Out of the 28 tricks on this dvd, I have nailed 10 of them. I'm not saying the others are bad, I am just saying that 10 of them I have completely down, and they completely astonish people. There is no better card magic dvd out there. 17 sleights! Jeez. Plus he explains more during the routines. There is a lot of powerful stuff on here, and 10 tricks for 60 bucks is just 6 dollars a trick! This dvd changed the way I do magic. GET IT IF YOU SERIOUSLY WANT TO BE A GOOD CARD MAGICIAN

There are some great tricks and ideas in this DVD, but most of them require a gimmick or change of deck or preparation of some object. I also didn't like how the DVD menu was organized. It would have been much better if each trick or sleight was made on a separate menu item to click on.

Born to perform is a much better DVD in terms of depth, clarity, and usefulness.

I bought this a while ago and upon viewing it for the 10th or 11th time, I realized that this is the kind of project that can spark your own creativity. Some of plots are traditional, some are new-ish (or odd).

There is definitely a slight rehash of some old material (the sleights which have been on other projects prior to this one and after).

You will need some gaffs for several of the effects and some are totally non-impromptu. Heavy or strange setup is something that is part of some of Jay's stronger pieces (Assault with a Deadly Weapon). This is a complaint many others have had.

But keep in mind that great magic often looks "on the fly" when we know it is not.

I agree with the previous post - too many gimmicks. There are a few which aren't gimmicked (like the sleights). Overall, I was disappointed. Especially with the Assault With A Deadly Weapon - I thought that was going to be the ultimate card trick. But I was disappointed to find out the way in which it actually works (I can't say any more on this for risk of exposure) and the effort (although maybe not difficult at times, it is surely bizarre) needed.

It is some very killer card magic - truth be told without the right presentation and audience control (having them in the right mood you want them) alot of it is not THAT impressive (and the same can be said for every single card trick in existance, yes even invisible deck).

BUT i am still pleased with such a purchase - it requires much much work on your part (of course) and the sleights are just as cool as the effects (i've fallen in love with topper and tilt!)

BUT C'MON! in order for Jankey to show us (the viewer) how to not just perform the magic but MAKE it work for the audience we really need to see him doing them to a live audience - it is this fact that seperates Born to Perform by Oz Pearlmen from this DVD!

Would i buy this again if i broke my one?

Yes because alot of the material was damned fine!
(and i have yet to master the stuff I loved).

This DVD is really sweet. Once again, jay has done it. The quality of the effects are toooo god to put in to words. I could not recommend this DVD more. I would also recomened Rev Coin Magic and Sankey's Greatest Hits. Could not have done it better.

I gotta say, I was a little shocked to see someone call these DVDs boring. They are many things: creative, informative, full of awesomely commercial card magic...but not boring. A really cool thing on it is that Jay teaches beaucoup amount of card sleights. The info on the classic pass, mercury card fold, and the one handed top palm are priceless...even if you already do these sleights and do them well, Jay will give you some tips and tricks on performing them better. Great stuff...I'm throoughly impressed and extremely happy with my purchase.

jay teaches everything in so much detail on this dvd. his ideas are really cool and stuff that i could never think of. great patter and jay is superr funny. this is not over priced because there is so much on this dvd. i can come home and when im bored i can just go learn a card trick that is really good. He also teaches 17 sleights that i use all the time

I'm sorry, but I just don't like the stuff on this dvd. Jay has a very creative mind, but I find the effects quite tedious and boring and so many of them require a set up. There is some good stuff on this dvd like 'papercut' but overall, I don't think this dvd takes card magic to the next level at all. If you want a few extra card tricks in your performance then you might get a lot out of this, but if you love quick impromtu strong card magic and cards are your main thing, then I don't recommend this to you. Jay has built himself a fantastic reputation, but mainly because of his great showmanship and humour, what he actually does with cards is not that amazing.

I found this DVD not to be as great as it was hyped up to be for several reasons: Firstly the DVD itself holds some fiddly menus (not a big deal so just forget that one)

The main problems lie in Sankey's performances - Oz's live to an actual audience performances really helps aid the learner in how the presentation is actually done. Sankey basically talks you through what he WOULD do to a spectator in his performances which is neither fun to watch or helpful.
The actual explanations are nicely detailed which is what I expected, but everything is filmed in some room full of junk and Sankey always looks like he's about to go out somewhere when he's being filmed. His explanations aren't very well planned as you can tell when he cannot find the words to describe a move or technique in several places. Besides he isn't at all funny despite what I've heard and I'm not sure about his 'I'm a very important magician who's got places to be' attitude which you should pick up on.

As far as the effects are concerned they are all beautiful (don't expect to use all of them though) but there's actually only 27 (not the promised 28). Also annoying is the fact that there's not actually over 5 hours of magic because there's some annoying filler footage of uselesness (e.g. Sankey doing a 'false false' cut) Trust me you'll understand when you get it.

I found the majority of the 17 sleights to be pretty rubbish especially the colour changes (shangai change doesn't work even when Sankey does it it's terribly obvious). However his teachings on the classic pass and some of the other sleights are very much welcome.

The fact is if this were a set of DVD's for 30 dollars like most here at Penguin the routines and teaching would far outway the bad points of this DVD. But it's twice that much money. At some 60 dollars I feel the quality of these DVD's should be much higher and more thought out. Sure Sankey's offering very rare routines here - but it's all missing the finesse and quality that takes a DVD from 'good' to 'fantastic' - the something I've seen in Oz's born 2 perform and Gregory's On the Spot. And they're cheaper than Rev card magic!

If you have the money and are looking for some kicking (i wouldn't say killer, except for some) routines that are explained appropriately then by all means this excells at that. But if you've heard that Sankey is DA MAN and this DVD is the truly best purchase out there then you may want to think again at 60 bucks. You'll need to start buying decks in the box load if you're counting on getting most of these routines down. Definately for professional magicians methinks - or hobbiests with an incredible amount of time, money and willingness on their hands.

Bottom line is that the routines are just as advertised, they are quite ingenius. Am I happy with this pruchase? - I am, but that came with some dissapointments which overall will NOT stop this material from going into my next show!