Best Friends

Trick Courtesy of: Elmsley@aol.com

Original Author: David Lander

Effect: Two cards are freely (yes, freely) selected and inserted face up in the deck in two different places. Magician runs through the deck and drops the face-up selected card and the face-down card next to it, on the table. When the face-down cards are turned face up, they are seen to be the mates of the selected cards in color and value.

Card Trick: Taken from David Lander's column, "I was just thinking..."

Set-up: Put deck in “Best Friends” order. See below.

Performance:

Spread the deck and have a card selected. Cut all cards above selected card to the bottom. Have card removed and replaced on the top of the deck, face up. Undercut half the deck and peek at the bottom card. If it is a mate to the selected card, remember that the selected card is a before card. If it is not a mate, the selected card is an after card. Drop the cards in your right hand on top of the face up card. Repeat this 2 or 3 times; if you do it more times than that, it can be hard to remember what cards are what. Now run through the deck. When you hit an after card, drop it and the card after it on the table. When you hit a before card, drop it and the card before it on the table. Flip over the cards, and they match. Be sure to explain the mate concept before you flip over the cards.

Features:

• Cards cut as often as you like
• Cards are freely chosen, no forces of any kind
• Does not work on Rainbow Deck principle

Best Friends Order

The deck is simply set up in pairs by value and color. Put the two red kings together, the two black twos, the two red jacks, etc. You can cut this deck all you want. The Best Friends effect wont be affected if a pair is separated, one on top and one on bottom. With another cut the order will right itself.

Best Friends Variation

Courtesy of: Lauren Griffith (angels167@integrityonline.com)

Effect: Two cards are randomly picked from the deck, and inserted face up in the deck in two different places. The magician runs through the deck and drops the face-up cards on the table, and the top two cards are the mates of the two selected cards.

Set-up: Put deck in Best Friends order. See below.

Performance: Spread the deck and have a card selected. Cut all cards above selected card to the bottom. Have card removed and replaced on top of the deck, face up. Undercut half the deck and peek bottom card. If it is a mate to the selected card, remember that the selected card is a before card. If it is not a mate, the selected card is an after card. Repeat this 2 or 3 times; if you do it more times than that, it can be hard to remember what cards are what. After each choice, you can give the effect of mixing the cards by giving the deck several complete cuts.

Now run through the deck. When you get to the first face-up card, cut the deck and drop the card on the table. If it's an after card, put your righthand packet on the bottom of the deck. If it's a before card, slip the bottom card of your righthand packet to the top of your lefthand packet, and put the rest of your righthand packet on the bottom of the deck.

Then find the next face-up card. Again cut the deck with your right hand and drop the card on the table. Here comes the tricky part. If the face-up card is an after card, slip the top card of the lefthand packet to the top of your righthand packet. Then put the righthand packet on top of the deck.

If the card is a before card, you must transfer the bottom card in your righthand packet to the top of the same packet. Slip it with your right fingers to the top of the lefthand packet and then with your left thumb to the top of your righthand packet in one quick motion. Then put your righthand packet on top of the deck. With a little practice these moves can be done smoothly, and with some quick talking your audience will never figure it out.

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