Routines are the way to go but it does depend on your style of magic. I believe single, short tricks can work extremely well if they are visual enough. Im talking about effects like, pressure, prophet, haunted deck, panic - to name but a few. Its exactly what made David Blaine so famous; choosing really visual effects and performing them as stand alone effects with little or no patter. Must be highly visual though. Ungimmiked card tricks i dont believe, except a select few exceptions (SWAK for example), are visual enough so i believe do need to worked into a routine. If you love card to mouth, so do i, link it into an ACR - you can even use it as a finisher.
oh, and remember single tricks like those ive mentioned only really work on the street or some similar setting, if you are performing in a professional setting then of course use those tricks but having solid routines is vital.
Oi Vey!
For starters what made Blaine & Angel so "famous" had little to do with the actual effects presented and more to do with a planned and deliberate marketing campaign -- Money is the grease that creates celebrity status in today's world; the effects are only one side of the product. Too, what you see on TV
IS NOT what works in real life. A Tv spot is just that, a short focus bit and frequently, that's all you see because of time edits and a long list of other issues.
When it comes to card effects that are strong vs. gaffed deck routines. . . sorry, I'm not even a card guy and I know better. I've seen Ricky Jay up-stage major stage performers on National TV by doing little more than Assembling Aces and watched Martin Nash leave people totally stunned as he dealt poker hands times after time, telling people what they were holding before they even knew.
Working on the Streets is a new thing, used to be such work is what we did when the gigs weren't coming in and we needed cash to cover food & rent; today it's a perceived Destiny. There is a reason however, you don't find many books written on the topic prior to the late 1990s. That said, if you study the works of the old time hustlers such as Senator Clark Crandle, you'll see that routines that build and hold interest are the key to this sort of thing, especially when you are barking on behalf of a given company that's sponsoring your spot (used to be, to get sidewalk space a local store would sponsor your application, I believe this is still viable in some areas).
ACR is solely for Magicians -- its Masturbatory in its essence even though it can impress folks because of how it demonstrates dexterity and command. On the down side, such antics likewise bore the hell out of folks and become part of the reason people loathe us -- we're pompous show offs. The public knows we've trained, much like an athlete when it comes to manipulation skill. Traditionally, the showing of such skill is done from the stage in the form of billiard balls, coins, cards & card fans, birdies, daggers, etc. A cohesion that's appreciated by the paying public because art & talent are combined into a single thing by way of a series of "miracles" that culminate into a big surprise.
I know that this site and E have a heavy patronage of "Sidewalk Entertainers" but I also know that many of the older members here grew up and away from sidewalk busking for a reason; the biggest being a more assured sense of income via legit means. Busking, when done in the more traditional manner, only paid well when the mage served as misdirection for his pick-pocket partners and when throw the cards or shuffling a pea beneath walnut shells. It was a criminal act but a stealthy one that many people enjoyed participating in, knowing they might be taken for all they have on their person. Even now, there are suckers that will play 3 Cards believing they can beat the dealer . . . a con that's been known of for over 300 years to my understanding.
Understand the history of your craft and you'll be able to see first hand, what worked and why as well as how. From this effort your magic can and will evolve into a thing appreciated by all, even your most ardent critics. Relying on gaffs & gimmicks however, makes you a trickster and little other; such things might give the ego a temporary boast as they are presented, but without demonstration of "theater" -- skills of oratory and animation -- such things fade quickly from the public mind and worse, leave us with memories of faux accomplishments -- a general "lie". This may sound cruel and of course, we would hope it untrue, but look at how empty such things really are and how much "More" you could give with but a modicum of creativity and "Theater".
Yes, you close your post with a
correction -- recognition of what others have stated and the need for structure, but why cheat one audience of a more complete and focused act while giving it to another? Why sell yourself short by singling out two or three favorite things vs. raising the odds to your favor by delivering a practiced product -- a "signature" that the right person may just happen upon and the right doors opened, that take you from the one forum to a much higher level of recognition?
Just a few thoughts. . .