"Starlight" by Kreis Magic
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

"Starlight", a new effect from Kreis Magic, is an update on a classic and, in the right environment for the right people, this can be something special; for most, though, this just ain't going to be to their liking.

I have to say this, straight up: I love this kind of revelation. Cards that reveal thought-of/chosen cards in bizarre ways are something I started in on when I was a little S.S. Adams freak and, well, I still am. So I'm a tad biased. Yes, I know that, by definition, reviews are biased, but I'm more biased than my usual bias...

Oh, hell, I just love these one-card reveals. And I do like "Starlight" a lot.

In "Starlight", the performer has a spectator pick a card which is shown to everyone except the magician and another spectator who is acting the part of the assistant (to make things easy, let's say the card is the Two of Spades). The performer gives the "assistant" a card from the deck, say the King of Diamonds, and is told to concentrate on it, stare at it for a moment, and then is asked to reveal the chosen card. The assistant, as expected, names the Two of Spades.

Man, that reads dry. And, really, it is. This is the original handling and presentation as given in the instructions. It's good enough, sure, but with some personal additions it can be so much better. But that's where we come in as artists and not cookie-cutter pros. Anyway...

This is a modern reworking of ye olde "Transparent Card", an "instant stooging" reveal that has fallen out of favor in modern times though I'm not quite sure why. Look it up; you'll see it has some of the same drawbacks as "Starlight" since the methodology is similar. But "Starlight" doesn't require the spectator to hold the card up to a bright light; I've had spectators pick up on it with nothing more than light reflecting off a table cloth and one swore they say the name of the card fade into view (courtesy of sunlight in front of them and some nice, moving clouds). While I'd love to take credit for some wonderfully intuitive staging, an insightful understanding of photon physics, it was just luck. Sometimes you will have to resort to the "bright light" method.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Oh, sure, it'll make any reasonable person want to grab the card and hold it up to the light, too, and if you're following the basic routine, well, it won't be all that impressive. That brings us to something almost all of these reveals require: better workings. Bring your own experience to the table, add a nice switch, perhaps a better force, and this one becomes yours and, almost naturally, it'll be better.

At the end of the day, "Starlight" is what it is, which is pretty good, and with some work it can be better. As I said earlier, this one I like a lot.

This one I recommend to anyone into the plot.

"Starlight" by Kreis Magic
In a Blink: 7 Out of 10

Practicality: 8
It's a gimmicked card you add to your deck, which dirties the deck for other things (at $20 a throw, you don't want to treat this card like any other ol' pasteboard) so you'll likely want to ring it in and pull it out. Also, lighting is a consideration -- you'll want to do this where a light source is bright and nearby.

Workmanship: 10
The workmanship on this is what I've come to think of as Kreis' trademark: wonderfully done, yet simple, manufacturing.

Documentation: 5
The instructions are a little spotty, but the translation doesn't suffer enough to cause problems.

Effect: 7
I've run the gamut with this one, from amused chuckles to absolute silence, depending on the environment (there's that lighting thing again). Most of the time, this gathers some very good reactions and make it certainly worth thinking about throwing in your pocket.

Presentation: 5
The presentation is very sparse, relying on the method to carry the day and the magic. To get the best out of this one, you're going to have to throw some experience into it, both in audience management and card work. Think "instant stooging" and "switching".

Shane

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