Product description: I really Andy Nyman and his magic, I find it always super cool and very effective on people. When I heard he teamed up with Propdog, I was really eager to see what they will come up with. The Evil is his latest creation, based on an old gag, with a built in card revelation, which will freak out your audience (I actually freaked myself out when I first triggered the gimmick and I knew how it worked so imagine the impact on lay people). Basically, it’s a folded cardboard piece which will reveal the chosen card and with a little surprise inside. I don’t want to say too much about it because I want you to be surprised when you will receive it or when it will be done on you.
Price and where to buy it: This is sold at £9.99 and you can find it on Propdog website.
What you get: You get a plastic packaging, I don’t think the packaging matters a lot when the trick is only £9.99. Inside, you’ll find a really nice card, with the link for you to watch the explanation video, which is well done by Andy himself. He explains everything you need to know, from the preparation of gimmick to the card force! And of course, you receive the cardboard gimmick which is really nicely done, everything is written in English of course, but the reveal is a picture of a card so I think you can incorporate it in your routine even if your audience doesn’t speak English. I find it to be a little bit too clean for what it is, put some dirt on it, tear it will give it a more authentic look in my opinion. The mechanism is great and you get refills for the one part which may break. So overall, I’m very pleased, with the price and the quality of 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:
You have to carry this cardboard piece in order to do only one card reveal so it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.
There is only one card possible, so it will always be the same outcome.
THE PROS:
I really like the routine which is a mix between a prank and a card reveal, they’re both amazed and freaked out at the same time!
The prop is really well made and works a treat. You have a lot of room to customize your gimmick so it doesn’t look like you just bought out from a magic shop. I think giving it a good rub with dirt, tearing it a bit apart will make it way more authentic than what it is now.
The price is amazing for such a powerful effect, it’s less than £10 which isn’t a lot.
I love the fact people will experience something they can feel and hear rather than what they can see. Magic relies a lot on the vision, but with The Evil, they will FEEL and HEAR something, so it’s more powerful in my opinion.
Even if you don’t speak English, you can say you found this cardboard piece in a store when you were travelling abroad, and translate the text to your audience.
Overall rating: I really like this release, it’s a fantastic bit of kit, I just don’t know if I’ll take it with me to my next gig but I will be definitely be using this with my pals for Halloween ! 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, a card force is the only thing you have to know and Andy does give you great advices for that in the video, 2/5 stars.
Similar products: I don’t really have any other card reveal which freaks out your spectator in mind..