Double Reversed Card

Type: Impromptu Card Magic Trick

Level: Intermediate

Props: Deck of cards (the back of them need to have a white edge).

Introduction: I remember reading this one a while ago in Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic. A wonderful variation on the Reversed Card and one I personally perform a lot.

The effect: The deck is thoroughly shuffled. The pack is then divided into two. The magician urges the spectator to pick one for himself. The magician picks up the remaining pack. They both shuffle their packs, once again, for good measure. The magician now explains they will be both picking a card behind their backs. To do so, they must bring the deck behind their backs, cut and complete the cut, take the top card of the deck, and bring, both the card and the deck, face down, to the front. Both, the magician an the spectator, loose their respective cards in the opposite’s deck. The decks are then shuffled together. Yet, the magician promises he can find both cards, while holding the deck behind his back. He does so!

The method: The spectator shuffles the deck. He then is instructed to start dealing the deck into two piles (I have found from personal experience this serves as to further confuse the spectator). He is asked to select a pack and shuffle it again. The magician does the same with the remaining pack. The magician then Glimpses at the card on the bottom of his pack and memorizes it. As he brings the pack to his back in order to pretend to cut the deck and select a card, he turns the deck so its face is pointing upwards and turns over the top card of the pack (the one he memorized!). He then picks any other random card and brings it (face down) to the front, along with his pack. He proceeds to ask the spectator to push his card into the deck (and just as in the Reversed Card trick, s/he believes to be pushing it in the same orientation as the rest of the deck). Once the card is all in, the magician drops his hand (holding the deck) to his side and proceeds to push his card into the spectator’s pack. As the magician brings his hand back up in order to Faro Shuffle the packs, he turns his wrist around, having now reversed the pack. He can now Faro Shuffle and the rest of the trick is just good acting.

Glossary:

• Faro Shuffle: A shuffling technique where the short edges of two halves of the deck are pushed together to the point where the cards start “weaving” together.