World Champ Boris Wild - top tricks with few sleights
Great to get complete DVDs from this world champ. Previously only seen his Colour Changing Deck Routine - awesome in itself.
His tricks use few sleights but they are done perfectly. They complement each other, so with only say 2 sleights, Boris gets a synergistic effect of having done at least 3. This is the maxim of John Bannon, except Bannon gets more than the sum of the parts by moves (generally) rather than sleights. Both are great thinkers in their own ways.
Boris uses great intelligence to find the best sleights for intended effect, does the hard work of a trick in seconds, and spends the remaining time enjoying the presentation with the crowd.
There aren’t many tricks presented, but much time is spent explaining them. If you like CAAN, it can’t be further simplified. Boris’s handling turns an often difficult card plot into child’s play. I knew mostly how it was done but lack the ability to do the sleight involved well.
Boris explains the handling, with tips, but I removed a star, as he glosses over handling that is so easy for him that he doesn’t realise extra details are needed for the average viewer.
Not complaining because I can’t do the sleight involved, as I’m keen to buy extra material to learn it properly. I refer to culling, which I haven’t learned properly. But an extra instructional video is all I need.
The 1st trick dates back 50 years or more in one form or another. It is self-working, covered in a Maths book on magic (Magical Mathematic by Diaconis & Graham), performed by many magicians (including Bannon himself), in various forms, even to this day.
Boris uses extra psychology for his version, also allowing shuffling of a small packet of face-down cards, and takes (what I’d call a big risk) of reading their markings and reassembling them in a split second while being watched by many only feet away, and on camera. No way would I try this or learn it with any amount of practice, but the basic trick idea is great, if you don’t know it and are happy with a Self-Working version. It’s not what I’d call a marked deck trick, but requires boldness.
The main selling point for me was Boris’s brilliant take on the Ambitious Card plot. His trick is an almost zero-move sleight trick. It is sufficiently different from AC, which is great, as the old plot is hackneyed. His performance is excellent. The trick is so clever the sleights could be considered part of the setup. The explanation is also perfect, and long as for the other tricks.
Finally, we learn a clever use for a couple of gaff cards (one used regularly and another present in gaff card decks that nobody knows how to use beyond a few obvious cards). The challenge to learning this trick is not doing sleight of hand but remembering the series of steps. But, like AC, you can shorten the routine and “jazz” it (as Daryl would have said), making several routines and taking ideas used (including an excellent Force I’d never seen before) to make your own variants. This trick is worth the asking price alone. It also shows how Boris has gone out on a tangent to do something different. The routine is arguably easier than AC, so a good alternative if that plot seems either tough or worn.
Many complain of seeing a magician do something too difficult, or paying for something they think they could have worked out themselves. Both not good reasons for poor ranked reviews. Wish more help on culling, but still keen to buy extra material and practice.
Don’t think Boris has released a project this big, or even at all, in a long time, so worth grabbing. Great insight into great thinker.
(Although well-known for using marked decks and to promoting one, there are no marked deck tricks here except the mini demo at the start. No worries for me as I’m yet to see an inspirational marked deck trick that I haven’t seen bettered by a clean self-working trick. But I’m sure Boris has gone beyond the norm with marked decks, so will look for his material on them for further learning, sure to find more great ideas from this genius.)
Can’t go wrong with this one if interesting in sleights, gaffs, and insights on combining sleights to lessen your work. Boris’s sleight work is the opposite of the sleight-a-second Tommy Wonder tricks performed by Dan Harlan. Although great in themselves, if not an expert at sleights they are beyond most. Plus Boris shows less is more.
