Missing In Action by Craig Petty and Mandy Roth

"Tell me the last time ONE special playing card got SO MANY incredible moments of magic from it... I'll wait."
— Lloyd Barnes

"When it comes to commercial effects, Missing In Action ticks all the boxes. It’s entertaining, has multiple moments of magic, a killer payoff and leaves your spectator with an incredible souvenir. I’ll be using this!"
— Peter Nardi

"I hate Craig Petty. Every effect with his name is always clever, commercial, and brutally effective. His material absolutely murders real audiences, which is honestly quite rude to the rest of us. Missing In Action is the perfect example of how commercial and hard hitting his magic is. It’s truly mind blowing."
— Pig Cake

"A wonderfully magical use of the 52-on-1 card. Three is the magic number and this three-phase routine delivers just that. Three astonishing moments that build on each other to a stunning climax."
— Matthew Wright

"My favorite gag card has been supercharged into a powerhouse routine. Visual, impossible, surprising and packs a huge punch!"
— David Jonathan

"What a great idea to take a classic magician’s 'gag' and make it an incredibly strong effect with three huge moments of magic! This is awesome."
— Chris Congreave

You know the classic 52-on-1 card? Well, forget using it for a quick gag because Craig Petty and Mandy Roth have taken that old magician’s joke and turned it into a proper, hard-hitting piece of commercial magic!

This is Missing In Action, and I absolutely love the thinking behind it.

It starts fun. Your spectator thinks they know exactly where this is going. They see the familiar 52-on-1 gag card and you get that lovely moment of comedy.

But then things start getting VERY strange...

A card is freely selected, signed and lost back into the deck. Sitting in full view from the very beginning is your prediction, sealed inside an envelope.

When the prediction is removed, you reveal... every card in the deck!

Yep, it’s the classic 52-on-1 card.

But that’s just the beginning.

You now perform a short, punchy Ambitious Card sequence with their signed selection repeatedly jumping back to the top of the deck.

Then suddenly...

THE SIGNED CARD VANISHES.

Not just from the deck.

When you look back at the 52-on-1 card, something impossible has happened...

THEIR CARD HAS VANISHED FROM THE PRINTED FACES!

This is such a brilliant visual moment because your spectators know exactly what that card looked like just seconds earlier.

But Craig and Mandy have saved the biggest moment until last.

The 52-on-1 card is turned over and their actual SIGNED CARD is now permanently fused to the back!

And here's the best bit...

YOU GIVE IT TO THEM.

They can examine it. They can keep it. And they walk away with an impossible souvenir that has your magic built right into it.

For me, this is exactly what good commercial magic should be.

It’s easy to understand, entertaining, has multiple moments of magic, builds stronger and stronger, and finishes with something your spectator gets to take home.

WHAT YOU GET

You receive a deck of specially produced gimmick cards, and every one is different, meaning this isn’t a trick you perform once and then have to reset for the same card.

If you’re working restaurants, weddings, bars, corporate events or social gigs, you can perform Missing In Action again and again throughout the night.

You also receive Craig’s full tutorial covering the main routine, around half a dozen variations, alternative handlings and loads of extra thinking from Craig and Mandy on how to get the absolute most from the effect.

I especially love the moment when the spectator realises their card has physically disappeared from the 52-on-1 card. It’s one of those moments where their brain needs a second to catch up with what their eyes are seeing.

And then you hit them with the signed-card finale.

Three strong moments. One special card. And an impossible souvenir they get to keep.

This is clever, commercial and built for real-world performance.

Missing In Action is exactly my sort of magic!