Isaac Wong – Tell Me A Lie

Meet my friend Isaac Wong. In just four short years, he has developed a magical sensibility that belies his age — a blend of elegant thinking and deceptive technique that has caught the attention of seasoned peers. While many spend decades searching for a unique voice, Isaac has swiftly developed his own, focusing on creating strong magic with pure sleight-of-hand and clever gimmicks.

I am thrilled to present his debut release, Tell Me A Lie: a two-volume download showcasing the inventive work of this remarkable young talent.

In these exclusive downloads, Isaac shares his refined handiwork with cards and coins. Volume 1 focuses on card magic, where he elevates the classic Sandwich plot into three unique and startling multi-phase mysteries. Volume 2 is dedicated to his coin magic, featuring stunning visual transformations and routines built around popular gimmicks, adapted with Isaac’s fresh touches.

Vol. 1
Three Clues Down: The spectator selects a card and the magician uses a pair of cards to produce 3 clues to figure out the identity of the selection. The clues all don’t make sense, but somehow the magician guesses the card correctly and it is revealed the seemingly random clues have turned into the other 3 cards of the same value as the selection. (I have a couple of variations for this trick, including a “Matching the cards” by Vernon esque sequence and a version where the red aces find the clues and the black aces end up sandwiching the selection on the table)

Credit: Dai Vernon, Ed Marlo, Harapan Ong

Turning Point: 2 selections are made and the 4 aces are shown, all returned to the deck. The cards are mixed face up and face down, and when spread, the 4 aces are sandwiching 2 cards which are shown to be the 2 selections. (This can be done as a single sandwich too)

Credit: Reinhard Muller

Somewhere in the Sandwich: The spectator selects a card and it is returned to the deck. The magician offers them a choice, whether they want the red or black aces. The aces they didn’t choose (eg the black aces) are also returned to the deck. The magician uses the chosen aces (eg the red aces) to produce one card in a sandwich, but it’s not the selection. He tries again, but this time it’s a black ace? He takes the black aces and shakes it, producing the black aces in a sandwich with the selection in the middle.

Credit: Ed Marlo, Stuart Gordon, Fuki

Vol. 2
Chromashift: 3 silver coins are shown, and with a toss, they turn into CSB coins. They are stacked back together and with a snap, they turn back into silver coins.

Credit: Luis Pedrahita

Winged CSB: Three different coins travel across from one hand to the other in a super visual way. This is a CSB version of Avi Yap’s winged silver. Instead of 3 silver coins, I used CSB coins.

Credit: Avi Yap

Then There Were 3 and 3 Fly: These are a few routines I’ve come up with using a TUC coin. The main point of teaching these is to share the moves I’ve come up with using the gimmick, but I’ve put them into routines to show how they can be used. (I will also talk about substitute gimmicks like shells and split coins and how to adapt the moves, but the focus is still the TUC)

Credit: Jimmy Wilson, Kainoa Harbottle, Max Li, Ponta the Smith

Mint Condition: A clean wild coin routine under the premise of using a toothbrush to clean 3 copper coins (turning them into silver coins) The 3 silver coins are shown after every change, one of the coins even changed only on one side to show the process, and all 3 silver coins are displayed on the table. At the end, the 3 silver coins turn back into copper coins.

Credit: Fuki, Luis Predrahita, Gerald Tan, Rubi Ferez