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– Intro / Brief Overview
What’s up everybody, welcome to Magic For Beginners, my name is Keith and in today’s video, we’re going to be talking about Ellusionist’s new release called Iceberg by Shameer Salim and I’d like to thank Andrew from the magician’s group on Facebook, as he was having a giveaway for this and I won, so was sent the funds to purchase this from the Ellusionist web site which I’ve done and then used it and shot this review.
– What Is The Routine/Trick?
Before we jump into talking about the routine/trick, I just want to say that this is an app only for iPhone, I’m not sure if they’re going to be creating an android version of this in the future or not, but at the moment this is iPhone only.
Iceberg allows you to do a super easy and super clean ACAAN, which is an any card at any number which has always been a holy grail for magicians to accomplish and this promises those with an iPhone to do this. The app promises that you require no maths, no memory work and no sleight of hand, which is true in a way but we’ll go into that later in the review.
The ad copy states that all you need to do the effect is the app itself and the ability to deal cards one by one and there’s no stack work needed to remember, but you do need a stacked deck for this to work. It actually can use a new deck order, along with Mnemonica, Si Stebbins, Breakthrough, Redford and Aronson and all of these are built into the app to choose from.
Within the app itself there’s 5 different input methods which you can use, so depending on your style and situation, you can use Notes, your voice, swipe, manual entry and a covert camera mode.
To clear some stuff up too, as I did notice on Instagram people commenting on this, Ellusionist released an effect called Ice Cold ACAAN a while back and people were just saying this is the same. Iceberg was created as a nod to Ice Cold ACAAN and in the ad copy of Iceberg, Ellusionist have said that they wanted to give credit to Barry Richardson and Mitchell Kettlewell for their work on that ACAAN and this app is to be used in conjunction with their methods to eliminate any memory work.
– How Much Does It Cost?
So how much does this cost? On the Ellusionist web site, it’s forty pound but then when it went to checkout, there was some taxes added on there too, so worked out a little bit more, but when I purchased this there was actually a free video download added to the basket for coin through spectators hand, which was a nice surprise.
– Quick Performance
Before we head on, we’ll show a quick performance of this so people can get a glimpse of how the trick works as I also noticed a few things about people asking for a performance of the trick, so here we go. For this one, I used the video option so I could shoot a video of the performance at the same time.
If you check the end of the video, you can see some other performances which are done in a different way, thanks to the new update which was added after I wrote up this review.
– What Do You Get With It?
So what is it that you get with the purchase? Once you’ve purchased the trick from the Ellusionist web site you’ll then need to download the free app from the App Store and you’ll be sent a code from Ellusionist to register the app and allow you to use it. Along with that, you get access to the tutorial which is a stream only option from the web site, which is a shame as I’d have loved a download version so I could watch anywhere I wanted but never mind.
The tutorial is split up into 14 different sections including an intro, studio performances, the app itself, tips on deck handling and some full performances too. The tutorial was shot in Jacob’s house I think and features Jacob and Shameer in the video going over how to use the app etc. All of the tutorials together run for about 3 and a half hours in total and they look and sound pleasing.
– Is It Easy To Perform and where can you perform it?
Is it easy to perform and where can it be performed? As there’s 5 different ways to use the app, there’s some easy ways and some harder ones depending on the situation and angles. For the video one in the performance, the work is all done while you’re filming the spectator and once you hand off the phone, you already have what you need. Using the notes app version, you’ll need to get a peek somehow from either a peek when you get the phone back or can be done via an audio alert or alert on your Apple Watch, so there’s some slight audience management needed but it is easy to perform in terms of getting the chosen card and number.
With regards to the card part when you deal down to their card at their number, I’ve had a mess around with the Mneminica stack which you can take a standard stacked deck and by using two jokers added in there, you’re good to go and can be setup ready for the app in a few seconds.
– Can You Inspect It?
With regards to the deck, that cannot be inspected unless you do a move with it to allow it to be inspected which is essentially a cut and then it can be handed out for inspection and for most people it’ll just seem like a shuffled deck, despite it being in stack. As this is an app on your phone too, you can hand out your phone if you close the app and the covert video mode does well of hiding itself in plain sight.
Before we go in and talk about quality, it would be quality if you could subscribe to the channel if you’re not already and also leave a comment to let me know what you think of the trick and review. Let’s get on with it…
– Is It Well Made?
Let’s talk about if it’s well made, as it’s not a physical product I can’t comment on that but the app is well done and seems to work with no issues and I’ve had no issues with anything crashing or closing this end. As stated previously too, the tutorial is made well and has good audio and video for it.
– Positives
It’s time to delve into the positives with this, it is easy to perform as the app does all of the work for you once you’ve done your input. This links to a Apple Watch too so you can be provided with what you need while the spectator has your phone in their hands and you don’t even need to do anything other than look at your watch. There’s also a bonus effect with this app too which is Geriant Clarke’s unrandom number generator which allows you to use a google random number generator, but it’ll only pick a number that’s needed for the ACAAN leading you to a flawless choice and seeming impossible card selection at any number.
– Negatives
As with everything there’s always got to be negatives along with positives and for me, this is where there’s an issue with the tutorial and the fact that there’s some parts not covered. So in the tutorial and app itself, it’s talking about a Mnemonica deck and that’s what’s programmed into the app, but when it comes to use a Si Stebbins stack or a new deck order stack, I can change this in the app to use, but there’s no documentation anywhere to show me how to use this. Does it need a specific thing done to the stack like Mnemonica or can I use this straight away from the stack? I couldn’t find this anywhere, so leaves me a bit short on using this effect in anything other than the one stack, despite it being advertised as using many stacks. In the tutorial video it shows that you can select a different stack and it’ll show that stack, but doesn’t cover if you need to do anything special.
I did notice something also with the video clips that you record via the app, the audio only records to one mono channel rather than two stereo channels and also the original video on the computer looks fine and exposed, but when it’s imported into premiere pro for editing, it goes massively over exposed so I had to correct that the best I could in post.
That was Iceberg and overall it’s a nice little magic trick and would need a bit more work when performing, especially using a different stack other than the standard one as shown in the tutorial, but if you do want a simple and clean ACAAN then this app is something great for that. It’s sneaky method to perform this is all done under the spectators nose without them being any wiser and what more could you want for that?
I did notice that when I was writing this review up, there’s been something added to the app which allows the ice cold ACAAN to be performed or in a way that you can cut the cards and have it follow Asi Wind’s ACAAN handling which is something I need to try I think as it would eliminate the certain handling of the deck and would allow the cards to be examinable from the start and after the trick too. It does of course require a sleight to achieve this, but it’s something that can be done in front of the spectator quite easily in the time you’re showing that all of the cards are different and the deck is shuffled, so that’s an exciting addition.
Since writing this review, I’ve had a chance to use the new ACAAN option and it’s so much better as the spectator can do all of the work after a simple cut. I even got a one in a million chance too where they picked a card and number and it was exact which the video will be on this video at the end, along with one which wasn’t exact.
I hope you enjoyed the review and I’m hoping to plod through all of my magic stuff and get more reviews on the channel in the near future, so remember to subscribe and if you want to check out some more magic reviews, check the video on the screen now and until next time, see ya!
