theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Just starting to add some flash into my performance

M

Manahan

Aug 31, 2007
77
1
Hey guys, Manahan here

well ive been trying to get some extra...spunk if you will into my prformace, i can do basic cuts, like te pivotal cut, Thecuso's Flip cut using a charlier, i can do amazing fans and stuff, its more the cuts i need, and help on begginer stuff for cuts would be great, Sybils area a liiitle to advanced lol.
 
When I got XB, the first thing I learned was the Impossible Stack, I figured if it was impossible, and I could do that, the rest of the DVD would be easy. I was right. Once I learned that, I found D&D's stuff, and haven't touched card magic since... then I watched the tricks section of the Trilogy, now I'm torn :P

But on topic, XB is good for the basic cuts to do with magic. D&D's stuff is more flourishes for flourishing sake rather than to be done in conjunction with magic. I find that if you try to use them with magic, people suspect things because they are so flashy. XB is your best bet for the basics and even some advanced stuff.
 
If you are looking to add flourishes into your magic performance, I would advise against it. I beileve flourishes and magic should be kept completely seperate. If not, the concept of "being natural" (something I think is immensely important) in a way goes to hell. But then again, that's just the way I operate, and that's the school of magic that I was brought up in.
 
Jamie said:
If you are looking to add flourishes into your magic performance, I would advise against it. I beileve flourishes and magic should be kept completely seperate. If not, the concept of "being natural" (something I think is immensely important) in a way goes to hell. But then again, that's just the way I operate, and that's the school of magic that I was brought up in.
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If the flourishing is part of you being natural though, then it's fine. For example I have a deck with me so often, people think somethings up when I'm not doing something overly flashy, that's why I love D&D's material so much, it suits my style.
 
UnholyGodn said:
That is quite possibly the most useless response I have ever seen on a Forum, ever. Including my own... just... wow...

If you hate this place so much why are you here? I haven't seen you make a single constructive or even positive post at all.
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it was meant as a joke

and im sorry, buddaha, for not walking the middle path for forum enlightment

i dont hate this place, as ive mentioned before, read around

next time ill add a smiley so people can know its a joke *eye roll*
 
UnholyGodn said:
That is quite possibly the most useless response I have ever seen on a Forum, ever. Including my own... just... wow...

If you hate this place so much why are you here? I haven't seen you make a single constructive or even positive post at all.
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Chill out buddy. It was clearly a joke. This forum doesn't have to be the place where fun goes to die.

Anyway, lets get back to our original debate. Flourishing is not natural. Showing great feats of dexterity instills in your audience the feeling that some type of trickery must be going on. I highly doubt that people are more likely to think something is up if you are handling a deck in a normal manner. I respect the fact that its your style, don't get me wrong. I just don't think that that style of magic, especially if done badly holds effective over a large number of demographics and locations when performing.
 
Jamie said:
Chill out buddy. It was clearly a joke. This forum doesn't have to be the place where fun goes to die.

Anyway, lets get back to our original debate. Flourishing is not natural. Showing great feats of dexterity instills in your audience the feeling that some type of trickery must be going on. I highly doubt that people are more likely to think something is up if you are handling a deck in a normal manner. I respect the fact that its your style, don't get me wrong. I just don't think that that style of magic, especially if done badly holds effective over a large number of demographics and locations when performing.
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I don't perform a lot, if ever, and when I do I perform to the demographic my style suits. My style suits my personality, I am comfortable in my personality so that is what garners me the best results and the best reactions. Plus when I say something flashy, I don't mean pulling out every cut from the System during an ACR or something, I mean flashy like D&D's magic where they add a little flourish to spice up a trick, makes it unique.
 
UnholyGodn said:
I don't perform a lot, if ever, and when I do I perform to the demographic my style suits. My style suits my personality, I am comfortable in my personality so that is what garners me the best results and the best reactions. Plus when I say something flashy, I don't mean pulling out every cut from the System during an ACR or something, I mean flashy like D&D's magic where they add a little flourish to spice up a trick, makes it unique.
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It basically boils down to schools of thought. We belong to different ones.
 
In my opinion the only ways to perform flourishes with your magic is either if your doing a demonstration of your skills(like a card cheating routine) or If your performance style is like a showoff Im better than you type thing. So like Jamie said they should be seperated. If you really want to though I suggest the sybil to start it may be hard but theres endless variations and its easy to transfer to madonnas and such. Also the tornado isnt to hard and once you get better you can do crabshack, I beleive lonnie still has some dvds available
 
For cuts, learn sybil, it's really not that difficult and once you get used to using two hands and the basic motions, alot of the other cuts become alot easier, at least in my opinion.

Another amazing DVD, that no one has mentioned is Showoff with cards, it starts at level one teaching you fans, charlier etc...and then goes all the way up to Level five where it shows you some more difficult flourishes like sybil and the octo display...it really is a great DVD and I have learned alot of material from it.
 
Avancer said:
Another amazing DVD, that no one has mentioned is Showoff with cards, it starts at level one teaching you fans, charlier etc...and then goes all the way up to Level five where it shows you some more difficult flourishes like sybil and the octo display...it really is a great DVD and I have learned alot of material from it.
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Are you serious? everything from MM is garbage
 
Jamie is right, if ur audience is impressed by your dexterity or say OMG u are really fast with the cards, u pretty much failed as a magician if u are trying to perform magic. (no disrespect to cardistry)

personally i do use some cardistry in my own performance as well, but the emphasize should always be the magic itself and not the flashy displays. some fancy Fan here and there is great when u try to let the spectator pick a card or a lepaul spread when u try to display the deck is a regular deck, those doesnt overshine the effect u are going to perform yet set up a standard that u know ur way around the cards, i found setting up a standard, an expectation from the audience beeing very important, also using flashy moves as an added touch of humor is great, for example u spread a fan withhold some cards when ur spectator is choosing a card, then do the siamese fan or other variations and say "or wait perhaps u want some extra options." is really great, but then again magic is a performance art, that means what works for me doesnt necessarily work for you.

but yes alot of those ultra fancy cut from cardistry are really useless for any magic effect. but it is ok to use some small short less fancy ones for a fake cut when trying to control the card, that means it wont last more than 3 seconds.

Currently im testing some routines that end up having cards in the position for either long distance spinner/hotshot cut/boomerang.
 
If you want to do some flashy moves, order The Trilogy at the Dan&Dave Website. Or, wait and buy it here on Octobr 31st.

I haven't seen the dvd, but I have heard amazing things about it!
 
How the hell do you have 113 posts already??

Back on topic, if you wanna add a little flash during your magic performances D&D is somewhat better then Xtreme Beginnerz. The reason for this is that a lot of stuff in XB won't retain deck order so you can't do it in the middle of a trick. Flourishes that also work as false cuts will allow you to show off your skills in the middle of a trick w.out messing anything up.
 
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elitespart said:
How the hell do you have 113 posts already??

Back on topic, if you wanna add a little flash during your magic performances D&D is somewhat better then Xtreme Beginnerz. The reason for this is that a lot of stuff in XB won't retain deck order so you can't do it in the middle of a trick. Florishes that also work as false cuts will allow you to show off your skills in the middle of a trick w.out messing anything up.
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It's important to learn the basics before getting into XB. The content of XB provides a firm foundation to a lot of other cardistry moves.
 
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