Now, I think most, if not all, of us started with cards. It's the most common and most popular genre, for the fact that cards are the most versatile tool available.

Not long ago, somebody told me that he had stopped doing card magic. He said card magic no longer is able to create a feeling of mystic. Anytime a magician brings out a deck of cards, it immediately creates "oh, he's going to do a stupid magic trick" kind of skepticism.

I remember Jerome (jeromefang) told me that in Jeff McBride's lecture, he said the ultimate stage of a magician is to be an Oracle (right bro?), which means doing mentalism. And in Derren Brown's book, he too mentioned that he moved away from cards are passe and mentalism is superior to cards.

So what do you think? Is card magic dead? Would it suffer the same fate as cups and balls (as in popularity, not saying cups and balls are bad)

Cards are definitely NOT dead. Mine can walk around and even communicate: they help me go to Cold Storage to buy groceries sometimes.

Hmm...

I agree. Card Magic is something that is fast becoming "cheap" and "too common" magic, especially with the onslaught of close-up "street" magicians nowadays, you cannot deny that the popularity of card magic has risen at an unprecendented rate. (In fact, I once wrote an article about this before... it was really sucky, plus I think I've lost it.)

What can we do? You can choose 2 things:

1. Avoid card magic. Which is fine, considering the fact that it's cliche and all that.
2. Do more card magic. Get into cards. Seriously work on it.

For me, I once thought to myself, "What should I 'specialise' in?" I looked around, and realised many people start with cards, then lose interest and move on to stage or mentalism or coins etc. Well, instead of jumping on the "let's-get-away-from-card-magic-as-it-lacks-mysticism" bandwagon, I decided to do the opposite and focus on cards.

It's pretty fun, really. Though it limits my repertoire to manipulation of 52 pieces of cardboard.

True, to me, card magic has hardly (maybe never) given me a feeling of mysticism. But then again, do we need to always necessarily create mysticism as a magician? I think it depends on how you want to portray yourself.

That's what I like about card magic. It's versatile enough to adapt: it's effect "strength" is somewhere in the middle - it's not really harcore magic that will make people question their beliefs and bang their heads on their steering wheel after that, but it also isn't some really "cheapo" kind of magic done just for a few laughs. I think laymen are still able to tell a really bad card trick from good, solid card magic. And I think even the best card magic isn't going to give anyone a "feeling of mystic"... Unless you do mentalism with cards, which is another story.

That's all I have to say for now on this issue, I'll update if I think of anything else.

- harapan. magic!

I guess card magic most people will put it under the skill than mysterious category. I tried doing other things like everyday items, like what most of us here, but there's something about these 52+2(jokers) which makes us want to make people happy with it again.

To some extent, yes, card magic is becoming way too common especially since it has made its way all over television and the internet.

But I don't think it is card magic per se. I believe that you can still do card magic and create magic, even if people's first impression is not too enthusiastic. The simple solution (though not necessarily simple to implement) is to work on presentation or do card effects which are themselves rare or strong (or both!).

I would believe that for some time in the past, cups and balls were very very popular that you could even find cups and balls performers in the streets. But I have no doubt that even then, audiences would still be wonderfully amazed by a competent performer.

It's not an ultimate stage, but rather one of the many roles that a magician can play.

About Derren Brown, he uses cards in his TV special. So don't ever say, (as some in the past has argued):" Don't use cards in mentalism", something that I strongly disagree.

And since everyone is doing cards, it only further prove their universal appeal. Or was it because it is easier than coin magic? Or was it because as magicians we are obsessed with cards (their seemingly limitless possibiliies) and force them down the throat of our audience unknowingly?

As a way of bring new life and interest back into card magic, Magicbob is publishing a book called "I Hate Card Tricks" on my site. He is filling it with miniature stage illusions which are done with playing cards as the subjects. For example, he has already completed the first four illusions: The Divided Queen, The Zig-Zag Queen, The Mismade Queen, and The Spiked Queen.

This is a good approach to those who are tired of the same of "pick a card" routines. In some of his effects, the spectator goes home with the card that was used, twisted, mismade, etc. The distorted card makes a great souvineer and you can print them up on your home computer for Magicbob's effects.

Yo bro, I did not say that there are stages to attain for a magician. What I mean were more like phases of a magician. When I attended the McBride lecture, he showed us a chart on the progression of a magician. This is what is taught in the Magic and Mystery school as well. Basically, there are 4 phases for a magician. Briefly, the phases are as follows:

1st Phase: You start off as a "Trickster". You learn tricks and go out and perform how the trick was taught to you negelecting the theories, concepts, reasons and true meaning of the effect in play.

2nd Phase: Here you proceed to become a "Sorcerer". In this phase, you really go deep into understanding the meaning of magic and attempt to apply the theories that you've learnt into your tricks.

3rd Phase: From a Sorcerer, you'll move on to become an "Oracle". Here is where you deal into mentalism. This does not mean you stop being a Sorcerer. It purely means that you're playing more with the minds of your audiences.

4th Phase: Lastly, you'll become a "Sage". A Sage is considered as a teacher of magic where you start to impart your knowledge and experiences to the same practioners of the art.

Well, the above 4 phases of a magician is not applicable to all of us. It is targetted at mainly professional magicians. Its only a model that they use but I personaly feel that the progress is indeed very apt.

As for Card Magic being dead, I personally feel that it is not dead at all. If anything that is dead, it would be the presentation that is boring and that it fails to intrigue the audiences. However, cards by itself is more like a challenge to the spectators. Challenge in the sense that I lose your selected card and I'll find it. Due to the fact that cards are more of a challenge, it'll have that tendency to put people into that puzzle solving mode. Spectator will try and find fault in you if you do not have an engaging presentation. Worse still, an unlikable personality.

Card Magic to me is still very much a very elegant form of art piece but only when its presented well. Hence, I feel Cards are definitely not dead and we definitely should not think so as well. We should strive to make better presentations in all our magic and attempt to elevant Card Magic beyond the puzzle solving mode.

My 2 cents worth of comment... ^_^

Cheers
Jerome

well said! I concur!

Whether an effect or a routine is magical really depends on the presentation.
While cards seem to be everyday simple objects,
with the right skills and presentation I'm sure miracles can occur even with cards!

It really depends on how make the magic alive for your spectator.

Sometimes, giving them the "expectation" that "oh it's cards again. you're going to do some magic trick?" scenario...
One can actually use this "low expectation" to get even greater reactions when you perform something indifferent.

I've never once considered card magic to be dead.
There are just so many kinds of cards that we can use to create different feels!

In the Black Deck Book, it suggested putting the Black Tiger Cards into those cloth bags...
Which gives a mystical, fortune telling kind of feel to its presentation...

There's so many things to do with so many kinds of cards with so many effects!

Cards are still the most versatile.

cheers!

R™