Anybody practice the breakthrough Card System by Richard Osterlind? Is the effect good & Easy to master? Care to review.. B)

I like it and uses it, but i do wonder sometimes if it's very significantly better than other stacked deck systems available. i think it is better when using it for a multiple cards selection routine because of it's randomness nature.

I used to use the Breakthrough stack. It's easy to master, and very very effective.


But now I use the Red Stack.

I never used either of those stacks. I used the si stebbins...

In the breakthru card system, its all about presentation although this can be said for most effects. Being mostly mental effects its not as visual as other card effects. So alot requires on showmanship to make the effect interesting to lead to the revelations.

It is easy once u use this stack often enough, just like Richard Osterlind.

this stack requires some practice, i like the apparent randomness and use it, but i know that it will never beat a memorised deck.

Gordie. What memorized deck do you use?

well, i like the aronson's one, but havent got down to memorising it.

memorised deck generally do not have a stack, its pure memory. therefore, its a direct link between position number and card value, hence less time needed for conversion. and its also totally random.

a memorised deck should ideally be just memorising a shuffled deck and using it for life.

Richard Osterlind is pure genius! I highly recommend his Breaktrhough Card System! ^_^

This system is good if you want to perform in front of other magician.
Otherwise don't bother with that, when I perform in front of layman
I perform the most simple stacking system,
add a powerfull presentation, and you will get a "wow" effect
Layman dont care which system you use, they care about your presentation.

Pam

The system is good. I always use it.

i agree with pam, for the same reason, i havent really got down to memorising a random deck. but one day, one day, i shall do that. more details is always better.

but currently, it seems i need more practice on presentation, and with such great effects available for stacks, they must not be spoilt by poor presentation.

argh... i don know wad u all are talking about... -.-"... care to tell me the effect?

im afraid that any more info will, subtly or explicitly, lead to exposure.

why not just purchase the osterlind break through card system and find out for urself? u wont regret it...

Get Richard osterlind Mind mysteries volume 2(?). In the dvd he will show u a few effects using his break through card system, add a few f**** shuffle , this is a killer effect :)

hmm... just happen to read the threads. i can't agree with most of u guys much more. richard osterlind's BCS is my favourite really cos it really look random. i used to use Sis Stebbins but i got busted when my fren looked thru the deck for 10secs...

I've tried various stacks. I'd say the break through card system is good if you're planning for a 50+ min performance. If not, it's best to just use simple stacks.

Personally, i use simple stacks for performance. At the same time i keep a break through card system around me. So when the audience gets tough, i'd probably switch to using a stack with a higher degree and finally allow inspection.

Using simple stacks keep magic simple esp. when you intend or find the extreme need to jump in to other effects like ambitious or continue mentalist types like 2 of a kind etc..

I use a memorized deck. Who else in this forum does memorized decks?

I'm want to get Mnenomica by Juan Tamariz which is about a memorised deck.

Thanks Kevin!:P

Russell, it's Mnemonica, just for the records. I know this because my username used to be MnemonicaRedux... if you want info on Mnemonics, come look for me ;)

-Kev

Richard Osterlind's breakthru system is indeed brilliant i use it always.
The bigger challenge is to come up with new and interesting ways of hiding the methodology of the system in a card effect so that it does not look so obvious that you are working with a stacked deck.

As a impromptu version of a stacked deck in which you can memorise a deck in less than a minute consider stacking a deck in a series of numbers that you are familiar with such as your phone number, id card, home unit number etc etc.

Im not going to say more but it should get some of our minds coming up with solutions to it.

The BCS!!! After getting this stack down i don't need to do the classic force anymore!! The spectator can jus pick a card or even a stack of cards and you can know which card/cards thay took...

There was once when i was practicing some f**** cut withe the deck and one of my friends just pick out one of the cards from my hand when i fanned the cards.....(yes i did'nt ask him to pick a card...He just suddenly picked one) " Hey if you are so good tell me what card this is!" I replied "the king of hearts". He then spent the whole 30min of the bus trip playing with the deck and still cannot figure it out.... ^_^

Highly recommended!!!!

I prefer Eight Kings. Anyone know it? It's not very common. The BCS gave me a headache when I tried to make it.

I did'nt have the Eight Kings but from what i heard some audience can spot something fishy if they inspect the deck..... the good thing about BCS is that the audience can NEVER figure out that the deck is stacked! Unless he or she got a freakin 200plus IQ.... B)

And i do not have much difficulties getting the BCS down... Even if you need more time to "read" the card... from the audience point of view you are really reading their mind! You don't even need to act cause you are really trying hard to "read" the card!

Yeah, the 8 kings is easy to spot upon inspection. I use a Cold Deck Switch in my stacked-deck mind-reading routines though, so that's redundant.

Ya deck switch is a way.....

Usually I will get the spectator to pick a card then i will straight away hand the deck to another spectator to safe keep and he or she will inspect the deck after the mind reading routine...
" Now look at the card and place it in your pocket so i cannot even see the back of the card so even if the deck is marked i will not know which card you took" *back faced the audience then hand the deck to another spectator

" See now the deck is in his hand so there's no way i can get any infomation from the deck....please don't inspect the deck now, you can do it after the trick..... even if he is one of my accomplices he cannot get anything out of the deck as well.... Now is this FAIR?"

This will really make the effect look IMPOSSIBLE!

Your patter seems to over-emphasise on the fairness of the whole routine. I like to allow the spectators space to REALISE how fair it all was AFTER the trick. That way, they will remember it more. If you over-emphasise the fairness of the trick, it seems more forced and unnatural. But to each his own.

Hmmm....Good point... Maybe I'll try that the next time and see what reaction i get.... Thanks for the advice!

You want a TRULY random stack?

Memorize a deck.

It's not only effective, it works those brain juices. And it's not difficult either.

By the way, mnemonics are not always needed to memorise a deck. Pure memory works just as fine.

Wow.... memorized deck.... To me that's the most impossible thing!! :lol:

I knew it can be done but i just don't have the brain juice to memorize a deck..... ya i'm quite lazy when it comes to this kind of stuff....

Actually if you used the BCS alot you can memorize it anyway....Plus if you somehow forget the cards during a performance you still have the backup "formula" so you'll never go wrong!! haha :P

You don't need brain juice to memorise a deck! Hahahaha, arrange a deck from A to K in order, and do lots of fancy false shuffles and proceed with your memorised deck magic.

Really. It works.

Anyone heard of Simon Aronson's system? It looks random and you can do quite a bit with it. Just google his name, or check out his book "Try the Impossible".

I think it's just crazy to memorise a deck. Not impossible but fairly tough to do. Try the impossible indeed... But well I'll say the rewards are aplenty. I haven't had a chance to take a look at BCS, but from what I heard, you can do some pretty radical things with it? I wonder how it would compare to Aronson's stack... Hmmm... *goes off to a mountain top to ponder*

Well i just recently the book from Ning and the osterlind's mind misterys 2 from murphys, i got to say its a very good layman fooler! Although im alittle slow in m**t i still manage to pull of this trick. Only one con, few of the tricks though on the dvd requires the specs to hold your deck... you get why i mean ya? Its not heackler proof. :)

i use that Richy card system, but normall i only bring a pack of cards(my pocket's too small :lol: ) i stack them at home, start of with a couple of mental, then when its done, i can shuffle the deck and cont with other stuff.

memorising a deck of cards is not tough at all. all it takes is a little bit of commitment. if you feel you hate memorized decks because it's DIFFICULT, i think it's pure laziness.

Same here, i'll normally stack up my deck with the BCS and when needed, start off with a few mental stuff, then move on to shuffle the deck for other tricks. I think the BCS stack would be better than those easy stacks cos audiences nowadays are getting more and more difficult, you don't want to go into the awkward situation where they insist on flipping over and see the cards and you have to come up with some excuses or ignore them.

And.. It IS difficult to memorize a full deck.. Esp when you have bad memory like mine.. :wacko: