The Best Card Trick You Never Learned

There’s something you’ll often hear repeated by certain people in magic: the best effects are hidden in old magazines. It often turns out to be true.

Even today’s creators frequently find themselves flipping through back issues, adapting routines that have long faded from memory.

The truth is, there are effects we’ve forgotten. It happens with certain plots that fall out of fashion or simply haven’t been revisited in recent years. And often, if you look closely, there’s a pattern: these lesser-seen plots tend to be the ones that don’t play well on camera. They require a live audience. They lack flashy, visual moments.

One such plot is the General Card. It’s a remarkably strong effect—one that, in terms of structure and clarity, captures the very essence of a card routine.

Some of you will already know it. But even if you do, this edition offers a fresh approach: a new method for performing the routine, complete with nuances and subtleties that will help you get the most from it.

From the audience’s point of view, this effect is extraordinary.

The General Card

Many people get confused about what the General Card actually is, and often use the term to refer to Everywhere and Nowhere routines.

In Everywhere and Nowhere, several cards transform one by one into the selected card. These are usually the four Aces, the four Kings, or other easily recognizable sets.

In the General Card plot, instead, multiple spectators each select a card. When they reveal their selections, they discover that they’ve all chosen the same card.

Closely related to the General Card is the Universal Card, in which the performer takes a random card—often a Joker—and very cleanly transforms it into each of the spectators’ selected cards.

Often, these ideas get combined. What tends to happen is this: several spectators are all forced to choose the same card. Then, a random card is introduced. That card is actually a duplicate of the forced selection, and the performer proceeds to show it to each spectator in turn, appearing to transform it into a different card every time.