Mailbag #166: Dupe Thoughts

Wanted to pick your brain about something. How much do you think magicians are fooling themselves by thinking that spectators don’t just assume a duplicate is used in tricks?

I performed a classic two card transpo today for three of my classes just as a precursor for a TNR (Reform 52) and literally every single class had at least one student that mentioned two of the same card.

I actually think that because it wasn’t the main point of the trick, it encouraged them to be more honest than they normally would. It’s almost like since they didn’t understand the TNR part, they practically HAD to expose the transpo to feel like they had a footing in reality. I just have to assume that if at least one student said it, multiple were thinking it. And worse, that’s probably been true every time anyone has ever done a two card transpo with a dupe.—MH

Any trick that relies solely on a dupe for the primary method is dead in the water. 100% of audiences will consider it as the method.

(Okay, maybe not any trick. There are likely subtle uses of a dupe that an audience wouldn't pick up on. But with something like a torn and restored card, or a transposition—that's going to get sussed out immediately.)

This is so clearly true, in my opinion, that there’s not much more to say about.

That being said, some of the strongest reactions I've ever had are with a dupe and a borrowed deck.

Borrowed deck + Long Force + Dupe is an incredibly strong formula for magic.

I make it a habit to spot the decks friends have in their homes so I can try and track down matching decks.

If you can match some obscure deck they have, that's great.

But I found recently that even if they have just a regular red Bicycle deck their mind doesn't jump to the idea of a duplicate when you're in their house with their deck.

This is especially true if they don't see you as someone who is constantly carrying magic shit around with you. (Another argument for Zero Carry.)

You might be thinking, "Okay, so I guess I'm going to palm in the duplicate at some point, and then I'll have it to work with in the deck."

Maybe.

But there are other ways to utilize it that don't even require that much effort.

If you plant the dupe somewhere to be revealed later on, then you never need to introduce it into the deck in the first place.

Or, you can do what I do, and put a dupe in the deck at some other occasion altogether and just let it live in their deck until you need it.

I have a few friends who—at this moment—have a deck in their house with a duplicate card sitting in it. I have a note in my Notes app that reminds me what cards are where.

Could they end up playing a game of cards with two 4 of Clubs in the deck? I mean, yeah, I guess. But most people I know aren't hardcore card game players. They're not engaged in big-money poker tournaments in their basement where a duplicate card is going to be consequential. And if they do find it, they'll assume it was a factory error or got mixed in during some game night with multiple decks. They're not going to think, "Ah! I bet Andy put this in the deck back in January in order to show us a trick at some undetermined future time."

Although—if I planted a card in a friend's deck and a few weeks later they got the shit kicked out of them for "cheating" because they had two 6 of Spades during a high-stakes poker game… that would be pretty funny, actually. So it’s a win-win scenario.