Honestly, WTF were you thinking?

Also, are you a god?

The book has 101 illustrations and in the text refers to "one hundred and one ruses". "God" spelled backwards is "dog". Ergo, Erdnase is likely a Dalmation...

Good observations.

I just want to make it clear that my question is not meant to degrade the move. I was told Charlie Miller was able to pull it off since he " understood" what the shift is about, hence my question to Mr.Erdanse.

And adding to that, I'd be interested in what Mr.Erdnase was smoking while inventing it.

Medifro,

We were exploring alternatives to the classic shift. During this period, we developed several methods of transposing the packets that, while not perfect, had attributes that we felt were valuable in certain circumstances. Remember that in our time, conjuring in close proximity to the audience was uncommon, although not unheard of. At typical parlour distances, and under the lighting conditions of our day, the shifts we developed worked quite nicely for our purposes. It is also important to note that we put all but one of our shifts in the Ledgerdemain section of the book, as we understand that none of them are executed in a manner that is consistent with card table procedures. This makes them unsuitable for the professional card player, but perfectly suitable for conjuring.

It should be pointed out that even in our day, shifting the cut was a little-used strategem. As we stated in the text of our treatise, it was used primarily as a technique of last resort.

S.W.E.

How important is speed in a shift? How fast does it need to be done?

Pop,

In many shifts, including our own, speed is quite beneficial. All other things being equal, the faster shift provides the smallest window of opportunity for a spectator or opponent to spot the move. That said, all other things are rarely equal, and a shift with the proper mechanics with adequate speed will always be superior to poor technique performed in a lightning manner.

S.W.E.