THE BLURB:
New and Improved Phil Trick!
A spectator merely thinks of a card and the magician names
it! Surprised? Now the kicker! - the magician thinks of a
card and the spectator names it!
- Self Working, no sleight of hand!
- No Svengali!
- No Rough and Smooth.
MY COMMENTS:
[NOTE: The following four paragraphs are my comments on the
original PHIL PLUS, which is now discontinued. My words
about PHIL PLUS 2 are after these original paragraphs.]
The blurb is pretty sparse, so you should check out the
original Phil deck for a more complete description. This
new version contains an additional kicker phase. The first
phase is actually very similar to the regular Phil deck,
except that the names used are all ladies' names and they
all are comprised of four letters. Instead of Phil, the
name is now Lucy. So, as in the original, a card is thought
of, the performer names Lucy, shows that all the cards have
different four-lettered ladies' names and that the selected
card has the name Lucy on it.
But here is where it becomes much more fun. The performer
tells the participant that he wants her to try mind-reading
and naming a thought-of card. The performer thinks of a
card and the participant thinks of a four-letter ladies'
name. After both have made their decision, the performer
calls out the card. The four of hearts, for instance. The
participant calls out "Dawn." The performer spreads through
the backs of the cards to find the card marked, "Dawn,"
turns it over and it is the four of hearts.
The instructions actually have a slightly different version.
In it, the performer writes down the name of the card in the
last phase. I didn't find it necessary, though.
Originally, I was intending to say that what would make this
deck better is a blank version to customize it, but I
changed my mind after performing this quite a few times in
the days after I received it. Due to the nature of the
second phase's method, the participant must pick a
four-letter ladies' name. By going through the deck, the
participant will see a list of names and, when asked to name
one, will remember one of those. I suppose, if a blank Phil
Plus deck were created, one could come up with a clever
alternative, but I think this one works just fine.
Those that know me know that I think the Phil deck is one
of the most fun mental card effects out there. It's nearly
hands-off and very direct. And this improvement makes it
even better.
In the instructions for PHIL PLUS 2, Trevor Duffy says,
"With Phil Plus 2, I have brought back male and female
names, thus making the presentation of the trick much
smoother, used a new font and the force name is Andy." In
the first version, the names were all four-letter ladies'
names. I know that I implied that I wasn't too keen on
that, but in my numerous and subsequent performances, it
worked fine. Actually, that made it easier to have someone
choose one of the names and made for some funny bits when
someone provided a name that wasn't four letters or wasn't a
ladies' name.
I'm not so sure having a mix of male and female names
actually improve Phil Plus. There are some new combinations
of names for the purposes of making gags, such as "Micki"
and "Mini." However, I was dubious about the all-female
names, too, and changed my opinion. In any event, as I've
already said, there's always the blank Phil Plus deck that
you can customize, if these changes don't suit your style.
The effect is still strong and I still highly recommend it.
