Wow, looks like a dream project for memdeck workers:

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic/......eck-set/

Get ready for Woody Aragon’s very first two-DVD set! With over four hours of new content, you will see Woody’s 40-minute memdeck show and learn about his Instant Memorised Deck where you can perform many of your favourite memdeck tricks from a SHUFFLED DECK!

DVD 1: The Show

Woody Aragon is a master magician, and he understands the necessary components of a powerful act. Drama, variety, and a natural build are required to get people to leap to their feet. In The Show you will possess all of these components, each trick setting up the next. You'll learn:

The Blushing Card - In a blue deck, any named card changes to a red-backed card, and then a second named card changes.

Card at Name - An spectator names any card and then their name is spelt, one card per letter. The named card is discovered on the last letter.

Top or Bottom - A named card is not there...and then it is!

Rub-A-What? - A quick routine of visual transformations and appearances.

"Eish" of Diamonds - A comedy routine with a surprise ending.

Texas Hold'em - A Poker exhibition full of twists and surprises.

Mnemo-fry - One of Woody's signature effects. The deck is shuffled by a spectator and he picks a packet of cards. The magician guesses every card.

TeleTriumph II - A whole act in itself, Woody has combined several effects in one long, astounding routine.

Woody teaches his own Memorandum stack, but most of the routines work with any memdeck.

DVD 2: Instant Memorized Deck

"The Instant Memorized Deck" is a new concept that is sure to excite card magicians. It begins with a borrowed, shuffled deck and through a series of clever principles and a thoughtful selection of material, you slowly and secretly put the deck into an order which allows you to do MIRACLES. You can simulate tricks only possible with a memorized deck, without actually memorizing a deck!

This is an entirely new approach and concept in card magic, and one that opens up many possibilities for stack work ... without a stack.

The routines require no difficult sleights and are easy to remember and perform. Plots include poker demonstrations, mentalism, prediction effects, and stunning impossibilities. You'll learn:

4 Card Prediction - From a borrowed, shuffled deck, the magician removes two prediction cards. The spectator then removes two cards in the fairest possible manner...and these two cards match the predictions.

Weighing the Cards - In this classic, the spectator cuts off any packet of cards and the magician instantly knows how the number of cards cut.

Name any Card - The magician knows the exact position of any card the spectator names.

Memory Exhibition - The spectator chooses any card and moves it to any other position in the pack while the magician's back is turned. With just a gaze at the new order, the magician can pinpoint the spectator's chosen card and where it is.

C.A.A.N - A selected card goes to any position called for.

Instant Poker - This is a highly entertaining and multi-phased Poker routine.

I picked these up a couple of weeks ago at Woody's lecture. While I still have to watch most of it - I only checked out the performance part of The Show - I have seen him do most of the Instant material live.
Getting into it is not hard to do and can be done in the open under cover of a - strong! - trick or two. While it is stack independent, Woody uses the construction of his personal Memorandum stack to great effect here and squeezes out a couple of his own stack-specific routines.

I hope he didn't explain his Siamese Stack, too good to give away

I just watched the instant memorized deck, have not started the show yet. It's a good way for people that have never done memorized work to start, and to progress from there to his half stack memorandum, or the siamese work. And it's a great idea for those that already use memorandum (or siamese) to work with a borrowed deck and still accomplish similar effects.

I just picked up a used copy of his book "Memorandum". I should have it tomorrow or the next day. I was wondering, Does this set of dvds work well in conjunction with the book? Is it working with the same "Memorandum" stack or is it a different stack? (Like Mnemonica teaches both the Mnemonica stack and "stay stack" routines).

The book works great with these DVDs. The instant memorized deck is a way to get into his memorized deck with only few cards into position, and the effects that you can accomplish with those few 'stacked' cards. The second DVD is a full show using his memorized deck. Also, in the first DVD he walks you through his method to memorize those first cards that you need, so after you are done with that part for the instant memorized deck, you are almost half way to have his full siamese deck memorized (explained in the book). So, I think these are great DVDs to go with the book, for both people that are starting to work through the book or for people that already uses the stack, but want to get to it from a shuffle deck (partially get to it)

Great. That's what I was hoping to hear.

Vanishing Inc has this on sale today for $12.00 (the whole set for download). I just want to make sure that you do not pass this thing up, if ever you are interested.

Directlink:

https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic/......eck-set/

Do you need to be able to do something fancy like a Faro Shuffle?
How advance must someone be?
How does this compare to Si Stebbins?

Anyone try to perform his show? I haven't used a st**ked deck in a while because it's usually just 1-2 trick pony. I would like to do a whole show. (That would makes it worth putting in the time and learning).

Any thoughts or reviews would be appreciated.
Marc & Doctor D: Are you still using it?

Thank you.

Hi Sophocles, the DVDs above are a way to get into memdeck work from a shuffle deck. It will allow to do some of what you can do with a full memdeck, but not everything. A full stack is not a 2 trick pony, it's a powerful tool. If you read mnemonica by Tamariz, or any of Aronson or Woody's memorandum... you will see how powerful is to have a full (or a half) stack. You can do a full show with one if you want, but you need to make sure you are not just doing things that scream 'not shuffled', 'ordered'... but that's up to you, not the stack... if you plan to do a full show based on one method, you will need to work on that method. Like doing a whole show based on a double lift, you can probably find enough tricks with different effects based on mostly that technique.

Now, back to your questions... you don't need to do Faros with a stack, there are some effects that require or that improve with Faros but there are lots of others that do not need it. One advantage of knowing how to Faro is that it allows you to get to the stack from a new deck.
The more advanced you are, the more characteristics you will be able to take advantage of the stack, for instance if you can do a card control without altering the order of the deck, you will be able to continue using the stack after a card control, otherwise, you lose the stack. Same with false shuffles, if you can do a Truffle shuffle, you can start with a couple of those, or an overhand false shuffle, if you can't do that, you will lose some impact. Or the example above, if you can Faro, you can get to your stack from a new deck fairly easy, or have the deck ready in a way that in two faros it gets you to your stack. If you can't, you need to start with your stack already set.
How does it compare to the SiStebbins? very different, the SiStebbins is great to know the next (or previous card) for anything else, you need to calculate (with a stack you don't calculate, you know). Also, it is good for mathematical principles ( every 4, every 13, etc... ). Some stacks have some mathematical principles build it too. Each stack tries to keep some of those principles from previous ones, plus some new ones. Woody's is an evolution of Mnemonica and Aronson. On that line you can check Patrick Redford's, it has lots of other mathematical effects build in, and I think some of them can be used even if you don't memorize the stack. Others, famously Darwin Ortiz, have memorized the SiStebbin so they can take advantage of the principles of the SiStebbins and the direct recall of a stack.

I hope I addressed your concerns, my main point is that the stack is not a 1-2 trick pony, it's a tool and combined with other tools in your arsenal it is very powerful. If that's the only tool you have, you won't be able to take full advantage of it. If you are going to use only one tool, use a marked deck. But if you can combine a marked deck, stacked and stripped, think what you would be able to do with that deck!!

Thanks Marc! Bought it today and got Red Herring as a free gift which is pretty cool. (Black Friday special)
https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magic-......herring/

So I'm very happy to get both of these for $12.

I purchased this last night and watched the performances this morning. I’m looking forward to learning “The Show”. It is a well structured performance piece.

I just watched The Show and wow! Great work. Very impressive. 40 min of continuous exciting card magic. I recognized some of moves. V smooth. I’m looking forward to working on the material myself as well.

Marc, thanks for your comments. I’m starting to understand what you mean. This set is ridiculous value for money because he could actually spend a lot more time on each effect and charge a lot more. He doesn’t talk much about the false shuffling which is what makes everything look so unbelievable. I feel he could have done a 3rd DVD just on the transitioning from effect to effect and how to make it look impossible. So it’s definitely not a beginner set.

Marc, if someone has this set is it worth getting the book as well? The deck and a lot of the tricks in the book are in the set. So it’s seems that the book just has a couple more tricks and some info on other stacks. Thank you for your thoughts.

I haven’t memorized any deck before so I’m going to try with this one.

I think there is a lot more in the book, nuggets of information here and there. I don't think they are exclusive, I think they complement each other. PM if you want help with the memorization, Woody says to memorize just half the stack to begin with. There are a couple of reasons... one, it is easier and less scary. There are lots of effects already build in in the first half... but secondly (or thirdly) you will be able to see the two halfs as separate units so you can do a full separation of first half versus second half as quick as you can do a color separation, and that would set you up for several effects right away.

Marc

I bought this Set of downloads as it is for 12$ only in the "Black Friday" Sale. It's a really impressive set, and my aim was to get a bit of insights on what'll be possible when I'll have my first stack memorized. I'll stick for Tamariz stack first, and maybe will one day take the Memorandum as second challenge.

Woody says in The Show that one can get into Mnemonica from his Memorandum. That was interesting.

Faro is optional in setting up the instant memorized deck.

I would love to try stuff with a stacked deck but at 65 years old my memory may not allow me to learn the whole deck easily . Would this be suitable for me or what’s the best alternative.

Barry