Haven’t road tested it yet, but very happy with this.
Michael always releases quality though imo

Hi John, thank you for the suggestion, I will try it and ponder over.

But for the moment, my favorite effect of this kind is a mix: using the method of "Devastation" (but not using 4 or more piles; the spectator just picks a quarter of the deck) with the presentation and the subtleties of "Fragment". This, for me, is the perfect solution.

This is a true gem, full of subtleties. I love this.

Has the full performance video been posted yet? It's Jan 20 and I really wanna see this!

For 12 pounds, this is a great buy. Love this and I learned a new easy sleight as well that I didn’t know before. Again well done!

I really don't think a full performance should be posted. There is ample information available to anyone who is interested.

In any event, this is a lovely wee effect and presentation and is definitely something Im looking forward to playing around with.

Only reason I was asking was because Michael said a couple of times there would be a full perf video on the 20th. Ordering it anyway, but would like to see this as well...

Also waiting for the full performance video.

Sorry gents, I spent the full day with the intention of filming the newsletter and getting the new video uploaded and instead I have had to spend the day getting this taken down from two torrent sites. To say that I am both highly disappointed and furious is an understatement. To make matters worse I also found out that another idea of mine has been freely shared with over 27,000 people on a social media platform and that a third idea has been taught on another project without permission.

I was also due to to sign a contract on a new premises today for the sole purpose for filming more projects but in light of the current situation I decided not to proceed and contacted the current owner to decline the offer. Although I was successful in getting this removed from both sites I feel that my day has been a complete waste of time. Let's just say that today was not a good day and I will allow my stress levels to stabilise overnight before seeing what tomorrow throws at me.

In the meantime I have sent a couple of pm's out.

Best Wishes Michael

OMG - that is so not good. I can't believe that! It's only been out a few moments ago! I won't patronize you with "your work is so good its worth stealing". Cus that just doesn't cut it.

I have not long had an email from a Café member who wants to trade magic with me. He wanted to "trade" Phil Smiths AMAZING Mythology Codex. The balls of some people! Needless to say, I told him it was being re-released today and he can get a copy for £150 which is a bargain!

So carp that this is going on.

I've been playing with this a bit and like it more and more.

A few notes, some of which have already been mentioned:

– This is NOT the grail you have been looking for. It is not an ACAAN, but has enough similarities that it is considered an "ACAAN-style" effect. The presentation and subtleties that Michael gives make it feel like mind-reading. Whereas a lot of ACAANs fall more into the category of either prediction, influence, or coincidence.

– For me, this is a great casual performance piece. I used to perform Barrie Richardson's Impromptu Card at any Number. It served me well, but was far more "move-y" than this one, and relied on a lot of card handling skills and had to be in my hands far too much. Other than the one "move", this is clean. Yes, it IS procedural, but I do think the presentation justifies it. If I wanted something faster and less procedural, I would just perform Asi's routine, which I would probably still do for a formal performance. Again, for a FASDIU effect, this is great.

– I have come up with an alternative handling of the one "move" that suits me better. I think there are countless ways to make that moment happen. The method I am working with has a few additional subtleties that I think make it seem even more fair. I doubt there will be a private group for an effect of this scale (although I would join it), so I am not really sure how to share my thoughts on this. I also have some other handling adjustments for a few alternate scenarios. Perhaps I will film these and just send them to Michael.

– Others have mentioned it, but I would like to re-iterate to those doing their research that there is no "mathematics" involved. Neither on the spectator nor the performer's end. That was a concern of mine, and was happy to find that it wasn't the case.

All in all, a nice effect. Easy to do. Can go right into the bag-of-tools for any situation. AAA effect (Any deck, Anytime, Anywhere). Not the holy grail, but I will absolutely continue to use it.

I picked this up from Michael , you receive 3 full performances and a full explanation video.
I watched all 3 performances quite a few times and I couldn’t work it out at all .
I left it until morning but had to give in.
This is quite simple , utilises a slight move nothing knuckle busting , and bar that it’s straight forward, I really like this , for my acaan I use prediction impossible however you can use this as more a mentalism effect , I’m definitely going to use this it’s great, very fooling and will get great reactions for sure.

Carl.

Sorry to hear that... Sucks as to how much time you have to spend to stop the crooks. Day job for me is in tech, so if you ever need any advice or ferring things out, feel free to reach out...

I gave on my PDFs they are out on a few magic sites. I don’t have time to stop anything. Sucks but folks still buy them from me.

Sorry to hear that Michael.

I'm impressed that Michael managed to get them taken down from the sites

Hasn't Hollywood failed where Michael has succeeded

And in reference to the 'trader' that contacted Dave - I guess the same person contacted me. We didn't get as far as discussing what titles - as I just told him that trading made no sense as after we have each paid the postage and packaging to send the items, to each other, it would have been cheaper to buy the stuff new... hmm - he didn't get back in contact with me

So going further off on a tangent; I've been talking with Michael about this and one of the sites in question, I looked at (and managed to provide him with the owner of the site, and the registrar to try to see about cutting off their knees, but...) the point of this post is... in looking at that site, they have a section of "we're looking for the following products; contact us if you have one of these" so they kinda have an open call for someone to "share" with them so they can then sell it themselves. Totally scummy. They don't even buy it themselves (not that that would make it any better, but...)

I thought / guessed - that ALL the sites either:

a] were on that secret magicians torrent site that is apparently the hardest group in the world to join

or

b] they all buy them off each other... so one site x has loads of copied stuff, site y buys them off site x [as it's loads cheaper than buying anything new], then site z buys them off site y - etc

I never presumed that all these sites ever bought products

I'd also guess the other way would be to PM magicians and ask if they want to do a trade... you trade a product to get one off the chap... but the chap then puts it on his/her site.... and they are using other trades to trade with you - so not spending any money

The idea of them buying all the stuff wouldn't make a lot of sense - as then they need to sell a good 5 or 6 copies just to break even

Finally Michael wasn't talking about those sites was he... he said a torrent site. Is what he said. Those are not torrent sites - those are sites selling illegal copies. Torrents are illegal but most don't sell anything and they would be a lot harder to get your stuff off. If Michael has got his stuff off torrent sites that is very impressive. If he got it off sites selling illegal copies, it's still a result. but is much less impressive... as you have ways to contact them guys

I hope that made sense

Yeah; it does. I often look thru torrent sites and let my creator friends know if their stuff is showing up. Good news is, there seems to be less and less on the torrent sites these days.

The other thing on this site that Michael shared with me is their ask for "not watermarked" digital products.

I also verified that this site in question had their PayPal deactivated, so I added something to a cart, and when I went to checkout (with no intention to really buy - this was only to verify about their PayPal) it said "Sorry, we have no way to accept payment from your location right now, so contact us to make alternate payment arrangements" . So anything to hinder them...

Yeah but that only works - if rather than each creator does it [when they see their work up] and instead everyone joins and go for all of them - all the time...

But if Hollywood and the music industry can't do it - with their billions - it seems unlikely that a few magic producers will do anything much

I agree it is a virus that we will never eradicate, but if individual vendors make it hard enough for their own products, at least it is a dent in it that helps these people with way shallower pocketbooks than hollywood.

And we can help by not patronizing them.