Any trick can be a "reputation maker".
My favorite tricks to perform:
-CFB: A signed, selected card is visibly placed in the middle of the deck, which is placed inside the card box. The performer then shakes the box, and the selected card has penetrated the card box and come to the performer's hand, spectator's hand, table, etc.
-The Garden Path: Spectator A picks a card, signs it. It is placed face-down on the table/ground/etc (underneath an object/shoe/etc). Spectator B picks a card, and it is placed in the same manner as the first card, several feet away. The performer, through actions rather difficult to sanely explain in text, reveals that the two cards have changed positions. Yes, this is a transposition effect... What makes it so special, you ask? Well, for one, I created it. And secondly, it uses no duplicates whatsoever. The selected cards can literally be placed ANYWHERE.
Those would be two of my favorite tricks to perform.
Ben
edit:
I forgot possibly my hardest hitting, favorite effect:
-resTORE: torn and restored card. signed card. handed out for inspection mid-trick.