Grandmaster Easy by Phill Smith

The Any Card at Any Number effect is a true classic of magic and mentalism, but in the past, the many complicated and difficult methodologies have restricted its performance to only the most technically skilled and dedicated full time performers.

Grandmaster Easy puts one of magic’s greatest miracles in your hands today.

You can perform this evergreen classic, and find out EXACTLY how powerful the real world audience responses are… today. I’ve rebuilt this effect from the ground up with a methodology that is so simple it will blow you away.

Let me tell you a story about the development of Grandmaster Easy.
I had designed the core effect and had been keeping it under my hat for its development, refining its presentation and handling until after a few months I had lost sight of it a little. I could only see the method, and it is so simple I started to wonder if it would really hit as hard as I had thought: when I had performed it it had always killed, but I am paranoid and weird, so I decided to try it out at a magic convention I was lecturing at.

I started the effect by saying I wanted input and wasn’t sure if the effect was worth developing. (I know, risky move…) Then I did the effect for a room with maybe sixty magicians watching, many of whom had been largely uninterested in my normal mentalism fare.

The effect ends with the spectator taking a deck of cards from his pocket (where it has been since the beginning of the effect) and dealing down to the number that he has come up with during the effect, 17 I think it was this time. When he got to the number I said ‘stop’, and restated the conditions:

“There is no way I could have known what card you would pick, and you could have picked any card? And there is no way I could have known what number you would pick? And you agree, it could have been any number? And remember, I gave you that deck before we even started, and I haven’t touched ANYTHING since you came up here. What was the card you picked? The five of clubs?”

I pointed to the 17th card, and met his eye, and I knew it was worth developing. You know the look I am talking about, in his mind there was no way it could work and when he turned that card over… a few small paradigms shifted. This isn’t hype, and this isn’t just me writing up the best outcome from a whole load of possible options (you know what I mean!) this is just how the effect unpacks EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I asked the group if the effect was of interest, and crucially, whether the method was obvious. When I told them it was self working… let’s say there was a satisfactory buzz, and Grandmaster Easy dropped into the development cycle proper. Thanks to everyone who shook my hand or hit a high five just for this effect that day.

That was last year, and there have been a few changes to the effect since then. I have dug into the structure of the methodology that enables it. I have performed it for A LOT of people. I have completely sunk a whole lot of magicians with it, but don’t think this is one of those crappy technical ‘magician foolers’. The plot of the effect is so simple and the strength of the revelation is so powerful that it blows lay audiences away.

Now you too can put this effect into your arsenal. You can take it out with you and perform it in the real world for real people. You know what, it’s so simple to perform I am struggling to talk about it without saying how it works. Let’s get this bit of obligatory magic sales bollocks out of the way:

But if you do use a mem deck or stacked deck it is compatible. Convenient huh?

Just two normal decks of cards. Two. Problem?

Not 100% confident in your mental arithmetic under live fire? Don’t worry – Grandmaster Easy doesn’t need anything of the sort. You don’t even need to be able to count to perform it (but it would help I guess).

I don’t know how that would help, but these things always say that and I don’t want to let you down.

Workers will know how important this is. Nothing funny, no complicated reset you need a quiet moment out of sight to do – you finish performing, put the cards away and you are ready to go INSTANTLY.

Look, I don’t want you to buy this ebook because you want desperately to find out the method. The method is cool but I’ve already said it is so minimal it is hardly there. Obviously there is a compromise in the routine because if there wasn’t it would be the real deal, and it wouldn’t be something you could take out tonight and perform.

The effect it drives is killer though, and that’s what you should think about. In fact, when you are out performing with Grandmaster Easy, that’s all you need to think about. It unpacks and plays from start to finish pretty much exactly as if it *was* real and when I say self working, I mean it. You just need to get on with making it hit hard, and trust me, it hits BIG.

The Grandmaster Easy ebook explains exactly how to perform the effect and how to choke every last wow from the method. I’ve added in an extra effect that works on the same engine using a concept deck to create a very weird moment of symmetry for two punters, and a whole section that analyses exactly how the method functions and explains in broader terms how to undo an effect and use the core of the method to construct something completely different, unique and personal. (By way of example there is a great stage effect using DVDs and the whole front row, but, well, its just an example so I can’t really push it too hard here…) I look at how to perform it with different presentations and premises and I give you the precise scripting I use to guarantee a knock-out blow for your performance.

“The reaction has always been strong to dangerously strong”
Dave Moses

“Phill has applied some very lateral thinking to these, often over-looked effects, and created fine works of art.  The ‘Association Force’ chapter towards the end of this ebook was simply fantastic.  Highly recommended.”
Derek Heron