Guys i need some help on deciding which of masuda's stuff to get, on a tight budget so i need a rough ranking of the various products. These are the effects in no particular order:
1)WOW 2)Boxing match 3)Useless resistance 4)2 card mystery
Any aid would be very much appreciated :D

It's interesting that you said that you are on a tight budget. Strangely, most of masuda's stuffs are pretty costly. His stuffs are quite clever and of high quality but highly gimmicked. It all comes back to a matter of personal preference. Not everyone can appreciate gimmicked tricks. I would rather you invest on some skills that can keep you equipped for the rest of your life through dvds or books.

Nevertheless, WOW in my opinion is truly a stunning effect. It's direct and very visual. But then again, you can achieve similar results (or plot) through sleight of hand though not as visual. Cheers!

This is the reason I don't like WOW. I know that magicians everywhere are going ga ga over it, but I can't see why. Essentially it's a color change with a suspicious looking prop.

Shapeshifter is better in every way. Card in full view, clean etc. And no gimmick.

I'm not against gimmicks mind you. I believe that if you want to use a gimmick the payoff must be worth it. In this case I don't think it is.

Yeah Matt. Agreed. Look at the effect. Study it. There's really plenty of gimmicked stuffs out there that cost much less and is more worth getting.

If you are on a tight budget, i recommend you forget masuda's stuff and spend it buying a magic book or dvd that teaches you a few tricks. Go read reviews of magic dvds, and buy a dvd that teaches you few card tricks without gimmicks.

Masuda WOW is a great effect, but you need to be a performer and performing that trick often to justify the cost of buying it. If you usually just performing it for friends and family, WOW is not the trick to get, unless you get a few different batch of WOW :P

Haha i managed to get WOW @ $40 from a very good pal. Thx fer all the comments. Much appreciated

If there is one thing to get from Masuda, it will be the Blade. Similar to a blade through bill effect, the gimmick is very well constructed.

My $0.02

Hi Itachi, Since you got the WOW. Mind giving some review? I am one of those going ga ga over it. Wish to find out more before buying. Care to help me out in this? Thank! :)

hedgehog,
WOW has a very special visual effect. The colour and the card changes right in front of the spectator. But normally after i performed it to my friends, they would like to inspect the props. In this case you must get quite a few of WOW and take out the gimmick to let them inspect. From my opinion, dont get this trick if you are performing for someone close to you, perform it for random audience. =)
Thats my opinion. Thanks

You can buy the ungimmicked WOW.

Hi cl3BerbOi,
Thank for your review. But there something i wish to know more before making a decision. Is there any force? And how the handling? I'm new to magic so don't want get something i cant perform..
Thank

Hi hedgehog,
i am also a beginner. Normally for WOW, i will do some fa*s* shu*f*r with dou*l* fl*p. Thats the most basic i guess. The gimmick card is very well set-up. You need not hide it purposely until the audiences wanna check. For the ungimmick WOW, from my opinion, It is not worth because you spend MORE money just to have a chance to let your audience check.
Thats my opinion once again.
Thanks.

anyway, try to come for the next gathering and ask those senior out there to show you the correct presentation for WOW. They are professionals man.

Regards,
Cher Chuan, Lee

Sorry, i dont quite get you. Means there a force? Not any card that audiences chose?

For WOW, I can only say without exposing the method are,

1) it can be used on any deck
2) no force on the selected card

Basically Matsuda's WOW is a tool to create a visual change of one card to another.

It could generally be applied when a spectator chooses a card, you reveal their card but realize that it's the wrong one.

Then by using Matsuda's WOW you can CHANGE the wrong one to the correctly selected card.

So basically it's a visual change in which the wrong card visually morphs into their selected card.

-------------------------------

On a more personal note, I do not use this with the ACR.
I use this as a prelude to "Theory11's - Distortion" so that the spectator or audience you perform for doesn't even bother to inspect the prop anymore.

Just my $0.02

regards,

R™