The Comeback Card Trick
Using one of the most utilitarian of sleights, the Comeback Card will have the audience coming back for more.
The Effect
The magician shows the top card on a normal deck of playing cards. He puts the card back and then deals it from the deck into his hand. He puts the card in the middle of the pack and slowly pushes it in. With a magical pass of the hand he then deals off the top card of the deck, showing that it is the same card - the card moved magically from the middle of the deck back to the top!
The Secret
When showing the top card; the magician is actually showing the second from the top card.
Materials
A normal deck of cards is all that is required.
Preparation
No advance preparation is required for the basic Comeback Card, but there is a variant explained below that requires a bit of set up.
Performing the Trick
This really is a quick effect and often should be used as part of an overall card routine. It should not be shown repeatedly or the secret will be figured out.-
The magician should be familiar with the sleight of hand move called the double lift. It requires the magician to show two cards as if it were one card. Riffling through the deck with the right thumb, the magician catches a break at the second card from the top. 
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Lifting the packet of two cards as if it were one, the magician shows the face of the second card, names it and calls it the top card. -
Turning the packet back over on top of the deck, the magician then deals off the top, indifferent card into his right hand, face down. -
Placing the indifferent card in the deck at any point, the magician is free to now say a magic word, make a magic motion, or simply riffle the deck. He then flips over the top card (which never left) to show that the displayed card has “returned to the top.”
- The magician pulls the nine of clubs and the eight of clubs out of the deck and puts the nine of clubs on top of the eight of clubs, then puts both cards on the top of the deck. He is now ready to perform this variant of the “Comeback Card.”
- The first part of the trick is performed the same - catching a break at the top two cards, they are turned over as one: “You can see the eight of clubs is the top card on the deck.”
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This time, after dealing off the top card (the nine of clubs) and placing it in the middle of the deck, the magician should stop when the card is halfway pushed in. Holding the deck in his left hand, the magician can extend his forefinger and turn the deck face up, towards the audience. The tip of his finger covers the Nine symbol, and the audience will see an arrangement of clubs pips on the card that looks like the eight. - The rest of the trick is performed the same way.
