Then, there was Close-up Clinic.

Now, Jamy Ian Swiss introduces... Stack Clinic!

The memorized deck has come of age. It's the buzzword of card magic. Although the principle goes back centuries, in recent years some of the world's greatest magicians have turned their attention to the memorized deck, brought it into the 21st century, and made it the cutting-edge tool for mind-boggling, no-holds-barred magical purity and power. Men like Juan Tamariz and Simon Aronson have taken the memorized deck from the stone age to the stratosphere. The memorized deck is here — it is now — it is magic!

Perhaps you are already aware of the basics of the memorized deck. Perhaps you've seen the handful of contemporary stack maestros in action — or perhaps you've been fooled and didn't know the stack was behind it! Perhaps you've read the ground-breaking work of Simon Aronson, studied the influential work of Michael Close, braved the pages of Tamariz's Mnemonica. Perhaps you looked into the Martin Joyal Six-Hour stack, or considered the Richard Osterland or John Cornelius systems — perhaps you've done any or even all of these things, but still can't decide what to learn, or how to learn it. Perhaps you already know the Eight Kings or Nikola stacks or the Si Stebbens system. Perhaps you've even committed the Aronson or Tamariz stack to memory.

So... now what? What do you do with it? Where do you go from here?

Now, two masters of the memorized deck will show you the way, step-by-step. Once you've learned the stack by heart, you've only taken the first step through the door. We will take you all the way down the path and all the way to the road of true miracles with playing cards.

The power of the stack can be devastating . But that power is not available to you if you simply memorize an order. That power is not available to you if you simply learn a single elaborate mystery that leaves you with a shuffled pack of cards in your hands. The power of the stack is not unlocked until you learn how to combine the principle with other additional methods and conjuring principles, until you come out on the other side with an impenetrable mystery, an absolute impossibility.

How do you achieve this? With the use of sound sleight-of-hand techniques, like estimation and false shuffles, palming and deck switches. With the use of sound misdirection and solid presentation. With practice. And above all — with skilled guidance.

Michael Close is widely credited with substantially popularizing stack work in general and the Aronson Stack in particular. A decade ago he was slaying magicians with magical effects they had never seen and could not begin to explain. Some of his ideas appeared in Volume 5 of his superb Workers book series, and were responsible for engaging countless new magicians in working with the stack. The stack was featured in Mike's work at the Houdini Lounge in the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino, and some of his latest developments are described in his new ebook, Closely Guarded Secrets.

Jamy Ian Swiss was one of those hooked specifically by Mike Close's distinctive approach. Since that time, Jamy has gone on to explore and use the stack in many ways. He relies upon the stack extensively in his professional walk-around close-up work. He incorporated it in his six-month run of "Close-up in Concert" at New York's famed Rainbow Room. And he has devised and performed complete platform programs based almost entirely upon the memorized deck.

Jamy Ian Swiss and Michael Close will open up at Stack Clinic and give registrants the real work — nothing will be held back. The tricks, the strategies, the sleights, the revelations, the applications — all the ideas that add up to making the stack not just a trick or a method, but an unparalleled tool in achieving devastating magic.

Who is Stack Clinic for? Just about everyone. At Card Clinic and Close-up Clinic, inquiring magicians always want to know what "level" the Clinics are geared for. The fact is, the Clinic is specifically designed to bring students of different skill levels together and to help everyone get the maximum benefit from that setting and for their individual level. If you are just beginning with the stack and barely know one, you will go home with a bountiful array of tools to accompany your future study and use of the memorized deck. (Then again — if you start now, you can memorize any stack within a few weeks, plenty of time before Stack Clinic. If you use the memorization methods described by Juan Tamariz in Mnemonica, you can start using any stack in a day!) If you are an intermediate student your use of the stack will progress by leaps and bounds, and instead of playing hit or miss games with the stack, you will know how to actually put it to use. And if you are an advanced student you will learn tips and finesse that Jamy and Michael have developed over years of intensive use and study, before live paying audiences — priceless information that you can't get anywhere else!

Countless students have memorized the stack and can call off the cards in order. After that — what's next? Many can't do more than that. But you will leapfrog over the common crowd and leave Stack Clinic with a new understanding of how to put the stack into everyday use in your magic. It doesn't matter which stack you know or are interested in — while Jamy and Mike both rely on the Aronson stack, most of the principles and techniques presented are not "stack specific," meaning they can be applied to any memorized deck or system! Obviously this is true of the pure sleight-of-hand techniques they'll be teaching, like false shuffles and deck switches and palming. But the overwhelming majority of tricks and performance material can also be done with or readily adapted to any stack or system as well.

As with Card Clinic and Close-up Clinic, this will be a holistic approach, embracing tricks, techniques, theory, performance — the entire gamut of conjuring skills as they can be applied to use of the memorized deck. There is time for hands-on instruction and personal attention and detailed questions and in-depth answers. There will be structured time and unstructured time, intense workshops and seminars, casual downtime with great meals, and late-night sessions. There's the Friday night performance at which you will see Close and Swiss in action. There will be a mystery guest lecturer — previous Clinics have been delighted by the likes of Herb Zarrow, John Thompson, Scotty York, and Harry Riser. And there will be some special treats that only Las Vegas can offer — including a night-before trip to the Penn & Teller show at the Rio (for those who can make it) along with a backstage visit, and plenty of further surprises in store as well.

Are you going to just keep thinking about the stack? Or are you ready to put it to work for you as one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of the modern cardician? Don't miss this unprecedented opportunity to be personally instructed by two masters of the memorized deck. You may never have this chance again! Your magic will be armed and dangerous when you leave the experience of Stack Clinic: Three days that will change your magic... forever!