.
Anyway, enough of my whining, I’ve got a wonderful new trick to share with you all:
Effect: The spectator thinks of any card and shuffles the deck thoroughly. He then proceeds to shuffle the deck face up into face down, no really, he legitimately shuffles face up into face down as much as he likes, honestly. After a few moments, the magician spreads the cards to show the entire deck has righted itself with the exception of the mentally thought of card. And as a kicker, the cards are turned over to show the deck is back in New Deck Order. Sweet!
Method: Toy with the deck.
Toying with the deck is much harder than people think.someone should really come up with a wind up deck, it will make toying with it much easier…
Hey Tyler,
I’ve seen you toying with a deck before. It’s not a pretty sight.
In the “real world” I never toy with a deck as it would really break the flow of the performance. However, recently I’ve been making use of the ploy (for want of a better word) when performing in more casual situations, such as at a bar or restaurant with friends. The dynamics are totally different, so I’m able to take advantage of the different social atmosphere. People are more talkative and relaxed in these situations, so I have plenty of time to “toy” if necessary (and to be honest, it rarely is).
Given that I have the image of someone who never puts down a deck of cards it’s acceptable for me to be constantly playing with a deck, even if I’m not looking down at the cards. That means, if I perform an effect that I know will make people want to ask questions, or discuss between themselves (which I welcome in such an informal situation) I have plenty of time to casually stack the deck, so long as I never look distracted from the conversation. Once the deck is stacked, I can put it down, or continue false shuffling until the conversation moves to me doing another trick. If it doesn’t – I just put the cards away and make use of the set up another time.
But, as I said, I rarely need to stack a deck so openly and I’d only ever do it in a social environment.
I believe Eric Mead discusses this in his new book Tangled Web. The problem most encounter when toying with the deck is that they are setting up for the very next effect. Audiences see through this. Tamariz is a master at setting up for something 2 or 3 effects down the line, the toying becomes invisible because of the routining. Certainly easier said than done. Try this, next time you’re working a set and you plan on doing Fechter’s Be Honest What is It?, setup the order of the cards in advance, put a crimp in the top card of this 4 card stack, perform several other routines, cut the crimp to the top, and go into the routine. I believe going into any routine ‘blind’ is much better than saying “let me take a couple of cards out of the deck”.
But then again, what do I know.
I have an effect I call Triumph UnMixed which sounds a lot like the mentioned effect here. I often “toy” with my cards too, which led me to this particular effect. You can check it out at “http://www.cardmsg.com/multimedia/cardmsg-triumph-unmixed.php”
Tyler
Got to agree with what you are saying. I wouldn’t think any less of the author if they just said set the deck up beforehand. I may however be a bit tempted to move on to the next offering in the book. At the same time I would also like them to discribe how they go about “TOYING WITH THE DECK” to get it set. It would make sense to elaberate a little on the setting up prosess, not go overboard but a bit more than “while toying with the deck get such and such in this order”
Hey Andi,
Yeah, I guess if the feeling of the performance is of separate individual tricks like in casual settings (rather than sets in a professional environment), there is plenty of time outside the “performance mode” (to quote Pit Hartling and Rafael Benatar) to just giver with the setups.
Bodine baby, I hadn’t read that part of Mead’s book when I wrote this, but you’re right, we tend to only think a step ahead instead of tearing a page from chess players’ books by thinking several moves in advance. Oh, and just to get the credits right, the real name of the routine you mentioned is “David Blaine’s Two Card Monte.”
CardMSG, you performed Hollingworth’s shuffle sequence nicely. Have you seen James Swain’s Perfect Triumph from Miracles with Cards? It’s a great Triumph that ends in new deck order, with even another surprise ending. Also check out Karl Hein’s The Heinstein Triumph for another version. The nice things about these routines are that the reversed card is in the exact same position as it should occupy in new deck order, creating a nice aesthetic. I think you’ll enjoy them, and thanks for sharing yours.
Clogged.
Tyler Wilson
That was hillarious, I was actually expecting a method, Silly Me. That’s a dream trick though if you do come across a method of toying, go ahead and let me know.
Regards
Ryan