Strange Travelers (Bicycle Back) by David Blaine

This is David Blaine's single favorite effect. The actual deal-closer David used for most of his professional career. It helped him close the deal on his first Network T.V. special: Street Magic.

Effect

You show someone a batch of twenty cards... all different.

You give her ten of the cards to hold.

You now have her just think of one of the remaining ten cards. She never says a word. No one except her knows what card she's thinking of.

These ten cards are counted again. Strangely... there are now only nine. The one card she'd been thinking of has vanished! She's still only thinking of her card; it's never been named out loud!

She counts the other ten cards she's been holding; ten cards you haven't touched since the beginning. But now she has eleven cards! The strange traveler has arrived... her thought-of card is now staring her in the face!

Strange Travelers is a streamlined version of a classic effect that was Nate Lepzig's favorite over 75 years ago. Other variations have come and gone. David re-discovered this hidden gem, and the rest is history.

And the really good news: Blaine's favorite effect is extremely easy to do.

No palming. No difficult moves. Just a simple elegant handling that just about anyone can learn.

Complete with Paul Harris' revised gimmick and routines, which includes a version where you start and finish with a normal deck.

Strange Travelers: David Blaine's favorite effect, his actual deal closer, can now be yours.