John Bannon’s Mega ‘Wave Review
In case you are living under a rock in the world of card magic, you should have known by now that John Bannon, my personal idol, released a second DVD set with Big Blind Media called “Bullet Party.” It contains many new ideas in his ‘Fractal card magic*’ series. Some of them are new and included in the Bullet Party booklet…which somehow on the way to my mailbox. Some of them came from his previous booklets “Six Impossible Things” and “Mega ‘Wave” which brings us to this review.
I already have the Mega ‘Wave booklet since last year and find it really amazing. I may be biased since most of my cardwork breathes Bannon in one way or the other. The main trick in the book, which is Mega ‘wave, is an excellent approach to the small packet Brainwave concept. This is somehow similar to Stephen Tucker’s Omega effect. Definitely something you can keep in a wallet and bring it with as a “go to” packet effect. This is so good that it conflicts my current “go to” packet effect called “Duplicity.” Please bear in mind that “Duplicity” is also a John Bannon effect and part of his ‘Fractal card magic*’ Also, there is somewhat a similarity between the two…so I bring both but have to choose one effect for a particular audience. Nevertheless, this is a keeper!
There are six more effects in the booklet:
Fractal Re-call, his famous “Call of the Wild” routine has been converted into a packet trick.
Short Attention scam, a short version of his famous Royal Scam trick.
Mag-7, a wild card version packet trick.
Poker Pairadox, a version of Nick Trost’s matching trick.
Fractal Jacks, a packet version of a gambling routine.
Wicked, a jumping sandwich effect using the queens.
By the way, Fractal Re-call, Poker Pairadox and Wicked are also included in the new “Bullet Party” DVD. So you’re one step ahead here!
My verdict:
Impromptu: Definitely not, since these are packet tricks, preparation is required for almost all of the effects here.
Sleight: 3/5 – Intermediate card handlers that can do packet sleights.
Teaching: 4/5 – Bannon is excellent writer and a common card book reader can instantly dive in.
Effects: 4/5 – Definitely has impact!
Overall: 4/5! All in all, it’s all worth the small price of the book. But definitely get it for the Mega ‘Wave effect!
A video presentation would be here:
* Note: Fractal Card Magic is John Bannon’s interpretation of a packet trick which are completely examinable after the effect. Packs a lot of punch!
