Thank you Mark for answering the question on the mental gymnastics point before I had time to .

Great to read the effect met your expectations and suits your needs

Andy

Hi Nique, I don't know how I missed you earlier on! Thanks for your very kind words!

And thanks Steve - it is very kind of you to say that my books are actually enjoyable reads rather than just instruction manuals. I try to make them pleasant to read.

Now Takeachance, as Mark and Andrew have asserted, there isn't any complicated anything going on. The whole thing is very straightforward. However, having said that, there is an alternative presentation that I call "The Hustle" that is offered that employs some very simple arithmetic (should you choose to use it), but it is a far cry from being difficult or requiring you to think on your feet. You have plenty of time to undertake the one subtraction equation that is required.

And I want to reiterate that there is NO math in the base routine. You can perform the entire effect with ease. The variations are just there to add flavour, should you decide to experiment with them - in fact, there is one variation that takes place entirely in the hands of the participants should you choose to use it. Another doesn't even involve playing cards (for those who are averse to using them within their set).

I hope that helps answer your questions.

Best,

Atlas

Hey guys,

Just my two cents worth.

This routine is a worker.

There is a small procedure, but your presentation covers everything, and your spectators will not have a clue about anything.

this ACAAN is very clean since the card and number are never named out loud, written, or whispered. everything that Atlas put in the ad copy is true.

another ACAAN to add to the books.

I currently perform Asi Winds version, as well as John Borns version, both great, and both have their drawbacks, but the cleanliness of The Crusade is great since a number and card are never named.

How beautiful!

This will be a worker for me.

Thanks Atlas for bringing this out with Andrew.

Great thinking by the way.

Guys, this will be worth at least $30, so go and get one when its out.

I don't endorse any products, but this is really good.

you wont be sorry.

alex

Just a single question, is it easy to do a reverse engineering?
If a magician looks the effect realizes easily the secret?

Entermagic the answer to that question would probably depend on the presentational skill of the performer and the knowledge of the magician watching. Hard to say as I never saw it performed before learning the method but my gut tells me that had Atlas performed this on me his routining and scripting is so good and everything is so well justified I think it would have blown me away.

If I were to perform this before working to hone my presentation to an acceptable level then a knowledgable magician may well be able to reverse engineer the effect. Of course I would say that is true for 99% of the effects I perform. But then my need to fool magicians faded away the moment I started working as a pro. Since then my priority is how the effect plays to laymen.

Mark

Hello Entermagic .

As Mark has already mentioned your question is subjective based upon the knowledge of the magician . To explain via an example , if you are not aware of the Gilbreath principle then an affect using it you can not be simply reversed by watching the effect played out but if you know the principle then whilst your eyes cannot see how the effect is achieved you understand the method behind it .

Crusade follows the same approach .

From a spectator's view point, the effect has been given to numerous performers to road test and as far as I am aware and Atlas can correct me if I am mistaken , no spectator or audience has had an inkling as to the method . More importantly the scripting is designed to to leave the question in the spectators minds...how did he know the thought of number and thought of card , rather than , how did he do it.

Hope this answers your question

Andy

I ask this because often happens that I purchase an effect and immediately I am disappointed because inside the effect description there was a missing part and this part is easy to back track
on the secret also for the audience. Currently I have a method to perform Any Thought of Card at Any Thought of Number (nothing is written down no pre-show stooges or any pre-work of any kind,
there is no force and you don't know card and number until the spectator reveals his card after the counting part, you never touch the cards )
Just a spectator thinks of a number and another one thinks of a card and without you touches the cards, the card will be there. This effect fool also the magician, obvious it has a drawback.
This drawback sometimes makes me to change the entire routine. For the spectator's viewpoint they will see 99% of time an impossible ACAAN 1% of the case another good effect.
The effect is almost selfworking with a borrowed untouched shuffled deck.

Now I'm very curious to see if there is another version where this drawback is not present and it is hard to back track on the secret.

I have seen a lot of ACAAN, but almost everthing have a big weakness or I'm very disappointed because inside the description there is not a full description of the effect.

By the way, I look forward to see what Atlas created

Entermagic if you have a method where a borrowed shuffled deck is used, a spectator merely thinks of a card another merely thinks of a number and you never touch the deck but when the spectator deals down to their thought of number they land on the other spectators thought of card 99% of the time without you touching the deck then I doubt that this version is going to beat your method (assuming that inside your description there wasn't a missing part).

However the method is in many ways the least important part of this manuscript, the scripting and presentation is the real jewel. Atlas and Andy have lifted the plot from puzzle/coincidence into an entertaining demonstration of mentalism. Every action is fully justified and designed to make everything fair and above board. I have only performed this twice for laymen but both times it has been received far better than my standard ACAAN routine.

What I will say is if you are looking for a magician fooling exact copy of the Berglas effect with a revolutionary method then this isn't necessarily going to fit the bill. If you are looking for a new take on this effect that is tailor made for mentalists, very well structured and scripted and plays very well for laymen with a method that allows you to focus entirely on your presentation then look no further.

Call me crazy as I'm going through a divorce, have just been hit with a large dental bill after swallowing a tooth crown (I swallowed a tooth ...... that's going to come back and bite me on the bum) and to add insult to injury the water company have just hit me with a £540 quid bill to reroute my water supply because there is a leak under a neighbours house that they can't repair so we are all having to pay for new pipe work. Despite all that, because I received The Crusade for free, if your needs fall into the latter category rather than magician fooler and you don't think that The Crusade is worth the money that you are charged for it, I will personally refund you.

That's the highest recommendation I can give, I received this for free and because I genuinely believe it is worth every penny of what Atlas/Andy will be charging for it I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. Note this is a one time, one person offer, I don't want to be inundated with people asking me to pay for their copy of The Crusade. I have no vested interest in this project and am not connected to it in any way shape or form beyond being very impressed with the manuscript that Atlas was kind enough to send me to evaluate.

If my current girlfriend finds out I'm offering to give away money that I haven't got I'll be into a second divorce before I've even got the first one finalised lol.

Mark

Wow. What an offer Mark!

I'm pleased that we have inspired all that confidence with a draft version of the effect as well! Without all the extra little bits at the end!

Though, I am confident that the offer is one that will never need to be exercised. Mark has a point - it is all about what you are looking for. I touched on it earlier in the thread, but the ACAAN seems to be an effect that people either like or dislike based upon the specific criteria that they are searching for. I'm pretty confident that this is an approach that every mind reader will both enjoy and employ.

I should also note that it really isn't all that easy to figure out - if you are looking for a magician fooler, there is a handling that introduces another piece of misdirection that will deceive most of them. I ran through this with someone who ought to have been able to work it out, and they were lost...and then insisted that I show it to a few of their guests an hour or two later. As Mark consistently asserts, the presentation goes a long way to making this indecipherable.

I will also reiterate (as this requirement was specifically mentioned above) that in the section at the end, one of the additional presentations is one in which the presenter never touches the cards.

I hope that helps to clarify things further. As always, I'm happy to answer any other questions.

Best,

Atlas

Okay, after reading this entire thread, for now only one question for you Atlas.

Will I be allowed to perform this on TV?

Nuff said, as a mentalist, this looks like the best ACAAN I've read about. (prematurely of course).

I would never ask for a refund for a magic effect unless it came with a defective gimmick. If after I buy this and don't like this or won't use it I still have the secret. I like the way this sounds and if it plays out like it is portrayed this is a must have secret to know. I can see how the method could be used for other effects.

Mark,
the way that I perform this effect is this one.

This is my first idea that I performed for a while, the current version I don't need to do all this presentation
I just ask the spectator to perform a regularity deck check and in this process the specators put without they know
the card in correct position. Here my starting point:

In my presentation I talk about the possibility to read the spectator mind
and ask some people to think of cards. I reveal each card except for one spectator
(After this process I know always one of the spectator card. This process is inside the presentation)
I continue saying that this is easy for a magician read the mind and just to prove this I repeat this
effect with the numbers. After this process I know without they reveal anything a card and a number
and this happens inside the presentation. I introduce a deck of cards or asking them to shuffle the deck.
In this process I am able to place the thought of card in the correct position without I touch the deck.
Now I perform the ACAAN effect with the 2 specators that I know they information.

In this presentation you need to know card and number, but is 100%. The latest version you don't need to know
card and number, but sometime doesn't work and you need to change the effect.

MP

My two cents
if I had a effect that was this good ,i would not sell it to anyone ...and cetrainly not for 27 bucks
I would leave the secret to my son so he could carry on...
vinny

I agree, Vinny

Hello Vinny and Jan

It is a good question Vinny and I shall do my best to answer your question from my view point.

To begin with, magic is a passion and hobby for me , my day job in the financial world provides the income to support my family and therefore keeping it a secret to ensure it maximise a revenue stream for me is unnecessary . After I sent Atlas the original draft and script he performed it that weekend as part of his repertoire and on hearing how pleased he was with both the effect and audience response, I asked him what he would have been willing to pay for the effect given other purchases he had recently made . He told me $60 would have been great value for him and happily have paid more. At one stage in the process we had considered a very limited release and a much higher price but we rejected that for various reasons .

Atlas has already brought to the market a few ebooks and they have been well received and the customers consider they have received good value for money . We both feel and value that building a good reputation and offering value for money are more important than keeping the effect both limited and at a high price .

Other than a few effects I have published in compilations for say Peter Duffie or Ben Hariss my name is unknown . At this stage I want buyers to think they received and excellent service and got good value for money , as the price rises from $27 to $60 or above you increase the risk of more customers been despondent with the purchase generating negative goodwill . Crusade is not the only effect I could offer to potential buyers, it is one of many and therefore keeping it secret or a very limited release serves little purpose for me .

I am sadly not the greatest magical historian but if my memory serves me right , Paul Curry did not keep his effect 'Out of this World' a secret only he would ever know , nor was it offered to magicians at a price which would exclude 90% or more of magicians buying it .

I understand the argument for keeping it a secret for the ACAAN myth was built up around the performances of David Berglas and how he kept his approach and methodology secret for so many years ... As Atlas has explained, our effect is a ACAAN type of effect created for mentalists in mind and I ignored all the rules I should follow according to tradition and built the effect I wanted around a good premise and script .

Crusade is a good effect it works in the real world but it is not nor does it claim to be a method or principle to achieve the holy grail version of the effect .

If you have any questions please ask me here or by pm

Regards

Andrew

To answer your question Giani, yes, you will be allowed to perform this on television.

Alex, thank you for your review - your perspective is much appreciated!

Vinny and Jan, you are lucky to be in the enviable position that your kids are interested in the art form! I can understand wanting to hold something back to pass along to your children.

I can also see Andrew's position and know that he is very excited to be able to leave a legacy by contributing something to the art form that he loves. The initial notes he sent me were great and I've subsequently refined all the rough edges in scripting, process and presentation through numerous performances. After all that effort, I can understand not wanting to keep the idea in a drawer.

Either way, we hope our book will make an impact and appreciate every perspective that has been shared here.

Best,

Atlas

Thank you Andrew and Atlas for responding so quicly my question.I know it is not a monitary thing as you say.
but I would also like to ask if I may ...
first what are you not telling us?/without revealing the seceret
secondly can you supply a demo not for us or me not to re engineer. but to see what it looks like.
and if you can't then I must say ,it is not worth the paper it is written on .
however to show you my support pm me your mailing address and I will send payment tomorrow mornings mail.
I'am prepared to be dissapointed. hopfully I will not be
vinny

Sorry Vinny,

I appreciate the offer, but you'll have to wait for the 28th just like everyone else.

Best,

Atlas

Massimo / entermagic:

This thread should remain about "The Crusade". It would be more proper for you to start a different thread about your routine.

I'm sure all of us will read your thread as well.

Thanks,

Steve H

Well said Atlas.