Matt Baker Masterclass

Masterclass and download by Matt Baker
Price: £71.70£71.70inc VAT
15 reviews
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Matt Baker Masterclass
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Matt Baker cemented his place as one of magic’s most innovative thinkers with the launch of his debut book The Buena Vista Shuffle Club. A student of the late great Simon Aronson, Matt’s innovative and analytical approach to magic has allowed him to create an impressive catalog of truly original magic.

As a mathematics professor by day, Matt combines clever principles and devious methods to create captivating effects that aren’t too difficult to perform. These are powerful pieces of magic with intriguing premises that can be enjoyed by any audience.

Now you can enjoy more than 5 hours of incredible material in this jam-packed Masterclass. This massive download not onyl contains exciting array of tricks, but also explores the principles behind them and how they can be applied to your own work.

The theme of the Masterclass is "Mathematical Principles in Magic". Matt starts by performing numerous original effects in front of a live studio audience, before then teaching everything in detail. Nearly all of the material is new and cannot be found anywhere else.

There is no fluff or plodding procedure. These are practical effects designed to be hard-hitting, and memorable. Almost

By the end of the Masterclass, you'll understand what's going on underneath the hood with the "Gilbreath Principle", Simon Aronson's "Undo Influence Principle", and much more. You'll also learn about some incredibly powerful underground ideas you've likely never seen before, including Gabriel Werlen's "Green Neck System" and Alex Elmsley's "Sierpinski Principle".

In total, you get two, 2-hour lectures and then a 90-minute recording of a Zoom Q&A where Matt answered questions about the material for members of Vanishing Inc. Monthly that attended live.

Session 1

  • Single-Fried
    • The Sierpinski Principle
  • Pile Driver 2.0
  • Free Sandwiched
    • Free Cut Principle
  • Twice As Nice
    • Undo Influence Principle
  • Scripted Will
    • The Green Neck System

Session 2

  • The Impossible Knot
  • Crowdsourced Prediction
    • The Red-Black Relationship Principle
  • Shuffling versus Mixing
  • Match or No Match
    • The Gilbreath Principle, Part 1
  • Card College
    • The Gilbreath Principle, Part 2

Session 3

  • Matt answers questions during a record Q&A session
Magic live lectures

Customer reviews for Matt Baker Masterclass

Roger
Part 1.

A good first part of this masterclass. For me, however, the first two tricks in particular are much too long in their presentation for a normal audience! Magic for magicians probably applies more here! Nevertheless, the underlying mathematical principles are an enrichment for anyone who does not know them yet! Since I'm a great admirer of Simon Aronson's magic and also already own the book by Matt Baker, there wasn't really anything new for me here. So I hope that the second part will bring me more!
Gordon
Well, so far, I'm not convinced that mathematical card tricks can be made worthwhile. In particular, the first two tricks taught are too long and involve far too much dealing and counting. Matt seems very personable, organized, and sincere though, so I'm cautiously optimistic. The bonus eBook given after session #1 was as very nice touch.
Jay
Nice mixture of tricks; excellent overview of Gilbreath principle with beautiful examples of application in his creative card effects. I liked his extrapolation of the "old" rope trick best!
Adam
Top notch stuff.

Wow. Very good.
Michael
I'm a card guy, so I liked week one better (plus I had an interruption during week two). That said, I found Matt to be very articulate and engaging in his explanations and I just might wind up using some of the non-card things that he exposited, as I'm working on elements of a parlor show too.
Chuck
Great impromptu magic! Great math magic! Great Matt (Baker) magic! Honest evaluation here, Matt does a great job demonstrating a trick. He does a great job explaining it as well, however he sometimes over-explains an effect, or details the principle behind it repeatedly or his inspiration for a trick or too many credits given for a single effect. These concerns simply make the class seem to drag on and I started to lose interest at times.
Tim
Excellent
James
What a fun masterclass this has been so far! His the material taught has been a pleasure to practice and learn. The way he thinks about magic is something new and makes this masterclass a pleasure to watch.
Daniel
This is a terrific Master Class. I think I got more out of this one than any of the other ones. Even though I have read Matt's Book (The Buena Vista Shuffle Club) I was pleased with new material not included in the book (although he did teach modifications and improvements to some of those in the book). There are new principles (to me) that I appreciated learning about, in particular the Sierpinski Fractal principle, principle used in Pile Driver 2.0, (including 'pivotal peek'), The Free Cut Principle, and Simon Aaronson's Undo Influence Principle. This Master Class has effects I have and will actually do - Free Sandwiched, Any Two Cards at Any Two Numbers (Twice as Nice), and Match or No Match. It also includes variety of other effects (rope trick, a prediction effect with M&Ms - that also introduces another interesting principle The Red-Black Relationship principle, and Joshua Jay's fractal cut - worth price IMHO) that are satisfying. With detailed PDF notes to go with the lectures, as well as good tips on learning a memorized deck, this is without doubt the greatest value I've seen in a Master Class.
Ben
I waited until I had seen all three parts of this masterclass before posting a review but my initial impression has held. This is the worst sort of magic. These tricks may have clever methods but they are confusing, convoluted and tedious to watch. I am unable to imagine any lay audience finding them entertaining and am baffled at why magicians seem to enjoy this sort of thing either. I firmly believe mathematical principles have a place in magic but here there is no wit, no theatre, no clarity of effect, just tricks that have been designed to justify using some novel principle without any thought for the audience experience. The teaching is also very poor, and frankly most of these tricks are probably not suited to video tutorial in any case. Tricks like these that do not rely on sleights are easier to explain in text because the methods are not visual. This is a terrible introduction to VI Masterclass and I'm hoping that next month's will be much better because frankly this was a complete waste of money.
Gary
This was a good masterclass even though I was a little disappointed because the first two tricks performed and taught were very long and convoluted, However I did enjoy his teaching of the Gilbreath principle, and I would recommend his book the Buena vista shuffle club as there are some great routines in this book.
John
Extra star over the first session as the credits were even more impeccable, if that’s possible. The material was good here and the explanations were excellent, very in-depth. The presentations were not necessarily my style, except for Card College, I think that’s normal though isn’t it? We all have our own style and approach, or should have. All in all an enjoyable and productive few hours, thank you Matt.
Sebastian
What for a wonderful Masterclass. I like mathematic and also card magic and Matt Baker combines it in his tricks wonderful. He explain the mathematic behind the tricks realy well so that you can understand it. But if you aren´t interestet hob math work, the magic work also. Beyound the trick he have a perfect advise to remember Cards in a performance, with memory technique.
Tom
I have found the best way to show how the Undo works is to use poker chips. You can actually see there are nine different zones that collapse into five. As to the teaching: clear and well organized. Sound excellent. Lighting perfect. Camera work great. Should of had a larger table. Missing spectator reactions, way too flat. Since of very old, I will rewind the vid.
Benjamin
Excellent

Community questions about Matt Baker Masterclass

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  • Richard asks: I just subscribed, but I can't see how I access the series

    • 1. Jim responds:Until it is updated, try watching here: https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/account/live/
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  • Mark asks: If I purchase the masterclass do I get all three sessions?

    • 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:You’ll get access to all three session of this masterclass.

  • Leland asks: Are recordings of the masterclass available if I am not able to watch live???

    • 1. Jim responds:Yes, they are added to your account within a business day or so of the class.
    Post an answer to this question

  • John asks: If you can’t make the first lecture will a recording be available?

    • 1. Jim responds:Yes. In general, it is added to your account within a business day or two of the class.
    • 2. Jim responds:4 PM? That's Eastern time right? What time does the 4 PM show start?
    Post an answer to this question

  • Alexander asks: It would be helpful if you published the times of the Masterclasses. Thanks.

    • 1. Vanishing Inc. Magic responds:4pm ET on the first three Sundays of the month. I'll get the dates added to the description. Thank you for the feedback.

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