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There are lots of wonderfully courageous uses of miscalls in magic, be that miscalling a written prediction or much more terrifying use cases. Whenever I see a magician or mentalist use a miscall in any form, my butt tightens, I sit up straight and adrenaline floods my system.

I’ve seen big-name magicians miscall predictions for huge audiences.

I don’t know why it makes me feel like a giddy kid, but it does.

Are they going to get away with that? I wonder.

Did they just get away with that?! I wonder next.

The most straightforward variation of a miscall gets used in the opposite manner one might expect. It’s used less as a method but as a convincer. A convincer that no method has yet taken place and that the trick’s ending is not entirely locked in.