The Worlds Greatest Magic

Opening Stab by Steve Beam

Card Stab by Nate Leipzig

If you were to consider ‘stabbing effects’ to be their own genre, then there would be my 2 favorites from that genre. In Steve Beam’s Opening Stab, you get to spread the deck out so a spectator can insert an envelope into the pack anywhere at all. Turning the spread over, the deck is found to be in completely new deck order, except for one card which is missing just where the envelope had been inserted. Inside the envelope, amazingly, is the very card which is missing from the deck!

On the other hand, Nate Leipzig’s Card Stab is literally a stabbing of the wrapped deck with a knife. It was first published in Dai Vernon’s Tribute to Nate Leipzig, as one of the effects Leipzig would perform on stage, to entertain an entire Opera House! Back then, a vaudeville performer might do 25-30 shows per week, while working 45 weeks per year, which gave those artists more stage time in front of an audience than any other performs in the past 150 years. So whenever I see a vaudeville performer sharing one of his bread and butter effects, I pay close attention!

From "Easy to Master Card Miracles Volume 3" DVD.