Groundhog Day

I did it again (Groundhog Day)…

Alright, here’s a doozy of a routine that started as a ‘cute’ idea I wanted to explore and quickly turned into a meaty project not dissimilar from the final effect in Module 7 of the Skyscraper Method. 

Hence why I decided to call it Groundhog Day. 

(I did it again. Deja vu…and all that.)

Here’s the effect…

The spectator cuts to any card in the deck. 

You explain you want to find the mate of their card. Using the identity of the card they cut to, you spell/count to a certain card. When you turn over that card, it’s the mate!

Method:

This effect uses the Tamariz stack. 

If you don’t have the stack memorized, don’t worry. You don’t actually NEED the deck memorized for this to work, you just need to set it up in the stack.

For reference, here’s the stack:

4C, 2H, 7D, 3C, 4H, 6D, AS, 5H, 9S, 2S, QH, 3D, QC, 8H, 6S, 5S, 9H, KC, 2D, JH, 3S, 8S, 6H, 10C, 5D, KD, 2C, 3H, 8D, 5C, KS, JD, 8C, 10S, KH, JC, 7S, 10H, AD, 4S, 7H, 4D, AC, 9C, JS, QD, 7C, QS, 10D, 6C, AH, 9D.

All that happens is this:

When they cut to a card, we spell/count a certain number of cards based on the card they cut to…and we arrive on the ‘mate’ of their card.

In essence…we do exactly what we promise to do!

(they just don’t realize that we can do it for ANY card they cut to)

This is an effect that surprised me in terms of just how flexible the stack is. For any card they cut to, we have a way to spell/count to the mate of that card without it feeling forced or arbitrary. 

A couple of notes before I get into the meat of the method:

1. When I say backward, I mean ‘into the face-up packet.’

If the face up packet isn’t deep enough, turn the face down portion face up and lay their packet on top. So their card is on the face of the deck. 

2. Forward means into the face down portion. 

3. ‘Starting on the card before’ = place the card they cut to on the table and then do the count. 

4. ‘Starting on the card they cut to’ = if face up, keep the card on the packet and use it as the first card in the deal. If we’re counting into face down portion, remove the card from the face of the face up pile and place face up on the face down portion, then use as the first card in count. 

5. ‘Starting on the card after/the next card’ = place the card on the table and start the count on the first face down card following. 

6. ‘The card left on face’ = card on the face of the packet after the count is finished. 

7. ‘The next card’ = after the count, the card on top of the face-down packet. 

8. ‘Landing on the card’ = the last card of the count is the desired card. 

If you follow with cards in hand it will soon make sense!

All we need to do to accomplish this effect is follow the list below. There’s no sleight of hand required (except the occasional double lift.)

Here’s the list.

If they cut to:

1. 4C – spell ‘four of spades’ backward starting on the card before and the card on the face after ‘s’ is 4S. Then count 4 forward starting on the next card of face down pile, landing on 4H. Then double lift the facedown pile from first count to show the 4D (hiding the 7H) – if this last 4 is to be revealed, the first count needs to deal the cards face down. 
2. 2H – spell ‘the two of diamonds’ starting on the 2H and do a double lift on the last card to display the 2D. 
3. 7D – count 7 backward starting on the card before, the card left on the face after the count is the 7C. Spell ‘seven’ backward starting on the card before and the card on the face after cutting is 7H. Now spell ‘seven’ again, this time starting on the 7H and ending on the 7S for ‘n’. 
4. 3C – spell ‘the three of spades’ forward starting on the card after and the card left on the pack after the ‘s’ is the 3S. 
5. 4H – count 4 backward starting on the card before, landing on 4C on the last card of count. Now spell backwards ‘four of clubs’ starting on the card before, landing on the 4D. Then turn the deck face down as you remove the 4D. Now do the glide move to show the 4S is the next card. 
6. 6D – spell ‘six of diamonds’ forward starting on the next card, and the card on packet after spelling is the 6H. 
7. AS – spell backward, starting on the AS ‘Ace Spades’. The ‘s’ will land you on the AH. Then spell ‘Ace Hearts’ backward, starting on the AH and landing on the AC. Now spell ‘ace’ backward starting on the card before and the card on face after ‘e’ is the AD. 
8. 5H – spell ‘the five of diamonds’ forward, starting on the card after, landing on the 5D on the ‘s’. 
9. 9S – count 9 forward starting on the 9S to land on 9H. Then, on the face up portion, count back 9 starting on the 5H and landing on the 9D. Then count back 9 starting on 9D and land on 9C. 
10. 2S – spell ‘the two of spades’ forward starting on the card after, then triple lift. 
11. QH – spell ‘the queen of diamonds’ backward starting on the QH and landing on the QD. 
12. 3D – spell ‘the three of hearts’ forward starting on the next card and landing on the 3H. OR – spell ‘three of diamonds’ starting on the card after 
13. QC – spell ‘the queen of spades’ backward starting on the card before. The card on face after ‘s’ is QS.
14. 8H – spell ‘eight of diamonds’ forward starting on the next card, landing on the 8D. 
15. 6S – count 6 backward starting on card before, then spell ‘six of clubs’. The card on face after ‘s’ is 6C. 
16. 5S – spell ‘the five of clubs’ starting on the next card, landing on the 5C.
17. 9H – count 9 back, starting on 9H and landing on 9S. Then count back 9 starting on 5H and landing on 9D. Then count back 9 starting on 9D and land on 9C. 
18. KC – spell ‘king of spades’ starting on the next card. The card left on pile after spelling is the KC. ALT – spell ‘the king of clubs’ starting on the KS and landing on KC on ‘s’.
19. 2D – spell ‘the two of diamonds’ backward starting on the card before and the card on face of packet after ‘s’ is 2H. 
20. JH – spell ‘jack of hearts’ forward, starting on the next card, landing on the JD on ‘s’.
21. 3S – spell ‘the three of spades’ backward starting on the card before and the card on face after spelling is 3C
22. 8S – spell ‘eight of clubs’ starting on the 8S and landing on 8C on ‘s’. 
23. 6H – count ‘the six of diamonds’ starting on the card before and the card on face after ‘s’ is 6D. 
24. 10C – count 10 cards starting on the next card and landing on the 10S. 
25. 5D – spell ‘the five of diamonds’ backward starting on the card before and landing on the 5H on ‘s.’
26. KD – spell ‘King Hearts’ forward starting on KD and landing on KH on ‘s’. 
27. 2C – count 2 cards (for ‘2’) backward starting on the card before and then spell ‘the two of spades’. The card left on the face after this is the 2S. 
28. 3H – spell ‘the three of hearts’ backwards and the card on the face after ‘s’ is 3D. OR – spell ‘three of diamonds’ starting on the card before and the card on the face of the packet is 3D after the last card of count. 
29. 8D – spell ‘eight of diamonds’ backward starting on the card before and landing on 8H. 
30. 5C – spell ‘the five of clubs’ backward starting on the card before and landing on the 5S. 
31. KS – spell ‘king of spades’ starting on the card before and the card left on pile after the count is KC. OR – spell ‘the king of clubs’ starting on the KS and landing on the KC. 
32. JD – spell ‘jack of hearts’ backward starting on the card before and landing on the JH.
33. 8C – spell ‘eight of clubs’ starting on the 8C and landing on the 8S. 
34. 10S – count 10 backward starting on the card before and landing on the 10C.  
35. KH – spell ‘King Hearts’ backward starting on the KH and land on the KD.
36. JC – spell ‘Jack Clubs’ forward starting on the next card and landing on the JS. OR spell ‘Jack Spades’ starting on the JC and lending on the JS. 
37. 7S – spell ‘seven’ forward starting on the 7S, landing on the 7H. Then spell ‘seven’ again starting on the next card and the next card after is 7C. Then count 7 forward starting on the card after and the next card on packet is 7D.
38. 10H – count 10 cards forward starting on the next card. The next card face down on packet after the count is 10D. 
39. AD – spell ‘ace of diamonds’ forward starting on the AD and landing on the AH. 
40. 4S – spell ‘four of spades’ forward starting on the next card and the next card after count is 4C. 
41. 7H –  spell ‘seven’ backward starting on the 7H and landing on the 7S. Then spell ‘seven’ starting on the next card of face down pile and the next card after count is 7C. Then count 7 forward starting on the card after and the next card on packet is 7D. 
42. 4D – do glide move and show that the 4S is below, then spell forward ‘four of clubs’ starting on the next card and landing on the 4C. Then count 4 forward and land on 4H. 
43. AC – spell ‘ace’ backward starting on card before and the card on face after ‘e’ is AD. Then place AC on face down pile and spell ‘Ace Hearts’ forward, starting on the AC and landing on the AH. Then spell ‘Ace Spades’ forward starting on the AH and landing on the AS. 
44. 9C – count forward 9 starting on 9C and land on 9D. Then count 9 forward starting on card after 9D and land on 9S. Then count 9 forward starting on 9S and landing on 9H. 
45. JS – spell ‘Jack Clubs’ starting on the card before and landing on the JC. Or spell ‘Jack Spades’ starting on JS and landing on the JC. 
46. QD – spell ‘the Queen of Hearts’ forward, starting on the next card. The next card on facedown pile after spelling is the QH. 
47. 7C – spell ‘seven’ backward starting on the card before and the card on face up packet after the count is 7H. Then spell ‘seven’ backward again starting on the 7H and landing on the 7S. Then return to face down pile and count 7 forward starting on the card after, and the next card on packet after count is 7D. 
48. QS – spell ‘the Queen of Spades’ starting on the next card, and the next card on facedown pile after spelling is the QS. 
49. 10D – count 10 backward starting on the card before and the card on face of pile after the count is 10H. 
50. 6C – count 6 forward starting on the next card, then spell ‘six of spades’ and land on the 6S. 
51. AH – spell ‘Ace Hearts’ backward starting on the AH and landing on the AC. Then spell ‘ace’ backward startin on card before and the card on face after ‘e’ is AD. Then return to face down pile, place AH on it and spell ‘Ace Spades’ forward starting on the AH and landing on the AS. 
52. 9D – count 9 backward starting on 9D and landing on 9C. Then count 9 into the face down pile and land on 9S. Then count 9, starting on 9S and landing on 9H. 

My justification for spelling the mate, not the original? (And vice versa.)

I was simply thinking: 

“We’re going to try to find the mate of your card. What’s the mate? X? Okay, let’s try that…”

Spell X. 

So there you have it! The full method. Try it out on yourself, with the list in hand – see how cool it is!

Thanks for tuning in!

I have an exclusive podcast coming later this week, and I’ll be back with another effect next week. 

Stay cool.

Benji