Army of one is a new quick 4 page ebook just released by Rus Andrews. Rus has been on fire recently releasing a few new gems to the magic community. What I like most about these releases including Army Of One is that it uses a normal deck of cards which can also be borrowed. The deck is spread face up as well as face down showing it to be exactly what it is, a deck of cards.The basic effect is a spectator freely turns over any card in the deck as it's held behind their back. The deck is spread and the only reversed card matches your prediction which has been in sight from the start. The prediction can also be given to the spectator to hold from the start. Not only do the cards match but when the freely turned over card is removed from the deck, it is seen to have an odd color back with the word fate written across it. A perfect match, a perfect prediction. Included in this ebook are additional ideas that will play for a gambler, a psychic, a mentalist, the fate routine above and another idea where the turned over card can be scorched or anything you want to have on it's back. Odd color, prediction, burn mark etc. This can also be used just to freely force a card too. There is nothing to add or take away and nothing else needed except any deck of cards. Set up and clean up are minimal,takes a second and actually all can be done impromptu. I really should not say set up as when you see this (the deck can be borrowed) you will fully understand what I mean.

Thanks do the review RIzzo

Glad you like it

All the best

R

Received Rus's latest ebook army of one, and as mentioned on the above review, this is awesome.!

I used this twice today and gave away the fate card at the end. Spectator didn't know what to do, left her speechless.

Great work yet again Rus!

The best effects are simple and direct and this is just that. It can also be impromptu and serve as a tool for other effects. Another winner from Rus Andrews.

Steve

I managed to have a quick read through this is a good effect...going to use it tomorrow night if I get chance to fit it in...

one idea lept to mind though, how about the prediction card has FA written on it, and the card they reverse has TE on it?

I just finished reading through the effect and it looks really good. I've been blowing people's minds with "Numbers" and am looking forward to using this as well in the future.

I’m a big a fan of Blind Luck (mentioned in another thread about Army of One) but the big drawback of that effect is that it needs two decks and some setup. This effect however uses one deck and can be done impromptu (a few seconds of prep at the most).
In this PDF (beter written than NUMBERS, because less brief) Rus comes up with a nice prediction that you can alter the way you want it. If you don’t have a card with another color, go ahead with the written prediction you wrote before the deck was given to the spectator. Army of One is in essential very simple. It is not selfworking, there is minimal sleight of hand but the thing that has to be done give some people the creeps. Well for this effect it is worth to give it some practise, because it pays out, it think. It even is a nice force if you don’t to use it as a prediction effect.
If you like Blind Luck but don’t want to carry around two decks, this can be the solution.

Frans

Hi All

I have added an additional handling that enables the performer to hand the deck to the spectator and lets the spectator discover the reversed card themselves, also the deck is completely clean and fully examinable, no clean up at the end, deck can even be left with the spectator.

For all that have purchased ARMY OF ONE you will receive the additional handling via email.

I hope that you enjoy the additional handling.

Any questions or queries let me know

All the best as always

R

Very nice routine and very well written up and well thought out. I appreciate a writer that eliminates those things which are not absolutely necessary.

My only problem is the one “simple” sleight required to pull it off. Even though I’ve done card magic for over 40 years that is the one sleight I’ve never felt comfortable performing. I’m now trying to come up with effective alternatives.

Given the above. It is a good effect and well worth the price.

Ted

Hi ted

I have an alternative for you, I will send you a pm explaining.

All the best

R

This is EPIC!
Great routine, easy to do.
Love it!

Kyle

Wow, this also sounds really nice gvien that I´m a fan of Blind Luck (but never had any issues with tthe two deck thing, btw).

Will hopefully find some time soon to dedicate myself to this new routine by Rus.

I have sent the alternative handling.

Enjoy!

The additional handling is a nice addition that is not difficult to execute. You take back the deck from the spectator for a few seconds while you recap the complete fairness of their freely turning over any card they like. Your move is complete and you hand them the deck back and let them run through the cards themselves to see what card they freely reversed. They do this themselves and the only thing to find at this point is a complete deck of cards with only one card reversed, their free selection. Bam, a perfect match to your prediction. Try out the additional handling. Funny thing is after running through the original pdf file and missing a step I discovered this handling too and it fit me better. Try it and use it, this way or the original way. It's good!

Okay Rus sent me an updated method for this, a tiny change makes a HUGE difference! this effect is now even better.

I tried it out earlier today using the new handling I recieved, the look on the spectators face when they discover thier freely chosen card has FATE on the back is priceless! The new handling lets the spectator do near on all the work, and all the clean up work is done halfway through the effect which is great as I'm way ahead of the spectator.

Also as a force this is great as the spectator can now go through the cards themselve's and take it out without showing the performer, once again they are doing all the work, apart from a minor part this is pretty much hands off! GREAT effect.

Thanks for the new handling Rus.

Im looking forward to Numbers Re-run!

Hi

Here is a demo of army of one

I shot this at the same time as shooting psychological one.

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJx3SfIUZ......a_player

All the best

R

R

Hello Rus,

The demo of the effect is excellent and will give the demo hackers are hard time breaking it down .

What has surprised me is much people are now willing to pay for a single ebook effect . $16.99 for 4 pages that were put together quickly is twice as much as buying the RRTCM.

The other point is the effect is an old self-working effect which can be found in a few publications. Now I have nothing against taking a self-working effects and adding a few sleights to reduce procedure or make the effect cleaner.. I do that myself all the time but in this case , with the original version of your effect, the sleight which is not one of the easiest in the card arsenal provides no added benefit at all .

Before putting the effect out to the buying public, how much research was done to check if the effect already existed in print?

I think one reason why most people either do not know of the original effect or skipped over it when reading it in a book was because a deck is handled by a spectator behind his back, which for many modern magicians is outdated and to be avoided at all costs. What your demo has shown , is that a layman has no issues with an effect using the behind your back procedure and it packs a powerful punch.

Andy

I think that it's difficult to compare modern ebooks to other great books, and also the market they are released into in terms of price. I can't comment from a research point of view, merely as a magic connoisseur on this particular effect.

You pay for individual effects and what you get is an individual effect that IMO plays really strong (see the above clip), forget about how you get there. Compared to other one effect ebooks and this is right up there, entirely performable and with a matching price point.

the fact that some aspects may have been published before makes no difference to me, it's what you do with the ideas that matters and without Army of One, those particular ideas were not doing much in my routine but I'm sure will be making a very welcome appearance now.

I think performers have stayed away from behind the back effects for so long that they actually will work really well these days. One thing that works for me in similar effects is to use a table and let them do the dirty under there.

there are effects with original methods that are really interesting but sit unused gathering dust as they don't play well.

Really super demo, gives me something to work towards