Imagine owning the most comprehensive magic book ever written. This would surely be a treasured possession for any magician with each chapter focusing on a single aspect of the craft and the very best routines ever created for it. That’s the idea behind L&L Publishing’s critically-acclaimed DVD series, The World’s Greatest Magic by the World’s Greatest Magicians. Each volume is like another chapter in the world’s best magic book. Featuring in-depth exposition and instruction on some of magic’s most cherished and classic effects by its most-talented practitioners, this unprecedented series represents an essential reference work for anyone interested in the magical arts, regardless of their skill level.

In 1962, British magician Peter Kane invented a trick that he named Watch the Ace! The effect was reworked and subsequently renamed Wild Card by Frank Garcia and very quickly became a sensation in the magic world. In fact, the Magic Dealers Association named it as the best-selling card trick for 1963, and with good reason. Very few effects in card magic are as visual as Wild Card, where several different cards successively change to match one odd card.

On this DVD, you’ll find seven master magicians each with their own interpretation of this classic small packet trick. Steve Dacri begins with a highly commercial version where the magician’s signature appears on a number of cards that have previously been shown blank. Up next, Tommy Wonder’s version is a tour-de-force of routining that also makes it perfect for strolling magic situations. In Harry Allen’s performance, blank cards all change to match the one odd card while Eric DeCamps changes a packet of jokers into seven Threes of Hearts to show, in a highly visual finale, why 21 gets the big money. Boris Wild changes several double-backed cards, and eventually the entire deck, to match a free selection while Darwin Ortiz performs and teaches what has become a modern-day classic version of the Wild Card effect. Finally, Scotty York gets behind the bar and shows off his very dramatic version of Peter Kane’s Gypsy Curse.

Wild Card belongs on the very short list of tricks that look like real magic to laypeople and on this DVD, you’ll find seven of the very best versions of this effect ever created.