Ryan Schlutz Masterclass

This month, our Masterclass instructor is one of our favorite card magic creators: Ryan Schlutz!

Ryan has serious sleight-of-hand chops, but what really sets him apart is his knack for creating clever, practical card magic that’s accessible to magicians of all skill levels. His routines are strong enough to fool experienced magicians, yet approachable enough to put into practice without spending hours mastering difficult sleights.

From impossible predictions to deceptive card locations, transformations, and routines that make the most of a shuffled deck, these two sessions are packed with practical ideas to take into your own performances. Ryan teaches a collection of card routines you can take straight to your next performance, along with the thinking and techniques that make them work.

Here’s what’s in store.

Masterclass Session 1: November 1st, 2026

The One with the High-Five The high-five gag Ryan uses in this routine is great. But honestly, it’s only the second-best part.

A shuffled deck is ripped in half. You and your participant each choose a half-card, only to discover that the two halves match!

Ryan teaches his preferred handling for stage, along with an alternative for close-up performances, so you can choose the approach that works best for you.

Four Shadowed Your participant makes all the choices, yet somehow manages to find four of a kind. Ryan’s method makes the process feel remarkably fair without requiring a ton of sleight of hand. It’s a strong example of how a little clever thinking can create a seemingly impossible outcome.

Equal Finality Here’s another routine that leaves your audience scratching their heads. The deck is cut into multiple piles, and your participant decides which piles get shuffled together and in what order. Eventually, just two piles remain. Their top cards are combined to create a single playing card, and that card matches a prediction you made from the very beginning. With so many decisions along the way, the final revelation is all the more baffling.

Shuffles Therapy What do you do when your participant drops your cards? You take them to Shuffles Therapy. You and your participant do the work, and somehow you somehow manage to identify the card they chose. The secret is a peek that Ryan makes look incredibly deceptive while keeping it remarkably easy to execute. You’ll likely find yourself wanting to try this one as soon as the session ends.

Easter Egg: Fraternal Bonds There’s a bonus waiting for anyone who watches Ryan’s first session all the way to the end. Or, of course, anyone who reads the ad copy! Ryan starts by removing three cards while asking your participant a series of seemingly random questions. Later, your participant freely chooses three cards, only to discover that they’ve found the mates of the cards Ryan removed earlier. It’s a practical routine you can perform with a borrowed, shuffled deck, making it an especially useful one to have ready to go.

Masterclass Session 2: November 8th, 2026

RNG and Red/Black Shuffle Ryan kicks off the second session with a card-at-any-number routine using a shuffled deck and a random number generator. Best of all, the method is semi-automatic, so you don’t need difficult sleights to make it happen.

Then comes an additional mystery. Your participant cuts to two different cards and remembers them. After the deck has been shuffled, Ryan still manages to locate both selections.

It’s an impossible card location that can fool magicians, with a method that’s surprisingly easy to perform.

Clearly See Through Do invisible cards exist? And, if they do, can you actually see them? Ryan answers both questions with Clearly See Through. Sometimes, the simplest question leads to a wonderfully deceptive piece of magic.

No Hasslehoff Your participant thinks of a card, then holds the four Aces between their hands. They concentrate on sending their thought-of card toward the Aces.

One Ace turns face down. Then, it transforms into the very card they were merely thinking of. A thought-of card revelation with an unexpected transformation at its heart.

Two Card Transpo What begins as a memory test quickly turns into magical chaos, as you realize that what you thought you saw wasn’t there in the first place.

Two Card Transpo is the kind of routine you’ll want ready for your next strolling gig. It’s practical, direct, and gives you another strong piece of card magic to add to your working repertoire.

Forget to Remember Ryan closes out the second session by sharing his legendary Open Prediction routine. You’ll learn his handling in detail, including the subtleties that make the effect feel so impossibly fair. Ryan also takes the opportunity to discuss multiple outs, giving you a closer look at an important concept that can be applied well beyond this one routine.