I'm what you might call a lazy magician in that I love effects that give you big results without spending hours of my life practicing some incredibly hard card control move that might or might not work in the real world under pressure. When I saw the video for "Search and Destroy" I immediately loved the audience participation factor and the way this appeared a "perfect length" card trick. In other words, when someone comes up and says "Show me a trick", you need something that will engage them, be impromptu, allow you to concentrate on presentation more than knuckle-busting, and not go on so long as to bore the spectator. This effect fits the bill perfectly.

In essence, you will have to learn one card control move--and most magicians already have at least one they always fall back on. Just in case you don't, however, Aaron teaches you one that gets the job done. From that point onward, it's all pretty much showmanship as the rest of the magic happens in the spectator's hands. Is it easy to figure out? Well, I wouldn't repeat this one too often because it's sort of a logical effect that can be figured out after a few viewings. That has to be the shortcoming of any "no heavy sleights" card effect (it's not self-working, so I won't call it that). Still, it's perfect for the right situation and crowd.

The only other thing to remember is that you'll need to be a showman to make this fun. You don't have to be as outgoing as Aaron is on the video (he's almost annoying at one point), but you'll need to play up the crowd to make this effect appear bigger than what it is. I highly recommend this one to anyone looking to add some easy sparkle to their act.

This is a good trick and looks like it packs a punch. The tape is too wordy by half or more, though.

If you have Aaron's book The Paper Engine and found it confusing to learn this effect then I highly suggest getting this because he makes it dead simple to figure out everything in it and you'll be performing it in no time at all. The DVD menu is easy to navigate and the actual effect is dead simple and gets some amazing reactions.