Steven Youell - Weapons of Mass Deception
PDF

The second in a series of lecture notes， Weapons of Mass Deception is focused on using presentation and fundamental sleights to deceive.
67 pages of material， essays and effects. Released in 2009.

Note: this has very similar title to another Youell publication ("Weapons of Mass DESTRUCTION")， but contents are different.

There is an earlier 2004 edition of this title on MT. I do not know what the differences are compared to this later edition， but generally a new edition does include some new material and/or revisions.

Steve Youell says:

My last set， Weapons of Mass Destruction has consistently met with outstanding reviews for five years. Much of the material is within the range of the average Card Worker and none of it requires any heavy-duty sleight of hand-- however even the hard-core finger flingers will probably add most of these effects to their repetoire. Some of the effects in the NEW notes:

+1 -- A Devastating Gambling Effect!

The spectator cuts to four random cards. The performer explains that only in the movies and dime novels do card cheats deal themselves a pat hand. He then states that real cheats make sure that they only beat the sucker by a small amount and thus avoid suspicion. The performer then demonstrates what he means by cutting to the card one value higher than each of the four random cards.

Calling The Shot

Three cards are selected and shuffled into the deck. The performer demonstrates he has developed the knack to cut to any card simply by calling out the name of the card as he cuts to it. To demonstrate， he cuts the deck three times while saying; "Nine...of...Clubs".

The Nine of Clubs is cut to the top! To further demonstrate， he then cuts to the first two selections and let’s the last spectator call out their
selection as he cuts! Each time the performer is able to show the top and bottom cards of the deck.

Russian Roulette -- An Original Platform Card Trick!

A deck is shuffled， cut and given to a spectator who is asked to deal single cards， face down until he feels like stopping. He looks at the card on which he stopped and is then told to replace the card in the deck， reassemble the deck and shuffle it well. Only then is the deck handed to the magician.

The magician then fans the cards towards himself and upjogs six cards so the entire audience can see the backs of the six cards. Five differentspectators are each asked to eliminate one of the cards. After this is done five times， there is one upjogged card left. It is the selection.

The Key Card

I cannot tell you the REAL name of this since the title may give the method away， however once you use it， you'll probably throw away your short cards， corner shorts and scalloped shorts.

This key card is easy to make and adjusts to the way you naturally handle cards. It was originally sold under a different name in a release limited to 50 copies.

Now， everyone can use a key card without fear or overly contrived movements-- not only that， you'll have the skill to start using it within an hour of making it!