Nick Trost's EIGHT-CARD BRAINWAVE from his book The Card Magic of Nick Trost

Oct.13/06

What The Audience Sees:

'This week Jamie showed us eight cards and asked me to think of one. He then asked me which one I had picked and, when I told him, he showed me that it had a different coloured back than the rest. Amazing!'

How It Went:

Whenever I need something that I know will play well, I always crack open TCMONT. And, sure enough, ECBW didn't disappoint. Besides, I'll say it- I love packet tricks.

I've been reading a few posts here on the Café recently about whether Magicians should be performing Mentalist effects and vice versa. Now, if you've read this column before, you probably know that I'm not a Mentalist by any means. However, am I able to present mental effects? That's the question. And, to answer it, I'll provide the exact presentation I used on Friday. By all means, let me know what you think...

Jamie:
'Hello everyone! Happy Magic Friday!'

Spectators:
"Whahoo!!! Magic Friday!"

Jamie:
'Okay everyone, gather 'round and take a look. I have 8 cards here...

Spectators:
"Can we look at them?!"

Jamie:
'Good question. Not yet, right now you can only look at the faces. And if you, sir, could please mentally select one...

Spectator:
"Me?"

Jamie:
'Yes, please. If you could mentally select any one of the cards.'

Spectator:
"Okay, I've got one."

Jamie:
'Hmmmmmmm. Please change your mind. I don't like that one.'

laughter.

Spectator:
"Yeah, right. Okay, I've got a new one."

Jamie:
'Perfect. Now in a moment, I'm going to ask you to tell me what the name of the card is, and once you've named it you cannot change your mind again. So please make sure you've got one that you really like.'

Spectator:
"Okay. I've got one."

Jamie:
'Awesome. Please stop me at the card you've mentally selected.'

I display the cards and he stops me at one.

Spectator:
"Stop. Right there. I picked the seven of hearts."

Jamie:
'Okay, let's put it aside. Now some people will tell you that it's completely impossible to have their thoughts influenced via Mind Control...'

I'm displaying the backs of the cards now.

'...I'm not here to agree or disagree with that. But you probably didn't feel me influencing your thoughts, did you?'

Spectator:
"No, I don't think so..." Laughter.

Jamie:
'Instead, I'm going to ask a different question. Not, 'Can a person's thoughts be influenced.' But rather, 'Can a person's thoughts be Predicted'...As you've seen, all the cards have red backs...'

I've displayed 6 of the cards and am still holding one.

'Except one...'

I now turn over the remaining card in my hand to show that it, too, has a red back.

'Please turn over your mentally thought of seven of hearts...'

He does. And it's blue.

Spectators:
"OMG! HOW DID YOU KNOW!?!?!!" "Did you just see that?!" "WTF!"
Mayhem ensues.

Best Lines:
See above.

Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and thereby has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He's pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday's because he can tell me how he figured out how the effect is done... A high rating means he'll never figure it out.

"Huh. That's a pretty $%^&^$%^ good trick. Give me the ^%^&^% cards."- I wouldn't, lol. About 4/5.

My Rating:

A concern I have for this effect is that I've tried to think of a way to perform this standing, without a table, and I just haven't been unable to come up with anything. If it wasn't for that, this would almost be perfect. 9/10.

The JDG Tip:

My other concern is if someone wants to inspect the cards; so here's what I do. When I perform that Olram Subtlety I drop the cards into 2 separate piles so that they're separated. It effects the instant reset but it does give me 4 cards of the correct colour to display casually when I pick up the 2 mini piles before I have the spec turn over their card. The cards are away before I ask the Spec to turn over, but before they go into my pocket I've turned them over and casually displayed the 4. I hope that makes sense...

Closing Thoughts:

Nick Trost does it again. Great trick, great reactions.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!

Jamie D. Grant
Vancouver Magician
visit: www.whatizit.net

______________________________________________________________

Nick Trost's THE OBSERVATION TEST from his book The Card Magic Of Nick Trost

The Effect:

The performer shows a deck of blue backed cards. He lays a single card from a seperate red pack onto the table. When the red card is put into the pack it is now shown to have a blue back and the whole pack is now red.

How It Went:

Fantastic. This is the very first effect in his book. Not the 39th or 102nd, this was numero uno and the Magic Friday crowd loved it! I think I performed it around 30 times today without a single bad reaction. This was my presentation:

"The reason I'm a magician is because I'm a terrible spectator. It's true. I never know when to give the magician the $100 bill or when to tell him he's incredible. I also can never remember my card. That's why today I pulled this card, the seven of spades, from a different colored deck, a red one. I could have chosen any card, they're all different, except the backs, of course, which are all the same blue. Okay, now when I put this card into the deck and give it a cut...see it happened...I forget my card. What was it again? Oh, the seven of spades, of course. With a blue back. What? A red back? No, it was blue, you're trying to trick me. Red? Really? Did I mention I was a magician..."

Pandemonium.

Best Line:

"That s#@t freaks me out!"

The Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He's pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday's because he can tell me how he figuered out how it was done...

About 3/5. He actually took the deck from me and was apparently quite angry when someone asked if we had seen all of the backs of the cards as blue. I could see him thinking for a moment and then he gave the deck back and seemed quite pleased with himself. That said, everything is examineable. Angry Bob might have figured it out, I'm not positive though, but the average person won't. And if performed well, they won't care. It's quite shocking.

My Rating:

4/5. This is a great card effect and Nick's book is a 5/5 for sure. The only reason I docked it a point is I haven't found a brilliant segue into a possible effect where everyone knows the identity of a different colored card to begin with.

The JDG Tip:

Instead of fanning the cards face down and showing the cards as red with one blue backed card, fan them face up-while looking for your seven of spades-and show that as a different color first. Invariably someone will scoff and say "let's see the deck change color then..." at which point you do turn the deck over and slay them.

Closing Thoughts:

To give you a little insight into who I am: I took up magic seriously about five or six years ago and have been training like a magic ninja. I did my first performance at an art show about two or three years ago and perform almost exclusively as a walkaround magician. I like to think of myself as the best magician you've never hear d of...

____________________________________________________________________