STEAL by Calen Morelli

[i.am.infamous]

STEAL - by calen morelli

IMAGINE BEING ABLE TO VANISH, CHANGE, AND MOVE THE SEAL ON A DECK OF CARDS AT WILL..... WITH NO COVER AT ALL!

the.NOTES

Instant Reset | Self-Contained | Easy to Do | Practical | Visua.Visual.Visual.

the.PACKAGING

I first want to start off with the packaging, as Steal is an effect with a lot of possibilies - only limited to your imagination. Steal is an 8-page booklet (with a 'thick' cover and some 'good' paper stock) and inside is the flatten gimmicked box, (which will require you to just glue the bottle flap together), the special something to make Steal work and two deck seals (to get you started on the effect) - which comes in a clear (sandwich-like) bag. Calen's teaching is very easy to follow along, as he organizes and titles each section (ex. Setup, Performance, ect...). My only 'complaint' is that I didn't like how the 8th-page section was printed on the cover of the booklet, and the printing seemed a little off and some of the pages were slighter bigger than others - BUT Calen's simple and comprehensive teaching and the included gimmicks overweight this factor.

the.GIMMICK

Here is something I want to touch on. The method behind this is ingenious. When I took the box out of the package and put it together and just stared at it, I thought, "Why does he include a box?", because at that moment, I thought the gimmick would be something else, but not until I read the booklet, little did I find out, the box was the gimmick - as I said, I looked to see what was so special about this box - for around a good 5 minutes - this proves how deceptive Steal is. Also, the quality of the box, well, if you perform with cards, you know how fast (or little) your box can wear out - depending on how you take care of it, but Calen does includes the needed something so you can create a new gimmick... and I like that. Last thing I want to note is, the box comes in RED only Bicycle card box, but when you see how this works, you can make it work with any box of your choice.

the.PRACTICAL FACTOR

Again, this is something I thought I would bring up. How practical is Steal? VERY practical! If you perform with cards, than Steal is something you should definitely look into. This is VERY easy to do and within 5 minutes (or less) you should have it down. It's practically self-working! What I also liked is that it's 'impromptu'; meaning, seeing how it's self-contained, all you just need to do is carry with you the gimmicked box (obviously, with your cards inside and YES - the box DOES NOT interfere with your cards). This is just as visual in person than in the demo - with just a shake or a snap, the magic happens. And like I said before, our spectators love quick and visual magic, so Steal fits this perfectly,

the.EFFECTS

Now, let's go into the effects included inside Steal* (notice I said included, as you can create many more using Steal and Calen addresses this nicely in the booklet. Also, Calen doesn't include any performance script, as he wants YOU to work and create your own script and make it fit you.).

Movement-You visually pull the seal from one end of the box to the other!

Pop- The selected card visually jumps out of the box! A perfect ending for an ambitious card routine.

-This is one of the highlights of the booklet. I love the look when the card 'pops' out of the card box, when you see the demo yourself, you won't believe your eyes. As Calen stated, "It's a perfect ending for an ACR!", this is very true and could definitely become an ACR ending favorite.

Bluff- You give the spectator a poker chip to hold on to. The seal vanishes from the deck and reappears on the chip in the spectators hand!

-Cards and a poker chip compliment each other nicely. This is along the lines of a seal transpo - the seal goes from the box to the chip. This chip is examined and shown completely free of any deck seals to begin with, and I like how the spectator holds the chip in her hand only to find that the seal has appeared on the chip... WHICH IS INSIDE HER HAND. Very nice, although I won't be performing this a lot, but I do like it.

Melting point- The seal visually melts to the inside of the card case!

-I am a fan of this one, because it's quick, visual (all the effects possible with Steal are visual), and I like how the seal 'penetrates' the box and is now inside the box itself - to me, it seems logical - the seal from the box, goes back to the box - with a twist at the end. This is probably definitely my favorite and most performed so far.

Color- The seal instantly changes color!

-Calen teaches you how to make the seal go from black to white, but you can make the color change from blue to red, or red to black - vice-versa - blue to black - vice-versa -, ect...if you like. Now, I like the added layer of visual aspect Color has, it's something the spectator doesn't see coming, and it's one of those things where the spectator can't really question you on (sounds confusing)... What I mean is, they can't really put their on how it could be done, because the seal was a different color to begin with. I like this on as well.

Slide- A small sticker is placed on the left side of the box, with shake to the right it slides over to the right side.

-I liked how this looked in the demo, it takes the aspect of the gimmick to a different level - it uses it in a different way. Instead of vanishing/changing the seal, you decide to use the seal in a different way, as well. Very cool.

MR. Fix It- The seal was misplace on the left side of the box, but you visually fix it and move it back to the center.

-Another quickie. Makes sense - the seal is moved back the center. Very nice.

*As you can see, there's many effects possible with Steal - the only problem I find is that since there's so much possible with Steal, you can't dislike anything you can perform with it, because everything looks so good. Great job, Calen.

the.CONCLUSION

Since most (card) magicians carry cards with them, why not do something with the seal/box (?) - As Calen described, "A perfect opening effect for any card routine!" - this is very true and what's also true is if you carry cards with you (all, most, or some) of the time, than you'll DEFINITELY enjoy and love performing Steal. As from my review, I really like Steal.

the.SCORE

I'm becoming a fan of Steal quickly and since I carry cards with me, it works wonders for me. I will give Steal a...9/10 - the possibilities, the visual aspect, the notes (look above), ect... really make Steal shine.

RECOMMENDED

the.LINK

Steal by Calen Morelli (Booklet and Supplied Gimmicks)

[[RH]magician]

how many boxes would I be able to make out of the give supplies ?since I am in the philippines buying refills would be a big hassle.
but anything besides that this sounds very promising. And I'll get one when I have enough cash thanks for the review.

and what about the angles?

[i.am.infamous]

@[RH]magician - You get enough supplies to 'refill' your gimmicked box 2 or 3 times...maybe 4 or 5, as my box is still in good conditon, and I can't really say at the moment. Although, if your box does wear out, you can, taking a look at your gimmicked box, be able to construct a new one, as explained in the review.

The angles are PERFECT - you can perform Steal SURROUNDED. What you can do is already be set-up before you even take the cards out (you'll understand what I mean when you pick it up).

Hope that helps and clears things up!

[Chris]

Never heard of this trick before, thanks for the insight.

[MRmagic591]

I love all of calens tricks he has such a good imagiination of coming up wif em .