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That's YouTuber Airrack moments before punching me in the arm and making me cry. But so you can fully understand why this unfolded, allow me to take you back. My name is Dan Rhodes and I am a magician. And you see, not only am I a magician, I actually consider myself YouTube's greatest magician. And this my friends is the story on how YouTuber Eric Decker, aka Airrack, tried to steal my crown and how I inevitably enacted my revenge. That was good, wasn't it? Yeah, sick mate. Yeah, come on. Now, would you believe me if I told you that this actually all began 952 days ago? When I ventured from my home of England
all the way to Los Angeles, California. I am in Los Angeles today, guys. out with my internet friends, celebrated a birthday, played some golf, badly, let off some rounds like a true American, I got a YouTube tattoo, I got kissed by a dog. Look at these dogs. Practiced a little magic. And I even hiked to the top of the gosh darn Hollywood sign. Now, I was just visiting for a casual holiday, but on day seven of my trip is when I met our main protagonist, Eric Decker. You see, this was a very momentous occasion for myself because me and Eric had been friends online for years, but never met in person. This was the first time. After spending around 20 minutes at Eric's house, I decided to show him some magic tricks, but that's
when things took a turn for the worse. You see, because after showing Eric my magic, he then made a preposterous claim. He said, "Hey Dan, your magic's pretty cool, buddy, but uh believe it or not, I'm actually YouTube's greatest magician." And I said, "Don't be silly, Mr. Eric. Clearly, I am YouTube's greatest magician. I mean, don't take it personally, It's It's just facts. And after that is when Eric Decker made the single greatest mistake of his entire life since he was conceived. There and then he challenged me to a one-v-one magic battle where the winner would take home the most prestigious award ever, the crown of YouTube's greatest magician. So obviously, as being YouTube's greatest magician, I accepted Eric's challenge.
Why did I have to wink? It was all going so well until I did the wink. So 3 days after me and Eric sends me his live location to where we'll be having this magic battle. And it turns out we were meeting at a place called the Magic Apple. Very fitting, I know. Oh my gosh. Be careful. Don't get too close. I don't have my wand on me. Big mistake. Safe to say my guy was taking his role very seriously because he dressed as a full-blown wizard. Listen, Dan. You and I are going to have a magic off today, okay? Okay. You brought your best card trick with you, right? All right, let's see it.
You think you're a better magician? Look at me, bro. Look at me. Do you think I'm a better magician? What's the difference between a magician and a wizard? Oh. Hey, you need to fire this guy. Turn this thing off, bro. So I've got a pack of cards and I let the lady name any card she wants. Queen of diamonds. All right, you watch. One, two. You see, what I did there was my favorite trick where somebody thinks of a card and I make it float out of the deck.
Oh my. So clearly, I had this magic battle in the bag. Next up was Eric's trick. Greatest magic trick. Oh, no. Do you know how to do this? I have no idea. That's right. Dan, Brandy. This is my lovely assistant. We've been working for weeks together. And I'm about to show you up. Here we go. The ultimate illusion. By the way, if this goes wrong, I'm saying it right now for the video. This was nothing to do with me. This was all Dan's idea.
This was not my idea. Dan inspired me to become a magician in the first place. You want to go ahead and stick your hands out and just prove that it's you? That's real, right? Oh, no. What? Are you okay? I'm good. Oh, stop. Stay right where you are. Help. In case you think this is fake. I genuinely am speechless. And speechless I was. Somehow this silly American in the wizard costume managed to successfully recreate a pretty cool magic trick. I'm impressed. Now let's just make sure Brian comes out of here in one piece, right? Oh my god. Head to a minute. THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD.
YEAH. YOU SAY barely any of your trick? No. Now that concluded our magic battle, but who really won? All that was left to do was for Eric to fairly edit the video. So, a few weeks go by and on the 2nd of May 2022 is when Eric posted the battle. With the title, I became the world's greatest magician. What is this guy even talking about? This is Dan, the most famous magician on YouTube with almost 12 million subscribers. Basically, Eric made a video showing our magic battle, but instead of fairly showing my trick, he did this. to perform his trick. And it was awful. When it was my turn, I was nervous.
Can you believe it? He cut my trick out the video, making me look like a fool. Giving Mr. Eric all the glory. After posting the video, got thousands of comments, many of which shattering my ego. Now the comments, I could handle, but what couldn't you handle, Dan? Thanks for asking. The fact that it got 18 million views. And even worse, Eric was posting videos calling himself YouTube's greatest magician. With my credibility at an all-time low, the only move remaining on the table was to look towards the future to see if there'd be an opportunity to enact my revenge. And 421 days later is when that opportunity came in the form of an email from YouTube inviting me to one of their events called Google Beach in Cannes, France.
And guess who was going to be attending that very event. You guessed it, it was Eric. Eric was going to be attended. So now, armed with the knowledge that I'd be face-to-face with this man almost a year later, it was time to plan my revenge. Step one, arrive at the event and when I see Decker's face, politely ask if he'll re-indulge in a magic battle. He'll say yes, but I don't want to defeat this man in a magic battle because without his little gimmick, he's not much of a magician at all. So if I was going to truly solidify my revenge, I was going to have to prank the prankster. And thank goodness for step two because this was the step where I meticulously started planning the prank
I was going to play on Mr. Decker. You see, there's a piece of magic where somebody selects a card, punches me on the arm, and then their card is revealed in the form of a bruise. So the way I was going to turn this innocent trick into a prank is when Eric punches me on the arm and I reveal the card, I was going to pretend to cry and convince this man that he's done me bodily harm. Very evil, I know. And now for step three, all I simply had to do was to put the final nail in the coffin and confront Eric in Cannes, France. YouTube's greatest magician. Able This is a lie. He's Everything's going to change now.
Listen, pal. The only reason you're YouTube's greatest magician is because you caught my trick out our original battle. So I'm challenging you. Let's go again and I'll promise you I'll win. All right, listen. Two days from now, you and me meet back right here. 5:00 p.m. I show you a trick, you show me a trick. I don't know what you're I've been a fake. Deal. We will return This exact spot. Final magic battle. to mark the spot. you were going to take this man's crowd as the most famous magician on YouTube.
I just said the greatest, but yeah, no. He's done for. So The greatest. We'll see. saying? We'll find out. 48 hours. So, I finally arrived at the event and luckily Eric had agreed to the battle just 2 days later. But, before I could prank Eric, there was one last person I had to get on board with my plan. He is here. Hello, handsome man. Come into my humble abode, sir. Make yourself at home already. What am I here for, T? I'll tell you exactly why you're here, Mr. Zach Honavar. You see, this handsome man isn't just any man. He is actually Eric's friend and manager. You see, every time there's a prank on YouTube, there's just one thing that doesn't sit
right with me. After the prank is played, the cameras are still rolling. If I was being pranked, I would consider that suspicious. So, to avoid any suspicion from Eric, I'm going to ask Zach to be my cameraman. And once I've played the prank where I pretend to cry, I was going to ask everybody to stop rolling. But, Zachary was obviously going to have to keep rolling, else I wouldn't have a video. This is a very important meeting, as you can see from that sign right there. So, now you know the severity of why you are here. I feel like I'm going to get mugged. Zach. Damn.
How's it going? It's going well. I'm scared. You should be very scared, because I am not happy. About a year ago, we filmed a short in which I did an incredible magic trick. I'll show you right now. Pick a card, any card, and then show the camera. Place it back. Okay, here's what I'm going to do, Zach. I'm going to place this card somewhere in the middle. Could you hold out both your hands and grab your card? Look me in the eyes. What the What card It's a good trick, right? It is a good trick. That was a great Well, someone didn't think it was good. Who didn't think it was good?
Good question. Thank you for asking. I did a short with your client, Eric. I remember that. I did this exact trick, and he cut it out of the video and said my magic trick was terrible. And now he thinks he's the king of YouTube magic. But, I think your trick was cool. He said that magic trick was awful. So, can we admit it's not awful? It's a good magic trick, right? It was a okay magic trick. A really good magic trick. It's a pretty good magic trick. Really good. So, I've already met with Eric. He said we can have a magic battle tomorrow. That's right. And here comes my grand plan. I want to
get revenge on this man. First off, I've got to show him the best magic trick he's ever seen in his life. Okay. I'm going to get him to pick a playing card, and he's going to punch me in the arm, and his playing card is going to appear on my arm. Okay. And then he's going to take it back and admit that I am the king of YouTube magic. So, you're going to record me, please, Zach? Yes. And please do not stop recording. Even if I say stop recording, just keep recording. Now, this was obviously the final step, but we couldn't let Zach know that in case he told Eric. No, no. But this is a weird ask. If you don't want to help out with this
prank magic trick video, then I will be handcuffing you, tying you to the tower of the tire. Zachary, you're going to do this for me. What do I want out of this, Dan? Love and support from a magician. The ball is in your court, Zach. The big question. Do we have a deal? I guess we have a deal. With just 24 hours left before my big moment, I decided to enjoy my time in Cannes, France. This pigeon has zero fear. And I thought it'd be a good idea to practice some of my magic before the big day. Luckily, David Dobrik was in
Cannes, and he was willing to oblige. Wow. Even Lando Norris was at the event, and he wanted to see some magic. With a good amount of practice under my belt, I had a little bit of a boogie, but now it was finally time to do what I came here to do. Woah, woah, woah. It has come to this. I have been preparing some of the best magic to prove that I am the best magician on YouTube. I've been preparing, too. Well, there's only one thing to do. Zachary. Yes. As you promised, I am requiring your thumbing assistance, please.
Do you have a deck of cards I can borrow? Oh, you said you came prepared. Oh, are you already admitting that you've already messed up? didn't bring them so I could inconvenience you. First magic trick of this battle, can I ask you a question? Do you know who this is? This is Mr. Beast. know that guy. I don't know who that No, no, no, listen. He looks irrelevant. No, this guy right here is known as Jimmy, one of your good friends. Yeah. But to be honest with you, he's wearing a crown.
Yeah. Because this guy thinks he's the king of YouTube, right? But he's not. I'll tell you why not. Because I'm just going to turn for 1 second, but if we just go like this, it should um should turn to you. Oh! king of YouTube, so I hated this video until right now. So, we found the king of YouTube to begin. But you may be the king of YouTube, you're not the king of magic, of course. the king of magic, but yeah. I was a great magic trick. From 1 to 10, what are we giving it? One. Yeah, 10. I'm picking a card. Nice. This is my card. That's the one that you want.
Yes. All right, I'm going to have you put it back in the deck. there. Nice. Okay, great. I'm going to turn this around. Okay. Give it a little He's cheating already. No, no, I'm just checking to make sure, you know what I mean? All right, listen, Dan. I'm not impressed so far. No. Is this your card? Nope. That's why I did He's messed up. not look like this is your card at first glance.
Can we just cut that really quick? Just pretend we didn't do that. Yeah, let's cut again. This definitely won't be in the video. If you don't cut that, bro, I will press charges. It may not look like I found your card, right? But if we keep scrolling through this deck of cards Scrolling. He's been on YouTube too long, he doesn't know any of the words. Wait, just Is that your card? That is my card. Where have you been learning magic tricks? I was being nice on the outside, but in the inside I knew that was the worst magic trick I'd ever seen. We are embarking on part two. How would you rate my last trick? I'd give it a solid seven. That means that I am way more ahead of you.
Mine was a 10. Yours was not a 10. We work off of each other's ratings, which is by the way a very flawed system. What are we doing out here? Am I going to leave this wet? No, no, no. Maybe I should push you into the sink. Round two. Deck of cards. All right. Do me a favor, Mr. Decker. I want you to pick two cards. Call the word stop. Have a look at that card. Remember it. And call the word stop again. Stop. Have a look. Right, show the two cards that you have selected to the cameras.
Now place them back in the deck. All right. Have you got them? Oh, I got them. Right. Now, Eric, we no longer need these playing cards. Gone. You just killed like 10 dolphins. Done. Anyways, have you remembered your cards? Uh yeah, I remember them. Did you pick a red card or a black card? Uh both. Tell me. The 10 of diamonds. Not the four? No. At this point, he was thinking I messed up. Are you sure? Yeah. All right, we'll take the four.
Now just shake it. And it should uh slowly transform High five. Do I not get a high five? High five, yeah. Is it just uh This feels like a YouTube video from 2010 when we're doing all the old memes and the swerves and the Well, Eric definitely likes that one. And if you like that magic trick, then make sure you like the video right now. Look how big the timeline is. This really has been a bad one. So liking the video shows me how much you're enjoying. Beg you. I'll tell you what. Could you do me a favor? Go ahead and show us your final trick. What about my last card? I'll reveal that at the end.
Okay. have like a bottle of water out here? I need it desperately for the trick. Ready for the trick? ready for this magic trick. My magical assistant, uh water. I'm going to make as much of this water disappear as I can. Okay, go. I can sense the anticipate. Where there is not Oh my god. Wait, if you could finish that in one more. No, I'm not going to. Eric, you silly little boy. All these years of calling yourself YouTube's greatest magician, more like YouTube's greatest mistake, pal. That was special.
What do you rate it? 4 out of 10. I think it's probably closer to a 10, but Final round. It's okay. Did you drink a lot of water? And you picked another card. Do you remember what it is? Yeah. Okay, make a fist. A tight fist. Now, what I want you to do, Eric, is you're going to punch me in the arm and you're going to think about your card. All right. So, go ahead. Just dig me in the arm and think about it. hard do you want me to punch you? I'm kind of a hard puncher, bro.
It's okay, man. I've knocked Jake Paul out. PLAY THE FOOTAGE. ARE YOU READY? I've never been more ready, Eric. This never had to happen if you didn't wrong me in the past, so now I've gone to extreme lengths. Okay, you can do it, though, can't you, mate? Come on, again. Think about your card. Get it in your mind, Eric. You're my friend. You're going to hit me. We're not friends. We're enemies. What? Hit me. Mr. Beast is better than you. Hit me. Hit you. This is NOT MAGIC.
YOU'LL NEVER get to his level. Shut up, bro. He's better than you. Oh, my god. What was your card? Four of spades. He almost ruined my moment. It wasn't the four of spades. It was the four of clubs. Good job I captured it on video as evidence. Four of spades? Yeah. Wait, hang on. Oh. Wait. Oh. Ah, the four of clubs. Was it clubs or spades? It was clubs. We have the four of clubs. You can stop recording. I guess you win this one. Thanks, man. Thank you, indeed, Eric. Not only had I now proved that I am the far superior magician, but now I could finally get my revenge.
I think you hit me a bit too hard. What do you mean it was too hard? You told me to do that. Well, stop recording. How did you do that? All right, that's going to be it. Yeah, it's on the video. He asked me to do it. I'm sure at this moment Eric was feeling terrible. You broke my arm, bro. He's like, actually crying. Is he actually crying? Subscribe if you think this is an Oscar-winning performance. That would go a long way for me.
How many babies have you got? I got you. That got you for a second. I did think you were crying a little bit. I was about to yeah. We did it. That was good. Zack, did you keep recording? We came here, I faked tears, cried, I pranked Eric. That's pretty much it. I'm leaving. you got to jump in the ocean. So, Eric, Yeah. would you say I won the magic battle? I would say that you won this magic battle. Yeah. Thank you. Until next time. You did a great job. You're YouTube's greatest magician as of now.
The battle was over, my silly prank had been played, and the very next day was actually my birthday. Even Eric attended my party. Good job he's not a sore loser. Now that balance had been restored to the world and I got the confirmation from the big man that I am YouTube's greatest magician, I could now finally be crowned. Hey guys, YouTube's greatest magician here. I completely understand if you don't want to watch one of these silly videos again, but if you do, then just tap this one here. You know you want to. Go ahead, tap it. Good lads.
