Gaff-Tacular – Liam Montier
$26.95
http://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=59202

The Hype:
Stephen Tucker invented some AMAZING magic, and here, Liam Montier collects 6 of the very best tricks using GAFFED cards!

First up, all of these tricks are EASY - well in the reach of anyone who has done a few cards tricks before! (No Elmsley Counts or Half Passes here!)

All the tricks are fun, social and FOOLING! Blank cards become printed, and then blank again in a heartbeat. Cards change into selections, and then into a bizarre mish-mash! Signed cards vanish and appear in different pockets, then jump BACK even more impossibly, and take on a life of their own in a staggering cards across routine! And 'Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder' is the PERFECT multi-phase trick for your wallet!

Together with these incredible routines, you get all of the gaff cards you need, and Liam Montier's acclaimed teaching, together with professional hints and tips on how to perform them, make them commercial and practical for professional use, and much, much more!Get ready for GAFF-TACULAR!

All the necessary gaffs are provided.

TRICKS -

Fade In / Fade Out
Dreams
Spectral Beast
Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Decenial Delight
Time After Time
Also - learn how to do super easy double lifts from a packet of cards!

My Take:
What you get. A DVD up to Big Blind's usual standards and the 12 gaffed card needed to perform every routine on the disk. You will have to provide a normal deck of your own. Liam performs and teaches six tricks from the repertoire of Stephen Tucker. However, not all routines are verbatim from Tucker's work. Liam has added his own touches and improvements. Every trick on the disk is easy to do. While you may not be fooling magicians you will definitely be fooling the average person out there and really, isn't that what is all about?

Here are the routines:

Time After Time - The deck is ribbon spread and three spectators each choose a card and sign them. The cards are replaced into the deck. The magician then removes three cards from his pocket which prove to be the three selections. They are placed back into the pocket but return to the top of the deck. Routine does require a multiple shift but a very easy method is taught. In the chat sections, a nice variation for a single spectator is taught.

Dicenial Delight - Nice routine featuring parts of the old ten card trick and cards across. Nice routine where cards appear and vanish.

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder - Basically this is a version of Arthur Emerson's Color Monte but the twist is that the cards are all the same. It is the backs that are different. I am really surprised that no one thought of this before. Some of the moves are different but the routine is nicely structured and the three cards are included.

Dream - This is sort of a double Open Prediction. The magician explains that what makes the trick work are the TV Magic Cards that he is using. He lays a prediction card with a different color back face down on the table. The deck is ribbon spread and two spectators each slide a card out. The prediction card is shown to match each of them. Then as a kicker the face of the prediction card is shown to match the backs of the deck.

Spectral Beasts - Two blank cards are shown. The spectator deals cards into a pile and stops whenever he wishes. The cards are then dealt into two piles. The blank cards are shown again to two spectators. Each of them sees that a card has appeared. When the top two cards are turned over, they match the two cards that were just seen. Then the two cards are once again shown to be blank. A nice dealing subtlety is shown and attributed to John Bannon but was actually created by Ray Goulet. (Bannon does credit Ray on one of his DVD's).

Fade In/Fade Out - Card is selected, removed and rest of deck is put away. Three double blank cards are shown. One of the blanks turns into the selected card and the spectator is told that this represents the color of the card. He is correct. This is repeated and this represents the suit. One more time and the value of the card is shown. The selected card is turned face up showing that you are correct. Then the cards once again turn blank. A nice little subtlety is used in the display. A bit bold but should fly right past your spectator.

Liam teaches his double lift from a three card packet which is used a number of time on the disk. Three variations are shown.

Each trick is followed by a Chat section where Liam gives his thoughts and tips on each of the routines. These should be watched as there is some valuable information in them.

Conclusion: My only complaint about Big Blind is that there is so much material that they release I may have to rent a storage unit. Without fail, each is worth the purchase price. Plus, in this package, all the needed cards are supplied. Each routine is easy to perform and taught in Liam's friendly and informative style. As a I said. These are not magician foolers but should baffle your standard layman audience. And Absinthe is a nice trick to stick in your wallet and carry around.