Waterbend

Waterbend is a smooth card drop in which the cards form two simultaneous arcs, creating the illusion of a flowing waterfall.

Variations

Two popular variations of the move are:

• The classic version, where the cards are arranged in a "T" shape.
• A variation where the upper packet is positioned noticeably higher.¹

Origin

I still remember the day Waterbend started to come together. I was just on my couch messing around with cards, I thought about how beautiful and iconic so many cascade moves are and how there aren't nearly as many of them as packet cuts. After a faro shuffle, I started experimenting with different grips to see what kinds of cascades I could create with the interwoven cards.

At some point, I noticed the cards almost looked like they were falling and bouncing off my fingers, and I thought that was a really interesting idea to chase. After a ton of experimenting, I discovered that rotating half the deck sideways let the cards fall onto my thumb and align once landing in my other hand. From there, everything just clicked, and Waterbend was born.

—Joe Feldpausch

References