How important is card magic in your opinion?

Jun 30, 2017
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What's your guys opinion on cards in magic, personally I just started magic and hate them I love other kinds of magic, I want to do street then bar/restaurant magic. How important would you guys say it is for me to learn card magic or can you be good without learning bearly any card magic ( I will still learn a little bit).
 
Jan 26, 2017
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What's your guys opinion on cards in magic, personally I just started magic and hate them I love other kinds of magic, I want to do street then bar/restaurant magic. How important would you guys say it is for me to learn card magic or can you be good without learning bearly any card magic ( I will still learn a little bit).
Card magic is a genre of magic, probably the most popular one. Street, restaurant, etc is a genre of performance.
I think card magic can be super powerful.
People do card magic in every type of magic, but I think you will burn out quick if you don't do card magic when you first start out. If you are doing street magic and restaurant magic, you will definitely limit yourself without cards unless you are doing just mentalism and coin magic. You can definitely pull it off, but you will still be limiting your self.


Why do you hate it?
 
Jun 30, 2017
8
1
I don't know why I hate it but suppose I'll give it a shot maybe I'll like it in the end
 
I rarely do card magic for a number of reasons.

1.) A lot of card magic is boring. A lot of my team think it's boring and even I get bored watching other magicians do card magic. I believe the reason for this is because it's unrelatable to everyday life. Despite what most magicians believe, a deck of cards is not an "everyday object" meaning it's not something your average person regularly carries on them. The strongest magic I have discovered, is magic with stuff that people can relate to. Most card plots don't have much meaning to most people. I've seen videos of guys do card routines to a webcam and I literally zone out because I don't care at all about what's happening...even as a magician.
*Quick note: My belief/theory to fix this problem is that card magic still has its place, it just needs to be done in a magical way. Ask yourself, how would Harry Potter or Gandalf do magic with cards? So for example instead of pulling a deck of cards out of your pocket you summon a deck of cards out of "nowhere" in a puff of smoke or from a magic catalog. Then make the deck vanish in a mystical way. Motivate a reason as to why you have your props.

2.) A lot of street magic is stronger, the less card magic you do. There are so many street effects/table hopping effects out there that are not related to card magic in anyway. Look into effects with money, rings, bottles, napkins, paper and pen, clothing, etc. All of this is relatable stuff you might see on the street or at a restaurant. I personally love ring flight effects and marker/pen effects.

3.) Card magic is a whole different beast to train at then other sorts of magic. I don't train that much in card magic (although I plan to eventually). I am instead devoting most of my training to escapism, geek magic, and other stunt magic. Why? Because my analysis of what people really want to see/care about, it comes down to that type of material rather than whipping out a deck of cards at a table and going from there. Is there a market for card magic? Well obviously because look at Bill Malone and Richard Turner. They can make an entire career out of it but that is their schtick. That is what they have devoted their lives to and they became the best at it so people will pay to go see them do their thing. The question is, what do you want to train at? What are you passionate about and what do you think people will want you (specifically you) to do?

Just keep in mind, you can become the best magician in the world without ever touching a deck of cards. Card magic is just another genre that for pragmatic reasons among others, has blown up to be one of the most popular. If you do choose to train at card magic, just be sure to make yours stand out and put your own spin on it.
 
Jan 26, 2017
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...Despite what most magicians believe, a deck of cards is not an "everyday object" meaning it's not something your average person regularly carries on them. The strongest magic I have discovered, is magic with stuff that people can relate to. ..
I have to disagree. I legitimately could walk into my class, and if someone asks me to dhow them a magic trick, a ton of people have there own decks.

I think it is all personal preference. My favorite quote from a spectator came after an opener non-card trick. I pulled out a deck to start a card trick, and he went "Woah, You know a magician's legit when he pulls ut a deck of cards."

I think it matters most on the presentation. Someone can present a card trick the best way possible and people will be interested. You can also present a coin, pen, etc. trick. You mentioned web cam videos - no one puts any patter or presentation effort into those because you aren't talking to someone.

To each his own. Performance of presentation is most important. If you aren't card magic, don't do card magic. But I highly suggest atleast trying it out for a while.

I'm the same way against major stage effects. I still need to try them though to figure out if I ever want to adapt to them.
 
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RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
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It depends on the card trick. Most of them are boring. After three of them they all start looking the same. I like doing tricks with cards instead -- that is tricks where the card does something (get burned, disappear, reappear, turn upside down in a sealed deck, change color, etc.)
 
Jul 1, 2017
10
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I totally get it. When I first got started, over 30 years ago, I thought card tricks were essential to a magician's repertoire. Over the years, I've slowly transitioned to more tricks with borrowed or everyday objects. I find a lot of "pick a card, any card" tricks to be boring, too.

It's not that I set out to put card tricks aside, I just started to really pay attention to what got the best reactions and the "why" of the magic. I wanted to figure out what makes people care about the trick.

If I pull out a deck of cards and have a person pick a card, then find it, so what? Most laymen think it's amazing on some level, but if it's just one card trick after the other, they can all sort of look the same.

So lately, I do more crazy tricks, with cards instead of card tricks. I love torn and restored tricks with all sorts of items, including cards. It's great to leave the spectator with a souvenir. Brent Braun's Torched and Restored is one of my favorites.

But I love to just borrow a dollar bill, clearly display my hands empty (no thumb tip), tear the bill into 4 pieces and then visually melt the edges back into each other as if the fibers are zipping back together! People care about money and it feels so organic.

So I've been playing up my boredom with card tricks as part of my act. It's engaging and disarming and it's fun for me again. For what it's worth, my suggestion would be to maybe just do one really powerful card trick to sort of tip the hat to card magic and then move on to other effects. You could do the invisible deck and then just sit down. ;)

I've been doing a few variations of Any Card at Any Number. Very powerful. Again, could be the only card trick in your act. Check it out.

I wish you all the best as you develop your style and performance preferences. Don't feel like you have to do card magic. You need to decide that for yourself.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
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I really enjoy the fine motor skills involved with card magic. I will do it to relax - just going through sleights and tricks over and over. It's very meditative.

But here's the thing - I don't do any card stuff in my professional work. Zero. Because there's nothing I can do with a deck of cards that's even close to as powerful as what I can do without them.

There is no absolute in magic. If you don't like cards, don't bother with cards. There's a nigh infinite number of other props you can work with. And as to it restricting you - nope. On the contrary - most magicians do card tricks, by not doing card tricks you immediately set yourself apart from everyone else.

And you don't have to be a mentalist to avoid cards. You can do magic with every day objects and you'll be a god. Because when a card magician doesn't have a deck, he's just a person. Whereas if you learn the fundamentals of sleight of hand with random objects, you can always produce a miracle, anywhere.

To be clear, though - there's guys who do amazing card work and they're great at what they do. Shade (The Canadian guy) is amazing to watch - pure poetry of motion. I watch Ricky Jay all the time. The thing is that these guys have taken card magic, and turned it into magic that happens to use cards. That's an important distinction.
 
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Jul 1, 2017
10
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If short cards are a crutch, I'm in a freakin' wheelchair! ;)

I have no pride in how I create effects, if the spectators are fooled and entertained. :)
 
Jul 1, 2017
10
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Sorry. I just saw that I accidentally replied to the short cards post on this one. New here, do I don't know how to edit. :/
 
Jul 26, 2016
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I would say that you hate cards, don't force yourself to do card tricks. People will seethe your heart is not in it, and if you are not passionate about it, you can't expect them to be.

Personally, I like to use cards to tell entertaining or exciting stories, for example, the Gambler versus Magician, The Story of he Twins and how I got hustled in the game of 3 Card Monte. People enjoy and react favorably to these routines. Many people are turned off to pick-a-card type tricks, because they have seen this kind of trick performed poorly by a friend or their Uncle Harold or somebody. Finding their card is kind of meaningless - except to the extent of perhaps showing off some skill. They are thinking, "Like OK, so you found my card..." That does not have much emotional or psychological impact or entertainment value. Of course, a pick-a-card trick can be made more exciting depending on the type of revelation, but oftentimes the spectators do not believe the card is truly lost in the pack because they know you are controlling it, so that often lessens the impact regardless of how good the reveal might be. Further, unless the card is signed, people will often forget their card or even intentionally try to mess you up because the goal is obviously for the magician to show off his/her skill and this sets up kind of a challenge, which psychologically puts many people on the defensive; especially if they are competitive or egotistical, which many people are.

I really liked Tyler Scott's idea to think of how Harry Potter or Gandalf (a real wizard) would do magic using cards. This has got me thinking. I think that when I do card magic I will start by maybe using flash paper and produce the cards out of the flames, and then vanish the deck at the end. Michael Ammar had the idea years ago to vanish the deck at the end of a card routine using a Toppit, which is quite magical, and of course, if you are sitting at a table you could vanish the deck by lapping. Levitating a card like the floating dollar would be very cool and magical and would undoubtedly get a great reaction if done well.
 
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May 27, 2017
18
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I have been doing magic for 9 years (primarily with cards) and I only regularly perform 3 card tricks. These are openers, and it's just because I'm most comfortable with cards. These tricks specifically are ones I use because they fit in well with my character and style. Hypothetically I'd love to get to a point where I no longer use cards (especially because I'm transitioning into a more mentalism-based performance style), but I think that's a lofty goal, considering how much I love card sleights and mechanics.

Also, if I never did card magic then what would happen to my card collection? :p
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
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Personally, I like to use cards to tell entertaining or exciting stories, for example, the Gambler versus Magician, The Story of he Twins and how I got hustled in the game of 3 Card Monte. People enjoy and react favorably to these routines.

In other words - magic that happens to use cards, rather than "Card tricks". This is making magic personal and people definitely like that.

Also, if I never did card magic then what would happen to my card collection?

I'm at this point. I have a fairly decent collection with some pretty nice ones. But I literally don't wear out decks fast enough (because I don't use them in shows) to keep up with how quickly I acquire them. First world problems, right there.

I end up giving a ton of them away, actually. But I may end up selling the majority.
 
Jul 26, 2016
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@christopher: "In other words - magic that happens to use cards, rather than 'Card tricks,' This is making magic personal and people definitely like that."

Yes, very well put.
 
Jun 30, 2017
8
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I appreciate everyone's advice and now I have decided to primarily focus on coin magic, impromptu, a bit of mentalism and cards cheers everyone
 
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