Product description : A new presentation of a printing card routine with some very cool moments of magic. All this done thanks to a gimmick Mickael is quite known for but adapted so it can achieve not only visual magic but non visual one too. Let's go !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $34.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's partner shop !
What you get : You get a very thin DVD case with inside a DVD and a little enveloppe with the gimmick as well as some cards needed for the effect. The teaching on the DVD is as with nearly all Mickael tricks, it's not very good. It could have been so well shot but you get a very basic DVD. Not that you don't learn what you have to learn but since a lot of companies are putting time and effort into making well shot DVD, this should be pointed out.
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
The gimmick is not new at all. It's not that it's a con but some of you may be disappointed when you open the package. Mickael has been putting out « Painting Card » and « In Air » which use also the same gimmick.
The fact it's been built into a white faced card, the gimmick is much more noticeable than on other one. You will have to be careful not showing it for too long and you will have to consider the light too.
As I said, the DVD is not the best quality I have seen. It's too bad Mickael put some many thoughts into his gimmicks and he doesn't seem to care about the quality of the DVD..
You won't be able to do it twice since it will always be the same card.
THE PROS :
You're using a regular deck which means you don't have to worry about having gimmicks in your usual deck of cards. This is a big pro for me because I won't be having to bare in mind whether my deck is normal or not.
The routine provided is quite simple but I think that, with a little bit of imagination, you will be able to come up with your own routine. I adapted the routine so that cards are visually « unprinting » in front of spectator own eyes ! Strange thing that Mickael didn't put this in the DVD.
You can use any brand of cards, since the 4 cards used are provided in bicycle, you don't have to use the same back design.
You're left with pack of 4 cards (and there only is 4 cards which is very cool because you can spread them very cleanly !) and only one of them is gimmicked. I think it would be fairly easy for anybody to come up with a routine so that you will be able to switch cards in and out (thanks stand up monte and Mr. Garrett Thomas) so that you're left with 4 regular cards at the end.
So far, I've been performing it for some months and this got great reactions ! I wouldn't have tought it could get so strong reactions from people and it's really a good, fun and easy trick to perform.
Overall rating : It's a very cool trick which flew under the radar of a lot of people, you might consider buying it and you will get great reactions ! Just be careful about the gimmick flashing a little bit in bright light. 3,5/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, it's not hard at all, you will have to know how to perform an emsley count if you want to do the same routine as Mickael, 3/5 stars.
Similar products : I do believe, even if it's not the same trick, that « Painting Card » and « In Air » are 2 tricks using kind of the same gimmick so you might consider looking at them. As for the printing effect, I know there are a lot of versions of this on the market, from gaffed ones to pure sleight ones, it's up to you to decide.