How "Miracle One" Fooled Me
By Andi Gladwin - Saturday, December 10, 2022
It was two years ago when I received a video from a friend with an intriguing note. The video featured Christian Grace performing a stunning Any Card At Any Number routine. My friend was convinced that the trick was stooged and wanted my opinion on it.
I've known Christian for a few years, having met him at The Session. We hit it off immediately, and it was that meeting where he showed me one of his signature tricks, "Level One." I was blown away by his routine and encouraged him to share it with the rest of the Vanishing Inc. Team. Since then, I've seen him perform dozens of original creations, and he never used a stooge.
So, naturally, I was intrigued by the video and watched it several times. It had to be a stooge - the selection process was too fair, and the spectator's named card appeared at their chosen number without any noticeable displacement or strange moves. It was, to put it simply, too good to be true. I've studied enough Card at Number routines to know that there's always a compromise: either the selection process is limited, or the deck has to be manhandled after the number has been named. But that didn't happen in the performance I saw.
But instead of jumping to conclusions, I turned to George for help. He has regular contact with Christian and I asked him to casually mention the trick and see if Christian would open up about it. To my surprise, Christian confidently claimed that he could perform the trick live. So I pushed George a little more: "Ask him if he'll perform it one on one for me next time I see him." Christian agreed and at our next meeting, I got to see the trick in person. Either Christian got lucky, or I was unknowingly the stooge myself!
The following year saw us making many hints to Christian to allow us to release the effect as part of his "ONE" series (so far, "Level One" and "Switch One"). These tricks have been some of our best-received effects and I knew that it would fit in this line. We even had a name for it: "Miracle One." But he was determined to keep it to himself. Eventually, I got frustrated and told our team: "Clearly he just got lucky — that's why he won't share the method." If nothing else, it was a thinly-veiled attempt at convincing Christian to work with us, just to prove a point.
After many long phone conversations, text messages, and emails, I'm proud that we have finally released this effect. It's not only a solid addition to the ACAAN plot, but it's surprisingly easy to do and just downright clever. And I can now confirm, two years later, that there is no stooge. Who knew?
It was two years ago when I received a video from a friend with an intriguing note. The video featured Christian Grace performing a stunning Any Card At Any Number routine. My friend was convinced that the trick was stooged and wanted my opinion on it.
I've known Christian for a few years, having met him at The Session. We hit it off immediately, and it was that meeting where he showed me one of his signature tricks, "Level One." I was blown away by his routine and encouraged him to share it with the rest of the Vanishing Inc. Team. Since then, I've seen him perform dozens of original creations, and he never used a stooge.
So, naturally, I was intrigued by the video and watched it several times. It had to be a stooge - the selection process was too fair, and the spectator's named card appeared at their chosen number without any noticeable displacement or strange moves. It was, to put it simply, too good to be true. I've studied enough Card at Number routines to know that there's always a compromise: either the selection process is limited, or the deck has to be manhandled after the number has been named. But that didn't happen in the performance I saw.
But instead of jumping to conclusions, I turned to George for help. He has regular contact with Christian and I asked him to casually mention the trick and see if Christian would open up about it. To my surprise, Christian confidently claimed that he could perform the trick live. So I pushed George a little more: "Ask him if he'll perform it one on one for me next time I see him." Christian agreed and at our next meeting, I got to see the trick in person. Either Christian got lucky, or I was unknowingly the stooge myself!
The following year saw us making many hints to Christian to allow us to release the effect as part of his "ONE" series (so far, "Level One" and "Switch One"). These tricks have been some of our best-received effects and I knew that it would fit in this line. We even had a name for it: "Miracle One." But he was determined to keep it to himself. Eventually, I got frustrated and told our team: "Clearly he just got lucky — that's why he won't share the method." If nothing else, it was a thinly-veiled attempt at convincing Christian to work with us, just to prove a point.
After many long phone conversations, text messages, and emails, I'm proud that we have finally released this effect. It's not only a solid addition to the ACAAN plot, but it's surprisingly easy to do and just downright clever. And I can now confirm, two years later, that there is no stooge. Who knew?
It was two years ago when I received a video from a friend with an intriguing note. The video featured Christian Grace performing a stunning Any Card At Any Number routine. My friend was convinced that the trick was stooged and wanted my opinion on it.
I've known Christian for a few years, having met him at The Session. We hit it off immediately, and it was that meeting where he showed me one of his signature tricks, "Level One." I was blown away by his routine and encouraged him to share it with the rest of the Vanishing Inc. Team. Since then, I've seen him perform dozens of original creations, and he never used a stooge.
So, naturally, I was intrigued by the video and watched it several times. It had to be a stooge - the selection process was too fair, and the spectator's named card appeared at their chosen number without any noticeable displacement or strange moves. It was, to put it simply, too good to be true. I've studied enough Card at Number routines to know that there's always a compromise: either the selection process is limited, or the deck has to be manhandled after the number has been named. But that didn't happen in the performance I saw.
But instead of jumping to conclusions, I turned to George for help. He has regular contact with Christian and I asked him to casually mention the trick and see if Christian would open up about it. To my surprise, Christian confidently claimed that he could perform the trick live. So I pushed George a little more: "Ask him if he'll perform it one on one for me next time I see him." Christian agreed and at our next meeting, I got to see the trick in person. Either Christian got lucky, or I was unknowingly the stooge myself!
The following year saw us making many hints to Christian to allow us to release the effect as part of his "ONE" series (so far, "Level One" and "Switch One"). These tricks have been some of our best-received effects and I knew that it would fit in this line. We even had a name for it: "Miracle One." But he was determined to keep it to himself. Eventually, I got frustrated and told our team: "Clearly he just got lucky — that's why he won't share the method." If nothing else, it was a thinly-veiled attempt at convincing Christian to work with us, just to prove a point.
After many long phone conversations, text messages, and emails, I'm proud that we have finally released this effect. It's not only a solid addition to the ACAAN plot, but it's surprisingly easy to do and just downright clever. And I can now confirm, two years later, that there is no stooge. Who knew?
It was two years ago when I received a video from a friend with an intriguing note. The video featured Christian Grace performing a stunning Any Card At Any Number routine. My friend was convinced that the trick was stooged and wanted my opinion on it.
I've known Christian for a few years, having met him at The Session. We hit it off immediately, and it was that meeting where he showed me one of his signature tricks, "Level One." I was blown away by his routine and encouraged him to share it with the rest of the Vanishing Inc. Team. Since then, I've seen him perform dozens of original creations, and he never used a stooge.
So, naturally, I was intrigued by the video and watched it several times. It had to be a stooge - the selection process was too fair, and the spectator's named card appeared at their chosen number without any noticeable displacement or strange moves. It was, to put it simply, too good to be true. I've studied enough Card at Number routines to know that there's always a compromise: either the selection process is limited, or the deck has to be manhandled after the number has been named. But that didn't happen in the performance I saw.
But instead of jumping to conclusions, I turned to George for help. He has regular contact with Christian and I asked him to casually mention the trick and see if Christian would open up about it. To my surprise, Christian confidently claimed that he could perform the trick live. So I pushed George a little more: "Ask him if he'll perform it one on one for me next time I see him." Christian agreed and at our next meeting, I got to see the trick in person. Either Christian got lucky, or I was unknowingly the stooge myself!
The following year saw us making many hints to Christian to allow us to release the effect as part of his "ONE" series (so far, "Level One" and "Switch One"). These tricks have been some of our best-received effects and I knew that it would fit in this line. We even had a name for it: "Miracle One." But he was determined to keep it to himself. Eventually, I got frustrated and told our team: "Clearly he just got lucky — that's why he won't share the method." If nothing else, it was a thinly-veiled attempt at convincing Christian to work with us, just to prove a point.
After many long phone conversations, text messages, and emails, I'm proud that we have finally released this effect. It's not only a solid addition to the ACAAN plot, but it's surprisingly easy to do and just downright clever. And I can now confirm, two years later, that there is no stooge. Who knew?
The craziest revelation though was discovering that the actual method may be even more practical than using a stooge in the first place. You can see for yourself and discover why we are so excited to launch "Miracle One" by grabbing your own copy today.
Buy Miracle One
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