Casual Card Magic

In this course Ryan digs into a collection of sleight-of-hand card techniques suited for a casual, relaxed performance. Everything you need to level-up your card magic skills.

In this course Ryan shares his collection of card handling techniques curated to present a casual, relaxed performance. There is no fast finger-flinging, and no knuckle-busting. These techniques are within the reach of any magician willing to put in a little practice.

A teaser of clips from the first six lessons

Card magic is the most crowded room in the House of Magic. There is no shortage of books, videos, and tutorials covering every square inch ot this topic. So why on earth am I putting so much work into creating another one?

Guiding Principles for this course:

1 - The Struggle Is Real - At every meeting and convention I see magicians struggling with sleight-of-hand moves. They've got their fingers in the wrong place when trying to do an Elmsley Count, causing themselves trouble. That's not a matter of it being difficult (it's really not!) but a matter of lacking proper instruction. Regardless of how many learning resources are already available, we obviously haven't reached saturation yet. I feel I can create clear lessons to help some folks break through challenges.

2 - The Missing Middle - Magic today has a "self-working" problem. (I did a podcast episode about this!) You can't sell a trick with a Top Change, the market has spoken, so every new trick needs to be self-working. The bulk of magicians are on this junk-food diet, taught to avoid sleights. On the flip side, much of the "card guy" culture feels toxic to me. Like you can't sit at the cool kids table until you show your Diagonal Palm Shift. It's about moves for move's sake and results in sloppy un-magical performances. There's this innocent age of card magic (circa 1930 to 1970) when we only had a basic toolkit of sleights, and getting the job done was more important than the nuances of pinky plancement. I feel like the spirit of this era, and some really good intermediate card magic, has largely been lost. I want to be a spokesperson for this "comfortable" middle ground.

3 - It Will Be ~~Opinionated~~ , er, "Curated" - I have my view for what makes good magic. My goal with card magic is to appear as if nothing happened. to "not suspect, let alone detect" any sleight-of-hand has occured. Everything in my lessons will fit into this aesthetic of natural, casual card handling, with no sudden movements, or moments of tension. It's taken me a long time to collect my favourite methods to fit within this box. I aim to offer a complete course of moves and tricks which serve this goal, and judiciously cut out that which does not.

4 - Open Accesibilty - If my goal is to have a positive impact on the card skills of magicians, putting a price tag on it significantly diminishes that impact. It's a huge barrier, and will turn away those mildly curious people I most hope might discover this new world of card magic. As such, this course will be accesible at no cost. Now, I don't like public exposure, so there will be a "curtain" in place, requiring a registered account for access. This project is not a small undertaking, so I will also invite viewers to make an optional payment after they receive value from the tutorials.

Some Practical Considerations

The course will be a work in progress. I've got plenty of magic and moves planned, but it'll take a while to get it all done. Follow along in my email newsletter for all the updates.

The videos are published without editing. It's all recorded live, in one take. This allows me to move fast, and easily update if needed. The trade off is that some tutorials might have some rough edges.

Your opinion may vary. Your way of doing things is likely not the same as mine. That's okay. I'm speaking primarily to people learning for the first time. While I'm always happy to have these conversations privately, please refrain from commenting with your variations and opinions, as this only causes confusion for first time students.

Enough shuffling around, here's the deal! Pick a lesson, any lesson...

Table of Contents for Casual Card Magic

Casual Card Magic In this course Ryan digs into a collection of sleight-of-hand card techniques suited for a casual, relaxed performance. Everything you need to level-up your card magic skills.
Getting Comfortable With Cards Starting from a solid foundation, looking at fundamental card handling skills. Nothing tricky yet, but future skills build upon these basics.
Relaxed Card Control A collection of techniques to gain, and keep control of a "lost" card with an emphasis on diffusing suspicion.
Efficient Card Controls Learn three sleights that have only one job to do, and do them very well. Quickly gain control of a chosen card with no extra moves, cuts, or shuffles.
Spread Work Two techniques from the spread to get an advantage, plus four new and old tricks to apply these techniques
False Shuffles And Cuts A variety of ways to mix up a deck of cards, while accomplishing nothing.
Key And Locator Cards Different approaches and applications for key cards and locator cards including the Quadruple Threat for the ultimate is casual control.
Use The Force A variety of techniques to get the result you require, including a discussion of matching the method to the moment.
The Elmsley Count An in-depth tutorial to get you doing a smooth count, plus two great tricks to put it into action.
Double Lifts A fundamental move of card magic, which ought to look like nothing at all.
Palming Cards Tackle your fear of this bold move with a pep talk, and a few great reasons to make it worth the trouble.
Top Change This one is more about the misdirection than the move, and this lesson includes two routines to put it into context.
Card Folding The Mercury Card Fold is responsible for many of the strongest, most impossible card act closer tricks.
Download Lessons A perk for supporters to download and save all the lesson videos for offline viewing.