On Feb 24, 2026, The Unmasked Magician wrote:
Ok, here's my honest and elaborate review. Not only of The Breakthrough System (TBS from now on), but also of Johannes as a person and creator. Because that's were a lot of the criticism was directed...

We were welcomed in a Zoom call with a group of I think 7 guys from the Café. Really nice to put some faces to names!

When Johannes started talking I immediately thought to myself: this is a highly sensitive, intelligent and creative guy. Not a business-minded guy like for instance Craig Petty (nothing wrong with that btw). And I think he comes across as sincere in what he says and writes. We ended up spending more than 90 mins with him and that impression only got stronger and stronger.

First he took a lot of time to explain how he creates. He stressed he is not interested in typical magic props, like cards. He can hardly hold a deck in the mechanics grip. He only wants his audience to experience magic in casual situations with things that are there naturally.
He illustrated this by showing a creation of his where he twists his finger in some really bizarre ways. And he immediately offered to send us the tutorial afterwards, if we liked it. This was spontaneous generosity btw, not some manipulative quid pro quo to get a good review. I'm very sensitive to that dynamic and I saw none of it. It was just a nice guy sharing smth with fellow magicians for the love of the art and for enjoyment.

Then we got to the core of the meeting: he showed an 18 min video with an overview of all the methods in TBS, all the ways he invented to make a tab penetrate the bottom of a can (7? I lost count...)
Now this may sound boring, but it actually was both captivating and really good fun. I was fooled badly more than once and one method (the one Greg Wilson likes the best) made me laugh the hardest I have laughed this year. It was SO bold. And it fooled me completely! (I am already looking forward performing it that way and just laugh internally while executing the move).

What I think makes this a great project is -apart from how impossible it looks- the repeatability. Because now you can do something you can do with very, very few tricks: when people ask you to repeat it you can. Not once. Not twice. You can show it four or five times. Until they are left with no explanation. And then... you can have THEM do it! And you can even repeat THAT.
If that sounds boringly repetitive: it's not. Not at all. Because remember: this only takes four or five seconds. You show the tab, put it on the bottom of the upside-down can, shake it and BOOM, it's inside. Clean as a whistle. If you repeat that five times in a row it wil still only last two minutes max. And they are action-packed minutes, with a great build-up.

Because after the first penetration spectators will be surprised, but they will also think: "Hold on, that happened really fast and I didn't know what to look for." They will ask: "Do that again." For sure. Now the great thing is: you can. The second time it will be even more baffling. And the third time... even more. And then you can offer THEM to do it. I think that is super strong. Remember, you are not having them pick a card. You have them perform a ******* miracle. To have THEM do it... TWICE (by the same spec or a different spec, whatever you want)... that is a sequence very few tricks can offer. And I think it holds tremendous value, especially in social situations. You can really leave your friends with the feeling that you obliged to their requests of showing the again and again. And leave them with no explanation. And on top of that you had THEM do it... twice.

Another pro I see is that the methods are quite different and it's fun to perform them. This will not get boring to do. Johannes explains how he jazzes with the sequence all the time. Like when David Blaine asked him to show it at Blackpool. He deciced to immediately let David just "do" the penetration and skip the first fases, to go for the maximum impact.
Another nice thing: the moves aren't difficult. He told us he was quite nervous because it was David Blaine, but never worried about screwing up a move. Because the moves are quite easy. I think this is good news for all the amateur magicians, as it means you don't have to first practice this for three months (or keep on practicing it all the time to be ready to perform).

Now for the cons:

One con is the price if you don't use it. I think it's too expensive to just watch and just let it sit in your library. So you want to consider if you like the plot. I do think the price is fair, because of the enormous amount of work Johannes has put into coming up with so many creative and incredibly deceptive ways to make a tab penetrate a can. You are paying for his time spent creating, I feel.

The second con is maybe that he doesn't provide you with a presentation other than to just show it. I asked him about this and his reply was that he uses magic to start conversations about how the mind can deceive the senses and how we can perceive that what we think we see as reality or the truth.
That's not my cup of tea. But this is so good I'm sure I'll come up with something. But it's good to realize you will have to do that yourself.

So... I'm buying it. Johannes offered to show us the whole tutorial, but I want to support him and this creation.

Thank you, lunatik, for mentioning me. This was fun.

On Feb 25, 2026, Johannes Mengel wrote:

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On Feb 25, 2026, BrandonWilliams wrote:
Why are people seeing this for free, when those that paid for it months ago still have nothing? Really devalues preordering when people who haven’t invested are provided materials for free because they complained about marketing. Why not share the same info with actual paying customers as the project develops?

Hi Brandon. These people did’t get the product for free and many of them bought it afterwards. What they got was basically an experience of seeing me “playing the piano” but it does not mean they are now able to immediately play the song without the actual detailed tutorial. They just saw enough to judge the value and the content of the system. My goal was to get reviews from people who have no association with me and gain nothing from sharing their opinion, because more people can relate to them than the big names like Cyril or Dynamo etc.

I’m still giving final touches to the product/masterclass and I want to give the best experience to my customers and that’s why I don’t want to share anything half-baked to my actual customers. Only a few more days…

On Feb 27, 2026, PatrickGregoire wrote:

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On Feb 23, 2026, The Unmasked Magician wrote:
Johannes just showed us (the official Magic Cafe review team) everything. I thought it was... awesome. I'm buying it. I need to catch some sleep now, I'll be back with a more elaborate review later.

Makes it sound like they were taught the whole system, and clearly Unmasked wasn't a purchaser before he attended - unless he bought it twice.

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On Feb 24, 2026, The Unmasked Magician wrote:
So... I'm buying it. Johannes offered to show us the whole tutorial, but I want to support him and this creation.

As above.

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On Feb 24, 2026, ArtIn wrote:
I bought the product today and am looking forward to the release!

From your own mouth, you were not a purchaser until after attending.

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On Feb 25, 2026, Johannes Mengel wrote:
many of them bought it afterwards.

From the mouth of the creator.

I don't blame Brandon for thinking these people were shown the tutorial. I personally don't care if that was the case or not, but I don't understand why some are trying to claim it was all purchasers - it clearly wasn't.

On Feb 28, 2026, ArtIn wrote:

Did you read what Johannes wrote? Did you follow what the goal of this action was?
What was shared with us?

We didn't see the tutorial, believe what you want.
This idea has not enabled anyone to effectively use the project without buying it.
But the meeting gave an impression of Johannes' work, time and thoughts.
We also got the opportunity to share our thoughts with him.
Is it about envy or is it still substantial? I bought it. Period.
I'm looking forward to the release tomorrow and to forgetting these discussions here.

Let's all just look forward to tomorrow.

On Feb 28, 2026, MagicBrent wrote:
I apologize if this is in previous threads but do we have an official March launch day announced yet?

On Mar 2, 2026, jb13 wrote:
I knew it was going to be good………but HOLY F*#%!!!
My jaw is sore from the number of times I’ve had to pick it up off the floor after having just watched the basic skeleton of the numerous versions. I’m looking forward to putting the meat on these bones over the next few weeks as I absorb this genius system.