CIB: Cards In Bag

Ken Weber warns us amateurs to be wary of tricks that dazzle more because of the method than the effect. CIB exploits a method dazzling enough to have fooled Penn & Teller — and me. The basic effect, one permitting infinite variations, is that any number of cards, freely selected or predetermined (the four aces, for example) are shown to be the only cards reversed in a deck that has been shuffled with complete abandon and freedom by any and all. Cards can be reversed, turned face up, end for end, riffle shuffled, Hindu shuffled — you name it. The selection of cards (if that’s what you choose to do) as well as the mixing is TOTALLY FREE and can be left ENTIRELY to the spectators. The deck is returned to the magician, who, with the deck held inside an otherwise genuinely empty bag, manages to right the entire deck so that all cards are face down with the exception of the selected (or predetermined) cards! The trick comes with several videos explaining all of the above, plus two handlings that dispense with the bag, one by Dominique Duvivier and one by Christian Engbloom. (The Engbloom variation is stunning, but I know I cannot do it reliably and cleanly enough to risk it in public, but maybe you could.)
The trick is “easy to do,” with the caveat that considerable practice is needed to perform the necessary maneuvers in a timely fashion.
So with a bit of work, the effect of CIB can be as stunning as the brilliantly clever method. I love this!

Overall this is a good trick. However, I was a little disappointed to find the supplied bag is more of a fancy version of a PE kit bag or satin wash bag than what's seen in the advertising videos.

For £50+ I was expecting to have the bag seen on the promo videos included. The one supplied is quite a bit smaller, which means you don't have the same amount of space to do the necessary manipulations of the deck. It's still possible, but you would definitely benefit from having a wider bag. I also don't like the shiny, satin material. It's quite slippy, even on the inside, which makes keeping your hands covered a little more difficult.

The decks I received are great and the methodology is genius. I'd have given a higher rating if all the props supplied were as good as the decks.

I don't know if this trick would appeal to a hobbiest. It's definitely more of a formal performance piece than something you'd show to friends down the pub.

It'll definitely be going in to my parlour set, I'll just need to get a better bag made up.

The effect is nothing short of excellent and the decks are excellently made. I have 2 snags however:
The link to the instructions was not working when i purchased the effect but this is not the end of the world.
The other thing and the most important for me is that the bag provided is not the same bag in the video and the top is too narrow to comfortably do all of the manoeuvres and despite the method being absolutely brilliant what you get is something that is quite basic and for £50 i would have liked to see a cloth and wider bag as opposed to an artificial material.
Other than that it is perfect and i'm sure a bag of cloth material and wide could be made easily.

I think I need a lot more practice to truly master this trick. The bag supplied was not particularly of good quality and instructions were poor. I don’t think therefore you will be able to do this trick without patience and practice, practice. I am a mentalist so therefore this is not probably a fair assessment of the trick as I think it is geared really towards card magic.