When I started this Inner Circle, I designed it to be a ‘melting pot’ of all my ideas and thoughts about magic.
The idea was to share ALL of my ideas, in the hope that together we can push the memorized deck (and magic) to new heights.
In the pursuit of innovation, it’s inevitable that not every idea will be a knockout showstopper.
However, I do think you’ll find these to be a very fun read…
Coincidence #1:
If you cut to the 7D, you’ll find the next card is the 3C.
7 – 3 is, of course, 4.
If you turn over the next card, what do you find?
None else than a 4.
(this might work in a kind of Sam the Bellhop style story routine where it feels like the cards are interacting with each other?)
Coincidence #2:
If you cut at the 3D, you’ll note that the card before it is the QH. The numerical value of a Queen is 12. 12 – 3 is 9. If you then turn the cards face down and do the glide move, you’ll draw the 9S.
(perhaps a ‘calculator’ effect where you prove the deck is a calculator? False shuffle and then ‘randomly’ cut to a location and show that the deck does the maths? Actually, come to think of it, this applies just as well to Coincidence #1…)
Coincidence #3:
If you cut at the 8S, the card before it is the 3S. 8 + 3 = 11. The card equivalent of 11 is the Jack. As it happens, the next card down is indeed…a Jack!
(another instance of the ‘calculator deck’, perhaps?)
Coincidence #4:
If you cut at the 8D, and turn over the next face-down card, you’ll get the 5C. 8 + 5 = 13.
The card equivalent of 13 is the King, and if you turn over the next facedown card you’ll get…a King!
(this calculator deck idea is getting better and better by the minute…)
Coincidence #5:
If you cut at the 5H, the card before it is the AS. If we treat the Ace as 1, 5 + 1 = 6. The card before the Ace is…a 6!
(another check for calculator deck)
Coincidence #6:
If you cut at the 9S, the next card is the 2S. 9 + 2 = 11. If you then take turn over the next card, you won’t get an 11, you’ll get a Queen. However, if you lay the Queen on top of the 2, 9 and all the cards beneath that, and then count them out…you’ll have 11 cards!
(perhaps a ‘calculator deck gone wrong but gets fixed with magic?’)
Coincidence #7:
If you cut at the 6S, the card beneath it is the 8H. 6 + 8 is 14. The card beneath the 8H is the QC, which isn’t 14. However, if you count the cards, starting with the 8H, ending on the 4C, you’ll have 14 cards!
(see above r.e ‘calculator gone wrong’)
Coincidence #8:
If you cut at the 2C, the next card is the 3H. 2 + 3 = 5. If you then double lift the next card, you’ll see a 5!
Alternatively, try this…
If you combine the 2 and 3 to make 23, and count 23 cards backwards starting on the KD, you’ll land on the 3C (a mix of the 2C and 3H.)
Coincidence #9:
Similar to the above…
If you cut at the 4C, the next card is the 2H. Combine 2H and 4C and you get 4H. Then count two cards forward (7D, 3C) and turn over the next card to get the 4H.
Coincidence #10:
Like above…
Cut at the 7D, and the next card is the 3C. Combining them gets you the 3D. Count 7 cards forward (4H, 6D, AS, 5H, 9S, 2S, QH) and the next card is the 3D.
Alright, there you have it!
A whole bunch of coincidences that I hope you can run with and turn into something bigger.
(I’m actually liking the sound of this ‘calculator deck’ effect…it literally came to me as I was typing these out—there’s a lesson in there for sure.)
I’ll be back next week with a great effect that plays on a Marlo idea I found tucked away in his ‘Faro Notes.’
Here’s a sneak peek of what it looks like…
You hand the deck out to various audience members, who each genuinely shuffle. You then take the cards back and shuffle further. Next, an audience member cuts the deck as many times as they like. Once they’re satisfied, they look at the top card and bury it somewhere in the middle of the deck, and then cut the deck some more.
It seems impossible, yet once you take back the deck, you find the exact card the spectator chose (even though they never name it aloud!)
Speak then!
Your friend,
Benji