Whats your favourite control to the top
 

There are a million ways to do it, but what is your personal favourite way to control a card from the middle of the pack to the top? Of course the choice varies depending on the context but in general what is your favourite method?

I'm pretty sure I don't know of all the good ones yet so it would be helpful to hear what you guys use regularly. At the moment I mainly use switches and a great convince and control cull rather than going for a pass, since I have not put in enough time yet on my passes. I'm also working on Chris Brown's venus trap and some variations on it because I think it is very strong when done well. What do you think?

Fin

I guess one of my personal favourites is the DL. There's also another method, but the name of the method gives away the secret, so I guess I can't say it out in public. Of course, depending on the context of the trick and situation the way I control the cards differ, but I just usually use simple shuffling to control it if I'm performing for laymen. They don't know better :D

Usually for effects where you don't get to see the card, I would just use a Herrmann or Turnover Pass. Otherwise, Blind Square's Brother seems to work just fine.

Repulse control

I use my variation on the Daniel Garcia - "Ego slip"
EDIT : I Also use a control to the bottom I invented, which I call the "Beast control".

i'd say my favorite is a version of palming and slapping the card on top( don't know it's name, nor if it's been done before, i thought of a way and simply do it naturally, so i use it alot)

Good question - worthy of a video response :)



Guys, feel free to criticize.
-Tom

I loved it! The switch from the second control had me amazed. The only criticism I could give is that the thread is about a top control...

Wooey! That was great Tommy. Lovely handling of the cards and made it look totally effortless. I'll be working on the second one you used.. The 1st time I saw it the p***ing move was almost totally invisible so I had to watch it again very closely to work it out. A layman wouldn't have a chance! Really nice!

Ps. What cards were you using there? Are they D&D's?

Cheers
Fin

True, depends of the situation..
But one that i like is spread pass...

Cool, thanks for watching David. I mean this is really a vid for magicians and although I have put this on my youtube channel, I stated that this is not a performance, more of a demo. I need to apply these to a routine.

---------- Post added at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------

Thanks for watching Fin. As I said in the vid it's more to do with the moves in that second control. I think it's a bit gratuitous because there are much simpler ways to achieve the same thing... but on the other hand, if one is feeling flashy...;)
The cards are STUDS, cheap and cheerful witth a nice finish and back design, a change from bikes

Oh I just noticed how bad my grammar was. All fixed.

i liked the 2nd one a lot as well, it's the same as my style too

Thanks for commenting. That's interesting you said that because the move came to me through my love of watching artists such as Akira Fuji and Ponta the Smith. Forgive my ignorance but maybe it's the asian style. I mean that magicians from the east have a very different style to magicians from the west.

i don't really think so( well, the "Asian style" part), i'm the only one who likes to use (temporary) palms for controls in my club when performing( actually, i'm the only one who could actually do it naturally). But it is true that Eastern people have a different style from those on the West( imo), cause Eastern people are entertained because they think it's interesting, the tricks must usually be swift and visual or it loses people's attention, and Western people are entertained genuinely because they want to be, so it doesn't really matter how long it takes them to watch the whole thing.

Again, the above are just what i conceive, they aren't necessarily true nor are they hard hitting facts.

Very interesting insights la0o9

The one I use most often is probably just a simple Hindu Shuffle control

I balley see anyone use the hindu shuffle controls and flase shuffles now. THey are always using overhand shuffles. I should master the hindu shuffle ones and fool some of those yt magicians!

Lol, I have seen tons of people doing it. Kammagic does it too.

That being said, I don't think there is much magical about using it because you lose a card in a motion, the motion of shuffling. Laymen could easily guess that you controlled something, which is exactly what you don't want them to think. Sure it works fine if incorporated well, but yeah.. :rolleyes:

It just depends on if you are trying to create the illusion that a card is in the center or the pack, or if it is lost and could be anywhere in the pack. If the shuffle looks natural enough I don't think there should be any reason for a laymen to suspect that a card has been controlled. In my experience most laymen are not familiar at all with the idea of a controlled shuffle.

i use it as well from time to time, but i do it twice, starting and ending with the card on top, make more sense imo( the only time where it starts in the middle and make sense to me is if i imitate Lenart Green's style and my hands shake like crazy as i handle cards messily), the people here don't react to magic being magical( as in, having no chance of occurring, like a card that was just in the middle suddenly appear on top without any shuffles) as well as they do to magic being illogical( as in, having so little chance of occurring it's not likely i could make it happen).

Well, I look at the Hindu Shuffle as the "traditional shuffle" for laymen. They always use something similar to it while playing cards. I believe that if a false shuffle is to be used, the Hindu would be the best one. Even though there is a motion while controlling it, they may disregard it because it is the one thing they are always used to seeing and doing themselves, rather than double undercuts and whatnot.

The best way to convince people that the card is really lost in the deck when shuffled is to let them shuffle it. Every time I've let them do that, they never questioned me or tried to heckle me as much, if they intended to that in the first place. Now that works fine if you know what their card is beforehand :D

I can do one plaming technique (top palm) and what I like to do is control the card to the top using some method generally a pass and then palm the card while I hand the deck to them for shuffling. I then take it back and in the process of taking it back add the card back on top.

One of my favourite method! :D

Bold and daring, but when it works, it's like a party in your brain, where it's like your inner demons are plotting ways to deceive the hell out of people :D

agreed, i once used that to scare people into thinking they've been cursed( little prank for Halloween last year), but still it's more fun to have it in your wallet, ready to be used, i have all the time in the world.

As mark said, and my main qualm with the video, is that any time you fiddle with the deck more than necessary (in the bottom control in the video), the spectator will just think oh, he controlled a card in that action, even if you didn't. Even after losing a card fairly and giving it some cuts (for a mentalism effect, so no card control), I've had some spectators just assume I've cut it to the top.

Now to the original question: My absolute favorite top control is the Convincing Control

which is that? and i find that if you shuffle on a table top instead of in the hand, your spectators suspect less, i've done so many sloppy control on the table with me actually FINGERING for a break, and i STILL get a very very good reaction( something like "wow... how did you do that" is good enough for me)

in general i like to use controls where the card is controlled before it is even pushed into the deck like marlos convincing control to the bottom and the subtle pass to the top

the venus trap that punch water taught conbined with the allerton change albert taught(i feel like an adult when i call albert albert instead of trickster ap):awesome: take that alberts smiley face muhahahahahahahahahhahaha.

I prefer to call him AVoriginations, or Starscream, or Magic Man. Or Alby. Or Albertasaurus Rex... Yeah.

For Table work: Automatic Rear Jog
For in the hands work: Cascade control


XD

Table work:
-Shuffled: cheater's top stock retention shuffle sequence
-Unshuffled: Dribble Pass and Spread
In the hand:
-Shuffled: all kinds
-Unshuffled: Palm and Slap or Switches

I dont belive I have answered this one, I think my all time favourit method would be doing a pass usally a classic pass or invisible pass as you may call it.

Fan Control
 

I like the Fan Control, crimp. Let them Shuffle, take the cards back and make one cut, done, the card is on top. This is extremely convincing as you hardly handled the cards at all and they shuffled as much as they want and you're getting them involved and putting it in their hands.

Great video Tommy.

I guess the harder the control the more satisfied we as magicians will feel knowing it was completed successfully. I would.

Anyways, definitely the spread pass for me, because all the actions feel appropriately motivated. Also, with the step ahead principle, having a card in the opposite direction (unknown to the spectators) and adding the selected card to it for a double.

I have been playing with this: dbl backer on top, DL, loose the dbl backer in the deck. Quickest and cleanest (to the spectator) ACR prob.

Findini showed me a lil something that fooled me before. :smile:

Lastly, Highrise but more so Blind Square for it's convincing factor.

The other night Mark repeatedly fooled me with the simplest one card control ever; it's easy as a magician to make things difficult for yourself, when often its the simple moves which are the best.

Guyz!!!1
da shinobi control iz really a good control guyz
it foolz the magigians when i do it

I find lousy shuffles (quick too) very convincing.

One thing I find works as well is having the audience [whoever] confirm misdirection, like when you perform certain moves, ask them "Do you see the card there?" and give them a thought that there is no sleight, I find that people actually buy into that quite easily and it helps with the actual misdirection lol