Woodyland -Disc 3

Five routines, two techniques, and a wonderful section focusing solely on Dai Vernon's "Triumph" all come together into one fantastic disc, my personal favourite of the set. The disc kicks off with "Dorset", a fascinating twist on Paul Harris' "Reset" and an all-backs routine. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but this disc does not break tradition, all of the routines are explained impeccably. "The Bumblebees" is, at it's heart, a wild-card routine. Woody, however, has added some great comedy with his choice of music and the artwork used on the cards. It's simple, but great fun to perform, to watch, and has some great moves and subtleties that I feel are unique to Woody's own handling. The "Torn Corner Ambitious Card" is again par for the course. Whilst perhaps not a routine in and of itself, the "Torn Corner Ambitious Card" is an often underutilised principle, that Woody has refined and made a little easier to use. I know I will be sneaking this little gem into my close-up work. "Aces Through Table" was something that, whilst simple, I just overlooked in Woody's book. I loved the control he teaches, however, I couldn't see how "Aces Through Table" would play in the real world. O.K so you need to be seated at a table, but I guarantee the next time the opportunity arises I will jump at the opportunity to use this.The final effect, "Progressive Order", had me baffled. I fell in love with this straight away. Two spectators take a card from the deck. They shuffle the deck, twice. You rapidly thumb through the deck, apparently scanning for the two missing cards. You name the two selected cards. This is where things started to fry me. Even though the deck had been shuffled by two spectators, Woody starts to reveal the ordered nature of the deck. I'm not going to spoil this for you, I want you to enjoy it as I did the first time. I have added this to my list of practice items. Not only is it an excellent effect, it is the perfect demonstration of Woody's earlier theory on effect structure.

The "Techniques" section covers two killer little items. I am fairly cack-handed when it comes to the myriad of in-the-hands false riffle shuffles available. If like me, you have two thumbs that refuse to work together, then Woody's "Covered False Riffle Shuffle" may be the answer. Catch me over the next few weeks, and with a deck in hand, I bet this is what I'll be practising! This section finishes off with the "Gabi Switch". Again, I read this in the book. "Cool", I thought. I watched it on the DVD and I was fried. It's a seated deck switch! It will fool the best of them! I love this!

Excluding part 3 of the fantastic interview, this disc is wrapped-up with a thorough discussion on the correct way to approach Vernon's classic, "Triumph". As someone who uses this regularly, I found Woody's advice invaluable. He even goes on to point out a fabulous piece The Professor included in the original Stars of Magic text, which has often gone unnoticed by it's readers. Again, the next time I launch into "Triumph", I'm going to make a few tweaks thanks to Woody; I have no doubt they will only go toward strengthening the effects already strong reactions.

I don't want to sound like I'm singing about this product for any other reason than I absolutely love all of the material on here. This isn't a sales pitch, I work for Magicbox, and it would be cool if you decide you want to buy it off the back of this, but I swear I'm only interested in sharing just how brilliant Woody's magic is. I have a huge love for the art of magic, and if I can persuade just one person to purchase this set, over wasting a chunk of money on the next piece of marketing hype, then I will seriously rest happier at night! I've wasted a huge chunk of my own money over the years on crap magic that sounds great in the ad copy, but turns out to be tripe, if my opinions can help someone else avoid a piece of tat, then that's the best reward I can ask for.

Onward!