To me, this is way to easy to figure out! It is like one of those tricks you find in a beginners magic book. I know sometimes the simplest trick could get great reactions but this has too much setup and you don't end clean. I think the 1 on 1 video is a little deceptive as the deck DM is holding goes off camera. That was the give away!
Right, okay I see what you're saying, but consider if you will the following presentation and my own thoughts about some of the things you brought up.
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Limited
Free Choices are abundant in our lives, what clothes to wear, what food to eat, what drink to drink. But there are some things that seem to have free choices, when in fact we're influenced to choose a certain option; whether we realise this or not.
I'm going to spread through my deck and hand you one card, I want you to resist the massive urge to look at it and just keep it on top of your deck for the moment. I want you to spread through your own deck now, and pull out the card you want to choose... a free choice... and just put it on top of my deck, like I did with yours.
Now like I said, there are some things that seem to have free choices, when in fact we've been influenced in some way or another. Did it feel like a free choice? Good. Turn over the cards.
Now... I know that's shocking, but I wanted to show you exactly what I meant, pick up your deck again, you said it felt like a free choice yes? Look at the rest of the deck...
It's here that it would be revealed that the rest of the decks are in fact blank.
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Personally, I think that's a strong presentation
(for me at least) that will help subdue any floating thoughts about anything other than the effect that just happened. Let me just address the other points you made to help:
To me, this is way to easy to figure out!
Other than the fact you're a magician, I have to say, that given the effect that just happened and that the spectators only see it once. Think how many times you watched the video to get it, now factor in that you're a magician and I think you'll find you're at a significant advantage to a lay person. Who has
no idea what's going to happen in the effect anyway. How can they figure something out as it goes along if they don't know what's
supposed to be happening.
but this has too much setup and you don't end clean.
Very simple answer to this and I think it's a rather convoluted thought that is typical of someone who cares more about the method.
My answer to this is that, they don't know there's setup, and they certainly don't know that you don't end clean
(Might I add that most lay people wouldn't even think about using such terminology).
In saying this however, the presentation I gave above, enables me to clean-up
(for the most part) in front of the specs whilst at the same time revealing another effect, that of which being the blank deck which helps in another way.
Laymen aren't very familiar with blank decks unless you've used them before in other effects,
still I must say that, when they see a blank deck in the context of this effect, there's that initial shock of
"What the hell is this?!" and then there's the
"How did I know which one to pull out?!" and finally
"He couldn't have switched the card he gave me because he gave it me at the start". Combine all those thoughts with the fact they're holding a blank deck that is inspectable, and blank decks are strange to lay people in the first place, you'll find that most people won't be bothered about inspecting eveything, how could a blank deck get any more abnormal? Especially when they're holding one - which if it was a trick deck you obviously wouldn't give to them in the first place, so it must be normal!
If anyone wants to ask me about the clean-up I use for the above presentation, feel free to PM me about it, but obviously you must tell me something about the video that only the owner would know about.
I think the 1 on 1 video is a little deceptive as the deck DM is holding goes off camera.
I'm not quite sure how to address this because I agree in some ways, because it prevents someone from making an informed purchase - people might already have something similar of their own, purchase this to see a different method and only find that it's the same as theirs, wasted money.
In other ways, I disagree, what you see in the preview video is
exactly what the spectator sees and remembers. This is what's important, the
effect (sans method).
Final Thoughts
This effect relies
HEAVILY on a strong presentation, this isn't just another
"bet you don't know how I did that" or
"Look at this, this is strange" trick. When you think about the effect and only the effect that happened, this is very very unnerving. If they had picked out
any other card, the result would not have been the same, combine this with the presentation I gave above
(I'm not saying you have to use that by the way, please don't feel like I'm saying that) and they start to wonder about whether they really were influenced or not. This kind of effect gets inside the spectators head with those
"What If?" thoughts, I like to call them.
So you see, all these thoughts going on, and at no point are they thinking
"How did he do that?",
"Must be a trick deck". Eventually they will come back to the
"How did they do that?" thought, it's an inevitable thought from anyone that sees something impossible, things like these demand explanations. The longer you repress that thought, the longer you sustain the magic.
I hope some of that made sense, I'll gladly talk about it more if anyone wants to add their own thoughts, and I'm sure others would aswell.
Finally... Take care of yourselves, and each other.
- Sean