Module 7- Part 4: Just the beginning…
Benji
Just the beginning…
This is where I let you take the tale into your own hands, dear reader.
Having given you a ‘taste’ of the power of using multiple stacks by revealing my very best effect, I want you to get out there and explore for yourself, using whichever stacks you’ve decided to make your own.
However, I will give you a few more ideas before I send you on your merry way…
- ACAAN
Remember how we were hitting a dazzling number of ‘direct hits’ with ONE stack?
I wonder what might happen when we call in the cavalry.
Let’s test it using our old friend the Random Card Generator, and his faithful companion, the Random Number Generator (between 1 and 52.)
Example 1.
Card: QD
Number: 5
Direct hit! Use our ‘reverse Tamariz’ deck and count down 5 cards and do a double lift to show the QD.
Example 2.
Card: JD
Number: 27
Direct hit!
Using our NDO stack (New Deck Order), the JD is actually card #29 from the top. So count 27 and double lift the card on top of the deck.
NDO = AH-KH, AC-KC, KD-AD, KS-AS
The first AH-KH block is 13 cards. The AC-KC block is 13 cards. We’re at 26. That makes the KD 27, which makes the JD 27.
Example 3.
Card: 4D
Number: 42
Direct hit!
Regular Tamariz stack has 4D as the 42nd card.
(and just to point it out, the 4D is the 44th card in our ‘reverse Redford’ stack. So we could deal 42 and double lift to show 4D.)
Example 4.
Card: 3D
Number: 37
Direct hit!
In NDO, the 3D is 37th in stack.
Kd = 27
Qd = 28
Jd = 29
10d = 30
9 = 31
8 = 32
7 = 33
6 = 34
5 = 35
4 = 36
3 = 37
Example 5.
Card: 9D
Number: 35
Direct hit!
In Redford stack, 9D is 38th. We can deal 35 cards and triple lift.
Example 6.
Card: KH
Number: 9
Not a direct hit, but still pretty close.
In NDO, the KH is 13th. So we can shift 4 cards from top to bottom.
Example 7.
Card: QS
Number: 31
In ‘reverse Memorandum’ stack, the QS is 28th card down. So we can shift just three cards from top to bottom to show QS at 31st position.
Again, not a direct hit, but a pretty sweet deal.
Example 8.
Card: 7S
Number: 32
Direct hit! In ‘reverse Aronson’ the 7S is the 34th card down. So we can deal 32 cards and double lift to show the 7S.
Example 9.
Card: 7H
Number: 9
Direct hit!
In NDO, the 7H is the 7th card down.
But if we’re using a ‘sealed’ deck for this, there will also be two ad cards on top of the deck. So we can actually deal 9 and show the 7H.
NOTE: This just made me think of another ruse. Start all ACAANS with the two jokers on top. This way we can instantly add another 2 to our reach by keeping them there. And if they aren’t useful, we’re perfectly motivated in discarding them.
NOTE: if you wanted, you could false shuffle the deck before dealing, but I think it works anyway, especially if you do it fast enough that the audience doesn’t have a lot of time to even process what’s going on until you hit them over the head with the reveal.
Example 10.
Card: QS
Number: 11
Direct hit!
In Redford, the QS is 14th.
We can deal 11 cards then triple lift the top card of the deck to show QS.
Example 11.
Card: 10S
Number: 19
Direct hit!
In Redford, the 10S is 18th. So we can deal 19 cards into a second pile, then double lift the top card of the second pile.
Example 12.
Card: 6H
Number: 16
Direct hit!
In the Eight Kings stack, the 6H is the 15th card up from the bottom. We can deal from the bottom and do the glide move to show the AC as the 15th card, and then show the 6H as the 16th card.
Example 13.
Card: 5H.
Number: 39
Direct hit!
In ‘reverse Aronson’ the 5H is the 41st card. So we can deal 39 and then double lift the top card of remaining cards.
Okay, I think you’re getting the picture.
One last example for the road…
Example 14.
Card: 6S
Number: 21
Direct hit!
In the Si Stebbins order we can shuffle into from Redford, the 6S is the 20th card from the bottom. We can count 21, do the glide move on 20 to discard the 3H, and show the 6S on 21.
With this ratio of direct hits, it’s worth learning multiple stacks for this effect ALONE!
Of course, we could do a similar thing for the ACAAD effect, but that would almost be TOO easy.
Actually, why not?
Let’s do 1 quick example for ACAAD…
Example 1.
Card = AH
Dice roll = 4, 5, 6, 3
In Aronson, AH is 22nd. We can do 4 x 5 to get 20, then deal 20 and double lift the card on pile to show AH.
What about the 6 and 3?
Go on them.
One more card…
Card: 4C
In our ‘reverse Aronson’ stack, the 4C is the 8th card down. We can deal a second pile of 9 cards, then double lift the top card of this second pile to show the 4C.
Neat, right?
Here’s a couple more ideas to play with…
Two Deck Revelations:
For this one, you would begin with two different stacks. You hand one to your spectator. They name any card. In your own stack, you give the deck a single cut or two until you’ve placed their named card in the same position in your deck as in theirs.
As you deal through the cards in both decks, the vast majority will be different. However, despite that, we both end up dealing his card at the same time!
Two Deck Sandwich Routine:
For this, we’ll be using both the Tamariz stack and the Woody Aragon ‘Memorandum’ stack.
Here’s why these two stacks work together so well for this kind of routine:
Woody Aragon’s stack is developed as a ‘variation’ on Mnemonica.
That’s undoubtedly an oversimplification, of course, but the bottom line is that there are a fair number of ‘built in’ similarities between the two decks.
Now, as far as I’m aware, these similarities haven’t been explored yet—at least publicly (I’m sure a genius like Woody has played with these kinds of ideas before.)
(another reason I don’t see much discussion of it is probably because magicians are too busy debating over which stack is better that they aren’t thinking about how they can use BOTH of them in combination…)
But I think there’s a lot of promise in it.
To fully explore it here, we’ll need to refer back to the ‘Faro Charts’ I gave you in Module 4.
Got them handy?
Great. Let’s proceed…
In the Memorandum stack, there are a number of sets of two cards that are next to each other, that are also next to each other (or very close) in the Tamariz stack.
Here’s what I mean by that, by way of example.
- The first two cards of Memorandum are the JS and 7C. These are cards 45 and 47 in Tamariz.
- The third and fourth cards of Memorandum are the 10H and AD. These are cards 38 and 39 in Tamariz.
- The sixth and seventh cards are the 7H and 4D. These are cards 41 and 42 in Tamariz.
- The eighth and ninth cards are the AS and 4H. These are cards 7 and 5 in Tamariz.
- The twelfth and thirteenth cards are the AH and 10D. These are cards 49 and 51 in Tamariz.
- The fourteenth and fifteenth cards are the 7S and JC. These are cards 37 and 36 in Tamariz.
- The seventeenth and eighteenth cards are the 10S and 8C. These are cards 34 and 33 in Tamariz.
- The 21st and 22nd cards are the KS and 5C. These are cards 31 and 30 in Tamariz.
- The 23rd and 24th card are 8H and 3D. These are cards 14 and 12 in Tamariz.
- The 30th and 31st card are the 9H and 2D. These are cards 17 and 19 in Tamariz.
- The 33rd and 34th cards are the 6H and 5D. These are cards 23 and 25 in Tamariz.
- The 36th and 37th cards are the 3H and 8D. These are cards 28 and 29 in Tamariz.
- The 38th and 39th cards are the 5S and KC. These are cards 16 and 18 in Tamariz.
- The 41st and 42nd cards are the 8S and 10D. These are cards 41 and 42 in Tamariz.
- The 44th and 45th cards are the 5H and 6D. These are cards 8 and 6 in Tamariz.
- The 49th and 50th cards are the 6S and QC. These are cards 15 and 13 in Tamariz.
That’s a solid pool of 32 potential cards!
Or, in other words, an over 50% chance that one of them would be named if you asked someone to randomly name a card.
In fact, I wouldn’t plan to do this one at any particular point.
I’d just have it there, ready to deploy when one of the cards was called (an example of ‘pivoting’ in action.)
Once someone DID name one of those cards, I’d do one of the following:
- The simple payoff
After the first spectator has named on of our cards, we’re going to force the corresponding one on another spectator.
Most of the time, this will be the card below the named card in our stack. Occasionally it’ll be the card two places below (or above). See the above list for the exact details.
Once we’ve done so, we’re going to try to make the two cards ‘come together’ in the deck.
We false shuffle and cut. If the cards named happened to have another card in between them, we can use this moment to remove that card—estimation cut it to the top and then place it somewhere else in the deck openly (or pretend to drop it during a false shuffle and place it back somewhere else.)
The goal is to make sure the two chosen cards are immediately next to each other in the stack.
After sufficient false shuffling, we say:
“Ok. I think they’ve done it…”
We spread through the deck face up and reveal that the two chosen cards have come together (what no one else knows is that they were never separated to begin with!).
Then we say:
“That’s cool, but I was shuffling the cards, so maybe I could have done something sneaky. Why don’t we make this even harder for me?”
We point to the deck of cards still inside the cardbox, and pick it up.
“Yep. They’re coming together alright.”
We can now have the spectator open the case and spread the cards face up on the table. The two spreads of cards are different—but they have one similarity.
In both spreads, even the one that’s been in the case the entire time, the two chosen cards have come together.
It’s a great little effect, inspired in part by Pit Hartling’s excellent ‘Catch Me if You Can’ routine.
But here’s another way of using this discovery:
- With the Faro charts
Here’s another twist on the ‘searchers’ style routine. We begin the same as before—someone freely names one of the 32 cards, and then we force the corresponding card on their friend.
This time, however, we take it one step further.
We’re going to force the card that those two cards trap after a single faro in the Memorandum deck.
Don’t worry.
It sounds messy even to me.
Here’s an example to clear things up:
Example 1.
We have two decks of cards on the table, and another ‘in play.’
The two decks are stacked—one in Memorandum, one in Tamariz stack.
It doesn’t matter what stack we’re currently using. As long as we can locate cards quickly and easily, it’ll do.
Let’s say your spectator names the 49th card in Memorandum. We now want to force the 50th card on a second spectator. In Memorandum, the 49th and 50th card map onto the 15th and 13th card in Tamariz. So we force 13 (QC) on a second spectator.
Now is where it becomes really useful to have a ‘scholarly’ knowledge of our chart. We’re going to want to force the card that comes between 49 and 50 after one out faro.
Looking at the chart, I see that that card is the 24th card—the 10C.
I then force the 10C on a third spectator.
I then call attention to the decks on the table. I tell them that the first two cards are going to ‘locate’ and ‘trap’ the third card.
“These two decks are going to race each other to see who can trap your card (gesturing at spectator 3) between your cards (gesturing at spectators 1&2). All it takes is a single shuffle!”
We give the first deck a false shuffle. Then we give the second deck (the Memorandum once) a faro shuffle.
Now we take a look at the ‘results’.
When we deal through the cards from the first deck, it appears that the two cards have come together—but trapped the wrong card. A good effort, nonetheless.
However, the first deck—in just ONE shuffle—has managed to trap the chosen card between the other two selections. We can then spread and display the various spreads at the end too—they’re different!
But this is just the beginning…
When we’re working with these multiple stacks, we get so many opportunities to ‘pivot’ based on what happens in each individual performance.
This is where all of the skills we’ve been drilling in previous modules really kick into gear and help us pull stuff off that seem truly impossible (even to other magicians!).
Alright.
Before I let you off the leash and into the wild world of memorized deck magic to explore for yourself, I need to do a ‘grand recap’ of everything we’ve gone over.
Don’t worry.
This will just be a short reminder of what we’ve covered, that you can use to jump back in to any spot you need more work on.