Double Vision

Introduction:
I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news. The good news is that this trick fries people! The bad news is that it requires two magicians. However, don’t let that deter you. I’ve been in plenty of places where I’m hanging with other magician buddies where we had the opportunity to do this effect.

One of the most common situations is when the two of us are hanging out at a restaurant jamming, and neighboring tables or even some of the restaurant staff realize that we’re magicians, and they want us to show them a trick. Also, I’ve worked several professional gigs where there were several magicians working the room. This presents another great opportunity for this effect. Finally, some of my formal gigs are two-man gigs which, of course, is the ideal use for this effect.

Effect:
The effect is simply a two card transpo, but the cards change places from across the room from each other. It’s killer visual, and extremely simple.

Method and Explanation:
Basically, both you and the other magician will do a color change at the exact same moment. However, the beauty is in the details. He starts with a blue card, and you start with a red card. When all is said and done, he has the red card, and you have the blue card. Also both cards can be marked as well.

Set Up:
You need two decks of cards, one red-backed and one blue-backed. You then need two magicians. For the sake of explanation purposes, let’s imagine that you have the red deck, and your friend has the blue deck.

Let’s say that the card you are going to magically cause to transposition is the 8 of diamonds (red like your deck). Your friend’s card is the 8 of spades.

This effect is very simple, quick and direct, but it took quite a while for me and Jason Montoya to work out the set up on this.

We stood at a white board arguing for about 30 minutes debating over how many cards were needed and who gets what cards, etc… trust me, you’ll be glad that we went through this so that you don’t have to.

The two of you need to swap two cards. You (holding the red deck) will take the eight of spades and eight of diamonds from his deck, and he will take those same two cards from your deck. You will then place the two cards on the bottom of the pack with “your card,” the eight of diamonds being the bottom card, and his deck will have “his card,” the eight of spades on the bottom. See Figure 1.

That’s the “secret” setup. Now the performance is simple. You both do a color change that exchanges the position of the two cards. I prefer the Erdnase-Houdini color change. That’s it. That’s the whole effect. However, there are some fine points I want to cover.

Fine Points:
In order for this effect to have full affect, you must establish a few key images and moments of “proving” the magic. Here are the points in order:

1. Each of you show what color your deck is.
2. Each of you show the card that will change.
3. Each of you perform the change.
4. Each of you show the color of the newly “arrived” card.

That’s it. First, showing the color of the deck. This is simply done by each of you spreading the cards to show the backs of the deck. Of course, just don’t spread the last two cards on the bottom. Depending on the venue and the number of people, etc, I may involve other members of the audience to help everyone remember who has which deck.

I’ll have someone stand next to me and hold the red card box up in the air during the entire trick. My partner holding the blue deck will have someone do the same with the blue card box.

Next we will both false shuffle our deck and have a card “randomly” selected (riffle force the bottom card). For the clarity of the explanation, we are using two eights. However, in actual performance, I would not choose two of the same value. It looks a little too not random.

At this point again, depending on the venue I may involve another member of the audience. Two more spectators will each get a small white board, or piece of paper or piece of cardboard, etc. They use this to write down the name of our cards. I’ll have a person stand next to me holding the paper with my card, and my partner does the same.

At this point we each have 2 people standing next to us. One holds the color of the deck (the card box), and the other holds the name of the “freely selected” card.

Next we both execute the Erdnase-Houdini color change, but rather than revealing the card immediately, we both keep our hand covering the newly switched in card. Right before we both lift our hands, I’ll ask the audience what card I started with and what card my partner started with. Then we, one at a time, remove our hands from the deck.

Pause for a moment to let the effect sink in. Then as a final convincer, show the back of the card; show that it is different from the back of the rest of your deck. The way I do this is by holding the deck face up in the left hand’s dealer grip. I then thumb over the card on the face (the newly “arrived” card) at the same time I turn my left hand face down.

This shows the back of the deck to be one color, while the bottom card to be a different color. See Figure 2. Then with my right hand, I take the bottom card and hold it up for the audience to see the back.

Again, depending on the venue, I may take it a step further by placing the card back on the bottom and picking up a double.

Then I would walk over to the other side of the room or stage to my partner and hand him back his card (actually a double) as he hands me back my card (actually a double). Then we both have back all of the cards to our decks.

Marking The Card:
This effect, as mentioned in the beginning, can be done with signed or marked cards. In order to do that, there are a couple of options. Both my partner and I sign one of the cards in advance. Then during the performance, we sign the second card. So at the beginning, when I am holding the red deck with the blue-backed eight of spades and the blue backed eight of diamonds, the eight of spades has been pre-signed by my partner.

The red-backed eight of diamonds he is holding has been pre-signed by me. Then during performance, I openly sign my name on the forced card, and he signs his name on the forced card he has.

Another idea is to just draw a simple shape on each card. Shapes are a lot easier to duplicate. Also, when you read the presentation below, you’ll see that the motivation for transporting the cards adds a level of misdirection that completely legitimizes the markings on the deck.

Presentation:
The best way to present this, in my opinion, is to do it as a challenge: one magician against the other. The idea being that one of you has the ability to take a card from the other without him even knowing. Let’s say that I’m playing the role of the magician that can “take” the other card.

My partner plays the role of the magician trying to protect his card from being taken. Without giving a full script, basically the way it plays out is that I challenge my partner by telling him that I can sneak any card out of his deck that I want without him knowing.

So in an effort to create “test conditions,” he recruits members of the audience to come on stage and hold the card boxes and pick cards and decide which cards each of us have, etc…

Then as an after thought, he has the idea to mark the cards so that they are truly unique. So he tells me to draw a triangle on mine and that he’ll draw a circle on his. Because it’s “his idea,” the audience buys into the concept that it really could have been any shape drawn. They don’t think of it being a duplicate.

Finally, when the color change is performed, it’s done by him as a gesture to cover the deck and protect it from me. He then tells me that I must cover my deck as well so that I can’t do any funny moves, etc.

At this point, we are both covering our decks and have both switched cards. At the end, you can reveal it as though you “got” his card, or you can reveal it where it was he who suckered you, and he “got” your card. I like this angle because it allows your audience to not perceive you as a jerk to your partner.

This piece is purely a presentational piece. The moves are simple. It’s a false shuffle, a force and a color change. That’s it. However, the delivery is everything. If you ever are in a position where you have another magician with you at a gig, do this! You will thank me later.

Final Thoughts:
Here’s one last idea that many of you will appreciate. Instead of signing a card or marking it with one shape, you can mark it with many shapes. This takes a little audience management, but it’s pretty simple. Have the audience yell out various shapes to use for marking the deck. As they yell out the shapes, you draw 3 of them on three different parts of the face of the card.

You do it as though you heard them say, “star, oval, and rectangle.” Then ask them for more shapes for your partner. Tell them that you drew a star, oval and rectangle. Then ask them to yell out “shapes that have not been used yet.” They will likely yell out “Circle, Square and Triangle.” Ahead of time, you each have pre-drawn these three shapes on each other’s cards rather than pre-signing them. Then during the performance, when you draw the shapes, they seem to be totally random.

Trust me gang, this is a freaky trick. Do it!

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