Chaos Project Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Be Visual

Dani DaOrtiz shares with you a powerhouse multiphase routine that combines the mystery card plot with card at number and an impossible thought of card revelation. This trick is peak Dani. The Chaos Project is a one-year course in which you learn to harness the powers of chaos in your card magic to make the impossible a part of your everyday effects. Now set up in easy-to-follow chapters of The What, The How, and The Way, learning the magic of Dani DaOrtiz is even easier than ever before.

The What

The magician gives an audience member a treasure, a playing card that is sight unseen and held between their outstretched hands. Another spectator takes a packet of cards out of the deck randomly. A third magician deals through the remainder of the packet, shuffles the packet any way they want, and then places the top and bottom cards on the table. The person with the packet looks at a random card in the middle of their packet and remembers the suit. They then hand off a random number of cards to another spectator, and they remember the total number of cards given to them. The originally selected cards on the table are randomly returned to the deck, and the deck is shuffled. One of the spectators names a random number between one and fifty-two, and then the magic can begin. The cards are randomly cut, and then the number named by the spectator is dealt off the top of the deck. The card at the number is revealed, and it is discovered to be one of the selections originally taken from the deck. The deck is shuffled again, and when the deck is spread, the selection that was just found is now found face-up next to the card discovered at the number. These selections are placed on the top and bottom of the treasure card, trapped in the spectator’s hands. The thought of suit and thought of number from earlier are revealed, and the card they make is discovered to be the treasure card.

The How

Right off the top of the lesson, Dani immediately explains how the featured effect works. The Treasure is an unbelievable routine that combines a tremendous amount of information into multiple completely impossible revelations. Multiple cards are thought of, created, and remembered. The deck is shuffled. Impossibly all is revealed in three punchy moments of impossibility. Using the combination of a very simple stack and some bold moves, you too, will be able to perform this devastating effect.

The Why

While the effect in this lesson is very cerebral, the lesson is all about making your card magic more visual. When magicians think of the word visual, they often think of the eye-popping brain candy of the latest cutting-edge gimmicks. This lesson is about how to convey visual messages and fill your table, and performance area, with big feelings and memories. These are the secrets of how Dani DaOrtiz is how to fill the largest stages in magic with nothing more than a deck of cards and a pair of hands.

The Chaos Project is a year-long course in learning some of the devious methods and principles that make the magic of Dani DaOrtiz so deceptive. This second lesson is a deep dive into how making your effects visually larger can produce memories of truly impossible effects in the minds of your spectators. Welcome back to the chaos with Dani DaOrtiz in Chapter 3 of The Chaos Project.