To use a baseball expression, Luis de Matos hit a Grand Slam with Dani Daortiz’s Reloaded. EMC usually scores big with their products and this 4 DVD set is a great example of excellence in content, production, performance and teaching. This DVD set is the follow-up to Daortiz and EMC’s first collaboration, the highly acclaimed 4 DVD set, Utopia.

Reloaded has tons of awesome magic and content (about 10 hours-worth) and it will keep you busy for a very long time. You will no doubt watch and re-watch these DVDs several times. The 4 DVDs are packed in the same beautiful quality packaging as the other EMC magician profiles.

Each DVD has a different segment of an interview with Daortiz in which you get to know him a bit as he talks about his friends, idols in magic, philosophy about inventing and performing and taking risks.
The first DVD starts with a live performance by Daortiz in front of an audience of about 30-40 spectators. During the performance Daortiz is seated at a table with two spectators, one of each side. The performance to the audience is entirely in Spanish with subtitles in various language, including English, French, Japanese and Spanish. I had to watch the performance a few times because Daortiz speaks quickly and as a result the subtitles were rapidly flew across the screen. I was unable to read the lines and watch the performance at the same time during certain portions of the performance.

If you have never seen Daortiz perform, you are in for a great treat. He is a natural performer whose style, patter and delivery is his own. He is very funny and constantly surprises the audience in ways that were not expected. He is a magician fooler and his creative approach leads to a refreshing performance. After the performance, Daortiz explains each of the tricks in English and shows how he executes the various moves. Even though English is not his first language and some parts of his explanations are laced with slightly choppy English he is still easy to understand.

The second disc continues to teach various routines, moves and Daortiz’s own stacked deck. The first DVD is equally awesome as the first DVD.

The third DVD was the most interesting to me. It reminds me of the expression… “If you give someone a fish they eat for a day, but if you teach someone how to fish they eat for a lifetime.” Here, instead of just learning tricks, Daortiz teaches his philosophy on forcing cards, fishing, magician’s choice and manipulating spectators. Watching him in action, using subtle confidence, is an amazing thing to watch. He employs methods that are not fool-proof and requires risks. Some performers would not even try some of his routines for fear of failure. However, the result is the most amazing effects that absolutely floors your audience. Studying his thought process is valuable and may just open up your eyes to another way to present your magic. You will have to practice and experiment (and fail) and learn it slowly. In fact, Daortiz shows a clip where he totally screws up, but no one knows. He is able to recover and finish the effect unbeknownst to the audience. It is a great teaching tool on what to do if…

The fourth DVD contains a series of tricks and routines. Some are extremely strong, some not as good as others, and some require mastery of cards, misdirection and presentation. It is a rapid fire presentation of several magic trick s and routines. It is hard to watch in one sitting because it is so much content.

Senor Daortiz is perhaps one of today’s top creative forces in card magic. He is truly amazing and surprising. There is so much magic contained on these DVD that it can keep you busy for an unquantifiable period of time. Although this is only a four disc set, measuring the quantity of content by today’s standard, it is like 10 DVDs. And, the quality is unparalleled. This 4 DVD project is worth the $150 price tag. Read the accurate ad-copy reviews by great magicians, it is all accurate!