ankitbavishi89@gmail.
com Created for Ankit Bavishi
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A couple thoughts about this digital edition
The Master Move was originally published in print form in a 5.5” X 8.5” format,
saddle stitched in card covers. This format is problematic when it comes to
publishing a digital edition and certain decisions had to be made in order to
accommodate what needs to occur to make it viable.
As such, each original page has essentially been expanded to fit the 8.5” X 11”
format which you have here. This process required some very small editorial and
layout compromises, but everything that was in the original print edition is here,
nothing has been excised or changed. The only real differences are cosmetic and
have no bearing on the final contents, only the layout and overall design.
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The Master Move
by Mark Strivings
Copyright©2018 by Mark D. Strivings
This book may not be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
recording or otherwise, without written permission of Mark
Strivings
All rights strictly reserved
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The Master Move
by Mark Strivings
Copyright©2018 by Mark D. Strivings. All rights reserved.
Thank you for your purchase of this manuscript. What you now possess
is pure gold in the right hands. The Sight Unseen Case has been easily
the most widely used and sought after utility device and secret weapon
in the last 20+ years. The list of those who use the SUC literally reads
like a “who’s who” of magic and mentalism.
I have debated for a long time as to whether I should put this secret
weapon of mine ‘out there’ or not. Of all the secrets that I have in my
arsenal, this is one of my most closely held, and I have seriously
considered keeping it entirely to myself. But then the thought occurred
to me that there are so many extremely talented people ‘out there’ who
use the SUC that it would be exciting to see where this goes. How far
can this be taken? We shall see. I will lay it all out for you in the
following pages. Let’s see where it goes from here.
I’m going to assume that you already have an SUC and you know how
to use it. And so you know, what you are about to learn will not work
with any of the hybrid wallets and such that have incorporated the SUC
design. It works only with the Sight Unseen Case itself, either model.
This is not a primer on how to use the SUC. That is what the manual
that comes with the case is for.
What you are about to learn is a simple but deadly maneuver that takes
the use of the SUC to a whole new level.
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I first came up with this about 20 years ago. Once I started using it, it
became clear to me that what I had discovered was incredibly powerful.
In the decades since then I have only revealed the secret to one other
person. I have made it a point to use this sparingly around other
magicians and mentalists, although in hindsight I’m not real sure why I
bothered. The move itself is practically invisible and it’s almost
impossible to get caught or to see through it somehow. For those
magicians and mentalists who have been fortunate enough to witness a
performance that utilized The Master Move, I was rewarded with
bewildered shakes of the head. These were well-posted performers who
use the SUC themselves, and yet I had just put them in the weeds using
a device that they know. It was most gratifying.
That said, deceiving magicians is not my goal in life. Entertaining the
masses is. But if you are going to call yourself a mystery performer of
some sort then you owe it to your audience to fool them hard. The
Master Move adds an invisible layer of deception that creates utterly
impossible effects. Master this move and you will turn what is already a
deadly weapon in the SUC into a silent assassin that leaves no
survivors.
My mom was right. I have the gift for hyperbole.
---o---
In this manuscript I am only going to teach you two applications of The
Master Move. About one-half of the actual mechanics will be identical
for both applications. But the effects will differ. As you will see the
possibilities for this move are vast, and the ways that you can employ it
are limited only by your own imagination. The reason I am only teaching
you two applications is because these are how I personally use the
Master Move. Where you take it from there is up to you. The sky is the
limit.
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I wish that you could see this performed live before you read it. Actually
if you were to see it performed it would do you no good. There’s nothing
to see. It’s invisible. As a result it would absolutely fool you. It’s so clean
and above board. It would make you question if you actually know how
the SUC works or not. Needless to say laymen don’t stand a prayer.
Here’s what the audience sees:
Scenario I:
At the beginning of his close-up set, the performer removes his
business card case and shows that it contains a single folded playing
card whose identity is unknown. He states that this is his ‘lucky card’
and he keeps it around because it insures a killer show. The card is left
showing in the pocket of the case and the case is closed and set aside,
remaining in full view for the balance of the program.
Some time later in the program a card has been selected from the deck
and cannot seem to be located. The business card case is opened and
sitting right where the performer left it is the folded card, his ‘lucky card’.
The spectator removes it himself and unfolds it. It is their selection. This
can be signed if you want.
Scenario II:
The performer takes a small piece of card (or business card) and openly
writes something on it. He folds it up and places it in his business card
case, still showing as the case is closed. At this point just about
anything can happen. Let’s say that the spectator is asked to think
about the name of their first childhood pet. The spectator reveals it to
everyone.
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The performer then reopens the business card case and there is the
folded piece of card, right where he left it. The spectator removes the
slip themselves, opens it up and reads it. It contains the name of their
childhood pet.
This second scenario can go literally in thousands of directions, as you
will see.
---o---
What is probably not all that apparent in the above scenarios is the fact
that there is a folded slip or card that is initially displayed, and
apparently absolutely nothing happens to it. When the case is reopened
nothing has happened. It’s seemingly the same folded card or slip that
was displayed earlier, only it turns out it is their exact card or contains
their written information.
Try this, at least in your mind. Or literally take out your SUC and do the
following. Fold up a playing card into quarters and put it into a pocket in
your SUC, sticking out of the pocket so that you can see it when the
case is open. Close the case. Have a card selected from a deck. Shuffle
it back into the deck. Open your SUC, showing the card right where you
left it. At this point you would have your spectator remove it and unfold
it, it’s their card. That’s what this looks like. And again, it can be a
signed card if you wish. The Master Move is just that clean.
This will work with either model of the Sight Unseen Case. The one
recommendation that I have is that it works best to learn this initially if
the pockets in the case are empty (at least that was the situation for me,
your mileage may vary), although you should definitely experiment with
business cards in place and see what works best for you. These days I
generally have a couple business cards in each side of the case and it
works just fine.
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There are aspects of what follows where I cannot tell you exactly what
you will need to do. Depending on how you decide to use this maneuver
you will have to work out a few details for yourself so that things end up
oriented properly in the course of handling. I will point these out as we
go along. None of what follows is difficult. I just cannot anticipate every
variable that you might come up with, so some minor experimentation
will be required on your part. For my part, I will give you exactly what I
do, and it works perfectly for me. Your mileage may vary.
As you may have surmised the card/slip is switched. But it is the way
that this happens and the complete lack of anything being remotely out
of place that makes this so devastating. Apparently there’s no way that
anything at all could have happened, much less a complete switch!
How does The Master Move work?
The Master Move is unique in that it is not a single move or maneuver
(even though I have probably lead you to believe it is), but rather a
combination of procedures that come together to create an extremely
convincing switch. They do not happen back to back. They can actually
happen over a fairly long period of time, depending on your routine. And
by a ‘fairly long period of time’ I mean literally it could happen over a
period of 30-45 minutes or more. You’ll soon see what I mean.
There are actually three parts to the overall procedure. Parts 1 & 3 are
the Master Move itself. Part 2 can be any one potentially dozens of
things. In the case of Part 2 I will teach you what I do in the two
scenarios described above, and give you some immediately obvious
options. But Parts 1 and 3 are always the same, as you will soon see.
Assuming that you are an SUC user, some of the overall procedure you
will already know and probably already do
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in some form or other. The rest of the overall procedure will be new for
you and these are the parts that will require initial practice. But I suspect
it will not take you long to have this whole thing down and ready to go.
In fact, you should have the basics of the entire thing down in just a few
minutes. Just put all of the pieces together and fry some brains!
This maneuver does have one small requirement. The folded billet that
you use, whether a playing card, business card or billet, must be made
of a fairly stiff material. Playing cards are perfect. Many folded business
cards work beautifully. For billet material I would recommend heavy
card stock cut to billet size. This maneuver will not work with folded
paper. There needs to be a some ‘body’ to the folded item. You’ll soon
see why. For the sake of discussion let’s say you are going to have a
folded playing card in your SUC and you wish to switch it for a
spectator’s selected card.
To learn this take two old playing cards that you no longer need and fold
them neatly into quarters. Have your SUC at hand and you are ready to
put this together.
Part 1 -
Assuming you know and understand how your SUC works, this is the
one thing in the entire Master Move that you do not already know in its
entirety, and it is what makes the whole thing go. I discovered the basis
for this by accident many years ago and found I could use it as a hidden
procedure to devastating effect.
For the sake of learning this remove anything you might have in your
SUC. As you know, one side of your SUC is ‘hot’. This is where the case
itself is gaffed. The other side is normal, or ‘cool’. Place the folded
playing card into the ‘cool’ side of the case. There are two orientations
of this
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folded card that are possible. Look at the
edges of the folded card.
There is one side that is nothing but a single
fold. This fold runs down the long part of the
card and is exactly half its length. It is
indicated with the arrow in the picture.
There is another side that has two folds. These both run across half of
the width of the card and look like a letter ‘V’ if viewed in profile.
The remaining two sides are all loose layers and you can see into the
folded card if you spread them open just a bit.
Put the card into the pocket with one
of the loose layered sides in the
pocket itself. That means that the
part of the card that sticks out of the
pocket will be folded in some way,
either a ‘V’ fold or a single fold.
Either way works and I would
suggest you experiment with this
aspect of the overall picture once
you learn the move. For now let’s say that you have the single fold
outermost from the pocket. This is the position I generally use for the
folded card.
Position it so that the fold of the card is right up against the fold of the
spine of the SUC. In other words if you close the case, the fold of the
card is directly beneath the fold of the case itself. This is the first and
last picture of the card that
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your audience will get, so it’s pretty important.
This first card is about to go away, and when it is replaced by the
spectators card later, that card will end up in this same position. More
on that momentarily.
Hold the case with the portion that contains the
card on the palm of your left hand, the other
side extending over your fingertips. Close the
case by flipping the other side over right to left
like closing a book (see pic, right). The portion
of the case that contains the card is still closest
to the palm of your hand, and the spine of the
case should be on your fingertips.
The next move will take place with your hand
down at your side. You are now going to literally
squeeze the binding of the case straight down
towards the metal corners. This has the effect
of shoving the card contained inside down into
the pocket in which it currently resides. See the
pics for what this looks like. This is something
that you will have to experiment a bit with. You
want the folded card to end up completely
shoved down into the pocket. You will notice
that you can feel the folded card right through
the side of the case and you can push more on
the side of the case, causing the card to be pushed further into
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the pocket, see pic, left. This part of the overall
move is the main reason why the folded card
slip needs to have some body to it. A folded
piece of paper wouldn’t work at all. It’s too
flimsy. A folded playing card or business card is
perfect.
This will take a bit of practice but you will be
able to make this work in fairly short order. I
always do the extra push down the side of the
case to insure that the folded card goes as far
as possible into the pocket. The pic below is looking into that pocket
purely for your own reference. Neither you or the audience will ever
have this view in performance.
The Master Move itself is now halfway done.
You will do the rest of the move later in the
handling.
Part 2 (sort of) -
We will discuss the second part of the overall procedure in more detail
in a bit. That said, the situation at this point is that there is a folded
playing card that has been shoved down into the pocket on the cool
side of the closed SUC. The audience assumes it is in position to be
seen.
Depending on how you wish to present this, at this point you would
have a deck of matching cards shuffled, have a card selected and
controlled, secretly folding it to match
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the card that is already in your SUC and then fingerpalmed in your right
hand with the solid fold towards the base of your fingers.
Part 3 -
Part 2 flows more or less directly into Part 3, so let’s take a closer look
at what just happened in relation to what is about to happen.
This is another part of the handling that you will have to work out some
specifics for yourself purely because I don’t know what you’re routine
might be. But here is how I handle this next part of the overall
maneuver. I would recommend doing exactly what I do to learn the
basics. Then you can alter the handling to fit your specific situation.
You have a folded playing card finger palmed in your right hand with the
main fold at the base of your fingers. The folded playing card is about to
be loaded into the SUC through the slit in the case.
Assuming you have handled the case exactly as I have laid out, that slit
is currently on the side the case opposite your left palm. If you were to
open your left hand out flat, the slit would be on top of the case,
opening facing to your left.
I turn my right hand over palm down and reach to the left over the top of
the SUC, right fingertips pointed towards the open side of the case, the
binding of the case is towards the base of the right hand. The folded
playing card gets places directly on top of the SUC, underneath the
fingers. This motion is completely covered. Take the case from above
with the right hand, fingers on top and thumb underneath. Turn the right
hand palm up. The folded card is now underneath the case and the fold
of the card is pointed directly at the opening of the slit in the case.
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All that needs to happen now is to feed the folded card right through the
slot with the right fingertips and push it as far in the closed SUC as it will
go. The pic here is an exposed view after the card has been pushed in
with the right fingers. Push that card in as far as it will go. The entire
action takes place with that side of the case turned towards the ground.
If you now lay the SUC flat on your left palm
(transfer it straight across to your left hand, do not
turn it over in any way) and open it like a book, left
to right, you will see exactly what you saw at the
start of this entire maneuver. The card is still
sticking out from the pocket to your left, only now
the card has been switched! The beauty is that
apparently absolutely nothing at all has happened.
Simply have your spectator remove the folded
card. Close the case and pocket it while your
spectator reveals their chosen card.
Follow my directions very carefully and you will
have the same end result. The ‘choreography’
on this works perfectly. There is a tiny bit
of a topological aspect to this. In fact you may
have fooled yourself with this, wondering where
that initial card that got shoved deep into the
pocket might have gone. It’s on the opposite
side from where you just revealed the chosen
card, the cool side, remember? Turning the
case over at the time that it happens creates
this situation and it flies right by everyone. The
illusion is perfect.
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That is ‘The Master Move’. Two parts that create a perfect switch.
---o---
So now that we’ve got the The Master Move taken care of, what about
Part 2? I did gloss right over that, but let me fill you in on exactly what I
do in Part 2 and give you some other possible avenues to explore.
Part 2 (for real) -
In the scenario we just covered the reveal in the SUC is part of a card
trick. It can be virtually any card trick wherein a single card is selected
and subsequently revealed in some fashion. ‘Card To Impossible
Location’ leaps to mind, but I most often use this as the finish to my
Ambitious Card routine. In my particular performance, the SUC has
been shown to contain a folded playing card some time before I get to
the Ambitious Card. I call it my ‘lucky card’ and by the time I get to the
denouement and actually reveal their selected card in the case it has all
but been forgotten. Needless to say when the selected card ends up in
the business card case that has been on the table the entire time it’s
quite a shock.
You now know the mechanics of The Master Move. The only thing left to
be worked out is getting the card folded and ready to do the load. I use
the ‘Super Quick Simey Fold’ by Simon Lovell as described in his
fabulous book, “Simon Says” (1997) L&L Publishing, p. 71, but any
hidden card fold will work. The main thing is that you must fold the card
so that it is as close in appearance to the initial card in the SUC as
possible. There are devices (The Bullet by Todd Lemanske,
www.thebulletfold.com) that have come out in recent years that pre treat
the card so that the folds are perfect every time. Or you can practice like
we used to
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back in the old days (grin). Regardless, the folds need to be neat and
tidy.
Once the card is folded it needs to be maneuvered into the proper
position in your right fingerpalm. As it happens, when I do the Lovell fold
it works out automatically for me. You may have to figure out your
logistics to make the subsequent portion of The Master Move workable
for you.
Several pages ago I described two different scenarios where I use The
Master Move. The first has been used as the working example
throughout this manuscript. The second involved the spectator’s
childhood pet, if you recall. Again, what I do may not work for you
exactly, but now that you have the mechanics of The Master Move you
can figure things out to fit your way of working. Here’s what I do.
I am a huge proponent of pocket writing. In fact I wrote the most
complete resource available anywhere on the subject (“Miracles From
The Hip” 2000) and I almost always use the SUC as my go-to when it
comes to revealing pocket writing. Needless to say, whenever possible I
use The Master Move as a part of this incredible combination of
methods. In fact I generally keep a folded business card in my working
SUC to use for the initial set up to do The Master Move, although if I
don’t have that available I can always simply remove a business card
and write something on the back of it, fold it up and go from there.
I generally do pocket writing on my business cards, so the entire thing
makes sense. I won’t go into the mechanics of pocket writing here.
That’s a subject unto itself, and I can do no better than to point you to
my own book on the topic. The main thing to consider is the orientation
of the pre folded card in my pocket before I do any actual writing. I had
to reverse engineer this, starting with the card in my right finger palm
and working backwards to the proper
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orientation of the unfolded card in my pocket so that everything worked
out right automatically. You will probably find that you need to do the
same. It’s easy to figure out and is the work of only a few minutes.
As you have already seen, the mechanics of The Master Move
automatically position everything correctly with no fidgeting or
adjustments. Making sure that same situation exists with my pocket
writing makes this entire operation virtually automatic.
I have also used a pocket billet index in conjunction with The Master
Move. Again, I can do no better than to recommend a product/
publication of my own if this is of interest. I produce a pocket index for
billets called, “The Master Billet Index Package” that comes complete
with a ready-to-use set of professionally produced billet indexes along
with a 44 page manual loaded with ideas, tricks and routines. When I
am working with a pocket index I invariably use The Master Move and
SUC.
And if you really want to get fancy, here’s a killer idea for you. My buddy
Cosmo Solano makes a product called “Q the Quantum Connection”
which allows you to produce any card named in a folded condition. Put
that together with the SUC and The Master Move and you’ve got a
genuine miracle. Go to his site, www.tricksite.com for complete info.
These devices are pricey but they are worth it. And don’t be fooled by
any websites offering this as a download for a couple of dollars. What
they are offering are a rip off (just unauthorized instructions), and not
what you want or need. ‘Q’ is an actual device, and not a download.
Plus you really can’t make this yourself, so go to Cosmo’s website and
NEVER support a rip-off website EVER. You’ll thank me later. You will
have some logistics to work out if you use this, but once you’ve got
them figured out you’ve got a killer on your hands.
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Extra notes -
Throughout this description I have basically left the SUC in your left
hand the entire time. Obviously that’s no possible if you need to shuffle
and control playing cards, not to mention any kind of surreptitious
folding you might be doing. Keeping the case in the left hand while the
right hand is involved with pocket writing or index work is not a problem
and is most often the way that I perform this piece.
Again, this is a small logistics point but it’s worth mentioning. If you have
to place the SUC down onto a table or into a pocket for any reason, be
sure that you orient it properly so that when you pick it back up you are
still in position.
And by the way, I know some of you will worry about the ‘squeeze’
move being seen when you do it with the SUC. Trust me, if you are
talking and engaging your audience at all, they will be paying no
attention to that motion. Not to mention the fact that unto itself, the
motion means and explains absolutely nothing. Just drop your hand to
your side and do it. Just one try will convince you how invisible this
really is.
Finally -
Well there you have it. That’s ‘The Master Move’. I hope you try this out.
It is killer and absolutely fools everyone.
As I told you right at the beginning of all of this, I only use this for a
couple of things. I know what works for me. But I simply cannot wait to
see what you creative people out there do with this. if you’ve got an
idea or handling or effect that you think might be of interest, please feel
free to drop me a note. I would love to hear all about it.
Thank you so much for your purchase of this publication.
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Without you there would be no ‘Master Move’ available at all, ever.
Always support those who are doing the creating whenever possible
and never, EVER support any rip off artists. All of magic suffers when
you do. Thank you again. And thank you for being an SUC kind of
performer!
Mark Strivings
For more information about products and publications for the modern
performer available from Mark Strivings, please contact:
Mark Strivings
[email protected]
Entire contents copyright©2018 by Mark Strivings. All rights strictly reserved.
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Also by Mark Strivings - perfect adjuncts for the
Sight Unseen Case
The Unseen Edition (1997)
Miracles From The Hip (2000)
SUCcinct (2018)
A Toolkit in your Pocket (2020)
A Pocket Full of Phantasms (2020)
50/50 Times 5 (2021)
For more information about the complete line of
materials for the modern mentalism performer, please
contact:
Mark Strivings
email [email protected]
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