Triptych

Introduction:
You gotta love a borrowed shuffled deck effect where most of it happens in the spectator’s hands.

The beauty of this one is that many people will read the effect, and assume that the trick is too simple to have an impact on the audience, and they will skip the rest of the performance and explanation, thus leaving a killer gem for the working pros.

You gotta love this one. It gets many people involved, and on top of that, later when they explain it to their friends, they’ll have forgotten that you ever touched the deck.

Effect:
This is a simple three card revelation where the first card is “found.” It then changes into the second selection which changes into the third selection.

Method:
Let’s go over the basic mechanics of the effect first; then we’ll cover the presentation which is the real meat of this effect.

Moves to know:
First, you’ll need to know how to control three cards to the top of the deck in order and do some false cuts and shuffles. I’ll assume that you’ve got that figured out already.

Secondly, you’ll need to know how to do a double lift. Again, I’ll take the leap and assume that you can do that. However, seriously, if you can’t control cards or do a double lift, you need to stop right now, and learn how to do those things first. Master them well grasshopper.

Finally, you’ll need to be able to do any kind of color change that changes two back-to-back cards. For example: Vernon’s Push Through The Fist Move, Marlo’s In Lieu of Vernon’s Push Through The Fist Move, Brad Gordon’s Blip, etc. The one I use is an old one that I’m not even sure the name of. It’s a pretty standard move though. We’ll cover that on next.

Back to Back Change:
This is one of the simplest, yet most effective ways I know of to switch two back to back cards. Follow along with deck in hand. Start with a face down deck.

Make sure that the top card is the Ace of Spades, and the second card is the King of Hearts. You’re going to show the Ace of Spades, then magically change it to the King of Hearts. Here’s How:

First, turn over the Ace of Spades so that it is face up on top of the face down deck and thus back to back with the King of Hearts.

Now that the cards are back to back, get a left pinky break beneath the two cards. Next, with your right hand, grab the outer right edge of the double and pull it to the right side of the deck and touch it (the double) to the tips of your left finger tips (figure 1).

Next, turn the entire deck face up onto the double in the same manner you would close a book. Then pause for just a second.

The situation now is that you have an entirely face up deck of 51 cards, and the 52nd card which is the switched in card (King of Hearts) is face down below the 51 face up cards.

The face up deck is sort of balanced on both the left fingertips and the right finger tips (figure 2). Now simple use the right finger tips to flip the whole deck face down, again like you are opening a book.

This will “expose” the face up King of Hearts (the switched in card) on top of the face down deck (figure 3).

That’s it. You can, if you’d like, pick up the King of Hearts and show it all around to “sell” that it has changed from the Ace of Spades which is secretly face down on top of the deck.

Custom Application:
In Triptych, we modify this color change very slightly. The only difference is that at the beginning, instead of getting a break below two back to back cards, you will get a break beneath the third card. Thus you’ll have the face up Ace of Spades, the face down King of Hearts, and another face down card beneath the King. You’ll obtain a break beneath that third “indifferent” card.

From there, everything is the same. You’ll pull the three cards to the right, flip the deck on top and flip the deck over again. The big difference, at this point is that you now will have revealed that the Ace of Spades turned into whatever the indifferent card below the king was. So the position of the deck at this point is a face up indifferent card. Below that is the face up King of Hearts, followed by the face down Ace of Spades and the rest of the face down deck.

The groovy thing here is that you are now set to magically change the face up indifferent card into the King of Hearts just by using a double lift. Simply get a break beneath the two face up cards, and turn them face down as one. Then deal off or slide off the top card (King of Hearts) and turn it over to reveal the second change.

That’s that. Those are the moves you need to do this effect. They are very simple, but very powerful. This is one of my favorite ways to open a card set because it immediately gets several people involved and is a very visual and killer card revelation.

Performance:
Note that in the text below, what you are reading is my “script” to the audience. Any comments to you the reader will be in Italics.

You may have heard of gamblers who can “control cards.” Well I’m going to show you how that might work, but I’ll need several people to help me out. First, Bill, can you shuffle these cards and pass them off to Elaine? Great. Elaine, if you’d like you can shuffle further. Now, Elaine, have Roger, Clay, and Miriam each select a card and then hand me the deck.

Note to the Magi: notice how 5 people are immediately involved and how I don’t even touch the deck while it’s being shuffled and while cards are being selected

Clay (the 2nd selection – Control to top), I’ll take yours first and put it back in the deck. Next, I’ll put yours back, Roger (1st selection – Control to above Clay’s card). Finally, I’ll put yours back, Miriam (3rd selection – Control to above Roger’s card).

Note to the Magi: From the top down, you should now have the selections in this order: 3, 1, 2. Give the deck a few false shuffles and cuts retaining the top 3 cards.

As I mentioned earlier, we are going to demonstrate card control, and believe it or not Miriam, I have controlled your card to the top. I’m about to show you proof, but don’t get too excited. It’s not magic; it’s just basic card control which wasted, I mean took 10 years of my life to master.

So here is your card (openly turn over top card – Miriam’s card). That’s basic sleight of hand card control. However, what if I mess up my sleight of hand card control? Well, that’s simple, I would just control your card (point to spectator 2 – Clay) to the top without sleight of hand, but with magic.

Execute the back to back color change with three cards as explained earlier. This will cause selection number three to magically change into selection number 2 which is in place to change to selection number 1 by means of a double lift. This is when you’ll get your first real gasp.

What a lot of people don’t realize (turn over double and remove single face down – this is spec #1’s card) is that I don’t need to control anything to the top of the deck either by magic or sleight of hand because I can just take your card (gesture with the face down card toward spectator 2 as if you are holding his card) and bring it near you (move the face down card to spec #1) and it will just change into your (turn the card over and name whatever the card is) Four of Diamonds.

Final Thoughts:
The End. If you’ve read carefully, you’ve just discovered a gem that will be in your arsenal very soon. Just try this once. The reaction is incredible. It so simple, and you can borrow a deck and the whole procedure (including selecting of cards) is started off without you ever touch the deck.

When I perform this, I open with the line about card control, but I do not mention it again until I’ve returned all three selections to the deck and I’m about to do the first card revelation. Then I remind them that I was going to demonstrate card control. I want them to, just for a moment, not think about me controlling the cards.

However, even if they think that you are doing something suspicious (that means you need to practice your card control more) you can dismiss it by saying, “I told you I was controlling the cards.”

One last thing: if they are hesitant to hand me the deck back after shuffling and selecting cards, I will mention the card control thing. It would play out something like this:

Magician: Great now that you’ve shuffled the cards and had 3 selected, I’ll take the deck back

Spectator: Why can’t I hold the deck while they are returning the cards to the pack?

Magician: Great question. As I mentioned, I’m going to demonstrate sleight of hand card control (make sure you say “sleight of hand card control” not just “card control”), and it would be pretty hard to manipulate the cards if I’m not holding them.

Try it; you’ll like it!

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