The “Mentalist Symbol Pack” (or MSP) is a deck of 26 cards that has a different drawing on each card.  It is like a deck of flash cards.  The cards are printed on a special material that enables them to last many times longer than a regular deck of playing cards, and they are also waterproof.

You are also supplied with an additional 29 gaff cards for use in conjunction with the main 26 picture cards.  Some of them are double back cards, some of them are blank cards for you to customise with your own drawings or words, and there are special cards such as the ink blot, the question mark, and a drawing of a tiny pink elephant.

You are also given a link to a set of tutorial videos by Anton James himself.  The videos are very well organised into 16 chapters, with each chapter addressing a different topic.  This makes it very easy for the viewer to search quickly to any topic they wish to view.  You are also provided with pdf files to allow you to print your own cheat sheet and labels.

MSP is essentially a stacked symbols deck.  The symbols are specially designed to allow you to memorise the stack in almost no time at all.  You will be taught how to divine a spectator’s randomly selected card, and how to do an effective force supposedly conducted under test conditions.

Here are some mental routines taught in the video.  They are all very easy to do, but they produce a great impact on the audience:

• Prediction routine – a spectator selects 3 cards, and then narrows to one of them.  This very symbol matches a prediction made by the performer.
• Memorization routine – 2 spectators select a card each from a shuffled deck.  The first spectator looks at her card and buries it into the deck.  The performer turns the deck over and memorises every card in the deck.  When the first spectator names her chosen card, the performer is able to instantly tell the exact position occupied by this card in the deck.  The performer then makes some mental calculations and can tell what card is missing from the deck.  This turns out to be the very card selected by the second spectator.
• Reaction routine – a spectator selects a card and buries it in the deck.  The performer deals cards one at a time and at the same time studies the reaction (body language) of the spectator.  By doing so, the performer is able to stop exactly at the selected symbol because he claims the spectator has unknowingly given him a clue in her reaction to this card.
• Intuition routine – the cards are thoroughly mixed and spread all over the table face downwards.  A spectator is asked to concentrate on a particular symbol and to use her intuition to pick up that card.  A second spectator does the same thing with another symbol.  Finally the performer concentrates on a third symbol and picks up one card.  They all turned out to be correct.

Anton also shows how to do readings using the MSP cards.  He discusses the use of pre-show, and explains how to make the object depicted in the selected card magically materialises in front of the spectator.

With regards to the gaff cards, here are a couple of effects using them:

• The Tiny Pink Elephant – an interesting and novel routine where a spectator’s thought of a small pink elephant is manifested onto one of 3 blank cards.
• Ink Blot – a spectator chooses a symbol and another spectator manages to divine the selected card of the first spectator by simply interpreting the design caused by an ink blot.

The MSP is a tool for the mentalist.  An experienced performer can create a short mental act by using the MSP.  (Rated 5/5 stars)