Merrill's Metamorphosis

Discuss the tricks and sleights which appear in Genii.
Guest

Merrill's Metamorphosis

Postby Guest » June 26th, 2007, 9:03 am

I enjoyed Rick Merrill's offerings in this month's issue. However, there seems to be a glaring discrepancy in his handling of "Poor Man's Metamorphosis." The problem arises on page 80.

The participant places their signed selection on top of the deck. The performer then (discretely?) executes a Reverse Double Undercut. After these two cuts, the performer announces, "So we'll use your card.", and executes a Double Turnover to display the selection still on top of the deck!

How can this be? If the participant believes that the two cuts were legitimate, then their card should not still be on top of the deck. But their card is still on top, forcing the participant to conclude that the cuts were false. And we don't want them knowing about false cuts, do we?

The participant must wonder why the performer bothered to cut the cards, given that nothing has ostensibly changed. This must cause them to realize that something fishy has occured, which puts heat on the subsequent Double Turnover.

Am I missing something? Rick? Anyone?

Guest

Re: Merrill's Metamorphosis

Postby Guest » June 26th, 2007, 7:10 pm

Your description left out that he asks a question of a spectator in order to deflect attention from the deck just before he does the cutting sequence.

My impresssion is that the cuts simply don't register in the spectators' minds. Attention is diverted from them, and the fact that the signed card is turned face-up on the deck before anything seemingly important happens, would make the cuts "invisible" to the average viewer, I believe.

What caught my eye in the write-up (besides the use of "discretely" rather than "discreetly") was the statement that the cutting sequence is what Rick "often" uses. There are other ways to get the cards in the order required that I would personally prefer, and while I believe the sequence would work just fine as written, it sounds like Rick also uses other means at times to get the cards in the required order...

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Ryan Matney
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Re: Merrill's Metamorphosis

Postby Ryan Matney » June 27th, 2007, 8:48 am

I have not read the trick in question yet but it's been my experience that things like that are not noticed by the spectators unless you point them out. Just as Once a Magician said, it doesn't register.

Or..you could make it an additional effect before the transposition. ;)
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Guest

Re: Merrill's Metamorphosis

Postby Guest » June 27th, 2007, 12:26 pm

That must be a very profound question, to provide that much misdirection!

Guest

Re: Merrill's Metamorphosis

Postby Guest » June 27th, 2007, 4:35 pm

Actually, it could be the most trivial of questions, as long as the asking and answering provided the time needed to "casually toy" with the deck, your attention is completely on the spectator, and your attitude is that the effect hasn't started yet...


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