PROS

With so many versions of Triumph, it is important to know what is unique about this version. It uses no gimmicks. You openly show cards mixed face up and face down one minute. You spread the deck the next moment and only one card is facing the opposite direction, their selected card.

CONS

The trick doesn’t end clean. In the DVD, he talks about three ways to clean up after the effect. For this effect, I think you need to employ some sort of clean ending as your spectators are going to be interested in how the deck looks after the performance.

The card is selected face up. I think this detracts from the magic. I realize this effect is not about finding their selected card, but about the cards turning over. However, if the selected card is not known to the magician, I believe the whole effect is stronger.

There are some very clean and easy Triumph routines that end completely clean. Generally, their downside is you can’t show cards face up and face down as well as you can with this effect. However, you can give the illusion of seeing face up and face down cards throughout the deck and end totally clean.

VERDICT

This is a very strong non-gimmicked Triumph that does a better job of showing face up and face down cards at one point and then showing all but one card facing the same direction. However, it doesn’t end clean and there are simpler versions that are very strong to a lay audience.

Triumph is one of the many card plots that have been done, done and re-done many times over (some would say done to death) with this redux and that...some of which are spectacular and others not so much.

Triumph is also one of those plots, due to its saturation into many bodies of work, that magicians love to hate. Triumph seems to have two schools of followers - those that love it and those who do not.

In this exceedingly fair looking version, I believe Dani DaOrtiz has really come up with a commercial version which can be done in the hands. It not only looks very magical because of the routining and handling, but it looks very clean. If you do not have a table for performance, this version can be done in the hands - the displays might not be as visual in that case but only because you are limited to how far you can spread (read: fan) cards in your hand, as opposed to having a large surface like a table to spread them out on. Personally, I would not say that doing it in the hands detracts from the effect enough for this to be a point.

There are many versions of Triumph which can be done with a borrowed pack, which end completely clean. In this particular case, you can use a borrowed deck if you like, but you do not end clean straightaway - it requires a bit of tidying up.

The DVD is very well produced - the video, audio and lighting are good and the menu is very easy to navigate. There is no Play All option, and the main menu is split into five sections. The Explanation section is split into four sections, each dedicated to its own subject. The Extras section gives you the trailer for this DVD and a performance-only of a Triumph by Christian Engblom. The ad copy is 100% accurate and is really more a listing of the contents of the DVD.

One of my favorite subjects in the house of magic is magic theory, and that as it relates to the Open Triumph and indeed to Triumph in general, is explored here by Dani. You will certainly gain some great insight into his thinking after watching this.

He also discusses and explains the Chaos Theory (no, not the scientific theory) as it is part of what makes this particular version of the effect work. He then explains how the Open Triumph is done, followed by three different ways to clean up, each one of them very different from the others and all very good for various styles and venues. He also discusses the display of the face-up/face-down shuffled deck at length.

There is also a bonus discussion (though it is not called a bonus on the DVD) and explanation of the Oil & Water handling that inspired this Triumph. He also talks about various ways to use this with the Open Triumph.

If you are a worker and/or a card guy, you will have no issues with the fact that this version requires a clean-up at the end. If you appreciate the impact that a good Triumph handling has, you will know that it is a small price to pay. Further, the clean-up is minimal in this case and very easy to cover.

I just want to point out that if you have studied the work that Darwin Ortiz has done on Triumph, you will find an idea on this disc that echos something that he has explored in the past and which will work very well here, or vice versa.

Dani DaOrtiz is an excellent teacher - he was clear, concise and detailed without being boring or repetative.

Overall this is not a technically difficult version of Triumph to perform, it can be done in the hands, it looks very fair and the instant righting of the deck looks very magical. As Dani points out, it will be up to you do decide how to clean up at the end, and even if you do not like the three examples shown, the categories in which those three ideas fit will certainly lead you to solutions that will work for you.

I have not seen the original release but I have been told, and Dani also mentions, that this DVD covers much more than that download video did on this effect. I would say, then, that if you have seen it, you would still benefit from getting this if you enjoyed the original release.

Highly recommended!

Suggestions

For the version and handling that inspired it all, check out the book called The Stars of Magic for Triumph by Dai Vernon. Both editions (Tannen's or Yedid) have this in it.

Jason England also teaches the Vernon handling exactly the way it was taught in the book in his At The Table lecture with Murphy's Magic.