JB Magic presents Twisted Blizzard, by J. Aaron Delong. It is a solid effect than can be performed by beginners with ease, making them look like a professional. This trick is great for strolling or close-up magic gigs, table-hopping or just a party with friends.

In Twisted Blizzard, you ask one spectator to name any foursome of cards i.e. the Aces, the Kings, the Threes, the Nines or whatever. The performer then fans the deck so that only he can see the cards and places the set face down. After another spectator picks one of the four cards by suit, the four cards are turned over to reveal that they are all blank, except the chosen card. And, as a kicker, the entire deck is then turned over, fanned upright and revealed to be a completely blank deck. The reaction to this trick for your average spectator is amazing.

With this purchase you get a gaffed deck and an instructional DVD. The deck is printed on Bicycle 808 stock, which can never be handed out or inspected by a spectator. The DVD first presents a live demonstration of the trick followed by a table-side explanation. This part of the DVD is less than fourteen minutes. The trick is simple to learn and perform and you might not even need to watch the entire video to start performing. The reset takes about two seconds.

In addition to the Twisted Blizzard effect described above, there is a 21 minute video segment that teaches the bonus effect, White Trash. White Trash is just as astonishing, if not more so, than the product's namesake effect.

Essentially, White Trash is a take on Out Of This World. In this version, two spectators choose to put face-down cards on either their own pile (one spectator has the black pile and the other the reds) or to “trash” the cards by placing them on a common pile for rejected cards. At the end, both spectators correctly divined all their cards and each pile has only cards with their designated color. And, as a kicker, the “trash” pile has only blank cards. This is revealed when the performer fans the cards, face-up, on the table.

This bonus effect is performed live and then explained. It is also extremely easy to understand and perform, but takes about 30 seconds to set up before performing.

Delong acknowledges that Twisted Blizzard was inspired by Dean Dill’s Blizzard and John Bannon’s Twisted Sister. He combined the two great tricks and out came Twisted Blizzard! He also credits Deland for being the first to print this type of gaffed deck. As to the bonus effect, White Trash, he credits John Kennedy’s Red and Black, which was published by Genii over twenty five years ago, in 1989.

This is a fun one to play around with and is recommended. For $25, you can’t go wrong.

Sometimes I choose to review things because I think I can use them in my own work. Such was the case with Twisted Blizzard. It turns out I couldn't use the method, but I'm still stuck with the reviewing job.

Imagine Max Maven's B'Wave done with a full deck. In the performance on the DVD, someone names a four-of-a-kind. These four cards are removed from the deck (but never shown). Another person chooses a suit. The four cards are gathered and spread, showing three blank cards and the single card named. The rest of the deck is then spread face up and shows all blank faces.

You get a very gaffed deck. You're probably not going to be doing any other effects with this deck, at least not in a single set. You're certainly not going to let the audience handle the cards. You can't perform this surrounded (at least not with anyone looking over your shoulder as you remove the cards). However, the cards that make up the deck have lots of possibilities for use in other routines.

There is one, small weakness in the Twisted Blizzard routine. There's one suit the audience can't select without the performer resorting to equivoque. Of course, if you've got Max Maven's Multiplicity, this won't be a problem.

The bonus, White Trash, is an "Out of this World" routine that includes a discard pile. The first time I came across the discard pile idea was a routine from John Kennedy named "Red and Black," published in Genii Magazine, March 1989. The only difference is that White Trash uses the Twisted Blizzard deck which allows you to show the discard pile as all blanks at the end. I'm a little bummed that there was no credit given to John Kennedy, but I suppose I can let it slide considering the obscurity of the source.