Ambitious card

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The Ambitious Card is a magic effect in which a playing card seems to return to the top of the deck after being placed elsewhere in the middle of the deck. This is a classic effect in card magic and serves as a study subject for students of the craft of magic. Most performing card magicians will have developed their own personal Ambitious Card routine. In some, the basic effect is repeated many times, increasing in 'fairness', until any possible explanation has been blown away.

The effect is often credited to French magician Gustav Alberti, in the mid-1800s. However, there is a related idea in Ponsin's Nouvelle Magie Blanche Devoilée, published in 1854, that might precede that.

The magician lifts the top card and shows it to the audience. The magician places the card into the middle of the deck. He or she then lifts the top card to show that it has "risen" to the top.

There are many variations to this trick, most of which can be linked together to create various routines. Many magicians perform the same routine every time, though the trick is structured such that one is able to link these variations in random order to produce a completely different routine at each performance. This is one factor which has earned the Ambitious Card the status of a classic effect.

Many variations of this effect include:

  • The magician has the spectator sign the card to prove there is no double.
  • The spectator is handed the "ambitious card" and asked to put it in the middle, then asked to hold the deck and do some type of magic move, essentially calling the card to the top of the deck himself.
  • The spectator marks an X on the back of an indifferent card at the top of the deck, only to see the same X appear on the back of the "ambitious card" after it has risen to the top.
  • The "ambitious card" is bent so that it is seen to be physically different from all the other cards, making it clear that it is placed into the middle of the deck, and increasing the amazement of the spectator as it is seen to rise to the top.
Spoiler warning: The following section reveals a magic secret.

The secret is that the selected card is actually the second card from the top. The magician lifts the two top cards with a double lift technique, showing the signed card but concealing the other card behind it. The top (indifferent) card is placed into the middle of the deck; the audience is led to believe that the signed card was placed in the middle.

This is the basic method. More complicated methods exist in which the selected card is actually placed in the middle of the deck, and then returned to the top using the Pass. One of the oldest card control techniques in card magic, the Pass invisibly transposes two halves of the deck, bringing the selected card back to the top.

Many other variants have also been devised, including those using 'gimmicks', props or trick cards which help to accomplish the effect.

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