Product description : I’ve talked about the “Fantastique” box set by Antoine Salembier in the past, he is a quite famous French magician who does some “weird” or fantastic magic. He just put out some new tricks, it’s a collection of tricks so I will talk about all of them in only one review ! So I will try to do a little line about each of them :
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Symbologic : spectator thinks about a symbol among several cards with dozens of symbols on it, still, you can reveal it ! (there are more than 100 symbols available).
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Saturne : you do a magic square with 9 cards numbered from 1 to 9. People can shuffle the cards and when you lay 3 rows of 3 cards, you add the 3 numbers and you can force a number so it can be incorporated into a booktest routine.
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Temporis : it’s a kind of a trilogy routine, with a numbered deck, they select 3 cards and you have a postcard with 3 numbers on it, and they match the numbers behind the selected cards.
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Éphéméride : you have 12 cards with each month written on it, and during the course of a multi phase routine, you’ll be able to reveal to thought of card.
[if !supportLists]- [endif]Continuum : it’s a magic square routine, with cards that are randomly selected, you can also reveal the number the spectator is thinking about. This was on the “Fantastic” set but I do find the presentation and look of the cards better in Continuum.
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at 25€ each (around $30) and you can find it on “Marchand de Trucs” website, I don’t know if they will be available through Murphys in the near future.
What you get : For each trick, you get a very nice little cardboard sleeve, amazingly printed with silver or gold finish, and 3D look, overall, the packaging is amazing ! Inside, you will find a little booklet, with everything explained in details, Antoine goes over a lot of things, ideas and subtleties. You also find the cards, whatever the trick you will buy, they really well made and don’t feel like magic props, they feel real and great. Overall, the tricks are very good and the props feel amazing, you can’t be disappointed with it !
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 :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]It’s not really a con but due to the look of the cards, they may not be for everyone. But they’re way easier to use than the tricks in the fantastic set.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]They put the same price on each trick, I do find that 25€ is a little bit overpriced for Temporis for example.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]As I said, due to the modern look of the cards, they’re easier to use than the tricks available on the Fantastique set.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]They’re very well made, the packaging is nice, and the props feel real, you could use it in a proper presentation, it will fly by the spectator.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The tricks are actually very cool, the look isn’t everything but here, you have impactful routines which will wow the crowds.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]I think they’re was an offer if you buy all five tricks, which reduce the cost of each one !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The reset is actually something very quick on most tricks, which means it is easy to do over and over again.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]This is something different, something that has nothing to do with the usual stuff you do. This brings your magic to a whole new dimension.
Overall rating : If you liked the sound of each trick, you won’t be disappointed by them, they’re strong and really good, not the kind of magic I do but I can see a lot of people doing it, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, some of them require a little bit of memory work but nothing hard at all, I would say 2/5 stars.
Similar products : The Fantastique set from Antoine is amazing, you should check it out if you’re into this kind of magic !