TAKE FIVEAwardwinning columnist for The Linking Ring, quirky magician, and allaround nice guy, Michael Breggar brings you five amazing card magic routines direct from his repertoire Some may have come from his abattoir The five routines are explained in detail with buckets of photographs and Michaels scripts There is also a section on performance tips and two incredible utilities you can use with the tricks described in this book or elsewhere As with all of Michael8217s material, the effects are quirky, stunning and technically easy Whats Inside? BRACAAN This is Michaels full performance Any Card at Any Number routine Not only is this a knockout, but it is also sleightlite and can be performed any time with any borrowed, fully shuffled deck Marc DeSouza has called it SuperbSympa Michaels take on the classic Sympathetic Cards plot Except a single deck of cards is used and there are no gaffs A spectator takes a deck of cards, shuffles them thoroughly, and then names any suit They remove the cards from that named suit The magician removes the cards from the other same color suit The audience member then mixes her packet and reverses a card The magician never touches his packet, yet when the packets are examined, the order of both are identical Whats more, somehow the spectators reversed card is identical to a reversed card in the magicians packetDecisions, Decisions Direct from Michaels recent act at the worldfamous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California An incredible and incredibly funny routine where audience members name a card color (red or black), suit, and value Any combination is fair game That constructed card is then removed from a cased deck that has been sitting in full view Was that a good decision? Michael asks the audience It was a great decision, he continues Because it is the only card in the pack with printing on it The rest of the cards are then spread They are all blank Sherlock 8211 Michael8217s take on a Harry Lorayne classic The routine depicts how Sherlock Holmes thinks and figures out even the knottiest of cases A truly free card selection is discovered in a rather unusual manner And then 8220Holmes8221 takes things one step further instantly locating the card8217s three mates Finally, in a twist worthy of Conan Doyle, 8220Dr Watson8221 reveals he deductively knew all along which card would be selected: two discards are flipped over On one the selected card8217s suit is handwritten The value is handwritten on the other cardOrder in the Cortex 8211 An exceptional demonstration of ESP with playing cards Except the demonstration is provided not only by the magician but also by two audience membersAlso detailed are two utilities you will use The first describes how to toss a deck into a paper bag, and have an audience member shake the cards around to their hearts8217 content, yet their original order is never disturbed The second is Michael8217s take on the famous Jay Ose False Cut This method takes it to the next level and is highly deceptive