"Transference" DVD by Daryl Sato
Suggested Retail USD$15.99
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 1 Out of 10

"Transference", the second DVD by Daryl Sato, continues the tradition set with his first video, "Neo Change". Yes, this one is simply horrible, too: it's six minutes of your life you'll never get back.

I'll let you decide how horrible this one is:

A deck of cards is shuffled by a spectator. The spectator gives you the deck and then names any card. You spread the deck face up, showing the cards, then cut the deck. The spectator goes through some by-play with their imagination, being asked to visualize their card on top of the deck. They do, then, with "the snap of the fingers", the top card of the deck is turned over to reveal their card.

Still undecided? Well, let's look at the "complex" method and how it appears:

A deck of cards is shuffled by a spectator. The spectator gives you the deck and names any card. The deck is riffled, the spectator asked to visualize things again, and the top card is turned over to reveal their card on top of the deck.

I know anyone that's been around card magic for more than a few months already has the methods down. But I also know there's a temptation here, that the methods are so obvious surely -- surely! -- no one would bother putting together a DVD of them.

I'll save you the trouble, and exposure be damned. When a "creator" decides to release something of this incredibly low caliber, they are all but running a scam, a swindle to make a quick buck, and I'll be damned myself if I let this go.

The first method simply has you going through a face-up spread and cutting the named card to the top of the deck. Sato never addresses how to do this in front of people who would, you know, actually be watching the trick.

The second method is just as obvious, if not more "complicated" due to the presence of a pass. This one is nothing more than a riffle peek leading to a turnover pass. Yeah, it works, but, again, how to get away with it -- assuming you'd want to -- is never explained.

There. I told you. The methods are what you think they are, probably worse than you thought they were, and "Transference" is just not worth the money. "Transference" wouldn't be worth publishing in a magazine, an ebook, or the back of a cereal box.

Look, if this still sounds like a disc you'd learn something from, please, take the money and go buy "Royal Road to Card Magic", "Now You See It Now You Don't", "Expert Card Technique", or "Mark Wilson's Course in Magic". Here; let me convince you why a card magic book is worth more than this thing. This routine is close to "Transference" in effect, but check out the difference:

The spectator shuffles a deck and hands it to you. You have them think of a card -- just think of it. You turn the deck face down and pull out one card, putting it in the spectator's hand. They name their card. You turn over the card that has been sitting in their hand the whole time. It's their card.

"Close-Up Card Magic" by Harry Lorrayne.

Now go buy a book, would ya? And leave the flotsam that is "Transference" alone.

"Transference" DVD by Daryl Sato
In a Blink: 1 Out of 10

Material: 1
You learn a stupid way of doing an effect, plus you learn a more complex yet stunningly common way of doing an effect. If you've got a copy of "Royal Road" or pretty much any other book of card magic, you've got this. And believe me, you don't want to pay for it again.

Practicality: 1
This is just not a good effect or a good method. Anyone with an ounce of working brain cells will not be fooled by this one. Getting busted is going to be the norm here if you even think about trying the first method; getting ragged on for the obvious working of the second method is just as likely.

Quality of Production: 1
What production values? Evidently, you don't need any. The sound's terrible, the video's terrible... And the list goes on.

Quality of Instruction: 1
Sato bobs and weaves and hems and haws and never once explains how this effect is supposed to actually, you know, work. All things considered, that might be a good thing.

Presentation: 1
None. Zilch. Nada. What you have is a trick, thrown together, with little thought to the mechanics, let alone the presentation. And the trick is so weak, fooling people simply will not happen unless you get really lucky.


Shane

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