REVIEW: LONER by Cameron Francis and Big Blind Media
RATING: 9.5 out of 10
LINK TO REVIEW:
PRICE: $20
Cameron Francis and Big Blind Media hit another double Grand Slam with LONER.

LONER is a trick that can be performed virtually or in person and it is amazingly astonishing. Here is what the spectator sees: The performer takes out a red backed deck of Bikes and everything looks good and normal until the faces are shown to be all blank faced. The performer fans through the decks and the cards are virgin white. The spectator then mentally picks a card in steps, by first picking a suit and then any card. The performer then looks at the blank faces of the cards and identifies the selected card with his imagination, which of course has a completely blank face. The card is pushed into the deck and in an instant, the deck is fanned and only one card has flipped over and among the 51 blank faces, is one red backed card. Of course, when the deck is flipped over again, the cards are face down, except one, and that is the merely thought of card.

What an awesome card trick. Yes, it is a one-trick pony deck, but this one is absolutely worth betting on. In my mind, it would be absurd not to buy this trick. True that the deck cannot be handed out to a spectator, but in this instance, the effect is so strong that it really doesn’t matter.

Francis’s very clever thinking and direct approach make this trick very easy to learn and perform. There are no sleights and performing this miracle is within anyone’s grasp. The instructional video starts with two performances; one virtual performance and one live performance, both by Francis to a single spectator. The instructional video’s come in several short and easy to follow segments including The Setup and The Handling. After performing the trick, you can reset the deck in about 5 seconds in front of you spectators and they will be none the wiser.

The deck is gimmicked in several ways from the cards themselves to other minor cards, but there is no rough and smooth or cards that are half printed – which means that the blank faces can be seen without having to worry about keeping a tight spread.

Francis credits several magicians with inspiration including David Regal for Alone and All Alone, Caleb Wiles for Holy Blank, Meir Yedid for Fadeout and Dean Dill for Blizzard.

Francis is a great magic teacher and he doesn’t waste time with any fluff or any filler. He teaches what you need to know and you are off and running. This trick does not have any complicated steps or process to remember so you are performing as soon as the video is over.

I give the trick a superb ultra-awesome rating because, well, it just deserved it!

Special thanks to Big Blind Media for sending this to me to review!

Wow! Thanks for the great review. Glad you enjoyed it.

Another positive review:

Magic Orthodoxy Review: Loner

Great reviews!
Sounds like BBM has released a real gem!

One question, would this work as a strolling trick? How close can the audience be to the deck, or will they see something on the cards?

I don't have this but from what I understand this would be perfect for a strolling trick especially since you do not need a table to perform it!

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You can definitely, successfully and easily, do this strolling. You don't need a table - it all handles very easily in your hands. Standard proximity of your audience that you'd have for any strolling/close-up performance will work with "Loner". Reset isn't automatic, but it's a simple, quick thing, (literally like 3 seconds). You can't really reset in front of your audience, but when walking from one group to the next, it will reset super quick, super easy.
You will have fun with this and you shouldn't have any problems or restrictions performing this in any standard strolling situation.

Love Regal's All Alone plot and looks like Cameron has predictably created an awesome variation on the theme. To anyone who has both, just wondered how you feel this compares? Which do you prefer? I have All Alone and love it so just trying to figure if this is worth the purchase...