I was getting bored when I had an idea. Dream control is based on expectation so why not use it to become lucid ? I haven't fully figured out yet how the technique would go but the rough idea is the following :
Take a deck of cards (poker for instance), place it on a table in front of you and pick one card randomly. Before looking at it, try to guess what it will be. Statistically speaking, you have one chance in 52 to guess right so it's quite rare. Each time you guess right, perform a good reality test. I haven't tried it yet but I think that in a dream, you would guess the right card most of the time (if not each time) simply because your expectation modifies what is unseen. You would then perform a reality test as when awake and it would get you lucid.
I think that it would be performed during a WBTB for increased chances. Then, while falling asleep, you should try to imagine something but here comes the tricky part. What should you imagine ? Have you any ideas ? Personally I thought of concentrating on the action without worrying about the card. Or simply reminding yourself that the first thing you'll do upon waking up is trying to guess a card (with the deck near your bed). Or simply make it a habit to avoid false awakenings...
I would like to start a discussion here on this technique to try to improve it. How do you find the idea ? Do you think it could work ? And do you think we could add something ?
Btw : thank you very much for this forum Daniel it's very useful.
Update : tonight, I had my first WILD and while lucid, I decided to try to guess cards. I picked up the first one and guessed right, it was the queen of spades but the card looked different. Irl, the cards have a cat drawn on the backside and in this dream, the queen was a cat. I then pulled the second one and guessed right again, it was the king of diamonds. Though the card was very different, the king was an animal somewhere between a lion and a cat with a big grey mane. The design of the card was very pretty and the diamond symbol was a red triangle (not diamond). At first, I barely recognized the card as the king of diamonds.
For the technique : I think that this technique has a real potential but now knowing my results and the results of Brandon, be prepared to be dreaming also if the appearance of the card is weird or makes no sense, not only if you guess right.
So I have an update for you. I tried this card routine during the day, and the first thought that came to mind, was that I would pull the "joker" card from the deck. I shuffled the deck, and pulled the first card off of the top and - it was the joker card. Needless to say I was shocked and immediately performed a reality check, but unfortunately I was awake. I tried this again, and my next thought was that I would pull a 4 of clubs - I ended up with a 3 of clubs. Finally, I predicted I would pull a 9 of diamonds and ended up with a 5 of diamonds. Quite the series of coincidences and close calls, and I performed a reality check after each pull.
Other times doing this have not been close lol. I have yet to have any dreams about the card deck, even when doing this upon waking in the night and returning to bed.
HOWEVER, perhaps the most interesting thing I found: I had a spontaneous DILD last night. During the dream, I remembered the card method - now I was already lucid, but I figured I would experiment. I went to my room, and right where the deck of cards is in waking life, a dream deck was there in the dream. I pulled the top card from the deck, thinking "joker". But it was completely unreadable. I spread all the cards face up and could not read any of them. Will report back after another few days or week or so of attempts.
C'mon, lets get some others to jump in and try this!
This is a very interesting idea for a technique actually. As far as what you said regarding your expectations "modifying what is unseen" and therefore seeing the correct card, I suppose it depends on the individual (as it always does). For example, if one expects to see the correct card every time, they very well may see it in a dream and trigger a reality test. However, if one does not expect this to work, who knows how the cards would react - maybe they would be random every time. Or maybe they would be unstable with moving text or images, kind of like how reading is a common difficulty for many people in dreams occasionally.
However, even if these differences were to exist, I like your point about focusing more on the action being the next thing you see after a WBTB. Maybe base this similarly to the dreamwalker technique - practice drawing cards whilst awake during the day, and during WBTB... and visualize this action while falling back to sleep, in all the detail, engage sensations. Maybe this can lead to a WILD- and if not, you could "fall into a DILD" and may be performing the action in a dream - triggering a reality check.
You should experiment with this technique and play around with it. I'll be sure to do the same, and report back to you! (Drawing cards and really focusing on them, and the intention to have a lucid dream and engaging your senses in preparation for the visualization is a stimulating activity for a WBTB as well).