Magic Tricks

Just about everything done on this DVD is beautifully put together, with an essence of natural moves and smooth behaviors that makes the magic look effortless and simply amazing.

There are, however, some rather important draw backs I find with this DVD set.

1.) Two of the Coin Routines are done in almost exactly the same fashion. The productions and vanishes (which is essentially the entire trick for both of them) almost mirror each other, yet are presented as two entirely different effects on the DVD. This, to me, felt like a slap to the face.

They are both beautiful pieces of sleight (then again if one is, I guess the other has to be as well), and it allows you to choose different styles for the amazing Here-and-Gone type of effect. You should not perform the two in the same showing though, for obvious reason.

2.) The DVD set is rather expensive, and although it comes with material you WILL use (there's no ifs in this statement, after watching the DVDs, as long as you paid attention, you'll use at least one trick), my favorite tricks would involve spending a lot more money just to perform them.

If you are already an experienced magician with special gimmicks, then you probably already have the materials to perform my favorite effects, and this will not affect you.

However, if you are newer and do not have these props, you will be horribly disappointed in the fact that you have to spend almost $200 (USD) just to perform the trick. If you're serious about being a close-up magician, you'll most likely buy these props sooner or later anyways, so it may not be too disappointing, but if you're not sure on how far you want to take your magic, then you'll probably hate this discovery.

3.) My last negative thought on this DVD set, is the prop it comes with. The Karate coin.

The routine Eric Jones does with the routine isn't my problem at all, but in the DVD, he himself states that the prop given with the DVD isn't something that he'd use. Not because it's bad quality, but because of the style of coin. He says that it's a harder trick to "sell" to the audience, because it's much less believable than it should/can be.

All in all, these 3 negatives only brought the DVD down by 1 star to me, because; Those two routines are still beautiful and allow you to change up the way you present it as you go along, coin gaffs are something most serious magicians will buy anyways, and the coin included is labeled as a free prop anyways, and investing in a better karate coin won't even be much more expensive.

Not to mention, after doing the math (90/18=5), it's about $5 per trick, and in the modern world of magic, it's EASY to spend $30+ on material you will NEVER use, and as I've already stated; You WILL use something on this DVD, I have no doubts about it.

Routines I found not only to be worth performing, but I almost always resort to are;

Eye Candy (most fun I've had with sponge balls in a long time)

Ambitious

And

Oxy-Clean Coin Routine (Billy would be proud)

These are not the only good ones, but I found these to be absolutely enthralling to learn and perform, and these are the tricks I'm more than happy to resort to.

I hope this helps,
TJ