This TRISECTION by Mickael Chatelain trick secret is sort of a portable, close-up version of The Zig-Zag Lady illusion.
According to his promo:
- Super-easy to do
- No sleight of hand
- 100% ordinary card
- Instant reset
- Incredible visuals
TRISECTION Routine:
- The Set-up: A regular card is divided by two hand-drawn lines.
- The Effect: You visually slide the center section of the card upward, creating an impossible silhouette.
- Fully Examinable: The card is instantly restored and handed out for examination with no secret switches required.
Watch Mickael Chatelain performing his TRISECTION:
TRISECTION By Mickael Chatelain Trick Secret
Welcome to another post of Info Ruckus Magic Trick Secrets Revealed series.
I do not own or have even see this pocket trick.
In short, I do not know precisely the secret behind the effect.
Like all my so-called magic trick reveals, this is another one of my speculations how this zig zag trick.
Again it is solely based on merely viewing and analyzing the demo video clip.
The three-section card is prepared before hand, and then there is a gimmick card.
Like most, if not all Mickael Chatelain’s tricks, this one also uses magnets to hold the act together (no pun intended).
At the start, Mickael Chatelain is just pretending to mark two bold black lines across the card.
As I have said, this is a pre-prepared card, and it looks like it is stick with two narrow strips of black tape.
Right from the start of the video clip, you can clearly see the black color tape of the lower line, at the edge of the card.
In other words, that card is prepared by sticking two strips of black color tapes.
It is very obvious because the two casually drawn hand black lines are too straight and well-spaced on the card.
Anyway, that is not the gimmick card.
The trick secret of TRISECTION is the card on top of the deck in his left palm.
👉 Read Tenyo T-118 Side Track zig-zag card trick secret explained and Mini Zag T-141.
Mickael Chatelain TRISECTION Gimmick Card
That’s why he can never show it to the viewers, when he places the two-black lined card onto it.
Right from the start, I notice the first card of the deck is rather thick.
At 0:10, while blowing the supposed-to-be wet black ink, this thick card slips down, probably due to its weight.
He quickly and covertly pushes it back to align with the deck of cards.
In fact, at 0:16, you can see him slotting it into somewhere in the middle part of the top card of the deck.
Mickael ensures he has properly inserted the card into the gimmick card, before he turns the deck to the viewers.
This act is very similar when he performs Card On Ribbon trick.
At 0:19, when he shows the card back to the viewers, you are not actually seeing the full two black-lined card.
TRISECTION Gimmick Card Strips
I guess this is how the top of the deck in his left palm looks like with the gimmick.
So when he turns the cards around, the top and the bottom pieces are from the pre-prepared card.
The middle section is two gimmick pieces that stick together and also to the deck of cards with hidden magnets.
The two gimmick card strips attached together with concealed magnets:
At 0:21 he uses his index finger to drag down the card indicating the two black lines, but he only touches the the two end pieces.
He does not touch the middle section to avoid moving the two attached gimmick strips
To show the zig-zag effect, he pushes the middle piece upward, and he continues sliding it right to the top.
Twice at 0:27 and 0:35, he uses his forth finger to press gimmick strip (face card) downward to ensure it is securely adhered by the magnetic force.
This is ensure it is properly magnetically sticks together, without exposing the secret.
In fact you can tell it is a loose piece when he moves it up and down.
At 0:32 and then at 0:39, when slips down the middle piece, you can see the red color back side of the card in the tiny gap, as indicated below.
Finally at 0:46, he slides the gimmick strips (both pieces together) all the way down.
Hide Gimmick TRISECTION Card Strips
So now the card on top of the deck is the pre-prepared card, while the two attached gimmick card strips are under his right palm.
He does it sleekly with one smooth move, but there are key parts.
To view this sequence clearer, you need to slow down the playback speed to 0.25
From 0:48, he gives an abrupt push with his fingers at the bottom edge of the decks of cards.
Simultaneously, he arches his right palm to press on the gimmick strips to lift them up.
Then using his his left forth/ring hand finger to slip the bottom gimmick strip (red back card) into the deck.
This is the sequence of his left hand fingers in action.
Next his right thumb presses the top gimmick strip (face card) under the two back striped card, as he pulls it out together from the deck.
This is the sequence:
From 0:50 onwards, his right thumb is still pressing the gimmick card strip (face card) against the back of the pre-prepared card.
That’s why even though he has apparently restored the zig zag Queen of Hearts card, yet he still cannot show its back side.
Under the pretext of restoring the card, he keeps fiddling, bending and turning it for about 8 seconds.
Probably from around 0:53 onward, when he brings the pre-prepared card next to the deck, he secretly moves the gimmick strip over.
It is only at 0:58, Mickael Chatelain turns the back of the card around to the viewers.
Finally 1:02, he puts the deck of card down, out of the camera frame.
This is what I think how cut and restored Trisection by Mickael Chatelain trick is done.
👉 Check out his earlier ZIG ZAG card trick and ZIG ZAG 1 & 2.
👉 Read Zig Zag by Jay Sankey trick secret.
Psychology Of TRISECTION Card Trick
The psychology behind cut-and-restored effects like Mickael Chatelain’s TRISECTION relies on exploiting cognitive biases and the brain’s tendency to fill in missing information.
The most important principle is Gestalt perception, especially good continuation and closure.
The brain naturally assumes objects are continuous and whole, even when structures hide or displace certain parts.
In TRISECTION, even when the magician visibly offsets the center section, spectators still unconsciously perceive a single solid card extending behind the fingers or structure.
Their mind completes what it expects to be there.
This is the same principle that makes the Zig-Zag Lady illusion convincing: the audience assumes the body remains continuous inside the box.
Misdirection and limited attention also play a major role.
The dramatic visual of the middle piece sliding out captures conscious focus, while subtle details and mechanics remain unnoticed.
Viewers are looking directly at the effect, yet fail to see the method.
This leads to inattentional blindness: attention is absorbed by the impossibility of the effect, causing simple physical realities to be overlooked.
Expectation and assumption further strengthen the illusion.
Audiences assume the card is normal and behaves like an ordinary card.
When the performer restores the card and the spectator immediately examines it, the physical evidence confirms that initial assumption, making the effect register as genuinely impossible.
Finally, showmanship and presentation guide emotion and attention, reducing analytical thinking and reinforcing the sense of wonder.
By exploiting these perceptual shortcuts and attentional limits, TRISECTION creates a strong illusion of physical impossibility rather than a mere visual trick.
👉 Sneak Peek: IMPOSSIBLE Prediction Trick Revealed
IMPOSSIBLE by Mickael Chatelain is a card magic routine, featuring a signed card that mysteriously teleports into a sealed prediction envelope.
IMPOSSIBLE Routine:
A spectator selects a card and affixes a signed sticker to its face, making it uniquely identifiable.
The card is then returned to the deck.
To the audience’s astonishment, the same card—with the signed sticker intact appears inside an envelope.
The envelope has remained in full view (or even held by the spectator) from the very beginning.
Here is a quick reveal how the IMPOSSIBLE Trick by Mickael Chatelain is done.
NOTE: To see it clearer, slow down the playback speed to 0.25.
At 0:50 when he transfers the card from his left hand to right hand.
Then at 0:51 you can see the stolen piece again between his ring finger and pinkie.
Finally at 1:02, you can see the secret piece, when he places the red envelope over his left palm.
Here is the fully explained full how this IMPOSSIBLE by Mickael Chatelain is done again with magnets soon.