A New 2-Card System (Shadow System) - General Memory Chat - Art of Memory Forum (that the method that Alex uses), you can know that with a little of investigation 
. He doesn’t use 2704 images, he uses 1.356, he does “Mallow’s style”.
In that same thread Alex himself says that he have to begin with 3 digit system and speed cards and 2 years later he reach 21s in speed cards in a competition!!!. And he doesn’t practice many hours. So this system can’t be complex developing a good technique.
I just begin creating images for speed cards about 2 weeks ago. I’m studying images. I want to use the best technique possible, so I’m studying for use the same idea of Alex. But with a slightly diffrence:
I decided not to use any phonetic codes!!, I hate phonetic codes. Yes everybody use phonetic codes and is something invented many years ago, but I realice is not a good idea. Is unnecesary. I want to have the liberty to use the best images possible, and without restrictions. We can use mnemotecnics to codified, mnemotecnic is not abou a rule of a phonetic code, mnemotecnics are simple do associations and use the imagination.
My idea is that: Q
and 10 
is the same as 10 Q . I think is slightly faster to read tan what Alex Mullen does. Why?
What I do?,because you don’t need to think in the order of anything. This is like in mental calculation:
Seeing 7 and 8 as 15 means not even noting ‘7’ or ‘8’ more than a microsecond and going directly to the idea of ‘15’.
We don’t need to read that addition from left to right or right to left. “IS ABOUT A WHOLE THING”
We learned to say ‘7’ plus ‘8’ equals ‘15’ in school. A real waste of time."
How I do this?, I’m impressed that I found at this momento easy, I have 80 images. The best is that cards have many simbols and you don’t have to use the order, this way is easier to create associations.
Please try yourself with 10 cards this and you can see how easy is this, and how you can remember the images. In my first try was with 10 cards, I was be able to convert every 2 cards in the image in about 1 second without any practice!, yes I had various persons in the images and also only 10. But you can see that works great.
Yo select a image and you associate the image with two cards, the cards you find better. Example: EXORCIST GIRL = Q (the darkest queen, not clubs because clubs represents the luck, spades is for me like like a spike, remembers me the evil), and the bloodi card of all deck is 10, not 10
because hearts represents the love for me. So Q and 10.
Also I don’t forget the images ever, codes are much more difficult for me specially in cards.
General idea: select a image and associate the image to the thing you need to codified the way you want. Everybody have creativity to do this.
Another great advantage I feel of NO CODES is that since the beggining of the practice, I’m practicing the visualisation of the images. You never subvocalise because you’re not reading codes!!. You’re interpreting the image represented.
TIP FOR PRACTICING THE IMAGES:
I have 80 images created and learned for speed cards. I create at the same time I’m study them. I found do this slowly, montth after month for to use the best images posible. How?, I look in my enciclopedia, literally I’m reading every single word, to inspired my to see the existent things and select the iamges that captivate more my attention and the more easly to visualization. In enciclopedia is better tan diccionary because you can see more words, even persons of films like batman!! Also thinking in the use unexisting things we can see in cinema or object important for us in our life. I remember for example I like so much ninja turtles when I was a kid, so I use the ninja turtle. Also I use “it” the clown, a sword which is great because is simple and luminous.
TIPS FOR SELECT THE IMAGES:
-
Images intriguing. That captivate your attention for any reason. And with a mean for you. And not boring for you. For example a cat don’t tell me anything, the cat my sister have is boring to imagínate because he is always sleeping :), but a dog is perfect, have personality and I feel affection.
-
Images in movement if you can. If you have a person, imagen that person doing that caracteristic thing. For example If you imagine a football player, imagin that person with playing with a ball. Or if you have like my Leatherface (man from Texas chain saw), I imagine that man with a electric saw!.
-
Very diferent shape to each other.
-
Easy visualization, the easiest you can.
-
THIS IS A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, HAPPENS TO ME, I DON’T KNOW IF THIS HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY: I found a very big images, difficult to visualise. I have to image the object far away, which is changing the perspective of the loci (something that you can’t do specially at high speed memorization because there is no time to think). And imagining the object far away also makes that I can’t “feel” the object clearly.
TIP FOR PRACTICING THE IMAGES:
How I practice the images?, when I have a card cerated, I stick two cards one on top of the other but obviously like two cards slightly extended to see both like when your extending to memorize a deck and a cut the rest. The size is like one card. (I have to plastifiqued them for to use all my life otherwise the cards damage over time.)
Learning the visualisation: SEARCH A IMAGE OF ALL YOUR OBJECTS AND PERSONS in internet for example. I found importat that every photo take the image in the same angle. Is obvious because you have the locis vizualized in one angle, you have to imagine th object or person in that same angle,otherwise is more difficult to remeber because doesn’t fit with the loci. YOU CAN’T CHANGE THE ANGLES, EVER!. Specially in speed cards, you’re memorizing at high speed, so you don’t have time to imagine changing any angle of any image.
Also IMO is better have the physical object if you can to have familirization with it and this way you can remember and do the visualization better and specially faster when you’re doing speed cards, you can imagine the object like if you’re seeing in reality, if you your mind have seen the object in reality. For example I have an ancient telephone in a image. I’m thinking to buy a telephone like, have that telephone and use that telephone for to have a better visualization (also I love the look of this telephones).
I don’t think is necesary to put any effort watching the images or watching the images for minutes. Simply contemplate them, and the details a few seconds once in a while.
ABOUT LOCI:
There is a very interesting tip I read from Boris Konrad in this forum:
“For memory sports purposes I do prefer the smaller locations: Only one or two items per spot, doing those very quickly. I tend to “lose” the images in big locations where it is not so clear, which part of it I made the association to.”
Speed cards is my favourite task. The task I really like and I want to master.
NOTE: SORRY IF MY ENGLISH HAVE MANY ERRORS, IF I SPEAK IN SPANISH, THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE CAN’T UNDERSTAND ME. I’M IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING ENGLISH.
#
#
#
#