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Sensation by Mr. Bless

Bless, Mr.

(Based on 1 review)
Sensation is a mix between a card trick and a mentalism effect. To perform this effect you'll need just a regular deck of cards. You can even borrow one. The effect is almost self working and so you will learn it right away. At the end of the effect spectators will fell the sensation to have done all the work. Sensation is a reputation maker effect that will fit in your repertoire.

Reviews

Stuart Philip

Official Reviewer

Nov 04, 2014

In this trick, the spectator cuts to any card in any shuffled deck and removes it from the deck. After the performer shuffles one half of the deck, the spectator places the card on the top of that half and then covers the selected card by the other half of the deck. The performer claims that the chosen card will speak to him and when that fails the performer touches the cards one at a time until he “senses” which is the chosen card and turns it over. This almost seven minute download is on sale for $4.95. Beginners looking for great card tricks would be better served by watching one of the many card tricks on YouTube for free.

First, the product description takes great liberties by claiming that “Sensation is a reputation maker effect.” That is just not true. The effect, which is easy to perform, is good but it in no means will leave people thinking you an amazing magician – more like they will enjoy a good trick. The promotional video is also edited to make the trick look amazing and cuts out some necessary steps, where the magician is handling the cards, which makes the trick less amazing. Because the video only shows the spectator picking a card and the performer “sensing” the card, the video is not an accurate depiction of the trick. In the download itself, the magician claims that the trick is “almost self-working.” I take issue with that characterization because something is either self-working or it isn’t. This isn’t. It requires some very easy and basic card manipulation. If you don’t execute the sleight correctly, the trick won’t work. The magician must be able to shuffle the cards which disqualifies this trick as “almost” self-working.

The download starts off with an aerial view of the magician and the spectator sitting across from one another at a table during the performance of the trick, which is overdubbed with audio instruction. The trick is never performed straight through and instead the magician stops and demonstrates what he is doing during the performance. Because an instructional download of a trick should contain a complete demonstration of the trick, to show the effect as presented, this is another part of the download that is lacking.

The process by which the card is “sensed” and revealed can be a bit slow going because the cards need to be slowly flipped through until the selected card is found. This can take a while if the card is deeper than the 10th position in the deck. Point in case is that when the trick is being demonstrated, the video fast forwards to the reveal instead of the real time demonstration. Some of the instructions are not so clear and assumes the purchaser has knowledge of basic magic methods. i.e. what a key card is. Finally, the download unnecessarily demonstrates a certain portion of the trick twice and does not explain what to do in a rare situation in which the card is not where it normally is (I can’t say more without revealing the method).

Although the trick does work and it is good to fair, one can find tricks of equal or greater effect on the internet for free.

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