Ken Krenzel was born and raised in the Lower East Side of New York City. His life-long passion for magic and all things magical began at the age of 7, after he saw a marionette show at his elementary school and continued up into his eighties.

At a young age he became a charter member of F.A.M.E. (Future American Magical Entertainers who was ran by Peter Pan The Magic Man (Dr.Abraham Hurwitz). Some names in his group would later become major players in the magic community such as Frank Garcia, Al Goshman, Jack London, Harry Lorayne, and George Schindler.

As Ken’s life progressed he eventually pursued the study of Psychology and earned his Ph.D. In addition, he published material in various magic journals: The Gen, Genii, Hugards’s Magic Monthly, Phoenix, MUM, Hierophant, Kabbala, Epilogue, New Jinx, Apocalypse, and The Minotaur.

Harry Lorayne, who published some of his work in The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel (1978)  said,

“When Ken Krenzel performed the material in this book for me I knew then and there how good it was, and what a great contribution it’d be to the art I love – card magic”

There are so many contributions that Ken Krenzel has made to the magic community it’s almost too much to list. Due to his contributions among many other things New York City voted Dr. Ken Krenzel the Dean of the Parent Assembly on October 3, 2011 by The Board of Directors of the SAM Parent Assembly #1.

Below are some quotes from some of us here at Ellusionist:

Ken Krenzel was one of the nicest, most straight forward people I’ve ever met. I wish I would have had more time to get to know him better. He will be missed.- Eric Jones

To say that this post sums up Dr. Krenzels life is not true to say the least. He’s touched countless lives and inspired countless magicians, myself included. During my journey into magic I stumbled upon his video called The Pass. From that day on I began a new journey to aspire to something I had never before knew existed–smoot, flawless beautiful magic sleights. Krenzel inspired me to never settle for less as he never did.  -Xavior Spade

Dr.  Ken  Krenzel, Dean of the Parent Assembly, passed away the afternoon of February 8 at the age of 85.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Friday, February 10  at:

Boulevard – Riverside chapel at

1450 Broadway in

Hewlett NY,11557

Directions To Boulevard – Parkside Chapel

Rabbi Noach Valley will officiate and George Schindler will  perform the broken wand ceremony.

From all of us here at Ellusionist to all of Dr. Ken Krenzel’s  family and friends, our most sincere condolences. He will be missed

-Xavior Spade

Something’s been cooking in the Ellusionist Performance HQ Forums, and it was brought to the table today. (Seriously: The Shaman has returned after a long hiatus, and he’s the one who made the announcement.)

We all have heard so many of today’s top magicians talk about the importance of finding a mentor in magic. A mentor can make such a significant difference in your magic: They can help you learn new things, find new avenues of research, tell you what things to avoid, serve as a sounding board for your ideas and so much more.

Problem is finding one. But the Internet has made that so much easier.

Thanks to our incredible Forum Elites and Mods, they are now willing to work with you, provided you pass the test. And all the answers to that can be found in the Back Room.

The Back Room is that magical, small room in the back of your favorite magic shop. It’s the room loaded with secrets, books, manuscripts so worn they’re barely held together with tape or staples and so much more. It’s where the legends go to share, talk, perform and everything else. Getting in the back room is a big deal, because it shows that you’ve impressed the guys enough to let them know you’re ready for the good stuff.

We’ve decided to open up our own back room, and it’s filled with performers, magicians and long-time magic enthusiasts — some who have been on the forums since the first days of our 10-year history. Our new Back Room is on the Performance HQ Forums. The Shaman has a lot to say about how it works.

This is a new year for you and your magic. If you’re ready, you can get serious help at making your magic goals into reality.

Metal, a signature video from a master prestidigitator, just went from an indispensible work to a must-have collection.

The next chapters of Eric Jones’ highly-reviewed Metal cover the next levels of coin magic, and take coin workers to new heights of beauty, structuring, routining and impact.

In Metal 2: Commanding Coin Magic, Jones goes way beyond basics. Filled with brilliant routines and live performances, Jones presents eight effects that take the basics of Metal and make mesmerizing magic. He also talks at length about pacing, blocking, redirection, looking natural and much more.

Metal 3: Guide to Gaffed Coin Magic puts sleight of hand to use with well-known gaffs. Standard trick coins such as shells and flipper coins go from gimmicks to heavy-duty tools, once you learn what a magician like Jones does with them. Also filled with performances and advice, the video includes nine effects that leave spectators stunned with the impossibilty they witnessed.

Metal 2 and Metal 3 are available right now. And for the next 12 hours, you could score in an extra bonus — you can get free downloads, or you could win sets of Artifact coins, including our rare Gold Artifacts. Or you could win an online master class with Eric Jones himself.

As another year draws to a close, and the merriment of the festive season just two weeks away, we here at Ellusionist wanted to take the time to thank you for all the support you’ve shown us over the last year, and wish you – from all of our families, to all of yours – a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanza, Festive Yule and an altogether Happy Holidays – and rather than writing down our thoughts – we figured it was better said like this;

There’s still more from us to come this year, with Metal 2 & 3 just around the corner, and some more exciting launches in the next weeks – but before everyone gets caught up in the Tinsel and Turkeys, we wanted to wish you all the best for the season.

Again – thanks for all the support, we’ll see you in 2012 for another great year.

Happy Holidays,

-Team Ellusionist.

From a three-card monte routine to a can’t-miss promo, today is a good day for card magic lovers.

Fade is a brilliant expansion of the three-card monte plot. Find the lady? Good luck. In Chris Mayhew’s version, you’ll lose track of the queen, the spot cards, even the whole deck. Mayhew’s Fade uses no false throws, shifty switches or fast flinging. In fact, all he’s doing is raising and lowering the deck. And with more kickers than a Jackie Chan movie, Fade throws in surprise after dizzying surprise.

Fade will pack your arsenal with a great routine good for all kinds of street situations. In the process, you’ll learn two new sleights and get some leads on paths to further your card magic research.

Download Fade, and throw some extra cards in your order. You’ll want to stock up now, because until midnight Saturday, we’ll double-down your LTD decks. If you spend $150 on an order with shippable merchandies, you’ll get two LTD decks instead of one. These decks have become one of the most talked-about collectibles this year, and you have a chance to snag two of them.

This offer expires at midnight Saturday (U.S. Eastern), so don’t miss out. Stock up on Artifice Second Edition decks, in both colors. You’ll find they work perfectly for Fade.

We thought him co-designing the deck was brilliant. Then he broke our definition of ‘Epic’ by directing, starring in, filming and editing the first trailer. Now, Peter McKinnon breaks out his Captain Awesome suit again and produces another trailer for the Ltd. (Limited) deck out of thin air. In kicking off our Days of Pasteboard Goodness, we’re also bringing you our ‘LTD. Love That Deck’ Competition

We created LTD because we love doing what we do – and what we do is awesome decks of Cards. We put them up on pedestals. On Display. Locked behind Glass or Lucite Panels. Build Furniture With them – the lot. We Know what we do with our cards, but we want to know ; What do you do with yours? We want to see your collection. How you display your love of cards. The most unique, intriguing, aesthetic – basically the display we like the most – will be taking home a deck of LTD playing Cards.

The Rules are simple. Entries will be judged by our panel of experts on subject matter, photo composition, uniqueness and bribery. You’re welcome to use photoshop to enhance/filter your photo – but we don’t want to see the Loch Ness Monster rising out of a deck of Ghosts or any other tricks you can do… Actually – we do want to see it, cos it’d be cool – but you’ll probably not win just because you did that. One Entry per Person. Photos to be posted on our Facebook wall. Entries close Saturday, 12/12 at 12pm EST.

Lastly – make sure you’re watching this space tomorrow – as our Days of Pasteboard Goodness – will just keep getting better.

A legendary product is getting a major upgrade from Ellusionist.

Morgan Strebler’s Liquid Metal became a favorite among magicians for obvious reasons. But now, instead of just bending metal, you’ll disfigure, disintegrate and destroy it in ways no one has ever seen. Your fingers will become a furnace. Or even your spectators: They will be able to manipulate metal just by touching a shadow.

Liquid Metal 2 includes so many of Strebler’s best kept secrets, from bends to twists, from tines to necks. He goes into sublteties, audience management and restrictions — not that there are many of those. On the street, in a bar, on stage; any room can become your forge. There’s also a complete copy of the original Liquid Metal inside.

Where the original blazed a trail, Liquid Metal 2 turns it into a highway. With such easy setup and practical uses, this will become an indispensible part of your arsenal and an unforgettable experience for your spectators.

Liquid Metal 2 is available right now. Also, pick up a stash of the forks Strebler recommends.

You don’t need a deck of cards to perform an unforgettable card trick.

How many of your friends and family have iPhones? Oh yeah — a bunch of them. So when you tell them to check your messages, and they hear a message on your phone that reveals a chosen card that they THOUGHT of, they are going to go nuts.

Premonition is the definition of “in their hands magic.” This interface works exactly like the OS everyone knows how to use. In effect, they are not going to see you do any strange, pre-magic movements on the screen before you hand your iPhone over. All they are going to do is access your messages, then flip out.

The instructions are clear and the trick is easy to use. Once you do your setup, you are ready to perform this for everyone, forever.

This is powerful magic that is more attached to you than a deck of cards — you might not pack a pack every day, but you always have your iPhone with. Like your iPhone, you can be always on, ready go.

Premonition is now available from the App Store.

The 2011 Ellusionist Holiday Giveaway is now on. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Yule, Kwanza, Christmas, Saturnalia, Hannukah, Ramadan or Festivus – we’ve got the gifts for you.

We’ve put a lot of thought into making this year’s giveaway one of our favorites. More prizes, freebies and magic then we have in any other Holiday Giveaway. Even before it began people were applauding it as the biggest Giveaway of any magic company they’ve seen. So with a total prize pool with a value larger than our calculators go up to, we thought it about time we launched.

But we’ve turned the dial up to 11 this year with the giveaway of a FULL video production studio to film your magic. Everything you need to build your magic video production in professional studio quality.

That and so much MORE….

Every shippable order over $25 between the 22nd November and the 31st of December will have a little something extra included in the package. A foil package including a wristband. If your wristband is black – then you’ve just scored yourself a free Ellusionist wristband. If your wristband is Red however – then you’ll be taking away one of the 25 prizes we’re giving away this year. From a bag of gold Artifact coins, up to a $1000, 5 minute shopping spree through the halls of Ellusionist. Oh – and the big one of course. Our EXECUTIVE PRIZE: A FULL MAGIC STUDIO with Camera / LED Lights / Backdrop & Audio.

Plus – as always, this is all on top of the Free Gifts we run every day of the year. Between 22nd November and the 31st of December, we’ve also added another gift to our $150 tier. The Ltd Deck. Only 5000 of these were printed, and they’re ONLY available during our Giveaway. Limited. It’s right there in the name.

For the full prize list, check out all the details Right Here.

Infinity has begun. Your limits have ended.

The most ambitious deck of cards we have ever released is now available to you. Each deck features our superior stock with Performance Coating, made by card workers for card workers. But the most stunning part of the Infinity Series playing cards is the level of detail in the art.

Looking at the back will be almost like gazing into a crystal ball. The level of intricate detail pushed the U.S. Playing Card Company to the max. Let it encourage you to push your presentation and skill. These cards are meant for your audiences.

Infinity Series playing cards are available right now. And don’t miss the epic trailer for the cards. Watch it below:

Infinity Playing Cards | Ellusionist.com from Ellusionist on Vimeo.