Episode Recap: Blown Away

This week on Wizard Wars, magicians Leon Etienne and Billy Kid go head to head with a pair of magicians from New Jersey, Mark Calabrese and John Stessel, a college sophomore. Host Ellen Fox reveals tonight's everyday objects that must each be incorporated into both magician teams' routines: a calculator, balloons, and an electric leaf blower with a pile of leaves.

Leon and Billy get their trick underway, opening by popping balloons onstage to reveal hidden calculators. Leon then inflates a balloon while Billy makes the inflated balloon deflate as the calculator magically appears inside the deflated balloon. They then hand Gregory on the Wizard Team a new, unopened bottle of maple syrup. They head to the Judges' table where they have Penn pick a leaf at random and sign his name on one side while Teller signs his name on the other side of the same leaf.

Leon makes his way back to the stage, takes the leaf, and shoves it with dozens of other leaves into the leaf blower. Once turned on, the leaves shoot out everywhere as Billy attempts to catch Penn and Teller's leaf with a chopstick. When the trick fails, Leon convinces the audience that they're completely blown their finale... until he reminds Billy about the maple syrup. Gregory lifts up the bottle sitting by his seat to reveal the signed leaf inside, which Penn and Teller also confirm. The Judges are completely blown away by Leon and Billy's magic.

Challengers Mike and John begin their routine by handing a floating balloon to Kristen, one of the Judges. They then blow over the crowd with their first trick as Mike seems to completely defy gravity as John blows the leaf blower at him. Mike then has an audience member pick four random two-digit numbers, which he then multiplies on the calculator. The resulting long number is written on a white board; John asks Kristen to pop her balloon. In it, she finds a note with the same exact large number written on it.

The Judges criticize Mike and John for their lack of real showmanship, but appreciated some clever prediction magic. Ultimately, Leon and Billy advance to the Wizard War round. Ellen reveals their next batch of everyday objects: a janitor's keyring, a mini-fridge, a drivable kid's car, and a horse mask.

Leon and Billy take the stage to celebrate their first round win and reveal a leftover balloon from their first act inside the mini fridge. He pops the balloon to reveal a bottle of champagne. He then transforms a tissue into a set of janitor's keys, which they then leave sitting in plain view on the Judges' table. They have a random audience member mix up magnetic letters on the mini-fridge into any random order. They turn the fridge away from the audience as the volunteer mixes up the letters.

Then, they bring up a tarp and make a magical horse with the horse mask transform into a drivable kid's car on their table on stage. Leon has Teller look at the key ring and they notice that the order of the magnet colors matches the order of the colors on each of the janitor keys. Leon then reveals that the random letters and numbers on the fridge match the license plate on the kid's car.

Wizard Team members Greg and Shimshi take the stage. Gregory takes a wallet from his pocket and reveals it belongs to an audience member who didn't realize he'd been pick-pocketed that evening! He becomes their on-stage assistant from the audience as Gregory hands him back his wallet.

They present their assistant with a locked mini-fridge. Gregory holds out a keyring of random janitor's keys, then hands their assistant a key - that doesn't open the lock. As Gregory slides the keys off their ring, Shimshi encourages their assistant to pick any of the keys again. He does, and suddenly, he can magically open the fridge.

They reveal a sealed loaf of bread in a plastic bag as his prize; the assistant is less than thrilled. They ask him to unseal the bag and take off the top slice and amazingly, inside, he pulls out his own wallet. The Wizard Team then transforms a tiny toy car into the larger kid's drivable car, with the lanky Shimshi at the wheel. For their final trick, Shimshi dons the horse's mask and then magically transforms into Gregory!

Despite the routine's flaws, Penn and the other Judges were impressed by the Wizard Team's balls to attempt such difficult tricks. Even with their flaws, it's enough to award the Wizard Team this week's victory over the challengers.