This Week's Top 20

The Crusade - A Mind Reader's ACAAN by Andrew Brown and Atlas Brookings (Instant Download)


Any Deck, Anytime! LEARN INSTANTLY. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED E-BOOK.
Price: $9.00
In stock: Download INSTANTLY.
acaan
any-card-at-any-number
mentalism
mind-reading
prediction

+click to enlarge

SINCE 2014 THE CRUSADE HAS BEEN SOLD FOR $27 WITH EXCELLENT REVIEWS . THE PRICE HAS NEVER BEEN REDUCED UNTIL NOW . A 74% REDUCTION DOWN TO $9 FOR JUST 1 MONTH - ENDS 25.8.20!!


"Andrew and Atlas’s have devised an absolutely ingenious new version of the ACAAN effect. It uses a borrowed, shuffled deck and there are no forces, dual-reality, stooges or any of the other shenanigans which are hallmarks of so many other 'new' handlings of this effect. Rather, they offer an elegant new method, backed up by sound psychology and a worker's approach to presentation. It's a winner - one I added to my repertoire immediately." -Mark Elsdon

“Everyone has a favourite T-shirt or sweater. It fits with everything, is comfortable, makes you feel good......
The Crusade is my performing equivalent. It can fit in any performance and suits any style. Try it on for size. I'm sure you'll never stop wearing it.”
-Stephen Young

“A very powerful and elegant solution to one of the great plots of card magic. There are a lot of solid ACAANs out there to choose from, but this is the one I will be using.” -Chris Philpott

"The Crusade is a true piece of art and I have no hesitation in saying that this will become the go to effect for any mentalist who utilizes cards within their work." -Michael Murray

"Andrew and Atlas really understand how to make the ACAAN plot into a miracle. The way they structure the effect and make the method part of the cleanness of the effect is an education. This is a very interesting approach and worth studying." -Marc Paul

Imagine...

The cards rest on the table in front of your first participant, who gingerly takes them up and begins to count down to his secret number - a number that has never been written down, verbalized, or communicated to any other person.

He counts down slowly, card after card, and then, abruptly, stops. He pauses and sets this last card aside. He has never said a word about his number. There is no way that you could have known what it was. He is confident of that.

He slides the card across to the young lady next to him. Her thoughts have been focused on an image - a suit and a value. Again, her choice of card has never been shared. It has never been withdrawn from the pack, never touched and certainly not forced.

She could have been thinking of any card in this deck.

Her hand drifts toward the card on the table. The one separated just now by her boyfriend from the rest of the pack. The one resting at the number that he was merely thinking of.

She hesitates.

The deck is their own, they shuffled it before you ever touched it. They called all the shots every step of the way.

Neither participant has ever given any indication what it was that they were thinking of, and neither believes in the ability to read minds... and yet...if the card she was merely thinking of is here, at the number that he was merely thinking of...

As though she is reaching out to touch her own delicate skepticism, her fingers flit tentatively across the card on the table - her card.

And as she reveals its face, she gasps - it is the Queen of Clubs - but it is more than that. It is belief, radiant and beautiful and glorious, a moment of dawning acceptance that will be remembered because it defied all her reason and filled her ideology with doubt.

It is a moment of pure enchantment.

And you made it happen with a borrowed deck of cards that they shuffled before you ever started.

Take A Moment And Enjoy An Excerpt From The Text:

INTRODUCTION

Before we look at anything even remotely to do with methodology, let's first take a moment to examine the origins of this title. This exercise is undertaken in the hope that you will find beauty in its layered complexity and reassure yourself that the same sort of attention to detail and search for perfection in arriving at a title for this book is the standard offered by these authors throughout this document.

Why is this called 'The Crusade: A Mind Reader's ACAAN'?

To many in the magic industry and to card magic enthusiasts especially, the 'Any Card At Any Number' plot is a cherished and well-loved miracle. It's perfect execution is so highly prized and sought after that it is popularly referred to among card enthusiasts as the 'Holy Grail'.

That begs the question - was this title merely a clever play on words?

It is true that the Crusades and The Holy Grail are linked in popular lore. But while the association is interesting, there is more at work here than just opportunistic wordplay.

You see, the Holy Grail was the destination, the final prize at the end of these stories of persistent knights and daunting expeditions, whether they have their basis in fact or fiction. It bears emphasizing once more – the Grail was the destination.

The merits of the ACAAN effect have been argued back and forth for many years in the magic community.

For some, their appreciation for the effect is akin to that of a fine wine and their devotion to it never wavers.

Others, however, despise the plot and note sourly that the reaction from the audience is frequently less than enthusiastic. One person names a card and the other names a number and lo and behold – they match!

It is over so quickly that it often plays as a puzzle rather than as an amazing feat that fills a person with wonder.

The argument rages back and forth, and fruitful and enlightening perspectives have emerged. Some claim that the weaknesses lie in a lack of performance ability. Others argue that the plot is fundamentally unappealing to any demographic but magicians.

The most experienced among us have consistently demonstrated that an individual will fail to recall the workings of a puzzle, but when they are escorted into an experience that fills them with wonder - when you take them on a journey that creates that wonder - they will never forget their sense of amazement or the guide that lit their path.

So, in the title 'The Crusade', you have a reminder that what you are presenting is about the journey and not the mythical Holy Grail that is at the end of it.

In folklore, the term 'Crusade' has also shaken off its religious overtones and become synonymous for a period of endeavor and path to improvement – the path, mind you, NOT the destination – which, in many ACAAN plots is arrived at too quickly to have any impact.

One other important point about the title of this book. The root of the word 'Crusade' is the Latin word cruc or crux – meaning cross.

And, of course, a cross is formed at two points of intersection. And what is an intersection but the place where the roads taken by two different travelers on two unique journeys meet?

This moment of meeting is what 'The Crusade' allows you to create. When the card that one person only thought of intersects at the number another person only thought of – the journey that you created for each of them becomes the destination, and an experience is formed that will create a sense of amazement whose memory will never fade.

To a performer, that is The Holy Grail.

And the path to the Grail is through the Crusade.


  • No gimmicks and you can use a borrowed deck.
  • Participant can shuffle the deck.
  • No setup, reset, or memory work required.
  • Requires no sleight of hand and does not rely on DR or stooges.
  • Can be repeated immediately with a different result.


The e-book is 44 pages long and offers an opportunity to astound your audience with an impossible and satisfying piece of mind reading!

Have a question about this product?
ASK HERE

Featured Magic Tricks

Customer Reviews (showing 1 - 10 of 19)
Showing the
reviews with
containing
Work on your presentation Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on December 9th, 2013
The description here is a little misleading. There is a long way to go before you get to that "she turns over the card and it's the one she was thinking of" moment. This effect will depend heavily on your presentation skills. In essence, this is a self-working card trick that is heavily dressed up to look like a mentalism miracle. By "heavily dressed up" I mean you are going to have to convince your spectators that you are creating a miracle here and not just moving a card around.

That being said, there are a few presentational options given at the end, including one that uses pictures instead of playing cards. None of them seems as powerful as the original concept, but it's nice to have options. They also give you a suggestion on the effect to use with this one (available separately for a few bucks). I actually just use this one as a solo routine, however, because it can be pretty long if done right and there's really no way you can top the moment of the final reveal.

You will have to give yourself about an hour to truly study the patter on this effect. The mechanics won't take long at all, but it all depends on how you present it. You will need to be strong at throwing your spectators off the scent of this being a card trick and move them into this being something much more. I'm very pleased with this effect despite my initial skepticism in my first read-through. The fact that this is completely impromptu, can be done with a borrowed deck, and is almost completely out of your hands until the last moment makes this a complete winner.
8 of 9 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
One word - FANTASTIC Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on November 29th, 2013
The effect is great I loved it tremendously you get so much out of this routine and more. I performed this on Thanksgiving and I got the same exact reaction as the discription. If I can rate this 10 stars I would. Atlas Brookings past products is superb so don't hesitate on this I recommend it highly.
4 of 4 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
VERY NICE BUT IT'S NOT AN ACAAN AND IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE!!!! Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on September 9th, 2015
The trick is very nice and it's teached very very well in every details, with a lot of different variations. The problem is that from my point of view this is not an ACAAN as they describe, there's nothing of what an ACAAN should be. ACAAN it's much more epic and outstanding (look what Derren Brown does with the poor Martin Freeman in the tv show, that's an ACAAN!!!) this It is just a great mind-card trick that you can do in many different ways an for sure you'll get an excellent audience response but it's really too expensive for being just a trick (and not completely original....). Other thant that the book is really too long and in my opinion adding a short video would have been very helpfull. Any way I'm happy to bought it and I will surely use it a lot, but as I said this is not an ACAAN and it's really too expensive...
4 of 5 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
The cleanest ACAAN I have ever seen! Report this review
Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on December 11th, 2013
Want an ACAAN with no extra deck to carry about? No gimmicked box? No dodgy handling? No setup? No force of any kind? Want to be able to start and end completely clean? Then THIS is the one for you! I've played about with various versions of this effect for the last few years, one in particular I absolutely love however the downside is the extra decks to carry around which isn't ideal when table hopping. This is now going to be my go to ACAAN routine. Presented well this is an absolute killer! The method of this routine is fairly simple, it's worth mentioning though that you'd need to be comfortable and confident with your patter when presenting this but at the same time it's the perfect routine to improve that side of your game as a performer in my opinion. One really great thing about this routine is you can put your own stamp on it and adjust the presentation to suit you as a performer. I only purchased this effect several days ago and in the last day or so have adjusted it slightly to suit me. I wasn't aware of any of the work of Andrew Brown and Atlas Brookings before this past week but will definitely be keeping an eye out for it now. Well done on a fantastic release guys, I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
4 of 5 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
The Crusade Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on February 4th, 2014
I love The Crusade. It takes a while to get to the conclusion but when you do it is sudden, unexpected and impossible to explain. The Crusade really comes across as total mental control of a situation. It has some elements of ACAAN as well, all rolled into one sensational effect.

It takes time to get into because of the 'padding' that is added which gives time separation from the way this works. That is a good thing, especially since the 'padding' is carefully constructed to build up the idea of either mind control or reading body language much as the police, the CIA or a good poker player or mother might do to detect information that the observed person wants to keep secret.

This is delightful as it can be done with a borrowed and totally shuffled deck and it can all happen in the hands of the spectators. It is at its best when there are two spectators. The magician reveals a secretly thought of number from one spectator and also arranges for a secretly though of card by the second spectator to be at the precise secret number location of the first spectator.

The Crusade is ideal when you are handed a deck of cards and asked to "Do a trick!" Borrowed cards, shuffled by the spectator, followed by not one but two revelations! Who could ask for anything more......, and it is easy to do.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
As good as it can get with no gimmicks Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on December 16th, 2013
A few weeks prior to purchasing, I started looking for an ACAAN trick because I love the simple idea and I prefer more mental magic. I decided on this based the simple fact that this can be done impromptu with no gimmicks and a regular deck. At first, I was a little turned off with the long winded procedure and presentation. But after giving this a fair chance, I realized that this is in fact a great trick. I performed this on family so far, and they loved it and had no clue what happened. I followed this up with the trick they recommend in the book and it was a double whammy. Although this cost just as much as other acaan's that provide gimmicks, I have to say that this will provide just as good as an effect if not greater. A few things to consider:

-This is not a quick trick as vaguely implied in the description. It requires a lot of dialogue and presentation to make this viable. Remember, the focus here is mentalism so its not about something visual and quick like typical magic tricks. But if you follow the steps, you will get a great prediction/mind reading effect.

-This trick works ideally with 2 people. There is a 1 person version included in the instructions, but I found it awkward and had to modify the presentation to make it work. Its good but the effect is much better with 2 people (both reaction and procedure-wise).

As mentioned in the title, this is probably as good at it can get with no gimmicks and sleight of hand. So I highly recommend it if the above mentioned doesnt bother you.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
Best trick of 2013 for me Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on December 2nd, 2013
Impossible to give this anything else than 5 stars. It is simple to execute but leaves your spectators completely speechless. After 1 performance I knew immediately this will stay in my repertoire for ever. What an effect! A lot of respect for Andrew and Atlas.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
A LITTLE OVERPRISE BUT..... Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on February 4th, 2014
I'M VERY SATISFIED BUT ...
I THINK 27 DOLLAR IS NOTHING FOR ONE STRONG EFFECT YOU CAN PERFORM ALL REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH A BORROWED AND SHUFFLED DECK .
BUT IN THE WORLD OF MAGIC MARKED WHERE YOU CAN FIND BOOK AND DVD WITH MANY ROUTINE FOR THE SAME PRICE,I THINK THIS EFFECT STILL BE 10 DOLLAR OVER HIS REAL VALUE.
OTHERWISE IS A FIRST CLASS PIECE OF A MENTALIST CARD'S EFFECT.
1 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
Great self working ACAN Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on September 26th, 2024
Have been working on ASI Winds ACAN for a while. Between the stack and translocation of cards am always worried of a mistake. With this little gem there is no calculations . It’s all on the presentation. With some false shuffles you have a real miracle.
Did this review help you? Do you want to respond to this review?
Incredible! Report this review
Verified buyer Pro Privacy ON (login to see reviewer names) on October 8th, 2019
This is one of the best nearly Handsoff Card Routine I ever read.
I love this roten!!!
Did this review help you? 1 comment
Bestsellers
See all bestsellers



Act Builder beta



     Get To Know Us

     Shipping and Store Policies

     Need Help?

Home | About Penguin Magic | The Penguin Foundation

Mail orders: Penguin Magic, 3299 Monier Circle, Unit A, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
Call us at 800-880-2592 | International Dial: +1 707-317-6733

© 2002-2023 Penguin Magic. All Rights Reserved.
We hope you found the magic tricks you were looking for!