Title: Limitless
Artist: Peter Nardi
Producers: Alakazam Magic UK
Retail Price: $30.75
Learning Difficulty: Easy
Length of DVD: 45 Minutes
Notes: N/A
Includes:
• Instructional DVD
• Deck of Cards
• Gimmick Cards
• Online Registration Code
Features:
• Titles
• History and Set-up
• Basic Routines
• More Ideas
• The Dollar Bill Prediction
• Thought as I Think
• Photo-Finish plus More Thoughts
Peter Nardi has released the Swiss Army knife of card forcing decks he’s titled Limitless. Appropriate name considering that the range of uses for this deck is just about as endless as the name would suggest. What you get is a Phoenix deck of playing cards, certain special gaff cards, and when combined you have a deck capable of implanting a thought of card into a spectator’s mind that doesn’t exist in the deck at all. From there you’re free to reveal the card selection however you want. This deck could lend itself to mentalism routines, stage routines; close up routines, anything that your mind can come up with. I love magic that is this versatile!
Limitless as a product has been very smartly designed from the ground up. Of course Peter explains all of these design features in the DVD but I’m going to hit one of them here too. Why the Phoenix deck? Why not use Bikes? This is because Peter intends this deck to be something of a living product if you will. Once you own Limitless you will be able to purchase additional add-ons later and incorporate or replace elements of the deck that you already own. Apparently, and I didn’t know this myself either, when Bicycle cards are made certain decks are cut face up, while others are cut face down. This means if you put the wrong cards from the wrong decks that have been cut differently from each other they’ll stand out at a distance. Phoenix cards are all cut the same way all the time. This means you can easily swap out cards without worrying about there being a visible difference to your spectators.
Speaking of being smartly designed when you buy Limitless it will come with a special online code that’s printed on the DVD itself that lets you access a special section online where additional videos, ideas, and suggestions for routines can be found. I imagine this is going to only get better as a product the longer it’s out and available because people are going to continually contribute their suggestions for improvements. Very few other products out there has this kind of evolutionary quality to them, let alone the sheer versatility of how you can use the product as well.
In studio Peter Nardi is joined by Dave Loosley as they discuss the back ground, history, set-up, and methods for using the Limitless deck. As far as a forcing deck is concerned Limitless is very easy to use, and can be fairly cleanly displayed to be an ordinary deck. By just tweaking a few minor things you can get a wide range of effects out of this deck. For example:
Impromptu Brain Wave: You can change out the force card for a card with a different back color. Therefore achieving sort of a brain wave type effect.
Impossible Locations: You can pull out the normal force card from the deck, thus having it vanish all together by the end with minimal effort on your part, thus freeing you up to reproduce that card from anywhere. This makes card to impossible location plots painfully easy, and really emphasizes the “impossible” part of that location.
The Joker Knows All: You could use the deck to cleanly, and without any sleights, force the reveal card on the spectator then use a specially printed Joker card that is included with the rest of the gaff cards to reveal the forced card.
The Subtle Joker: Using the same specially printed Joker card, and an indifferent Joker you make them think that the joker influenced them to think of the force card. You have them stare at the Joker for a second before you table it, and then riffle the deck at them. When they look back at the Joker they see their selected card is very cleverly written in the design.
Different Deck Reveal: You use the Limitless deck to force the card on the spectator then pull out a deck of a different color. Have another spectator name any number and you deal down to that number in the different backed deck. Once you deal down to that number you ask the first spectator to name their card, they do, you turn over your different colored card and it matches.
A Dollar Bill Revelation: You use the deck to force a card, then tell a story about how a con man taught you a trick for getting a few quick bucks out of someone. You use three dollars to illustrate your point on how he read your mind three times, and at the end you turn the bills over to reveal the name of the spectators selected card.
These are just a couple ideas for routines too, the DVD discusses others, and there are more options online but the fun of this product is sitting down and just brain storming all the different fun ways you can use it for yourself. You’ve got a brilliant little gaffed deck here, and finding a way to tailor it into your performance or character needs shouldn’t be difficult at all. I really loved Limitless and I really think you will to. I give this my personal Seal of Approval!
When I give my product scores below I am measuring them on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 Being absolute the worst score possible, and 10 being the absolute best, making a score of five average. The four points that I grade upon is Product Quality, Teaching Quality, Sound & Video Quality and Overall Quality.
Product Quality: 9
Great price, and a very versatile forcing deck. It’s well named because the applications are truly limitless.
Teaching Quality: 9
This deck is easy to learn, quick to master, and fun to play with.
Video & Sound Quality: 6
Peter sounds great in the video but David’s mic sounds a bit tinny. The video is good.
Overall Quality: 8
I really loved this deck. It’s very versatile, and very useful. I highly recommend it.
Have a product you want reviewed? Want to see if it will stand up to the Draven Seal of Approval? Contact me directly at draven@williamdraven.com to find out how your product could be on the next Draven Reviews!