I'm impressed with Reynold's trick, High Rise (formerly known as Half Moon Rising). It's the simplest rising card trick I've seen.

When you watch the full video, you'll see he goes through his entire ambitious card routine, which is pretty good. This turns out to be a nice bonus for any new magician as he does touch on some of the sleights he uses for it.

I rated this high (I generally reserve 5 stars for mind-blowing visual stuff... so a 4 star is really good for a regular card trick) is that this trick is extremely doable for anyone without having to worry about gimmicks breaking or failing you. In fact, the gimmick used in this trick (if you can even really call it a gimmick), is EXTREMELY easy and simple to set up.

Unfortunately, the audience reactions during the two full presentations seemed to be a little lackluster, so I'm not totally sure how good it'll play out in real life for me. I'll find out. ;-) But I think it's all about presentation and the personality of the magician at this point... so I think the trick should not be dinged for that. Reynold did a great job though... so I'm not sure why his audience wasn't falling over themselves when the card rose.

Anyway.

Here's a couple straight up questions and answers:
1. Are there arts & crafts? Yes. If you incredibly, ridiculously lazy, you will consider this an arts & crafts project. However, if you consider this to be an arts & crafts project that you can't or don't want to handle, quite frankly, you don't belong in magic. Seriously... this is a 3 second arts and crafts project. In other words, the real answer is no. That said, if you haven't done any arts and crafts for magic (i.e. the guy I just mentioned), you might not have the one item. But a quick drive to any office supply store or big box store with office and stationary supplies will take care of that.
2. How's the instruction? It's sufficiently good. I do wish that he had a close up camera for some of it, just to make the lesson a little more visual and helpful. But it's still good enough. There is a weird overhead angle that is used once or twice that helps slightly, though I'd rather have had the close-up. I also wish he went into even more detail and slower for his ambitious moves so could have been more of a complete package for beginners. But again, the ambitious stuff was indeed a bonus, so I can't really hold it against him. Overall, good job, Reynold!
3. Is the price right? At first, I thought no. When you see his solution, you'll think possibly that you paid too much. But if you think more about it, shouldn't you be willing to pay MORE for a solution that gets the job done but more simply and elegantly? So yes. The price is right.
4. Is this for the show or for the junk drawer? If you want to use a rising card in your act, then yes, this will be your go-to method. It's worth it. If you're doing only coin magic, then ummmmm...

Great job again, Reynold! I look forward to reviewing and using your next trick. :-)

(By the way, I always try to be honest and straightforward in my reviews, while being respectful to the magician. If you appreciate my reviews, can you please click the "Yes" button below beside the question, "Did this review help you?" It's not like I actually benefit in any way by your clicking it... but it would be nice to see if my reviews are helpful or not. I hope they are. If you ever have suggestions or comments or questions about my reviews, please feel free to leave me a constructive comment. I'm just trying to be helpful. I love the Penguin community and hope that I can someday contribute my own product. :-) Thanks for reading and for any (hopefully positive, but either way, at least kind) feedback!)

This is a clever method for a card rise. However, It think the name of effect is very fitting. Your audience, which has to be in front of you, has to be "high" not to notice how the trick is done. I would not recommend this as a climax to an ambitious card routine- it will have the opposite effect. Instead card to mouth, card to box, clipped, etc. would be better

Based on the video I had an idea of how this worked and I was correct. I’ve shown a few people and they’ve immediately called me out. They won’t know the exact method but they’ll know what’s controlling it. It’s tough to hide. He does cover some tips to help avoid this such as tilting the deck back a little or passing your hand in front as your initiating the movement.

I currently do Eugene burgers variation of the haunted pack, plus Don Alan’s rising card, Kundalini Rising from Jeff McBride, and a version using loops. All of which I would prefer over this method. If I didn’t have access to any of those, then I would resort to this method and probably still be presentable. I feel like this move should supplement an already strong routine and not be the focus of the routine.

I like this method. It is simple and direct. There is very little setup and instant reset. Easy for beginners, but yet I think it is a new method for seasoned magicians. I disagree that it is totally examinable, as some may question something they find/feel, but it may fly past most folks. He also gives some tips/methods for ambitious card control, which is a bonus for those new to that routine.

I do disagree with Reynold when he says to leave a comment if you like it, but don't say anything if you don't. That doesn't help anyone, when all negative reviews/comments are left out. People need to know what they are getting; good or bad.

Overall, though, a nicely thought out version of the rising card.

When you read through the testimonials you'd think this was some revolutionary vast improvement on the rising card. That is not the case at all. Most other versions of the rising card are hundreds of times more powerful. In order for a rising card to really be effective there has to be no question that you are not moving it. Think of how powerful the standard methods are for that reason. I'm not talking about the inpromptu methods which for the most part suck. This is close to impromptu and is slightly better than most impromptu methods, but honestly this is just not that clean. If the are looking at any angle other than head on they will see you fidgeting and even if they are looking head on they can't see that you aren't fidgeting with it.

Maybe I wouldn't be so disappointed if this hadn't been so overhyped, but honestly, I just don't think it's that strong. Even in the demo video Reynold had a phenomenal audience that went out their mind for the ambitious card but when it came to half moon rising they were more like "oh, that's cute."

This all being said Reynold does a good job teaching this and he does teach some good moves you may not know if you're an intermediate level magician so you may get some value for your money.

I imagine this is the type of thing most people will play with for a few gigs, realize it wasn't as strong as the rest if their set, and forget about. In three weeks I'd be surprised if more than 5% of the positive reviewers were still doing this regularly.

Still, this is a cute trick and you may find it worth preparing your card case for a few seconds just in case someone requests this trick, which is basically what I plan on doing. Every so often I do get requests and it's nice to be able to meet them even when I'm not prepared for it.

It’s simplicity is as awesome as its performance
for magicians and mentalists alike.

Just when you think you know how it’s done … you don’t. So you can imagine how a lay spectator will react to this ‘one of the best' rising card routines I’ve seen. I’m sure you have performed a few different rising card effects in the past using thread, magnets, pulleys or bought one of those expensive electronic versions. This method is diabolical and you will never figure it out no matter how hard you try. No special cards, no special card box, no string or magnets, just a little something that will take you a whole 2 seconds to add and you are ready to go. I’m sure you will already have this little something at home. You will realistically learn to do this in under a minute, what could be simpler? Kudos to you Reynold for not only coming up with this brilliant idea but sharing it with everyone. You can do this anywhere anytime and both the cards and the box can be inspected. There is no reset, you can do it again and again if you are doing table hopping, once the cards are back in the box you are ready to go. High Rise is a great finale to the any ambitious card routine as performed by Reynold and in the last 7 minutes of the tutorial he not only teaches the routine he uses but demonstrates a few alternate handlings that you can incorporate leading up to rising the selected card. A very worthwhile investment for the price.

This is NUTS !!! I always loved the rising card, but it always had it's drawbacks. This method eliminates that completely and thoroughly. Everything can be handed out for inspection immediately. The method is ingenious, just wait until you see. The ways of getting the card in position are up to you, so you can lead into this miracle closer any way you want. This is a steal at $9.95. You will use it and you will use it often.

Video is just under 20 minutes long.
The first 6.5 minutes is 2 full performances of his Ambitious Card routine, ending with his card rise.
The next 5.5 minutes is him demonstrating the card rise, although the actual teaching of the technique takes less than a minute.
Construction of the gimmick is amazingly quick, taking literally 5 seconds, making use of something every magician should already have in their supply drawer, or can be easily purchased.
The final 8 minutes is dedicated to him showing simple card controls that can be used with this card rise or with Ambitious Card.
At the very end he provides his personal email address and invites buyers to contact him directly with questions. (IMO, this is something that ALL people who sell us stuff should do.)

Once you've made this it's like a secret weapon that allows you to do a card rise AT ANY TIME. There's nothing more to set up.
This is VERY EASY. Definitely a great tool for beginners, although I suspect workers will also use it.
Plus, this is a nice introduction to some simple Ambitious Card tricks.

High rise is a pretty cool card rise from the box. Cleaner than kundalini but the card doesnt rise as high as i would like it to. Which is why i only gave it 4 stars
But, its still a great method and a good ending to many different routines.
Very simple with a little extra something that we magicians already have somewhere.
I love the method, very organic and he teaches and explainseverything very clearly.

Get this and have a really great ending to your card routines.