The concept of the art of magic #2: Building a Routine

Hey there fellow Steemians!

Here is the followup to my introblog about magic. With this part i like to go into the art of magic.

Magic is a bit like steemit in some ways. You have to look in long terms and plan in advance.
One of your first steps should be mastering some tricks you are comfortable performing. There are a lot of selfworking tricks which you almost can not screw up, so those are a perfect starting point.
I will show one simple one I performed a lot in my beginning at the end of the post.

I learned to make routines with about 3 effects in them which combined should last for about 10 minutes. And then ideally you should have three to five of these blocks to choose from.
Here you can get really creative and choose from a lot of pools of different tricks.

Let me show you these different pools of tricks.
-There are impromptu card Tricks which you can perform anywhere and with any deck of 52Cards.
-There are impromptu Tricks with everyday objects like rings, rubberbands, paperclips, bills, pencils, creditcards and of course coins.
-there are card tricks which involve preparation of the deck but still with a normal deck of cards.
-There is a normal deck with some gimmicked cards like a doublebacker, a doublefacer, reveal-jokers etc.
-there are trickdecks which are completly gimmicked and are just to perform one trick.
-there are tricks with gimmicked objects like dices, locks, envelopes, card cases etc.
-mental tricks

On of your threetrick routines could be something like this:
Start with a trick with a prepared deck of some sort. Next perform a trick with preferrably a borrowed object (which you have a spare one in your pocket in case no one has something to borrow you.)
And finish it off with an impromptu card trick with the same deck of cards.
In this case you only need to carry one deck of cards and a simple object and you should have enough space in your pocket to carry another set of tricks.

One of mine looks like this:
I force them a card.
Then I follow up with my favorite card trick which is a little similar to the trick in the end. This leaves me with some fruits on the table.
I continue with a routine with 5 envelopes and 5 keys to a lock which is inspired through John Archer.
And to finish it off I do a torn and restored trick with the forced card. The twist is the restored card is into one of the fruits already on the table.

When building your blocks keep this in mind:
If you want to make a mindreading routine, don't mix to much flourishes and card skills into it. Keep it mystic and simple.
If you want a pokerskill routine, don't let them sign a card and stay away from shuffles not allowed in casinos.
If you use signed cards and borrowed object, then try to stay away from gimmicks so you can give away everything to examine.

The 21 Card trick.
Selfworking little routine perfect for beginners.

You start this trick with 21 cards. It really doesn't matter which cards you use.
First you want to let your spectator choose one of the cards freely. Lets say the 3♥️Hearts.
Continue with laying all cards in 3 rows in front of you according to the picture.
Starting with the 2♥️, the 8♠️, the 7♦️ Etc. until 8♣️, 7♣️.

Now ask your spectator to name the row in which his or her selected card is. The first one.
Collect all three rows and make sure the row with their card is in the middle.

Make three piles again and ask where it is now.
Starting with the 8♠️, the 10♠️, the 2♣️ etc. until the K♣️ and the 7♣️
This time the 3♥️ is in the third one.
Throughout this process you will eventually know their card.

Sometimes you already know their card at this point, but most of the time you have to do this part a third time.
After the third time their card is always in the the middle of the second row.
Collect the cards as usual with their row as the second one. Their card is now at the 11th spot in the pile.
Make a flower like patter of the cards but facedown according to the picture.

Show them the last card and ask them if this their card(it is not).
Now you perform a technique called the "'magicians Choice"
This is an illusion of free choice which works almost every time.
Basically you let them to chose something but you decide what to do with it.
In contrast to this trick this goes as shown.
You ask them to place their hands on two of the five piles.
-If their card is in one of the piles they don't touch then you let them get rid of these two flowers. And then do it again to reduce the count of flowers to at least two.
-If their card is in one of the two flowers, then you get rid of all the others.

Next, ask them then to lift one hand.
-If their card is still on the pile they are touching, get rid of the free pile.
-if their card is in the free pile, ask them to get rid of the pile they are touching.

Now you should be left with the last flower.
Make a new pattern with the remaining four cards like in the picture.

Now you let them "choose" again if they like those two cards(north and south) more then those two(east and west).
Finally you can place the remaining two cards in front of them and let them pace their hand on one of the cards.
You should be left with their card and you can let them turn it over.
This one got me some really good reactions.

Personally I hurry in this phase of the trick. Some people recognize that you are not always doing the same thing, thats why i do it very fast. Try to change up your questioning and the action you let them do so it feels more different than just pointing 4 times in a row at piles of cards.
You could let them place their cardkey on one pile and then go on like: "oh, lets look further into the 4 seats of the car" if their card was in that pile. Or "oh, this pile needs to drive away" and get rid of them, if their card was not in this pile.
You could place different fruits on top of the cards and let them name their favorite.
If they hit their card go on and if not put the fruit aside so they can eat it later.
You just need to be a little creative and you should always have the right answer to their choices

If one part of this trick is not clear then feel free to ask me about further details and I can add them.
Cheers and ave a great day Steemians!
@Rheteric