Kickstarter: 7 Questions with Asad Chaudhry of the Foundations of Card Magic

What is the best way to approach magic? What are the most important things to learn? In what order should I learn them in? Currently funding on Kickstarter, the Foundations of Card Magic will answer those questions with structured video course on powerful AND practical card magic.

Created by Asad Chaudhry of 52kards, the goal of Foundations of Card Magic is to make the course approachable for complete beginner, and at the same time provide a lot of value for experienced magicians. As there are a lot of materials to cover (from basic card handling to techniques, flourishes and routines), the instructions will be thorough, yet concise. The video will be shot with multiple angles and have slow motion footage when relevant. This will all be compiled into a DVD..

We had a quick chat with Asad on his background in Magic, 52kards, using Kickstarter, the idea behind the Foundations of Card Magic and his thoughts on the community support he's been getting.

Can you tell us about yourself and what is your background in Magic?
Sure, I’m a 26 year old guy living in San Jose, California. I started learning about magic almost 13 years ago after seeing a friend do a back palm card vanish at school. It quickly became an obsession and I started spending hours every day reading magic books and practicing. My focus has always been close-up sleight of hand magic with playing cards, but I also dabble a bit with rings and coins. I ended up going to school for electrical engineering and spent a few years working in the industry before quitting my job earlier this year to work on 52Kards full time.

Can you tell us quickly about 52Kards and how it came about?
The Youtube channel actually came first. I had amassed quite a large collection of tutorials on card magic, and it was becoming difficult to organize them in a clean way. I built the website and developed a very user friendly video library to allow visitors to find exactly the type of video(s} they are looking for. You can see it in action over at 52Kards.

Later on I added the deck store, the community section, the blog, etc; but the videos have always been the core of 52Kards.

From running a vibrant site for a community of aspiring card magicians to starting your own Kickstarter project. When did you first start thinking about using Kickstarter? What made you decide to take the plunge?
The Foundations of Card Magic has been in the back of my mind for quite some time now. Using Kickstarter to launch it was a no-brainer for me. I love the Kickstarter community and am thrilled to see so many amazing projects being funded by ordinary people. Over the last couple of years I have gathered large following of magicians and playing card enthusiasts, and I have never sold anything to my audience before; so it just made a lot of sense to crowd fund the project.

Can you describe the Foundations of Card Magic project and why you are passionate about it?
The Foundations of Card Magic is a culmination of the strongest and most practical card magic I have come across thus far. It will consist of the material that I feel is the most important for students of this craft to learn. I get messages every day from students asking questions like “what is the best way to approach magic? What are the most important things to learn? In what order should I learn them in?” Magic has been such a blessing in my life and I’m excited to share it with others who are eager to learn.

From the project page, what are a few of your favorite reward levels and why? 
The $25 is the most popular. You get a digital download of the DVD and you get invited to a private Facebook Group for magicians called “The Inner Circle”. My favorite is probably the $50, where you get everything I just mentioned, plus I ship you a signed deck of cards from my personal collection (shipping fee is on the house).

The project is currently 4x above the initial funding goal. What do you think of the playing card community in terms of the feedback and support that you’ve been getting?
The feedback I have received from the project has been incredible. I wasn’t expecting to hit the funding goal so fast and so many times over. I think there is a lot of overlap between the magic community and playing card community, but I think most of the people backing this project are probably magicians first, and card collectors second. Most of us magicians completely geek out over custom decks though :P

Finally, what are your favourite playing card decks? 
Here’s a few that come to mind. Not in any particular order... Split Spades, Monarchs, Empire, Aurum, Classic Bikes are good and JAQK Cellars.

Awesome project Asad! At the time of writing, the project is 500% funded with 23 days to go.


Don't miss out! Pledge now to get the digital download or physical copy of the DVD. Backers will also receive a life time membership to the 52Kards Inner Circle group.