When David Jonathan and Nikolas Mavresis came up with “Profile”, it generated a lot of interest in the magic community.  By asking a spectator a series of questions, and dealing cards onto the table according to the spectator’s replies, a card was arrived at randomly.  Yet this card was predicted in advance.  What caused this effect to be so successful was the fact that the spectator could have named anything (not forced), and yet she would end up with the predicted card.

In “Persona”, David Jonathan used this principle on a packet of cards instead of an entire deck of playing cards.  This takes on a whole new presentation.

The performer tells a spectator that this packet of cards can reveal a person’s persona.  He asks a series of personal questions to the spectator.  For each of the spectator’s replies, the performer transfers cards from the top to the bottom of the packet, one card of each letter spelt.

At the end of the spelling, one card is reached.  All the other cards are turned over to reveal negative traits such as “jealous”, “greedy”, “lazy” and so on.  The spectator is wondering what negative trait she is going to end up with.  It turns out to be the only positive trait – it is “awesome”!  Everybody is happy.

You receive 2 packets of 9 cards each – one set comprising 8 negative traits and 1 positive trait card.  The other set comprises 8 positive traits and 1 negative trait card.  The second set of cards allows you to perform to someone you know very well and who will not be offended when the revelation turns out to be a negative trait.  You also receive a nice leather 2-pocket wallet to carry the 2 sets of cards.  You get a link to a 48 minutes video tutorial where David Jonathan takes you through the workings of both sets of cards.

People are always excited to know their personality traits.  You are free to craft out your series of questions.  Many of the questions are open-ended and the spectator is free to answer any way she likes.  Her answers are not limited to a range of answers.  The ending will come as a surprise to the participating spectator.

Phill Smith is involved in designing the cards.  So you know what to expect with the working of the cards.  There is no sleight-of-hand required.  But you need to be familiar with the system.  If you are confident, the entire performance can be carried out by the spectator.  David is quite thorough with his explanations and goes through all nuances of the effect.

You will not failed to get smiles from your audience with “Persona”.  (Rated 5/5 stars)