Here is the presentation of my book Multitude by its Japanese translator.

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There is a French magician named Vincent Hedan. (Judging from the spelling, I had assumed his name would be pronounced “Hedan,” but French doesn’t pronounce an initial H, and the sound of his name is also slightly unusual—closer to an “o” sound than an “a” sound—so that is how I have rendered it in Japanese.) I have produced a Japanese edition of his collection Multitude. A5 format, 172 pages.

He won a French mentalism competition in 2008, became a member of FFFF in 2011, received an Award of Merit at the Canadian Magic Championship in 2012, and was selected as a member of the French team for FISM that same year. In other words, he is one of the rising talents of the mentalism world.

He is also well known in France as a translator of magic books, having translated more than thirty works into French by authors including Banachek, John Bannon, Eugene Burger, Ben Earl, Roberto Giobbi, Andy Gladwin, Luke Jermay, Chris Kenner, Max Maven, David Regal, Michael Weber, and many others.

And he is an anime fan.

...Our characters overlap a little, don’t they?

I originally knew absolutely nothing about him. Then I became interested in Amnesia, his book on memorized-stack magic that you don’t actually have to memorize, so I bought it. After that, I watched his Penguin Magic Live Lecture and found quite a few card tricks in it that caught my attention. It turned out that most of them were explained in the original edition of this book, Multitude. That was more or less how I ended up here.

Many of the non-card pieces he performed in the Penguin Live lecture were also extremely baffling, while at the same time being the kind of material that made me want to try it myself. I simply watched him thinking, “This magician has good taste.”

I certainly never imagined I would end up translating one of his books.

The translator’s afterword contains “The Story of How This Translation Came About,” which is approximately 80% true.

The main subject of this book is the multieffect deck, a deck principle that has existed for more than a hundred years. Vincent has modernized and refined it in order to create his own routines, and those creations are explained here.

Of course, our wise and learned readers will already be fully aware that such eminent magicians as Juan Tamariz, Pit Hartling, and Michael Weber have also explored magic using this principle.

(I say this in the confident tone of someone who has always known it, despite having learned it for the first time from this book.)

What makes this deck so interesting is that tricks which would ordinarily require a stack or special gaffed cards can still work even after the deck has been shuffled—and become remarkably easy to perform in the process.

As for the structure of the book, it begins with an explanation of the history of the deck, Vincent’s construction of it, and how to handle it. This is followed by nine routines—which can be performed together as one continuous treasure...

No, wait.

As one continuous routine.

Or you can simply leave out whatever you like and perform only your favorites.

Seven additional routines are then explained afterward.

Bonus No. 1

The book includes a collection of videos featuring performances and explanations of the tricks, filmed by Vincent specifically for this book. They are all in English, but this means you can easily see what the routines actually look like in performance.

That said, the explanations in the book itself are definitely more detailed—and, being in Japanese, easier to understand.

Bonus No. 2

The book’s “Reference Information” section includes links to tools and materials that can be used to construct a multieffect deck.

While I was at it, I also added translator’s notes recommending items that can easily be obtained in Japan.

Bonus No. 3

This is the only one that is truly a “bonus” in the literal sense.

For those who purchase the book from my store, while supplies last, I will include a Straight Playing Cards deck to which I have added a small tactile modification—the type historically used by gamblers, commonly known as punched cards.

Originally, I planned to go even further by adding the short-card work and finishing the deck completely before including it.

By the second deck, however, I realized that doing this dozens of times would be unbearable.

So you will have to do that part yourselves.

Fortunately, it doesn’t require any special tools.

Sorry. Sorry...

In Bonus No. 2, I have also included examples of stationery that can be used to modify the corners, so once you get used to it, I think you can do the whole thing in about fifteen minutes.

Do your best.

Incidentally, with very plain designs such as SPC, NOC, or Impossible, there is only so much you can do to conceal the work. But if you apply the same punched-card modification to Bicycle or Phoenix cards, it is completely invisible.

I enjoy freakishly difficult techniques too, of course, but I have a real fondness for this kind of simple, old-fashioned cleverness.

As mentioned in the book, Vincent himself constructs his multieffect deck using Bicycle cards, adds the punched-card work on top of that, and then turns the whole thing into a BWMD as well.

It has a certain “I’ll take everything” quality to it. lol

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CONTENTS

Introduction

THE MULTIEFFECT DECK

DECK DESCRIPTION

HANDLING THE DECK

• Cutting on the Table

• A Cut by the Spectator

• Cutting in the Hands

• Riffle Shuffle on the Table

• Riffle Shuffle in the Hands

• Juan Tamariz’s Subtlety

• A Shuffle by the Spectator

• Overhand Shuffle

• Correcting Errors

THE ROUTINE

OVERTURE

SIMPLE CARD

The deck is shuffled, then divided into however many packets are named by the spectator. The packets are reassembled in whatever order the spectator specifies, yet the magician immediately finds the card.

VISION OF THE FUTURE

The deck is spread face down and the performer turns away.

While his back is turned, the spectator selects a card, remembers it, and places it inside the card case.

The performer turns back and asks the spectator to think of the chosen card. While saying something along the lines of, “For example...,” the magician names a card.

It is exactly the spectator’s selection.

TWINS

The deck is shuffled and dealt into two packets of roughly twenty cards each.

The spectator selects and remembers a card from either packet.

From the packet that was not chosen, the magician removes one card without showing its face and inserts it partway into the packet so that it projects from the middle.

The two packets are then turned over one card at a time.

The spectator’s selected card appears at exactly the same position where the magician inserted his card.

When the magician’s card is finally turned face up, it proves to be the mate of the spectator’s card.

OUT OF THIS MULTIWORLD

The magician and the spectator each hold roughly twenty cards.

The spectator is asked to mirror the magician’s actions.

The magician deals his cards face up throughout, while the spectator deals hers face down.

Despite never seeing the faces of her cards, when they are eventually turned over it becomes apparent that she has perfectly separated the reds from the blacks.

FOLIE À 3

A male and female spectator each select a card.

The cards are returned to the deck and lost so that no one knows where they are.

The man gives the deck a complete cut.

When the cards are spread toward the woman, the two selected cards are found at opposite ends of the spread.

Not only that: they are mates.

SANDWICH

After the deck has been shuffled several times, it is placed face down on the table.

While the magician looks away, the spectator freely selects a card, looks at it, returns it to the deck, and shuffles.

The magician turns back, shuffles the deck again, inserts two face-up black cards into it, then shuffles and cuts once more.

When the deck is spread face down, the two black Aces are found sandwiching a single card.

It is the selected card.

TACTO MÁS QUE FINISIMO

As a demonstration of skill, the magician claims that he can cut exactly the number of cards named by the spectator.

He then proceeds to do exactly that.

IMPOSSIBLE

The routine begins under conditions that appear almost trivially easy.

The difficulty is then gradually increased until, under circumstances that seem genuinely impossible, the magician successfully identifies the spectator’s selected card.

THE DECK & THE HAND

After the deck has been shuffled and cut several times, the spectator covers the magician’s eyes with both hands.

The magician then begins dealing the deck onto the table in front of him into four face-down packets.

At any point, someone may call “Stop.”

Whenever this happens, the magician interrupts the deal, shuffles the remaining deck, and then continues dealing.

This interruption occurs several times before the entire deck has been dealt.

Once all the cards are on the table, the spectator removes her hands from the magician’s eyes and he opens them.

The four packets are examined.

Amazingly, the cards have been perfectly separated by suit.

EVEN MORE EFFECTS

DIPROSOPUS

The deck is shuffled and cut by the spectator, then spread face down across the table.

While the magician looks away, the spectator freely removes any card, looks at it and remembers it, returns it anywhere in the deck, squares the cards, and cuts.

The magician picks up the deck and begins searching for the selected card.

He appears hesitant, but eventually places the deck back on the table.

The spectator is asked to name her card.

She then turns over the top card of the deck.

It is her selected card.

BONUS

The spectator freely selects a card from a shuffled deck and mixes it back into the deck.

The magician magically produces that card, then goes on to produce the other three cards of the same rank.

BIDDENDEN

After the deck has been shuffled and cut, the spectator freely selects a card.

She inserts her selected card anywhere into the face-down spread, leaving it projecting from the deck.

The card immediately below the selection is examined.

By remarkable coincidence, it proves to be its mate.

ASSASSIN TWINS

The deck is shuffled and the magician turns his back.

One spectator freely selects a card, shows it to the other spectators, and keeps it.

The magician removes his wallet.

Inside it is a single playing card.

It is the mate of the spectator’s selection.

MENTAL SQUARE

The spectator selects any rank from Ace through King and removes one card of that rank from the deck.

The performer divines its suit.

MONOAMNIOTIC TWINS

Two spectators each select a card and keep it in their possession.

The deck is shuffled, placed inside a paper bag, and shaken to mix the cards even further.

The magician reaches into the bag and removes a single card.

It is the mate of the first spectator’s selection.

He reaches into the paper bag again and removes another card.

This one proves to be the mate of the second spectator’s selection.

ZYGOSITY

The deck is divided into two halves: one for the spectator and one for the magician.

The magician places one of his cards face down on the table.

If the spectator believes that card is red, she places one of her red cards face up in front of it.

If she believes it is black, she places a black card in front of it.

They continue in this manner.

When everything is finally checked, it turns out that the spectator has placed the correct mate every single time.

There is, however, one mistake.

A piece of paper that has been lying on the table from the very beginning is opened.

Written on it is an exact description of that mistake.

***

You can read the original article in Japanese here:
https://kyouju.hateblo.jp/entry/2022/04/05/201159