Or ridiculed or something ...I want to do ambitious card (my second question is it done too much???? does everyone do it???) my first question is there any sleightless version using gaffs of Ambitious (Mirage deck, Svengali..etc) I know what MOST of you are saying just practice and practice and practice some more and do a GOOD/GREAT...double lift.

The Ambitious Card is solid, commercial magic. Done well, audiences love it. Take advantage of that, I say! It may be over-saturated among magicians, but I doubt it is among laymen.

Pros have done AC with gaffed decks before. Nothing wrong with that. Your job is to entertain your audience, not satisfy other magicians' feelings of what should or should not be done. I have a routine with a Monte Cristo deck.

Boris Wild has an effect which is somewhat similar to Ambitious Card. The card repeatedly turns face up in the deck, rather than coming to the top. It uses a DF (and also a DB if I remember right).

When you buy Science Friction, there is (or at least used to be) a DVD included with various effects that exploit the SF product. One of them was an Ambitious Card routine.

Top of the Heap (SYMBIOTIC DECK) – Gary Ouellet

Https://tricksupply.com/product/top-of-t......ouellet/

I bought mine 30 years ago -- surprised it's still around. I've never really used it much.

https://youtu.be/eipBA1Rub84?si=yqwFfb9m2GrJZuf3

Similarly, Fantasma has the Phantom Deck:
https://fantasmamagic.com/collections/ca......tom-deck
It's a Svengali with r&s. I think that's what a Mirage Deck is, right?

The Symbiotic is better since it's on Bicycle Cards. BTW, it also uses r&s, but the "Svengali" part is on the long side of the cards in other words you need to handle the deck from the long sides.