the promo to sell this is NOT the way the trick is taught. the promo shows the trick 3 times, in the first two, there is no slight shown, which is what intrigued me, the third time you see the slight but much abbreviated from what is actually necessary, and how it is taught (look for jokers). deceptive promo, not fair.

other than that, an OK trick if you have very engaging patter that can keep spectators eyes away from your hands.

PENGUIN- you need some quality control or what value do you bring? I've bought full acts from you where there are mistakes (4 of hearts vs 4 of diamonds, you know the one), that are not caught even in the follow up lessons. reshoot when necessary, have pride in your product.

Mark. Dude.

This is a good one guys. When I saw the demo, I thought for sure that I knew how this was done... but my approach to this would've employed a certain type of gimmicked deck.

This, guys... this is not that.

Yes, it does say "borrowed deck" on the ad. But I kinda forgot the copy. Of course, when I saw the copy again, I had to know. I NEEDED this trick!

Truly borrowed? YES - NO SWITCH

Any hiding in another room for a minute to setup? NO - everything is done under the spectators' noses.

Beginner friendly? YES. He gives several methods. The no-sleight method actually does require a very simple, basic move. But Mr. FatFingers can do it in his sleep... just be sure to practice it a few times. The sleight method will require some basic moves that an experienced beginner will feel comfortable with if he or she has practiced it.

Well taught? YES. At first, I was concerned... Mark's experience comes right through the screen as he talks and I thought he started out a little to fast for a green beginner... but he slowed down and, by the end of the video (LIE: just a couple minutes into the video), it was much better. To be honest, there's at least one or two basic moves that I wish he would have slowed down and demonstrated so that the very new beginner would be able to learn it. He assumed that everyone knew this move. I'm not going to penalize him in this review for it because even a beginner can figure it out or go online to learn the move... but Mark, keep in mind that this one little extra 3 minutes would enable the extreme beginner to confidently try the sleight version. That said, Mark DOES provide other versions for different skill levels and scenarios.

Are you left clean? It depends. In the sleight version, no. But the presentation addresses this very well. Being dirty will NOT be an issue unless you are doing this trick to some hyper-anal jerk. Honestly, the non-sleight version is brilliant and, if you choose this route, you DO end up clean. In fact, I plan to do a hybrid of the two: the sleight method combined with the cleanup from the non-sleight method.

Would I buy this trick again? YES. No question.

Is the price right? YES. He thoroughly goes through several approaches. This trick is complete and thorough.

Are there any downsides? Not really. The only complaint I have is that, as I stated, he did gloss over a move here and there. But nothing major.

I'm impressed, Mark. It's obvious that you are a master of your craft. I really enjoyed the subtleties, the psychology, and everything about this. Excellent excellent excellent. This is a great trick for beginners and intermediates who want to learn better how a magician thinks.

4.5 stars. (I generally save 5 stars for extremely visual Salvador Dali mind-melting type of magic... four stars is usually a "perfect" score for me to give to card tricks and cool tricks that aren't visual. So the extra half star should express how much I really like this trick.) Great job, Mark! Get another tatoo on me. You deserve it. ;-)

(By the way, I always try to be honest and straightforward in my reviews, while being respectful to the magician. If you appreciate my reviews, can you please click the "Yes" button below beside the question, "Did this review help you?" It's not like I actually benefit in any way by your clicking it... but it would be nice to see if my reviews are helpful or not. I hope they are. If you ever have suggestions or comments or questions about my reviews, please feel free to leave me a constructive comment. I'm just trying to be helpful. I love the Penguin community and hope that I can someday contribute my own product. :-) Thanks for reading and for any (hopefully positive, but either way, at least kind) feedback!)

Mark Calabrese’s Red Medicine is just what the Dr ordered!

Mark teaches several different techniques to achieve this amazing effect with borrowed, ungimmicked cards and also with a very simple, invisibly gaffed card. He also goes through trouble-shooting your performances, should you run into any hiccups.

This is a great download. The teaching is excellent and thorough, and I really like Mark’s work on this effect. Highly recommended.

While this is an enjoyable trick, it's suited more for those who spend plenty of time doing card sleights.

There are 3 methods taught.
The 1st is great if you can do really smooth card sleights. Not really beginner stuff.

2nd method is "psychological". But it is far too bold for my liking. I can't see the majority of laypeople falling for the "work" on this method.

The 3Rd aka bonus method or across the table method, in my opinion, is the best one. And if I were to use this trick, that's the method I would use.

I am giving this 4 stars because if I was able to perform the necessary card sleights, this would be a simple one to pull off.

The one thing that really turned me off was the tweaky, super high speed talking he uses during the performance videos. I don't know how anyone could follow him at that speed. It was like he was on fast forward and everyone else was sitting still by comparison. I dunno why, but the speed at which he speaks in the performances just makes me uncomfortable.

This is a very nice affect that will certainly fool Lehman, but maybe not so magicians if that’s your audience. Mark very thoroughly explains things. The download is actually over 40 minutes long. He provides several different methods of performing this, some requiring sleight-of-hand others not. This effect can be done with a borrowed deck in use and has no complex slight of hand required to do this. Even teaches one method where The spectator pretty much does everything themselves in their own hands. The effect does not have to be done under the table, it can be done behind the back to. Only restriction here is that it can’t be done on the table or in front of people.

Only things I didn’t care for in this download word of that the fact is a little too procedural for me and if your spectator is not comfortable mixing up the cards and cutting then this is probably not the right affect for them. Also, I felt that the instructional video could’ve been tightened up a bit. But all that being said, if you like the effect as shown on the video that’s exactly what you’ll get and you’ll be very pleased with it.

First, I have to say that Mark is not the best teacher I've ever seen, had this been written instructions the editor would have cleaned it up a lot. But he still teaches it so you can immediately perform it.

What you see in the trailer is what you do. Several methods are taught so you can repeat what appears to be the same trick but they won't be able to backtrack. The non-sleight of hand (not quite but close enough) I think is the strongest, but having the sleight method ready to go gives you more flexibility. Do learn them both.
The strongest part is that no card is chosen, it is just named. And it appears that from that point you never touch the cards. You give them instructions, they follow, and their thought of card is found by them.

Get it.

This is a great download from Mark, it’s just over 41 minutes long and covers several versions of the effect shown on the trailer.

Mark covers a lot of information and techniques in order for you to perform this in a confident manner.

After watching the full download it even gave me more ideas to create additional methods.

Well worth the money for the teaching and at $10 it gives great bang for your bucks!
Well done Mark!

This is a nice effect but is just “Placebo” rebranded. If you own that you already have this. I don’t understand why Penguin would resell the same product under a different name, but I’m giving one star for this highly deceptive marketing strategy. Buyer beware.

Red Medicine by Mark Calabrese is super simple, sneaky, and brilliant!
He teaches you three different methods and one is completely impromptu and can be done with a borrowed deck.
You can even repeat the effect with someone else in the group or at the table. They even include a full performance video of Mark performing that and it is so sneaky and powerful.

First of all - the 40 minute instructional clips covers A LOT of options, including a few things that can be used elsewhere. Mark's easygoing, casual delivery showcases a few different methods, with the great part being that this could be done spontaneously with a borrowed deck. No double-siders, no sticky tape. Just a deck of regular cards and a couple of seemingly simple moves that are practically invisible.

This is a wonderful "happens in the spectator's hand" routine where a randomly thought of card is found.

For less that 10$ this is one is an easy recommendation.
I can't wait to break this out.