“What are they looking at?” It’s a sunny day on the Paly quad, and a small group of people is gathered in front of the library. In the center of the cluster, freshman Drake Quiec holds their attention, performing captivating card tricks. 

Quiec, who started developing his magic skills in September and has been seeking an audience to practice on, found the perfect audience in Paly students during brunch and lunch.

“I only started [magic] a month ago,” Quiec said. “I started [showing people my tricks] at school to practice. It’s mainly to practice, let people have fun and talk to people.”

His passion for magic and card tricks started when he watched a tutorial video on YouTube. It took him a short amount of time to learn this trick — just 15 minutes — and his parents were his first spectators.

One of his favorite tricks is “Two Detectives,” wherein Quiec pretends to be a detective catching a suspect — the suspect being the card the audience member selected. As the trick goes on, Quiec progressively narrows down the suspects until he inevitably finds the selected card. 

Another favorite trick is when he takes the selected card out of the deck, yet at the end of the trick it has mysteriously teleported back into the full deck. Finally, a very dramatic trick is “All Cards Turn Over but One.” In this trick, Quiec turns over cards at random, then all of a sudden all the cards are facing the same direction except for the selected card. 

As expected, Quiec soon fell in love with the rush of magic.

“It felt like ‘Wow’ to do my first trick,” Quiec said. 

After mastering a few staple tricks, Quiec’s next task was to connect with people. As a freshman, new to Paly, he’s found that performing magic for strangers is the best way to connect with them.

“What I’ve been interested in is talking to people,” Quiec said. “Going up to people and saying, ‘You want to see a magic trick?’ has been my goal.”

Cardistry involves fancy shuffles and different card motions, which is a very creative aspect of magic. However, magic tricks are not the same as cardistry. A magic trick is an act that appears to be impossible, but actually involves deception on the magician’s part, and it typically involves audience participation.

 In order to make an impression and learn from experience, Quiec has to have an audience. 

“I like going up to everyone,” Quiec said. “I like cardistry because I have to go up to people and talk to people. Anytime there’s a big group and they all go ‘What!’ or other loud reactions, that’s really good. Those are my favorite people.”

Though normally Quiec enjoys the personal aspect of magic and connecting with others, sometimes he is silent during his performances. C Magazine first discovered him when he approached staff members and performed a silent trick.

“I’ve done that [performing silently] a couple times,” Quiec said. “It’s based off of the great Shin Lim [a famous magician known for performing without speaking] — he’s performed silent magic in Las Vegas.” 

Silent magic can enhance the viewing experience. Without the magician’s voice guiding the audience through the tricks, making comments here and there, the viewers are captivated by the artistry.

“[Silent magic] is good for shock value,” Quiec said. “If you’re just focusing on the trick, it’s a lot more fun.”

However, sometimes talking to an audience can prove to be more effective, especially if a magician needs to distract their viewers from seeing the trick.

“I move away from that [silent magic] sometimes because I need to distract people,” Quiec said. “Sometimes there’s a specific trick and I need to talk to them. I say, ‘What am I doing here? Follow this.’ I prefer speaking.”

After all, speaking to new people is Quiec’s goal when performing at Paly. He finds that it’s not too difficult to make new acquaintances through his magic tricks.

“The magic speaks for itself,” Quiec said. “It’s a skill to go up to people and just start talking to them. It’s not too awkward, unless they don’t want to see a trick or if I don’t do it right.”

Especially for a new magician, performing for an audience can be nerve-racking due to a fear of messing up the trick and revealing the secret behind the magic. 

“When I do tricks, sometimes I get pretty nervous because I want to make sure it doesn’t go wrong,” Quiec said. “[I need to] make sure people can’t follow what I’m doing because I [don’t wait to] break a trick.”

There have been a few instances where Quiec has messed up the magic, and the reveal hasn’t been as dramatic as he had hoped. Some audiences are more perceptive than others, and they might guess how the trick is done.

“I’ve messed up specific parts of tricks, and it’s not the card they [the audience] picked,” Quiec said. “There was this time in the airport when I went to random adults, and the card I showed them was a completely different card. Then they saw right through the trick.”

To avoid these blunders, as with any skill, card tricks take time and effort to master. In the transition from middle school to high school, Quiec finds time in his busier schedule to learn new tricks.

“When I’m taking study breaks, or if I’m hanging out for a bit, I will spend some of that time learning [magic],” Quiec said. “I don’t find it [the school-magic balance] too bad. I just need to practice a few times.”

As with any art form, many audience members might not fully see the amount of effort that goes into learning, practicing and tweaking a trick. Along with maintaining his studies, Quiec learns one or two new tricks every week — learning the specific ways to trick an audience into believing the magic.

“I practice cardistry, that’s the cool shuffles, at least three hours a week,” Quiec said. “That’s not too much. The actual tricks themselves take more time, at least an hour every day.”

In addition to learning the tricks themselves, Quiec usually customizes the tricks to his personal style, adding embellishments or changing certain elements.

“I learn a trick and go through different methods,” Quiec said. “I see if I can make the trick better when I do it a different way. There’s stuff to tricks that I’ve cut out to make them faster and generally better.”

In addition, magic has been great in helping Quiec’s transition from school to school. The communal and interpersonal nature of the art has helped him form and strengthen bonds.

“In eighth grade, I was at a different middle school, and then I moved to Palo Alto and Greene,” Quiec said. “So, just to get friends, I’ve done stuff like magic. I’ve done other things like this hobby; I do balloon art, too. [Magic] has helped me a lot.”

Magic, in essence, is a form of communication — an artful form of communication. Quiec has employed it to connect with people at Paly and engage his mind in a unique way.

“It’s just entertainment,” Quiec said. “I like talking to people, so being able to say, ‘Hey, wanna see a magic trick?’ is great. Magic helps me get out there, to get to know people. It’s just fun.”