Michael Close has a new download, The Guatemalan Miracle. The trouble with the information at http://www.forworkersonly.com/ is that the only thing it says about the trick is that it is nearly self working. A great description indeed, seems real powerful to me. Close always delivers with good tricks and great comments and it´s only $5.95, but still it is a bit too much for just killing my curiosity. Does anyone have a little more information?

/Tommy

For only $6, the effect is more than worth it.

In brief, the spectator makes a random selection of any card. The deck is shuffled and she then goes on to divine the value and suit of her own card by making two piles.

All the magic will be happening in the spectator's hands and this makes it seem really impossible. There is a bit of work though but very little and will not be difficult if you're already performing other mem deck effects.

One of the pros of the effect is that at the end, you can return very easily to stack order.

As of all of Michael Close's products, the instructions given in the pdf are very clear and everything is well covered.

I don't think my description will do it enough justice though because a large part of the effect is in the patter and presentation. Get it if you do memorised deck work. Part of the joy is in reading and discovering what the effect is about.

I got it yesterday and am very pleased. It's a great new approach to a classic effect made possible by the use of a memdeck. You will need to be on top of your stack because there is some mental work during the performance. It's the kind of thing that memdeck workers are used to. It is not hard to reset, but that does make use of a small packet faro. Although, once you understand the great principle that Mike has discovered, there are other approaches to the same end and one I thought of immediately eliminates the need for the faro to reset.

As usual, Mike has lots of insightful thinking. There is a reference to an effect in Mnemonica, so it will be helpful to have it, as most memdeck workers already do. This information is only used for outs, which will not be needed often. (5 times in 52 performances, on average.) And, I'm sure that most card workers will see other possible outs for those occasions. If nothing else, you can use the almost universal out: an Invisible, Brainwave, or Ultra-Mental Deck.

This effect is worked out for both the Aronson Stack and the Mnemonica stack. I can't say for sure if it will work with other memorized decks.

I recommend this most highly for those that use a memorized deck. This is quite possibly the best six bucks I've ever spent.

Thanks to Mike for finding this principle.

Dennis Loomis

I also got the Guatemala Miracle yesterday and was up playing with it last night.

First of all I want to send out my congratulations to Mr. Close and Lisa on the new addition to their family.

As far as the manuscript it is everything we have come to expect from Mr. Close. The effect is super and will definately be making it's way into my arsenal of mem deck effects. The writing is clear and as always the thinking behind the effect is incredible. Everything that could be covered is.

Bottom line is buy this manuscript if you do mem deck work. It's only $6.00. It's well worth skipping this weeks value meal at Burger King.

I don't think most of us familiar with Close and who do mem deck work challenge the notion that the effect is probably strong and has benefits. The problem is that we want to know more about the effect itself because we may be doing effects already that are similar in nature and don't need another similar effect. So the question remains, can we have a fuller description of the effect?

I was surprised when I got the email solicitation of the effect that there was not the slightest inkling of what the effect looks like. How did that happen?

Gianni

Does this work with the six hour memorized deck?

I believe Michael Close didn't give the effect description so as to prevent possible attempts of reverse-engineering as well as the usual speculation that occurs when an effect is announced.

Jlowhy is exactly correct. Anyone who is going to sell a trick walks a tightrope when it comes to describing the effect. The effect is basically this: Spectator chooses a card. It is placed into the card box face down, so on knows its identity. Spectator takes the deck and discovers the name of the card through a simple procedure.

I very much doubt that anyone has this particular effect in their memdeck repertoire, since because I didn't know it was possible to do the effect and then restore the stack.

You can probably do it with the 6-hour stack. I no longer have that book in my library, so I can't check. If someone who has the Guatemalan Miracle manuscript and the 6-hour book could quickly check, I'd appreciate it.

Best

Close

To Midway,
I have the Guatemalan Miracle and the Joyal stack. It will take a bit of checking. Do you work with Joyal SHOCKED or CHASED?
Dennis Loomis

I checked out the Joyal Stack (CHaSeD) using Stackview. The stack definitely works with the Guatemalan Miracle.

It is probable that many magicians will already be familiar with the basic method associated with the Guatemalan Miracle.

However, because of the efforts of Mr. Close in applying this principle to a memorized deck, the handling of the trick becomes, in my opinion, an order of magnitude better.

I was familiar with the “latest” version of the trick. Mr. Close (with assistance from Stephen Minch) provides, again in my opinion, a valuable historical credit for this basic method.

The fact that the stack can be restored with some minor handling and the method is self-working or semi-automatic together with the $6 price tag means that anyone who is interested in memorized deck work should purchase this item.

Ian Richards

I don't know if it would make a difference but I work with the Joyal Shocked stack. Thanks to Dennis and jlowhy for their kind assistance.

As to the use of the Guatemalan Miracle with other stacks. I've had time to check out two. As Jlowhy says, you can do it with the Joyal CHaSeD stack. You will have five "special situation" cards, just as with the Aronson Stack.

The Guatemalan Miracle can also be done with the Ireland Stack, but there will be eight "special situation" cards.

That's all the checking I've had time to do so far.

The consensus of those that have it seems to be that it's worth the low price. So, if you do memdeck work... I think you'll be happy if you buy if from Mike.

Dennis Loomis

My friend Charles Affholter uses the Osterlind Breakthough Card System, which he has memorized. He informs me that six cards will not work in that stack.

(It's important to emphasize that Charles memorized the BCS. You cannot perform The Guatemalan Miracle with a calculation stack).

As an interesting aside, the Nine of Diamonds doesn't work in the Aronson, Tamariz, or Osterlind stacks. Must be that curse of Scotland thing.

Close

When I received Michael Close’s email about the Guatemalan Miracle, I was a little hesitant at first. What is the effect? Why is the description so vague? Is this another Protocols of the Elders of Magic?

I thought to myself: “Michael Close knows what he talking about when it comes to memorized decks.”

Just like the Protocols, I could not resist finding out what this was about. Thankfully, I did not have to wait months for the book to arrive. A short while later I was reading the Miracle. My first thought was: “I know this. This isn’t new”. I was reliving the disappointment of the Protocols all over again. I guess I’m a sucker for this type of marketing.

It took a few minutes for the magnitude of the Guatemalan Miracle to hit me.

The magic effect is not new but it is very strong. I actually perform it for laymen in impromptu situations when I’m given a deck of cards. The reaction is always great.

What makes the Guatemalan Miracle stand out is the fact that when you perform this with a memorized deck, there is no one, not even magicians, who will suspect that you could be using a stack after performing this effect. The cards get handled and dealt out by the spectator and you even shuffle some packets together. However, you end clean in memorized order. Now that is amazing!

Thank you for sharing this with us Michael. I’m happy I took a chance on you.

If you do the Guatamalan Miracle with the Si Stebbens Stack (intervals of 3 version), or the Eight Kings, or Hungry Jackass stack, because of the rotation of the suits, you have two advantageous. First, every card works; no outs needed. Second, the cards you need to work with are always 12 cards down from the top of the stack. In other words, you always need to cut 11 cards from the top of the deck to the bottom to be in position to continue.

Additionally, the top card of the deck, after 11 cards are cut to the bottom, will always be the suit, and the card following will always be the value.

And, the Guatamalan Miracle does not require you to show the spread of cards for long at any point, so this seems to be a good trick to do with this kind of stack.

Dennis Loomis