DVD Review: V2F by G (DVD) Review

V2F is very visual vanish or transformation of a signed card followed by a card to impossible location. What you are buying are two "moves" and a few routines and ideas built around these two moves. The two moves are the vanish and a clever method for a card fold (I don't think I'm giving anything away because the demo clearly shows a card folded in quarters). The vanish is simply stunning and the card fold is very deceptive.

Marketing Fluff

"MELT any card with just a wave of your hand. Any deck. Anytime. Anywhere.

Imagine you are caught up to perform something in unexpected situation, and your friend hand you a beat up deck from a bar... Simply have a spectator sign a card, you visually vanish the card, and make the card reappear in your OR EVEN SPECTATOR'S WALLET!!

Visually vanish a signed card and make the card reappear in your OR EVEN SPECTATOR'S WALLET!!

1. Use borrowed deck
2. No Gimmick/Impromptu
3. Perform Surrounded
4. It's a card to any wallet effect without expensive wallet! "

Is the marketing fluff farce or fact? I'm pleased to say it does just about everything it claims to do.

Degree of Difficulty

Moderate to difficult. Easy to do poorly. Hard to perform it effortlessly. First, prepare to burn a few decks of cards perfecting the V2F move. Every time you execute the move you will destroy a card - should be fairly obvious from the demo video. It is rare that I write a review without having performed the effect for real people but I will admit that I haven't perfected this yet. I plan to practice this move until it is perfect before performing for a real audience and I hope you will too.

Teaching

The teaching is good but not great. The teaching segments are silent except for the music and with subtitles to explain the details over the move. You do get some good over the shoulder angles to learn from. G is pretty clear in these segments however I wish there was more detail on the subtleties of the V2F move. It's hard to explain without exposing the method but I found it a bit difficult to find where the selected card is in relation to my right hand when beginning the move and how to hold the deck during the vanish.


Quantity of Effects

I've seen a couple reviews that knock the DVD for lack of material and being overpriced. I don't agree or disagree. I think this depends on why you purchased the V2F. If you are looking for a killer ambitious card sequence, a nice, no-palm card to impossible location or you are struggling to learn the Mercury card fold, V2F may be pure gold. I fall into that category.

It's not a long DVD but I think there is reasonably good value. Here's what you get:

Card to Shoe routine - this is the basic effect and it's very good. Perhaps not a complete routine but makes a great climax for any number of routines.

Ambitious Card phase - G shows you a pretty standard ACR sequence using Marlo's tilt move. Then applies V2F for the climax

Card Under Wallet routine - this is the full length V2F routine. This is a multi-phase routine where the signed, selected card vanishes and re-appears under your wallet. The next phase is where the entire deck disappears except for the selected card. The deck reappears under the wallet. The climax is V2F Card to Shoe. A very nice routine.

Bonus applications:

G quickly teaches several other applications (not full routines) of the V2F move including a torn and restored card, a color change with or without a DF card and finally an "invisible" deck. This is not THE invisible deck that you're thinking of - it is using the V2F move with an Omni Deck (a clear, arcylic deck) to turn a deck of cards invisible.

G Coin Matrix

G throws in an impromptu coin matrix routine. I haven't tried it but it looks pretty good. Four coins instantly assemble under one hand. Like many other coin matrices, this probably requires a pliable, quiet surface to perform on.

Quality of Effects

V2F is pretty impressive. The simplicity of the move is rather genius. It is hard to believe that no-one thought of this before G. Perhaps they had and it just never became a popular move.

The reason I purchased V2F is because I immediately recognized the application of the moves. I've been working on a card-to-ring box effect (ala Tommy Wonder) and V2F has enormous potential in an ACR climax sequence. I think V2F would fry people in conjuction with John Kennedy's Mystery Box prop.

Production Quality

Excellent. Music is tasteful and not too repetitive. Video is clear and the angles are good.

Overall: 7/10

If you're looking for a super visual card effect, a nice impromptu card-to-impossible location, or an alternative card fold method then V2F is for you. I knocked off a couple points for G's lack of explanation on the finer points of the move and the brevity of the DVD. It is perhaps a bit overpriced for the average amateur mage (like me). Then again, if I can weave V2F into my ultimate ACR it will have been worth several times what I paid for it. Only time will tell if this is a keeper or a sleeper.

Note: The card box color change is not taught. It should be obvious how it is done after watching the DVD. The problem is that you'll need to destroy a card case each time you perform the effect or have custom cards printed that look like a card case.

Counthesaurus by Jon Racherbaumer (book)

I'm a packet trick junkie. After a long hiatus from magic, I returned to packet tricks with a vengence. As my interest in false counts and displays began when I started to create my own own false counts and packet tricks. I sought more resources and began to discover that some of "my" creations had already been published long ago. Independently creating a count has it's advantages though - like developing subtleties, twists and new uses for these counts. Because I was accumulating so many false counts I was starting to forget some of the ones I had learned. I began to record my counts in journal so that I could easily locate and refresh my memory on each count.

Through all of this research on false counts, I came to learn about the two popular books on false counts. The first was Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety by Jerry Menzter. Menzter's book is a small but useful reference on packet trick sleights. The second book was by Jon Racherbaumer called Counthesaurus. Somewhere along the way I also discovered Denis Behr's web-based database of magic (http://archive.denisbehr.de) as a resource to credit and locate published card sleights. I finally broke down and purchased Counthesaurus as a Christmas present to myself. I've spent some quality time with this fine book over the last year.

Racherbaumer states that this is not a book that you will just work through but a resource to look up a count or refresh your knowledge of a count as needed. Of course, being a false count nerd, I've worked through most of the book. Racherbaumer's byline for the books is "An Abecedarian Handbook of False Counts and Displays" which apparently refers to the alphabetical listing of the things taught in the book. The book is spiral bound printed mainly in black and white although there are some color photographs at the end of the book. Although I perfer a hardcover book, the spiral binding is of great benefit when laying open during a heavy study session.

First and foremost, this is an excellent resource that is a great addition to any card magic library. I can recommend this wholeheartedly. You will not find tricks in this book (well not quite). Racherbaumer meant this project as a reference book to be used like a dictionary when needed. Racherbaumer teaches over 80 sleights across over 200 pages with over 200 pictures. He provides some very interesting history and credits liberally along the way. This only left me wanting more detail!

I do have some very minor nitpicking. The teaching is rather sparse in some places. The sleights are described in a vacuum so that you don't always have context to how they might be used. However, Racherbaumer does claim that this is a look-up type reference book so I guess he is assuming that you already have an effect in mind when you reach for his book. Although there is some variations listed, most sleights are just breifly described with no extraneous details. Having studied false counts for a few years now, the are an endless number of variations to each sleight. Some of the counts were taught differently than from other sources I had learned the sleight from.

Overall, the teaching is good and we're lucky to have someone of Jon's caliber to capture the special subject area of false counts and displays in Counthesaurus. This is by no means an exhaustive collection of all false counts and packet trick sleights - not even close. However, it is probably the best single resource published at this time (perhaps I can change that). Racherbaumer covers many popular displays and therefore a good resource for packet trick consumers and creators. Highly recommended.