If you haven't already, go watch the video trailer for this effect. After watching the video trailer, I'm guessing that you're not sure what exactly the effect is. It appears that maybe they were going for a sort of reverse sandwich effect (maybe) where the cards escape from between other cards. So you've got Houdini cards escaping from between "cop" cards.

Let's investigate the usual suspects:

• Effect


• Product Quality


• Method

Effect

As you know, I don't typically let an effect impact my overall score on a review because whether or not you'll do an effect and like it is a very personal thing.

I can only tell you if the product is well made and the effect is what it claims to be. However, in this case, I will let the effect impact the final rating. One of the worst things one can say about a magic effect is that the effect is unclear. Unfortunately, that's exactly what this effect is: Unclear.

However, if you watched the video clip and felt that the effect was clear and that you would use it, then who am I to discourage you? Well I'm a reviewer who recommends or doesn't recommend products based on various criteria. One such criterion is product quality. That's where this one somewhat falls apart.

Product Quality

The DVD is less than 9 minutes long. 2 of those minutes is the performance that you just watched in the video trailer. The explanation is somewhat hurried through and only lasts 6 minutes and 18 seconds. No kidding, the vinyl wallet is beautiful. Instead of the traditional black, you get a brown faux-leather pattern that looks really nice. I'll actually be replacing one of my effects that uses a wallet with this wallet.

The 5 cards you get are actually quite beautiful as well. However - This is a big however - they don't "work." They're made of some sort of sturdy plastic-ish material, and they stick together. Because of this the cards actually stick together, and I was completely unable to spread the cards at all. It was worse than the old Hoyle decks. So even if the effect was super clear, there's a problem with the cards, and the effect would still be not-doable.

Method

I'm sure you've guessed that the method is just a series of false displays and false turnovers as per the usual method of effects like this. Unfortunately, I was unable to do the moves at all with the cards provided.

Final Thoughts

I think part of the lack of clarity is the similarity of the appearance of the cards. If the cop cards where a different color on the face they would have been more clearly distinguishable. However even that may not have helped due to aforementioned card problems.

Unfortunately because the effect is not possible with the cards provided, it's very hard to give this a good score. Further, the lack of clarity makes it even harder to recommend. These type of effects are very bad for magic in my opinion. It really simply looked like he was just turning over and displaying a bunch of different cards in an overly convoluted way. I saw no effect, no magic, no "moment." The shining star in this effect is the vinyl wallet. Also, the cards are really good looking cards, but that's where it ends. Maybe some treatment with some fanning powder or something will help the cards work better. So if you don't mind powdering your cards, risking that the powder won't work, and you felt the effect was clear and "for you" then by all means get this. As for me and my house . . . we cannot justify it.

Final Verdict:
1 Star with a Stone Status of Rubble