Baseline Magic

One of the questions I get most often is:

“I like this trick a lot. The reactions have been so-so. How do I make it stronger?”

And then they’ll link me to some Tenyo-esque nonsense or some garbage where you draw a stickman on a card and he jumps around to different cards or something like that.

Here’s the thing, you can’t take every goofball magic trick that appeals to the 13-year-old in you and make it some overwhelming mystery.

The good news is: you don’t have to.

It’s fine to have stuff in your repertoire that are just obvious “magic tricks.”

In fact, I recommend it.

My overarching narrative is that I’m “into magic.” As part of that interest, I’ve gone down some bizarre paths, explored unusual techniques, and wandered into subjects only loosely connected to magic. That’s the true(ish) story behind my interest in magic and the more obscure concepts that I’ve learned about.

But my narrative never suggests I gave up on standard tricks. Showing someone a straightforward effect doesn’t undermine the more unreal or immersive material I might share later.

And having part of my repertoire devoted to just regular “magic tricks” gives me something to perform when I don’t feel like doing anything substantial—or when I know the people I’m with wouldn’t appreciate the heavier material.

Plus it allows for interactions like this…

Them: Do you have any new tricks?

Me: Not really. I haven’t been focusing on magic much the past few weeks. I got sucked down this weird rabbit hole recently. Actually… can I try something with you?

This allows me to use basic/baseline magic they’ve seen from me in the past as a standard and springboard to present them with something stranger or more interesting.

I’ve always aimed to create presentations that work best as a contrast to standard magic. But most people don’t have a magician in their life. So it’s up to me to establish the baseline with fun, lightweight, maybe forgettable material—so that later I can come back and blow their minds.

This is not only a strong long-term way to share magic. It also means there’s room in your repertoire for anything you enjoy.