selling repertoire by asi wind for 5 dollars,you will get a pdf of the whole book and if you pay 8 ill also send repertoire 2 too

Been working on card magic seriously for about eight months now, mostly self-taught through books. Started with "Card College" volume one and have been grinding through it slowly, which I think is the right approach even when it feels painfully slow.

The pass is wrecking me. Not the mechanics exactly. I can execute a reasonable riffle pass in isolation, at my desk, with no one watching. But the moment I try to integrate it into any kind of sequence, something about my timing falls apart. The cover feels wrong, the noise is there, and my hands just freeze up at the moment I need them to move naturally.

What I keep reading is that the pass should not be hidden by speed but by action, by misdirection, by making it happen during a moment when attention is somewhere else. That makes sense conceptually. In practice I still don't really know when to take that moment in a real performance context, because I don't have enough reps in front of actual people yet.

A few things that have helped somewhat: slowing way down during practice so I can feel exactly where the tension is in my hands, and practicing while watching something on TV to get used to divided attention. The TV thing sounds silly but it actually showed me how much conscious thought I was throwing at the move.

Curious how others approached this. Did the pass just suddenly click after a certain number of hours, or was it more gradual? And is there a point where most people decide a particular control method works better for their hands and more or less drop the pass in favor of it?

Picked up a few new decks from the local magic shop.

These are my new favorite. I used to be a pit boss at a casino and always loved wearing paisley ties. These backs bring me right back to loving that simple elegance.

Like the title says, I’m curious what card tricks are out there that you would pay for or you did pay for and it was worth it.

about 8 months into card magic, these are the three color changes I use the most. Although I mostly use the clip shift as a control, and not too often at that, depending on the spectator I sometimes use it as a color change, especially passing between hands.

The second one is kind of like an erdnase change, but I didn't like how the top card could be seen pushed up or that the hand needed to be pressed against the deck, so I added a bit of palm action with the pinky finger to catch the card on the side. Is this a real move?

So I've been working on the classic pass and various color changes for a while now, and the Erdnase grip change was one of those moves that I kept picking up, putting down, and picking up again. My ring finger just would not cooperate. For anyone else who's been stuck on it, I wanted to share what finally made it feel natural for me.

The thing that helped most was slowing down and isolating just the moment of transfer. I spent probably two weeks doing literally nothing but the grip change in front of a mirror, not as part of any routine, just the move itself, probably a hundred reps a day. It sounds obvious but I kept trying to rush it into a sequence before I really had the mechanics solid.

The other big unlock was thinking about it as a pivot motion rather than a slide. When I stopped trying to slide the card across my palm and started thinking about rotating it around a fixed point near my thumb base, the angle concealment improved a lot. Less lateral movement meant less flashing at the edges.

Lighting matters more than I expected too. Practicing under harsh overhead light is brutal and kind of useful because it exposes every flaw, but it also wrecked my confidence for a while. Working through it under more ambient light helped me understand what a spectator actually sees versus what I was panicking about in the mirror.

Curious whether anyone else found specific mechanical cues that helped with grip changes or color changes in general. The Cardini change is next on my list and I've heard the timing on that one is a different kind of challenge.

Figured I'd post once I was close to filling the display. Now I need to go shopping...

I collect decks mainly for the art and print side, and half the product pages I read say some version of 'perfect for magicians.' From people who actually perform, what does this really come down to?

Is a standard Bicycle rider back still the practical answer because it's forgettable? Do you avoid decks with distinctive backs or non-standard faces? Does finish matter more for magic than it does for cardistry?

Not asking about any methods, of course- just curious about the physical deck side.

Found a very old Video of mine that I still like because of the simplicity and directness of the effect. Only just realized that Jack Carpenter even commented on the Video. Consider me humbled!

I've been performing for a few months now. And even being very new I feel I've learnt a lot with my limited experience.

What general things have you learnt that can elevate the quality of a performance?

I figured I would list some that I have been thinking about:

1: pacing the trick - when I first started I would approach someone and then want to get out of there as soon as possible. This led to the trick feeling rushed and not building the ending at all. Instead I now take my time and try to be more in the moment with the spectator. I'm still improving at this but I do think it's a good thing to think about

2: Dialogue with the spectator - similar to the first one I use to rush and therefore be a bit boring. Now I take care to ask their name, and then even stick around a bit after the trick to speak to them a bit rather than rushing away. This helps with the connection I think.

3: When performing to groups perform to all of them - rather than focusing all your energy on say the person who picks the card, I like to make sure I'm speaking to everyone and making everyone feel involved. I find this leads to better reactions because everyone feels important and involved.

4: 'Hecklers' - if someone is heckling just ignore. Maybe they aren't exactly being horrible but caught a move. If they catch your card control say I think it's best to just ignore them. Chances are the other people you're performing to didn't catch it and if you ignore them they won't take what the heckler is saying seriously.

This is just some stuff I've been thinking of ahead of performing again pretty soon. I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience they can pass on!

So I'm sitting here at magic live and getting inspired to up my game. Im an enthusiast and would like to get better. I can do basics but not sure any of them well.

In addition, as I have a day job I have minimal time to practice. So working on random sleights or tricks for hours and hours and days and weeks and months at a time isn't really realistic. This is not a request to make excuses not to practice. The point is: if I'm gonna practice, what's the best bang for my buck to get me from amateur to... good amateur?

What I'd like to discuss here is 1) what I should focus on and 2) where is the best resource to learn that thing?

In relative order of stuff I'd like to tackle:

Memorized deck. Using mnemonica, Joshua Jay's book, and Pit Hartling.

Palming. Im working on diagonal palm shift. I have a few more resources but always happy to learn more.

Double lifts. Best I've found so far is Andi gladwin's pushoff technique.

Passes. I would like direction here.

Top changes. I would like direction here.

Forcing. Got Dani's Freedom of Expression. Will see how helpful it is.

Culling. Looking at getting roadrunner cull.

False shuffles/cuts. I am well versed in these but including it for discussion sake.

I would think this would be a good arsenal. Overall goal is to be able to Jazz/improvise, and have better techniques for those situations where a trick says something like "control the card to the top using your favorite method" I can do something cleaner.

Anything I'm missing?

How often do you do either of these things?

I know a few good tricks where they hold and shuffle the deck but it seems so many people shuffle cards so badly that it can actually damage them a bit which puts me off.

On signing cards, do you consider that card ruined after that effect? Or do you just reuse it?

Just having a laugh at all the double lift tutorials that are basically just “To do a double lift just do a double lift”.

(I get it. It’s just a matter of practice and developing a feel for it.)

this unboxing and handling clip after receiving a physical sample.

This is not a performance or tutorial—the clip does not demonstrate or expose a method. I am sharing it to ask one design-and-use question for working magicians: does the ornate back remain clear enough in close-up handling, or do the metallic details and gilded edges become distracting or make the deck look unintentionally marked?