talkmagic.co.uk

What was the Best and Worst trick you had ever brought?


Best:The Stealth Pen

Worst:Brainwave,Invisible

Best trick (sort of) - The BCS system by Richard Osterlind. Absolute pure unadulterated genius.

Worst trick - Some trick that I can't remember the name of but uses colour changing poker chips and some brass thing. Absolute pants and definately not worth the 40 odd euros I paid for it!! Thinking about it, I think it was called 'Traffic Chip'! Total waste of money!!

Best purchase: Mind Mysteries 2 from Richard Osterlind. It's not just the BCS system (any other memorized deck would do as well), but the entire routining and presentation which he lays out. I also like my ITR - although it took me quite some practice to get used to it. Actually, this was my first "real" magic effect.

Worst purchase: Well, there are a lot of things in my drawer catching dust. But I almost cannot find anything which is unusable. Even a 25 year old gimmick from a kid's magazine (a money printing machine) got a great reaction when I used it in a presentation about the National Debt and the effect of inflation.

There are a few things which I honestly find utterly useless: The worst is a pair of plastic matchboxes which is supposed to work by opening the drawer of the second while you close the drawer of the first. Thing is, the plastic matchboxes are totally unexaminable, suspicious looking and the drawers don't work. I got it for free and I must admit that even this way I had paid too much.

So there don't seem to be bad effects (except those that don't work mechanically). But presentations which don't use the items to their full potential. Bad performers can bore an audience to death with a genuine light saber, while brilliant performers can get an audience going without any props at all.

bob70011 wrote:Best:The Stealth Pen

Worst:Brainwave,Invisible

I can't quite believe you're listing the Brainwave and Invisible decks as the worst effects you ever bought . I would call these two (well, one really) of the strongest effect in all of magic - speccy thinks of a card, only to find out that you've predicted it already. Why don't you like them.

Likewise, how is the stealth pen the best effect you have ever bought? I would call it a medium effect - strongish but there are better ones out there. This is a much more debatable opinion though, so feel free to argue with me about this .

Kati

katrielalex wrote:

bob70011 wrote:Best:The Stealth Pen

Worst:Brainwave,Invisible

I can't quite believe you're listing the Brainwave and Invisible decks as the worst effects you ever bought . I would call these two (well, one really) of the strongest effect in all of magic - speccy thinks of a card, only to find out that you've predicted it already. Why don't you like them.

Likewise, how is the stealth pen the best effect you have ever bought? I would call it a medium effect - strongish but there are better ones out there. This is a much more debatable opinion though, so feel free to argue with me about this .

Kati

about the stealth... i havent brought many tricks because i am mostly into card magic so the stealth is the best of what i have and about the brain, and invis i do not really like the reaction people give off compared to other gimmicked card tricks such as mirage or mental photography....

about the brain, and invis i do not really like the reaction people give off compared to other gimmicked card tricks such as mirage or mental photography

I'd suggest the fault lies with the presentation and not the deck.

thats really wierd....as soon as i whip out my mental photography deck and start on my routine i get people wanting to examine the deck and then i have to deck switch for my regular bike...but with invisble or brainwave everything looks just so innocent... ...as for the stealth pen...i have the perfect penetration effect and have to agree...it defenitely is quite an amazing trick, but i have to admit...i do break the rules and repeat the trick just one more time, just so their jaw can drop again....i love it

Yes...the reactions for me with the invisideck are amazing. If I get out the mental photography deck, people think of it as a 'nice trick' but that's it - whereas the ID, possibly because it looks exactly like a normal deck of cards, is much more convincing...

Kati

As HT says above, it's all in the handling. Without a good reason and routine ID (or any other trick) is dead in the water. There are a lot of books out there giving routines using ID - even dear ol' David Blaine used one very succesfully and convincingly on one of his TV shows!

Give it another go Bob - it's worth it!

Best : A DECK OF USPCC Bicycles (sometimes BEES)

Packet Trick : N F W it is The ONLY PACKET TRICK that i take out EVERY TIME. I have lost count how many times i've used it and i never get bored of it so simple yet so effective.

Worst : Raven x2. not practical for my Dress sense ( I'm nearly always in a T-shirt)

Best for me is a two and a half metre length of good quality rope (and a pair of scissors) and also agree with an ungimmicked deck of cards - blue bikes.

Best gimmick / packet trick - TT, ID and twisted sisters.

I could go on for most of the night with these five items . Some of the most effective yet inexpensive things you could buy in my opinion.

Worst, any card tricks that use the sticky card principle (glue or ds tape). I just hate them

Best: Heirloom & Heirloom Wallet. Spectators have no idea how to react to this. Delivered right, they're not really sure what's happened. Sheer wonderment on their face. It's brilliant. Buy it. Buy it now.

Worst: Shrinking cigarette case. Oh my god why oh why oh why did I buy it? It's shocking. Truly shocking.

Best Cards: Brainwave, NFW, Invisble and Picture this

Best other: Rattle Bars, £1 to 1p, diebox and crystal silk tube.

Worst cards: boxed set of strippers with the claim that this would be the ultimate in magic! You know: bore your friends for hours advertising

Worst other: anything cheap that used apparatus like 'key through coin, etc."

Anything that 'requires no skill," and astounds everyone in seconds is usually avoided by me.

Vic

Best: scotch and soda, brainwave, invisble deck

Worst: Cheap plastic gimmicks excluding penetration frame