passport

to ALPHAs
Written by Phillip Smith

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 Contents
Introduction 3
On the ALPHAS 6
Nominal 8
DMC’s One Letter Smoke 11
Word As I Word 14
A Note on Preshow 17
Love Connection 20
Seance Revelation 23
Fate With Destiny 26
G-Rex 29
Hands off 33
Devious Man’s Con 38

Copyright © 2018 by Phillip Smith

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not
be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without
the express written permission of the publisher except for
the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the UK

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Introduction
by drummond Money-coutts
It was a warm Los Angeles day when, twelve months ago,
the first decks of ALPHAS prototypes were delivered. And
in that moment, my own card magic took a dramatic new
dimension. As you yourself will soon discover, the material
made possible with this deck will touch a part of your
audiences’ hearts that simply is not possible when dealing
with the 9 of clubs or 2 of diamonds. With ALPHAS you are
no longer playing with these numbers and strange symbols,
but instead with the infinitely more emotive realm of words
with special meanings. The names of loved ones, the names
of childhood pets, personal objects, locations and so much
more.

As magicians we have each most likely handled standard

playing cards since infancy, and in doing so we know and
understand them very closely. We speak their language -
akin to the violinist and his instrument or the swordsman
and his blade. However, and unfortunately, this closeness is
not widely shared today outside of the magic or avid card-
playing spheres. It’s certainly not infrequent that as I travel,
a spectator asked to name their card says to me, “Oh, it’s the
J of the curly ... the curly thing”.

Tragically, today the Jack of clubs and many of his peers

are not on first name terms with all that walk this earth.
In 1981 the Waddingtons Playing Card Company found
that 50% of the adult population of the UK played cards
“regularly”. In the absence of current data it is a shame but

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 also an unquestionable likelihood that this percentage today
has slipped by quite a degree. Playing cards exist, perhaps
in certain areas they are exploding, but statistically not
with the widespread, consistent penetration of previous
generations. It is an inconvenient truth to an industry that
so enthusiastically orbits their existence; the general public’s
familiarity and regular usage of playing cards is in decline.

And so, with this in mind - Phill and I discussed a deck that
might better resonate with the world’s laity. And together,
in late 2014, we struck upon the idea of a letter deck. I will
hasten to add that (as is so often the case in magic) we were
not original in this thought. The ‘Lexicon’ letter deck, a card
game printed by Waddingtons almost a century ago, was
seemingly much used by magicians of the day - and in more
recent times the brilliant Luke Jermay and Lee Earle (among
others) have also released their own versions. That said, it
remains to me an unthinkable enigma that these decks have
not been more celebrated.

To have a spectator unknowingly locate a royal flush is

a undeniable exhibition of brilliance, but to have them
unknowingly locate the five letters that, once turned face up,
spell their mother’s first name - this is now card magic on an
undeniably more powerful plane of impact.

This passport will give you a handful of ideas from the

minds of myself and the remarkable Phillip Smith, but I
also invite you to look upon your own existing card magic
repertoire and imagine which pieces might be elevated with
the inclusion of a name revealed instead of four queens. Or
a loved one’s initials instead of a matching pair of black 7s.
There is hardly an existing piece of card magic that cannot be

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replicated with this deck, and many of them only improved
by including words of special meaning or relevance to your
spectators. Of course the ALPHAS also boast Phill’s unique
‘Optical Marking System’, which only further blows the roof
on these magical possibilities.

In the course of the last year this deck has shifted the axis of
my card magic - and I can only promise you that the very first
time you impossibly reveal to a spectator the name of a loved
one or a word of personal significance, you will discover an
entirely new dimension to your card magic. Beyond that, and
far more importantly, so too will your audience.

As ever - I wish you every success in the magic that you do,

DMC x

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 On the alphas
Welcome to the Passport to ALPHAS, an introduction to a
powerful new utility prop that we are excited to introduce to
the magic world. The deck is fizzing with potential and I feel
that in the year or so since we started using it we’ve barely
scratched the surface of what can be done with it. Before we
get stuck into the actual material, let me explain a little bit
about the deck itself and how it came about:

The original concept was to create a marked utility deck

which had a range of different cards, letters, numbers,
symbols etc, but as we began developing material for it, it
became clear that all of the strongest effects used the alphabet
component, and we realised that expanding to a full alphabet
deck would unlock a huge range of intriguing material.

Rather than simply double the 26 letters to 52 cards, the

ALPHAS deck was developed using a letter distribution
table based on the frequency with which each letter appears
in normal English language usage, essentially to maximise
the range of words and names that can be spelled with the
52 cards.

The marking is our proprietary Optical Marking System,

developed for the DMC ELITES deck, in all four corners
as with the ELITES, and with the same central one-way
marking - when we had the original prototypes made it was
immediately clear that the one-way marking was needed,
even if only to ensure that when you make a reveal you can
turn the cards over the right way so the letters are upright.

The deck unlocks a huge number of effects - many of the

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card pieces that you are already performing can be performed
using the deck - I have had fun adapting an old ambitious
card routine I used to perform, for example, using their
initial instead of a randomly chosen card. One of the things
that the deck adds however is that arbitrary combinations of
cards can have huge meaning, because rather than forming
just a random series of playing cards (as with a normal deck),
five cards from the ALPHAS can make a word, and that word
can be inspiring, interesting, funny, rude, meaningful… you
name it. A normal layperson will marvel at the technical
skill of a card mechanic pulling a royal flush from a shuffled
deck of playing cards, but unless they are deeply invested
in poker they will have little personal attachment to the
moment. If you are instead able to produce their name from
a shuffled deck then instantly an effect that is technically
almost identical becomes far more personal, powerful and
memorable.

Combinations of letters and the importance put into them

by our language are the strength of the ALPHAS deck.
This Passport is intended as an introduction to our way
of working with the deck, with effects that are intended
to introduce and explore key concepts for the deck in an
accessible and simple way - I love knuckle-busting sleights as
much as the next nerd but you won’t find them here. Rather
than wasting these tiny pages explaining how to perform
Marlo’s reciprocating palm shift, we’ve used this slim volume
instead to flesh out some ideas that will help YOU combine
your own technical knowledge with the concepts unlocked
by the ALPHAS deck to create something powerful and
uniquely yours.

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 Divination
The marks on the deck are as clear as we can make them
whilst remaining obscure to the uninitiated, and this creates
a framework for learning a spectator’s thought of word or
name without anything being written down. There are lots
of different ways to handle this, from the direct and loose to
the more layered and structured.

Nominal
Effect
You hand the ALPHAS deck to a spectator and ask them to
mix them, whilst thinking of a person they know - someone
close to their heart, but not in the room at that exact moment.
You then ask them to look through the deck and take out the
first letter of that person’s name, and, without letting anyone
see, to put it face down on the table. This they do, with you
covering your eyes to preclude peeking - you then have them
do the same with the next letter, and the next, and the next.
You turn your back and have them complete the name.
With your back turned you ask them to concentrate on that
person and to mix the cards into the deck. Piece by piece you
put together the details of the person before turning around
and revealing their name.

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Method
The method is quite straightforward and relies on primarily
the marks, in combination with a simple technique
sometimes called the eyeline peek.

Firstly you need to make sure you are at a range where you
can easily sight the marks on the card as they put them down.
The participant concentrates on the name and finds the first
card, and as they do you slightly turn away and bring your
hand to your eyes to loosely cover them - this is done almost
as a gesture when you instruct them not to let anyone else
see.

You need to be at about 45 degrees to the table, and your eyes

are covered by your hand. In fact, although you are turned
partly away, you position your hand in such a way that it
blocks THEIR eyes from seeing yours, but allows you to look
sideways and, under your hand, see the cards as they are put
down. It is not done as a scientific vision block where you are
proving that you can’t see - it is done more to loosely indicate
that you don’t care if you see. It is deceptive because they
think you are covering yourself from seeing them picking the
cards, which you are, not to stop you from seeing the tabled
cards because as far as they are aware, there is nothing TO
see.

An additional layer can be added by, as in the description,

turning your back. This you do as soon as you have seen
enough cards to have a good stab at what the name is (and
the timing depends entirely on the cards you see and your
confidence at unpacking the name). If they put down C H R
then you can turn away entirely at that point and when it is

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 time to reveal the name, you can have a solid stab at either
Christopher or Christine, depending on whether the name is
for a man or a woman, a fact you can easily fish for by saying
“You are thinking of a male name…” and seeing if they bite
or say no.

This additional deception is made possible because you

know the range of things they are choosing from. If you
asked them to pick any word, you would find this very
difficult to do, but with a more narrow range it’s far easier. If
you had them think, for example, of a city somewhere in the
world that they would love to visit, and they put PA you can
probably turn your back knowing they have picked PARIS.
If you asked them to put their favourite food and they put
SPA you know it’s likely to be SPAGHETTI. The earlier you
turn away fully, the greater the gamble, but also the more
deceptive the routine becomes.

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DMC’s One Letter
Smoke
When DMC uses the deck to divine a thought of word he
uses a nice little gambit to create some additional smoke
around the effect and has an additional way to make the
routine more personal.

Effect
You ask the audience member to think of something personal
to them, an object or item, something that’s not obvious, but
something with which there is a personal connection. You
have them go through the deck and take out the word a
letter at a time, dropping the cards one by one in a pile on the
table. You tell them to take the cards and put them into their
pocket, and box the deck.

“I want you to reach into your pocket and take out any ONE
of the letters, and hand it to me.” They do this and you look
at the card. “H. OK.” You look them in the eye, then step
back and look them over, as if studying them. “Show me
your hands? Interesting. Let me see your shoes… of course. I
want you to imagine this word hanging in the air between us,
so you can read it. Visualise the word here…” you frame the
space between you with your hands, then pick up the H card
they gave you and start moving it backwards and forwards
along the line of the imaginary word, intently watching their
eyes. “Right, I think this goes around about... here? Towards
the end, but not AT the end, is that right? Marvellous. H. I
think you’re thinking of something quite remote from this

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 moment, we’re indoors, you’d pick something outdoors,
I asked for an object, I think you maybe threw me a bit by
thinking of something much larger than you could have with
you here… Is this something you wanted for a long time then
got?” They nod. “Did you think of a YACHT?” There is a
clunk as their jaw hits the floor.

Method
The method is, of course, more or less exactly as before, you
simply sight the cards as they are put down. However, the
presentation is enriched by the interaction - DMC suggests
that his approach is somewhat Sherlock style, in that he
backward engineers a brief personality reading based on
what they are thinking of. If you do this kind of ‘hot reading’
you can get some remarkable hits before the final reveal.

If someone thinks ROLEX then if you give them a reading

that they are the kind of person that would choose something
aspirational, stylish, well crafted etc, you will inevitably be
right. They definitely are the kind of person who would
think of the thing they thought of! You simply need to draw
a verbal line between the person you see before you and the
choice they made.

The visual of them imagining the word hovering in the air

between you and you somehow locking the stray letter into
place is very strong, and trivial to accomplish - just make sure
you remember that the word will be in reverse for you, so you
don’t goof up the actual position of the letter.

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This kind of presentation, which leans on and builds your
relationship with the participant, and incorporates them
and their persona heavily into the performance, is one of
the reasons why the ALPHAS deck is so strong - words
have power and meaning in a way that a normal playing card
simply doesn’t.

Asking someone to think of an object that means something

to them will always create a more resonant connection than
asking them to think of a playing card - most people have
no investment in playing cards which is why they will even
sometimes forget them mid-trick. No-one will forget the
name of the family member they just chose, or the item from
their life, or the city they dream of visiting. Not in the middle
of the trick, not after the trick when they are driving home,
not the week after when they are telling their friends what
happened.

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 Word As I Word
Effect
The spectator shuffles the deck and you have them cut it into
two halves, and you invite them to do exactly as you do - to
take one of the piles, shuffle it, and then look through it to
make up a short four letter word of your choice. They follow
your lead and do this, each of you tabling a small face-down
pile of four cards. You then take their four cards and one at a
time insert them into four different positions in your half of
the deck. You then shuffle this half, and of course they follow
all of this.

“Now,” you explain “I am going to use my instincts / psychic

ability / body language skills to try and work out what word
you would have made, then find that word. At the same time
I will use my psychic broadcasting / subliminal suggestion /
hypnotic will to implant my word into your mind, and you
are going to go through and find my word. I want you to pick
out any four letter word, and I will guide you, without you
realising it, to my word. Ready?” They nod. “Let’s go!”

You go through your half of the deck and one by one take
out four cards, placing them on the table. The participant
does the exact same. You touch their cards, spreading them
slightly. “So, if we are in sync - this word will be the word
I’m thinking of and this word…” you point to the pile you
yourself just put down “will be the word that YOU are
thinking of. I was thinking of the word CARP - lets see how
you did.” Their response is immediate and aghast, you turn
over the word they just put down, and it is of course the word

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CARP. “For the very first time, what was the word that you
were thinking of?”

“LAKE.” They say, and one by one you turn over the cards
you took out, clearly spelling LAKE.

Method
The method to this routine is very simple but requires finesse
and some careful performance. The effect proceeds exactly
as above, with you taking out any four random cards (I
usually take out and put down as many vowels as possible).
Of course, you do not really put down the word you later
claim - it doesn’t matter what you put down much at all. The
participant puts their chosen word down.

As you take the cards from their word and one by one insert
them into your deck, you simply sight the marks. The word
will be easily known from this, although bear in mind that
they may have put them in such an order that you read them
backwards. You shuffle your pile, they shuffle theirs, and you
are ready for the finale.

You now simply find these four cards and put them on the
table, spread slightly. They of course will do the same, but
you need to be careful how you phrase what you ask them to
do. If you go overboard explaining how you will control their
choice, they will sometimes wait until they feel ‘something’,
and you look a bit daft. Instead it’s important to manage their
expectation such that they will feel comfortable just picking
any word they can. Make it clear that all the effort and risk of
their success is on YOU.

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 They table the four cards, and you need only to spread them
enough to see what word they have chosen for you. You do
this in gesturing to the cards, and explaining the state of play,
and match the action with your own cards.

Now, you simply miscall ‘your word’ as whatever this word

is that they have put down. How you act here will sell the
effect: I act like I am curious if they did manage to pick up on
whatever I was doing to control them. “OK so I’m not sure if
you caught this but I was concentrating on the word FOOD.
WHAT? OMG you did get that? No way, this doesn’t
normally work…” I turn over the cards “Oh wow, that’s crazy
you did it. OK the pressure’s on me now - what word were
you thinking of?” I always make sure I react like I’m excited
by what is happening - it’s not hard, it IS exciting. You coach
and permit them to raise their excitement and energy levels
and by the end the revelations are explosive.

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A Note on Preshow
Preshow is a powerful, slightly controversial subject. The
idea that you could perform the method part of the trick out
of sight (before the audience even knows there is a trick at
all) is fascinating and challenging. At the heart of this way
of performing mind reading is the act of approaching a
participant before the show has begun, as the audience are
filtering in, or milling around in the foyer, or having drinks
before the main entertainment, and having them choose
something that you will later call on them to think of during
the main show.

During the show, you simply pick that person, and have
them think of that thing they chose, and reveal it however
you see fit, safe in the knowledge that the actual method
is impossibly hidden out of the sight of the audience.
Preshow is beguiling for many performers because it allows
presentations that look utterly impossible and methodless,
and easy. However, it also requires significant planning and
audience management to stop it from being exposed or
weakened. When done correctly it can be enormously strong
- so strong some magicians consider it cheating.

I’m OK with that.

When I’ve performed preshow in the past, I have approached

a spectator as follows - I usually talk briefly and informally
with the person, explaining who I am and that I want to get
warmed up for the show. I might show them a small piece of
magic, then ask if they would be OK if I asked them to help
me during the show? If they are OK, I ask if they would think
of a city they might like to visit, or a family member’s name or

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 something else along those lines (as mentioned previously).
My angle is essentially that I’m going to ask them to think of
this later, and I don’t want them to panic or freeze up or feel
like I’m pressuring them to think of something in particular
on stage - I always frame it as being done now, before the
show, as a favour to them, to make it fair and easy.

I explain I need them to lock that name / place / whatever

into their mind in a very specific way, and I have them take
the word out as before, and they are to fan the cards like a
poker hand, making sure I can’t see of course, and to lock
that image into their mind. They then are to mix that word
up, put it back into the deck, and then to mix that up so I can’t
cheat. I then thank them and tell them to enjoy the show etc.
The preshow is just part of a small personal interaction.

How exactly you sequence into the piece when you are on
stage depends on your presentation and the rest of your
routining. Generally I find that person in the audience and
invite them up on stage. You can now either totally ignore
the fact that you spoke earlier and ask their name again, and
ask them to think of a name, or you can reference having
spoken earlier. Each approach has its merits, here is how I
play it. “OK, we spoke earlier, and I said I was going to ask
you to come up here to help me, are you still OK to be a
part of the show? Yup? Great. Now, John, I told you I was
going to ask you to think of someone you know, so, you have
someone in mind right? Now, here’s the important thing for
everyone - John, we’ve never met before tonight? No-one’s
told you a particular person to think of? And you’ve not told
me, or anyone in fact, who you are going to think of? You’ve
not written a name down? It’s literally just an image in your
head right now?” They agree to all of this, since it’s all true!

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You need to talk around what happened earlier in such a
way that the participant feels like you aren’t trying to skirt
round it, but without actually revealing enough to expose
the method. The goal with pre-show should ALWAYS
be that the person involved is as impressed as the rest of
the audience, and they should not feel like they are being
cheated or used. This is vital, because after the effect, they
will 100% tell their friends what happened, that you had
them take out some cards or whatever, and if they feel like
you were cheating, or forcing them to agree with something
that isn’t true, they will not be on your side in the retelling.

The effect should be strong enough that if, on stage, they

blurt out exactly what happened before, you can sequence
into agreeing with them, and describe what you did, and the
effect still be strong and still make sense. This is why I prefer
to reveal that we spoke before - people talk, and even if the
participant himself doesn’t expose what happened before,
some people will inevitably have seen you talking to him. If
you don’t reference this moment, they will likely conclude
that he is ‘in on it’, even though he really isn’t.

Please enjoy preshow responsibly - don’t be callous with

the experience of the participant or ignorant of the wider
audience’s awareness.

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 Love Connection
Effect
You hand the deck to a couple and ask them to each take out
their initials and shuffle the remainder. You box the deck for
a moment and talk to them about their names, and history,
then take the cards and deal two cards onto the table in two
separate spots. You ask them to cut the deck into two halves,
onto those spots. You move a card to balance the piles, and
you are set.

You pick up the first pile and slowly start dealing cards face
down, and invite him to drop their first initial card face up
onto the pile at a moment of their choosing. They do this
and you drop the rest on top. You start dealing again from
this pile, and this time ask her to drop her first initial in,
whenever she chooses. This she does, and you drop the
undealt cards on top. You pick up the second pile and repeat
with their second initials.

As you spread the two piles, you explain that each choice the
couple have made has been completely free. They chose to
stop in four different places - you point to the four face up
initial cards through the deck. Four places of their choosing,
next to these four cards - you take out the card immediately
next to each of the four initials and one by one turn them
over, spelling the word LOVE.

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Method
The method behind Love Connection is Karl Fulves’
wonderful Gemini Twins, arranged for two. The self-
working mechanism behind it works very simply and relies
on a discrepancy that will go unnoticed. The setup is that
you have the four cards for the word LOVE in the card box.
The punters remove their initials and shuffle the cards, and
you put the deck in the box, loading the word onto the top
of the deck.

When you remove the deck, you deal the top two cards (L
& O) onto the table, and have them cut the rest into two
piles on these spots. This loads the L and O onto the bottom
of these piles - make sure you track which pile was the top
of the deck (the top card will be V), and after a moment of
deliberation balance the piles by putting the V card on top
of the other. You are now set - the cards for LOVE are now
loaded onto the top and bottom of each pile.

Pick one pile and begin with that - pick it up and start
dealing, inviting the first punter to drop their initial face up
on it - make sure you emphasise the freedom of choice of
the timing. When they put the card face up, you drop the
undealt cards on top - thereby putting their face up card right
next to the bottom card, which is of course one of the force
cards. Pick this pile up and carry on as in the effect, again
stopping when the face up card is dropped and putting the
undealt cards on top. Each face up card is now immediately
below a force card.

You now simply repeat this process with the second pile. By
the end, you will have placed each face up card just below

21
 a force card. Spread the cards face down, and the four face
up initials will be visible in the face down spread - slide
each of them out slightly along with the card next to them,
explaining that they chose to stop at these four exact points.

You now take out the L card, which you will easily be able to
sight by the marks, and turn it face up. Then the O, then the
V, then the E. The revelation is hugely strong.

Notes
This effect is so cheesy I like it grilled on toast, but for a
couple, at a wedding or at an intimate event, this stuff plays.
It doesn’t have to be the word LOVE of course, it could be
any four letter word which can form a logical connection. An
alternative presentation I sometimes use is to pick a random
word that can’t be anagrammed into another word, like
TOWN for example - and write that word as a prediction. I
do the effect as presented above, and produce the four letters
in a jumble, explaining these are four totally random cards.
I ask if they can maybe make a word using those cards, and
when they eventually manage, I reveal the prediction. This
de-cheeses the effect a bit and changes the angle of it.

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Seance Revelation
Effect
You explain that you are going to summon a spirit and test
your connection to the other side with a simple experiment.
One spectator chooses a book from a pile of books, whilst
another randomly chooses a page number, and yet another
chooses a line number on that page. You demonstrate to the
first person that they are to turn to that page number in their
book, and go to that line and remember the very first word on
that line, whilst allowing no-one else to see that word.

This done they shuffle the deck and spread the cards face-
down across a large table. You upturn a small glass and
invite everyone to stand around the table with their finger
on the glass. You ask if the spirits are present and after an
interminable pause the glass begins to slowly move until it
comes to rest above one card, which you extract and turn
over - it is the YES card.

Cutting the tension you ask the mind in the void to prove its
presence, and if it can spell the word that the punter picked
at random in the book, the word that no-one knows. Again,
there is a long pause, and the glass begins to move again, this
time moving from card to card, each time it stops you take
out the card and set it aside, without revealing it. Eventually
when it comes to a halt and moves no more, you step back
and break contact, and ask the person who saw the word to
reveal it for the first time - they say the word was SUNDAY
(for example). You turn the chosen cards over one by one to
reveal that exact word.

23
 Method
First of all, let me just say you have to be careful when you
do tricks like this because there is room for people to invest
too heavily. Please don’t try and persuade people you can
actually contact the otherside, make sure the context is clear,
that it is a theatrical performance. That said, it can be spooky
as heck when you do seance themed material.

The first phase of this effect, wherein you learn the word they
are thinking of, is very simple, but requires a few things. The
way it works is that you have at least two books for them to
choose from, but one of the books is a fake - it is actually
a duplicate of the other book, with the dust jacket from a
different (same sized!) book on it. You give them a free choice
of books, and when the group name a page number and line
number, you ‘demonstrate’ what they are going to do with
the other book, the one they didn’t choose.

You want to give the impression that you are showing how to
keep the word secret by keeping the book to yourself, close to
your chest etc, but what you actually do is to go to that page
and line and remember the word there - because the book
LOOKS different, but is actually the exact same book, that
word will be the word they then look at. Once they know
what to do, and you have seen this word, they repeat your
actions with their own book. The rest is theatre. You can of
course see the marks on the cards, and as they are mixing the
cards you sight the YES card and as many of the other cards
as possible. When everyone gets their finger on the glass, you
simply wait and apply steady pressure to get to the card you
want. I suggest putting the glass at the beginning quite near
to the YES card if possible, to minimise the distance you

24
have to travel the first time.

What will often happen is that if you wait long enough,

the glass will start to move ‘by itself’. This is super freaky
but remember that it is someone else pushing it, either
consciously because they want to have some fun, or
subconsciously. You can either take control and steer it
or let things play out and see what happens. The effect is
immensely creepy when done with the right vibe.

To complete the effect, you just need to spell out the word.
The trick is in sighting as many cards as possible as early
as possible - it can sometimes be tricky to locate individual
letters once everyone is leaning over the table, their arms
blocking your line of sight, but remember to take your time.
Seance happens slowly, more slowly than your dramatic
instincts will normally allow - let it be slow, take your time,
and remember your goal is the creepy atmosphere, the final
reveal is just part of how you achieve that.

Notes
As mentioned, be careful. Seance is famous because of its
power. The first phase here is the book component, but this
can be replaced with any booktest (if you search for Hoy
booktest online you will find a nice alternative) or in fact any
way of learning a word you like. You could even use the deck
to learn a word that has been freely chosen, as in the earlier
chapters, but I personally like to separate the method for the
divination from the method for the reveal, and if the method
for both is the deck itself, it puts a lot of focus on the deck.

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 Fate With Destiny
Effect
You haphazardly cut the deck into numerous piles across the
table and reassemble it in a jumbled order, explaining that
by handling things randomly, you allow fate to take a hand
in the performance. You ask the participant to cut the deck
approximately in half, and after they do this you lean one
half across the other to make sure that the cut isn’t lost. You
take a moment to explain that although many things that
happen in life seems totally random, people love to impose
explanations after the fact, with words like fate and destiny.
Maybe things were always going to happen that way? Maybe
they could happen no other way?

You remove the top half of the cut deck on the table, and
take nine cards from the bottom half. “I asked you to cut
somewhere in the middle, but you could have cut one card
higher, one card lower, or more, or less. But… you didn’t. So
maybe you couldn’t?”

You explain that you are going to mix these nine cards in
an uncontrollable way - dealing through, and each time, the
participant gets to choose, you either deal one card, or swap
the top two cards and deal them together. You demonstrate
once through the cards, then repeat, as per their instructions.
You repeat this again, and, if they choose, again and again.

Eventually you stop. “Each decision you make adds to

the randomness, and whether you make those choices by
intent or just on a whim, you don’t know what these cards

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are, so there is no way you could control that choice. It is…
random.” You spread the whole deck face up, showing the
scatter of letters.

“Tell me... do you believe in fate?” They shake their head.

You spread the nine tabled cards face up, and they spell:

YOU SHOULD

Method
This effect relies on two classic methods that are often
overlooked by magicians, but which are both hugely strong.

To set up the effect, you simply need the cards for

YOUSHOULD on top of the deck. When you cut the deck
into lots of different piles, you simply keep track of which
one has these letters on and you make sure that however you
assemble the deck after cutting, that this pile goes on top. You
now execute Max Holden’s venerable Cross Cut Force: you
have the spectator cut the cards approximately in half, and
you take the bottom half of the deck and place it across the
cut-off top half. This is done ostensibly to mark the cut, and
the technique relies on time misdirection, so the spectator
does not remember exactly which half was originally which.
This is why I take this opportunity to talk about fate - I look
them in the eye, physically gesture and generally try and lead
their mind away from the immediate reality of the deck.

Pick up the crossways half of the deck, and take the top nine
cards from the bottom half of the deck - the half that way
originally the top half of the deck of course. These should

27
 be the YOUSHOULD cards, as you will easily be able to tell
via the marks.

The next technique at play is a false mix from Paul Curry’s A

Swindle of Sorts. If you take the cards and either deal down
the top card or switch the positions of the top two cards and
deal them down together, although it appears that the order
of the cards is being disrupted, it really isn’t, it is simply
reversed each time you go through the packet. The principle
is deeply deceptive and feels very counter-intuitive. I didn’t
understand how it could possibly work until I tried it with
face up cards, and it is almost impossible for spectators to
backtrack.

I allow the spectators to do this several times, I even let them

make the choice whether to stop or do it one more time. At
the end of this process the cards will spell YOUSHOULD
either from the face, or from the back - it could be the right
order, or it could be reversed. It is easy to see which way it is,
simply by looking at the marks. You simply need to spread
the cards, face up, left to right or right to left depending
which order they are in. Alternatively you could deal them
face up one at a time, if the top card is Y.

This final reveal is extremely strong and can be a very

powerful gut-punch to spectators. Because the effect is self-
working make sure you do nothing suspect to make them
think you may be using sleight of hand to correct the order
of the cards at the end - just let the method do it’s work and
you can reap the benefits.

28
G-Rex
Effect
You cut the deck into numerous small piles across the table
and reassemble it in a randomised order, before having
the spectators cut the cards, marking the cut. Suddenly
remembering you have missed a step, you have a spectator
hold their hand out and place SOMETHING into it, with
strict instructions to drop it into their pocket and not to
either let anyone else see it, let you touch or change it, or try
and work out what it is.

Going back to the cards, you open the deck back up to where
they cut it and take the top sixteen cards from the bottom
packet. You count off eight cards, and drop the rest down
next to it - you now have two piles of eight. The participants
are going to take eight cards, but they get to choose which
pile they want to take each card from. One from here, one
from here, two from here, three from here etc. They do this,
randomly deciding each time. When they have done this,
they have eight cards in there hands, and you assemble the
remaining tabled cards into one pile of eight. You give them
a final choice, to swap their pile with the cards they chose
not to take. They either do, or do not. Whichever cards are
left you shuffle back into the rest of the deck, which is boxed
and pocketed.

You ask them to mix the eight cards they have, after all this,
chosen, and then put them face up on the table, inviting the
group to make the longest word they possibly can using the
mixed up letters. After a few suggestions they eventually find

29
 a word that uses all of the letters: DINOSAUR.

You verbally rewind the experience and remind them of

the moment at the beginning when you handed something
to one of them - a prediction. You tell them to bring that
prediction out, slowly, again without showing it to anyone.
They move their hand to the centre of the table as you recap
all the free choices they have made, before they open their
hand up: inside is a tiny plastic dinosaur.

Method
The method here is simple, self-working, but deeply
deceptive relying as it does on a fiendish logical concept
called the Gilbreath Principle. I will explain using the word
DINOSAUR then outline a few other ways to do this.

The setup is simple: you have the word DINOSAUR on

top of the deck twice. DINOSAURDINOSAUR, from the
top down. You mix the cards with the random cuts, as per
the effect Fate With Destiny, and force this block using the
Cross Cut Force, also detailed in Fate With Destiny. You
take off the top sixteen cards, and deal down eight, to make
two piles of eight cards: importantly now each of these piles
contains the word DINOSAUR, but one is reversed: the top
cards of the piles should be D on one pile and R on the other.

What happens next is remarkable and relies on the Gilbreath

Principle: you invite them to take the top card of either pile.
Then, again the top card of either pile. Then again, until
they have eight cards. Each time they decide it is an entirely
free choice, but no matter how they decide to take the cards,

30
they will have in their hands the cards necessary to spell
DINOSAUR, and they will have left, on the table, the same
cards.

You ask them if they would like to swap their pile with the
tabled pile, which of course makes no difference. Whatever
choice they make, you shuffle the cards they didn’t pick into
the deck, destroying the evidence. They now have the cards
necessary to spell DINOSAUR. I like to have them mix these
cards, again to make it harder to backtrack, as it will often
look very close to the word DINOSAUR, which I don’t want.
I then ask them to see what the longest word they can make
with their cards is. There aren’t many good options, so they
will either be stumped or quickly reach DINOSAUR. If they
don’t get the full word, I will get involved, and help them, by
making DINO. They usually do the rest.

The reveal using the tiny dinosaur is very strong, and it’s nice
to use a physical object as a reveal like this, it adds a great
deal of impact to the finale vs. a drawing or just writing the
prediction. Often you will be able to simply find something
that you can use as a prediction when you are out and about,
or you can drop something into their pocket rather than
having them hold it - the only restriction being that there has
to be enough letters in the deck to spell it: PENCIL would
work but BANANA wouldn’t, for example.

Alternatively, you could prepare the name of a card, that

you can force in an earlier routine. Some cards you can’t use
because of their names, but FIVECLUBS you definitely can
use. If you have them cut to a card much earlier, using the
Cross Cut Force for example (or any one of a million other
card forces) and force the Five of Clubs, and have them

31
 pocket it without looking at it, then later if you perform this
you will have a huge reveal: have them look at the letters they
have chosen and see if they can make a playing card suit from
it, they should quite quickly reach CLUBS, then ask if the
remaining cards can spell a number or value, FIVE will leap
out at them. You arrange these on the table, FIVE CLUBS,
then it is simply a case of building the moment - remember
the card you guys chose earlier, we shuffled the deck, you cut
it, no-one knows that card right? Surely there’s no way that
could possibly be the Five of Clubs…? Right?

32
Hands off
Effect
You take the deck and split it, having the spectator shuffle
half - you drop a few cards face up in a pile on the table, then
have them put some of theirs on top, then you both shuffle
your halves, you drop some more on the pile, they do too,
you both shuffle again until the deck is whole and mixed, in a
face up pile on the table that you now flip face down.

You explain that they will make all the decisions - that you
won’t even touch the cards. Have them cut off a good number
of cards - perhaps half, perhaps more than half, nothing too
small: it is, you explain, entirely their choice. You scoop up
the cards left on the table and hold them in your hands.

Next, you have them start dealing their cards face down, one
at a time, as you demonstrate with your own pile. “Ideally not
too few cards - keep going a little while, and if you’d like to
drop them off in twos or threes that’s fine.” You demonstrate
with your own pile. “And if you’d like to deal a few more
cards, or even take a few cards back - that’s absolutely fine.
And of course - your decisions at each of these moments will
change the order of everything.”

Once they have stopped you reach out and take their undealt
cards, and they take the cards they dealt down. “Again, I will
never touch those cards.”

You then have them deal all of the cards in their hands
into, let’s say, five piles - they can deal either clockwise or

33
 anti-clockwise, but neatly - you demonstrate with your own
cards. They deal all their cards.

“Great - so let’s go back in time, the cards were mixed, you

cut off a random number of cards - entirely your choice, then
you dealt down a random number of cards, you decided to
take two cards back ... and then you decided to deal them
clockwise. And of course - had you made any other decisions
at any one of these moments - the cards would be in a totally
different order and position. This has been wheels within
wheels of randomness.”

You pause. And ask - “What is your, let’s say ... your mother’s
name?”

“Jenny.”

“Is that Jenny with an i or a y? A y? Ah, OK.”

You point to one of their piles and ask them to turn over the
top card. It is a J. There is a moment.

“And remember - I NEVER touched your cards, you made

every single decision ... please turn over this card slowly ...
and this one ... “ You point to each pile in turn, until they
clearly spell the word JENNY.

You drop the mic.

34
Method
This routine is DMC’s showstopper with the deck. It is
HUGELY powerful and exemplifies what we believe is the
strength of the ALPHAS - you use standard card techniques
and principles to create a revelation that is not just impossible
but deeply personal. But first, ahead of everything else that
happens, you need to know what you are going to reveal.

This can be learned through listening in, through direct

conversation, through reading on Facebook (if the person
you are performing on is a friend of a friend you can learn a
great deal) but you need to find just one nugget of personal
information. The name of a person dear to them, the name
of their favourite footballist, the name of their cat, their
hometown - anything. It does not need to be deeply secret
- the effect is not so much ‘how did he know that name?’,
rather ‘how did that name end up there?’ so you do not need
to do a Sherlock Holmes tier investigation. (but don’t let me
stop you if you feel you must!)

You set this word up on top of the deck. You are now ready
to perform. (If you want to use the deck before this piece,
then leave that word in the box, and add it to the top of
the deck by dropping the deck in at some point where the
performance naturally breaks, then taking it back out.)

To perform, you can simply mix the cards however you are
comfortable, keeping the top stock intact. A good way to do
this is to hold the deck face up, hold the top stock in place
with your left hand, grab out cards from the middle and
shuffle them onto the face of the deck. However you do this,
it need just be casual.

35
 You hand the bottom half to the spectator and ask that they
shuffle, and as they do you take the top stock, plus a few extra
cards, and slap them face up on the table, and ask that they
do the same, putting some of their cards face up on top of
yours. (ensure they are quite square so as not to reveal the
word) You can now freely shuffle your cards, and have them
do the same. You continue until the deck is complete, at
which point you turn it face down. It is now unquestionably
mixed.

The participant now takes the top half of the deck - it needs
to be a good portion, so if they cut too small, have them
replace the cut and cut deeper.

They now deal down the cards singly, one at a time, until
they are past the top stock, at which point you suggest they
deal twos or threes. You demonstrate with the rest of the
deck. You tell them to stop at any moment they choose, and
when they do, they have a choice to deal more or take some
back from the top. The force word is at the BOTTOM of the
dealt pile.

They take this dealt pile, and you take the rest, reiterating
that you will not handle their cards at all. You now have them
deal their cards into as many piles as there are letters in your
force word. Have them deal in a circle rather than a line, as it
makes the revelation less confusing (since you have no way
of knowing where the first letter will end up). DMC usually
demonstrates this with his cards to ensure it is tidy and not
random.

When they have finished, sight the first letter of the word
using the marks. This will be your first revelation. You

36
verbally walk back through everything that happened,
highlighting the freedom of choice they have had since the
beginning.

At this point, you casually ask for the information you have
previously prepared. “Have you got any kids? A boy and a
girl? What’s the boy’s name? Marcus? Ah OK. Is that Marcus
with a k…? With a C? OK.” You must act as if this is the
first time you have encountered this information, and your
attitude should be that THIS is the moment where the trick
begins, your attitude should now be: “OK, let’s try something
with that name.” Of course, you have had it set up from the
beginning but the atmosphere should be that THIS is where
it starts. Pause, then point to the first letter and ask them to
slowly turn it over. Again, this should feel impromptu, and
even the choice of which pile to start with should feel like a
random impulse rather than a considered informed choice.

When they turn the card and it is an M (in this case) you nod.
“Marcus right?” DMC describes this a ‘mega moment’. The
audience is beginning to put the pieces together and realise
what is going to happen. Don’t rush! Enjoy this moment.

Next, point to the second letter (which you know of course

by sighting the marks) and have them turn it over, then the
next and the next etc. This revelation is immense and you
must give it space to breathe with your timing and script.

37
 Devious Man’s Con
‘Effect’
You invite a spectator to think of the first name of a female
friend or relative of their acquaintance, and to lock that
person’s name in mind. Staring into their eyes, you go
through the deck and take out a number of cards, placing
safely under a tabled glass.

You invite the spectators to engage in a little wager,

explaining that if you are wrong, you will buy a round of
drinks for everyone, but that if you are right, they have to
buy you a drink. The wager: regardless of the free choice they
made to think of any female friend or relative, in spite of all
the people they could have chosen, when you turn over the
tabled cards… they will spell her name.

The cards cannot be changed, the person in question is fixed

but you are certain that the cards will spell her name.

Would you take that bet?

‘Method’

Never take a bet from a guy with Money in his name.

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