Reviews

Gregory Wilson "Ring Leader"

Richard Osterlind “Mind Mysteries 2” is all about the Breakthrough Card System, which I believe to be the best stack ever invented. Instead of the usual stacks that alternate clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds, the Osterlind Breakthrough Card System (What a mouthful) looks completely random, and will not be detected by even the most observant spectators.

Card Calling: The magician shuffles a jumbo deck of cards and has a spectator select a clump of them from a fan. The magician now turns away from the spectator, making it impossible to see the cards. Under seemingly impossible conditions, the magician names every one of the cards the spectator hold, and upon reaching the point where there are only two cards remaining, tells the spectator what card s/he was thinking of, moments before.

A great effect for stage performances in front of large audiences.

7.8/10

Two Cards in Pocket: The magician shuffles and cuts a deck of cards, and gives it to a spectator. The spectator can freely cut the cards as many times as s/he wants. When the spectator is satisfied that the cards are mixed, the spectator takes the top two cards and puts them in his/her right and left pockets, without looking at them. The magician has the spectator return the deck to the box, and put the box away, so that the magician can’t access the rest of the deck. The magician, without any fishing, names both cards and asks the spectator which card s/he wants in which pocket. Upon removing the cards from his/her pockets, the spectator finds that the cards were in the correct pockets.

This is, in my opinion, the best effect on the video, with Challenge Mind Reading a close second. Although the last part doesn’t work every time, it does work about 90% of the time, and is one of the most unbelievable things you can do in mentalism. I showed this effect to my family, and freaked them out. My mom thought this was the best effect I ever did. For most of my effects, my dad either knows how they are done, or gets very close. He had no idea how this was done, which made me realize how powerful and undetectable this effect is.

10/10

Challenge Mind Reading: The spectator thinks of a card, finds it in the deck, places it wherever s/he wants in the deck, and puts the deck in the box. Without even looking at the cards, the magician correctly names the thought of card.

I found this to be the second best effect on the video. It is very straightforward and direct, and is simply amazing.

9/10

Corinda Effect: The spectator, after cutting the deck several times, puts the deck under the table (if available), takes the top card, flips it over, places it in the middle of the deck, and flips the deck over. While the magician turns away, the deck is removed from under the table, and covered with a card case (or other similar object). Without even touching the cards, the magician names the card, and when the spectator spreads the deck, it is found to be the correct card.

This, like all the others, is an amazing effect. However, I found that while it is still a very good effect, it is not as strong as the others.

7/10

Blackjack Demonstration: You have a spectator deal 4 hands of blackjack and proceed to tell each player what would be the best thing to do, and what cards s/he will draw to.

This one takes some effort. No single part of it is any harder than the others, but you have to be able to think quickly to perform this one. While the fact that you can tell what cards the spectator will draw to is impressive, the effect doesn’t have a climax or strong ending. Although you can tell what cards everyone has, you can’t control what anyone can draw to, meaning that there is ending, so the spectators don’t really know when the trick is over.

7/10

Overall, the video is very good. While all the effects are strong, the strongest parts of the video, in my opinion, are the “Two Cards in Pocket” and “Challenge Mind Reading” effects. However, these effects are VERY strong, and will almost surely be added to your repertoire, if you do any mentalism…or even if you don’t. I never used to do mentalism, but “Two Cards in Pocket” made me decide to add some to my act.

8.5/10

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Shane Wiker