Is there anyone out there who can give me a review of this? Is it a really great trick worth investing money and practice time into learning?

Also, how about Smiling Assassin from Meir Yedid? This looks like a really funny trick, at least for my sense of humor. Any thoughts on this one?

I am familiar with both effects. "The Cardinal Card" is just great - a terrific version of the Wild Card plot, but BOTH sides of the cards change. I used to watch Meir perform this for an audience of laypeople in New York, and it killed. I consider it a real sleeper. It requires some basic card handling, but nothing difficult. Very, very magical.

"The Smiling Assassin" was a Jeff Stewart effect (Meir bought him out). This is a self-working effect that is extremely commercial, yet will fool people, too. I used to perform a version of the trick, and it got great reactions - it's the kind of thing one can build up and it plays pretty big.

Hope this helps.

Fantastic. I could not have asked for a better review, or by a more knowledgeable person.

I do have one question though, you call Cardinal Cards a sleeper. Despite showing my ignorance, I must ask what exactly you mean by this? I would generally take "sleeper" to mean boring, but I'm pretty sure that isn't what you mean here. Sorry for my uncertainty. Otherwise, thank you very much.

>I do have one question though, you call
>Cardinal Cards a sleeper. Despite showing >my ignorance, I must ask what exactly you
>mean by this? I would generally
>take "sleeper" to mean boring, but I'm
>pretty sure that isn't what you mean here.

My apologies for jumping in, David. I also re-read that a few times to make sure of what the gist of the sentence was.

I believe, in this context, the term 'sleeper' refers to a great effect that is often overlooked by most magicians, something that most people would start reading/performing and quickly jump to the conclusion that it is very dry or slow-moving and, therefore, likely to be passed on.

However, once it 'wakes up', you will shock your audience because they were totally not expecting the climax.

I'm not sure if I got the analogies of the slang term correct, but the crux of the definition lies in the notion that it may surprise you that it is a good effect (envision a sleeper who is woken up and very startled and disoriented).


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ...


Brian

Yep, a sleeper is a great trick (or great anything) that has been overlooked or its full potential not appreciated by the masses. Cardinal Cards boasted more changes than any other wild card routine. I remember seeing Meir doing it years back, it was part of his regular repertoire then I think. In fact Meir sells a number of variants on the wild card plot, including one of mine.

Smiling Assassin is one of those things that is okay for the right crowd (your friends perhaps)but probably better avoided in paid shows where someone might consider it in bad taste. Of course, these comments are coming from a country where we don't have the same gun culture.

I used to find that because of the way the"shot" card was made I could do a one handed cut straight to it. A fun trick in the right place.

Paul.