"Innovative Card Magic" DVD by Mariano Goñi
Suggested Retail USD$34.95
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In a Blink: 6 Out of 10

"Innovative Card Magic", a DVD by Mariano Goñi, is an uneven collection of card effects and sleights, but contains just enough interesting stuff to make it worthwhile to hardcore card workers.

You can almost expect that, given we're taking about eleven different items here: some stuff is going to be good, some stuff is going to be bad. Usually the old adage about "one item making it into your act is worth any amount of money" comes into play. Here, it's a little tougher to decide if anything makes this disc worth the money.

Let's go into the effects a bit then you'll see what I mean.

"Raikiri Shoot" is an interesting idea: a selected card is lost in the deck, the cards cascaded to the table, and the selected card flies out of the deck. This looks good, but you'll need to wear a certain something until it's time to perform (think "Haunted Deck" here). Another trick along these lines was released not too long ago and the gimmick was self-contained and easier to manage.

"The Hurricane" allows you to spin a card rapidly on your finger tip. This is cute, but nothing great here. It's been done before and, when compared, done better.

"Sidewinder Control 2.0" is a nice, tabled card control but a bit fidgety. A card is buried between the two halves of the deck, the deck squared, and the performer has full control of the card from this point. The mechanics here are nice, but six squaring motions plus a riffle from the rear is a little much for me. Still, it's a good control.

"Color Strike Mama" I liked a lot. It's "Red Hot Mama", but with some absolutely killer visuals, especially with the transposition at the end. This is a slick piece of work.

"The Lightning Change" is pretty much that: a fast, double color change, in the middle of the deck. This is based on Paul Harris' "Sidewinder": a card is pushed into the top of the deck and comes out the side, perpendicularly. The deck is given a shake and the card visually changes into another. Another shake, another change. This is pretty slick, but not as utilitarian as it appears given the "Sidewinder" sequence you need for the set-up.

"The Harmony Stone" is a multi-phase "Coincidence"-like layout effect where three random cards are chosen by a spectator rolling stones across a table, then the mates found in a number of different, coincidental places in the deck. It culminates with three of a chosen number face up in a face down deck and the fourth of those cards found in a spectator's pocket. This is a slick routine with a solid kicker ending that deserves a look. There are a couple of weak places that needs to be shored up, but if you do that you could have a really good one here.

"The Shotgun Change" is really something to see. A quick, visual change of a single card to four different cards. This is very slick and could have a number of clever uses.

"The Evolution Change" is another center-of-the-deck change, but it's my favorite. The card is placed diagonally in the deck, a magical pass is made, and the card has changed to another one. This is one beautiful change.

"Color Triumph" is a very slick Triumph routine with lots of color changes and ending with a red-backed card face down in a blue-backed half of the deck and vice versa. I didn't like the beginning of this but by the time the climax came around I was hooked.

"Floored" got me and I'm not ashamed to admit it. This looks really good. A signed card changes to another under the spectator's foot. Another good piece.

Then there's "The Eagle", which is a bit of a story in itself. Goñi wrote me after my initial, damning reaction:

"The Eagle" was the biggest disappointment on the disc. The "closely guarded secret" has actually been around for a while, just seldom seen inside of magic circles (which is probably a good thing; to get a nice gimmick for this and not the cheap "get ya there" type things included with the disc already would run you $20; by the time magicians "rediscover" them they'll sell for $150). I read about this particular handling when I was a kid and even made one out of a thumb tack. "Fool knowledgeable magicians"? Then these magicians need to read more Scarne and look up some old "Will & Fink" catalogues.

This stems from a misunderstanding between myself and no one in particular. I thought, going by the ad copy, Goñi was taking credit for something that's been around for a few hundred years along with the basic handling thereof. I was wrong. After talking to Goñi, I understand now exactly what he's claiming credit for and credit is, to my knowledge, his and his alone: he done good and I was an ass. Also, Goñi expressed concern that he might be seen as some kind of scammer, thief, whatever bad thing you can think of. This being the net, he's probably right. So, let me say this: Goñi is to be credited as above, and if anyone questions the honesty or motivations of this genuine gentleman and consummate professional in this matter, they'll do so over my dead body. Now, the paragraph as it should read now:

"The Eagle" was a disappointment to me, but only because I've got that certain background which knows about the gimmick and certain handlings thereof inside-out and upside-down. Goñi is to be credited with some nice thinking on the acquitment, though, and that's probably what fooled some of the Names out there (who I still maintain should read more Scarne and look up some old "Will & Fink" catalogues); those moves are his "closely guarded secret" and he did good work there. However, if you've been 'round the block and think a mechanic is not someone who works on cars, you're going to feel let down and you'll see right through the work here. I figure the other 99.9564% of the people reading this will be blown away.

So there's the break down on the material. It's a rather schizophrenic collection. Face it, when Goñi is hitting on all cylinders (like "Color Triumph", "Color Strike Mama", "Evolution Change") his work is damn near jaw-dropping and, at times, the method is as good as the effect and you'd just love to show off how they work. When he's running rough, though, the material just seems to lack enough of his creative thinking to really be the excellent piece of work it could be.

Do I recommend "Innovative Card Magic"? At the rather expensive price, I'd only make the recommendation to the hardcore card workers out there who don't mind applying their skill and knowledge to flesh-out some of the weaker material or who can use and appreciate those pieces of this that truly are mini-masterpieces.

Having said that, I hope to see more of Goñi's work because, well, regardless of missteps, he has a certain creative spark that, when it shows itself, is blindingly good, almost to the point of being addictive to perform.

"Innovative Card Magic" DVD by Mariano Goñi
In a Blink: 6 Out of 10

Material: 8
The material here is, overall, some very good card sleights and routines. Although some is derivative, and a couple of routines lackluster, when Goñi hits on all cylinders it's something to see and makes this a worthwhile collection indeed.

Practicality: 7
For the most part all you need is a deck of cards. Some routines rely on extra stuff and some have angle issues, but overall this is very practical stuff.

Quality of Production: 5
The production values here are good enough to get the job done, but with some weak camera work you'll be a bit frustrated, especially during the performance sections. Luckily it doesn't bleed over to the instructions.

Quality of Instruction: 5
Goñi does a credible job of teaching his material. It would have been nice to see some variation on his thinking in a few places and a script may have been of benefit to him, but you'll have no real problems picking up on his work.

Presentation: 7
The presentations here are quite good, mostly relying on some interesting and striking visuals to get the job done. Other presentations are of the plain and simple narrative variety.


Shane

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