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Hi gang, I'm after a bit of help with my AC routine, not in terms of moves but more the presentation of it. At the moment I don't present it as if the card is supposed to come to the top, instead I get them to pick a card and return it then I keep saying I'll forget about it for now and do a trick with the top card of the deck. Needless to say their card is always on top, much to my apparent frustration. Sleights wise it goes Tilt, DL then top card back into pack, that marlo insertion move that I can't remember the name of sorry, DL then erdnase ("good it's stayed where I put it, now I'll just give this top card a rub to warm it up for some magic...") then a slip cut, but I just kind of peter out without a decent ending. Has anyone got any suggestions for a good way to finish an AC routine? I occassionally do the bendy card thing popularised by Blaine but for some reason I just don't like it that much.

You could do something along the line of the card being haunted - that's why it keeps on appearing. In stead of getting frustrated - you get more and more freaked out. Then on the off beat - palm the top card off and ditch it in your pocket or something. Say something like 'the really freaky thing is that there is no JS (whatever) in the deck - hand them the deck to look for it - 'I burnt it 3 mnths ago - for this reason'.

What could add to this (if you have the time or inclination) is to burn the JS(whatever - although JS seems like the right card for this) onto the faces of most of the deck - obviously being careful not to flash these cards while doing the routine. You will then need to force the card - obviously. When you hand them the deck to look for the card they will discover this. I haven't tried this last part - just thought of it now.

hmm - this should be in the r&d section.

I like the idea of the card totally vanishing at the end and I've used this occasionally myself. The only problem that I've found is that when you hand the deck out for inspection the specs are frequently to pre-occupied with where the card has gone that they forget about the rest of the trick and it sort of becomes a 'hunt the card' competition.

I've sometimes used an Omni deck as a finale and this gets good reactions but for some reason it's not one of my favourites either. Some swear by it and it's down to personal choice at the end of the day.

I have also used a deck shell and have inserted the card and then made the deck vanish which has also got very good reactions.

I think - rather than thinking of the card vanishing, if you present it as never having been there in the first place - kind of messing with their mind.

Card to Shoe, Card to Mouth

Card to Mouth is a very good finale and one that I use a lot. It also means that you can show off some flourishes before people notice the card

Kati

Thanks for the feedback y'all. The haunted thing is a good idea taneous, i'll play with that methinks. I'm not too keen with the idea of playing with the deck too much as I like to keep my tricks as impromtu and gimmick free as possible. As for the card to mouth idea I'd considered that too after a lecture I saw last week by a fellow called Eric LeBlond. He's french, obviously, and my word he's good.

Anyhow he did an AC routine that ended with card to mouth and he did it very well, I might work that into my own version. However I was thinking over this since posting and I had the idea of palming off the card by showing it going into the middle of the deck and then passing it to the top whilst saying "I'll give it a shuffle, actually why don't you shuffle it" and pasing them the deck as I one-hand top palm it. I've tried it quickly in front of a mirror and I think that with the right timing it could be a nice way to palm the card without being too obvious about it. Also the pass is covered because it looks like you're just about to shuffle the deck then you change your mind. What to do from there though?

Mods, I'm sorry if this should be in r+d but I'm not allowed in there cos I'm too new (sob). Should I continuee this with whoever's interested by pm?

If you're going to return the card to the centre you might as well do a sidesteal. Under the misdirection of handing the pack to the spectator to shuffle it should be well nigh invisible.

Kati

Good point kati, the only problem is I can't really do a sidesteal. Someone showed me how briefly a little while ago but I didn't really absorb it properly. It would be less suss though.

I say im going to make it easier by using fewer cards. I slip it to the top of the deck secretly and tell them to cut the deck and keep the upper portion. I then snap my fingers and get confused when i fail. I retry and fail. I then point out that it is the top of the middle of the deck. They are holding the top of the deck. They can turn over top card.

taneous wrote:You could do something along the line of the card being haunted - that's why it keeps on appearing. In stead of getting frustrated - you get more and more freaked out. Then on the off beat - palm the top card off and ditch it in your pocket or something. Say something like 'the really freaky thing is that there is no JS (whatever) in the deck - hand them the deck to look for it - 'I burnt it 3 mnths ago - for this reason'.

What could add to this (if you have the time or inclination) is to burn the JS(whatever - although JS seems like the right card for this) onto the faces of most of the deck - obviously being careful not to flash these cards while doing the routine. You will then need to force the card - obviously. When you hand them the deck to look for the card they will discover this. I haven't tried this last part - just thought of it now.

hmm - this should be in the r&d section.

Dude that is a genuis idea. I may just have to try that out.

I've only just thought of this myself (your haunted card post got me thinking...) so let me know what you guys think.....

when you are ready for the finale, have the chosen card 2nd, DL to show and then remove the top card. Proceed to tear it up into loads of little pieces (maybe have a non-signed duplicate so you can flash a bit of the card as you are tearing). You can then do whatever you like with the pieces (set fire, dump them etc...) explaining that destroying the ghost card is the only way to stop it.

Then the way is paved for a spectacular final production (perhaps a hot-shot cut??)

I always like to finish it off with card to ceiling which always gets a reaction.

Corny pun I know but for the last one after the DL I toss the top card down on to the table (carefully so it doesn't flip over, been there, had to think of a get out) and I say "please keep an eye on it this time" then instead of in the mouth (I know where that one comes from Kati!!) I slip the card behind the lense of my specs and tell them I will keep an eye on it.

Please do not try this if you wear contact lenses!!!

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I was playing around with an ambitious card routine the other day and came up with the idea of making the whole deck blank at the end.

It goes something like this: after the usual ambitious routine, I mention that some people start to think they are all the three of spades, but they can't all be the three of spades because they are all blank. ... except that one of course (where I pluck a card out of the middle and it's the three of spades, now the only printed card in the deck).

Hope someone finds this useful.

Giz