Just giving up the A no shit driver seems reasonable.
I mean... He doesn't forget how to drive, but the fact that he's a super-driver isn't important anymore.
I could see this work in game. "I'm not that guy anymore, pal. I have a goddamn city to look after, now."

Yes, I can see that the hold and spend method could be frustrating for a player.
Making every spell a move isn't too much focalized, though? Is it working for you?
I mean... Taking for example Necromancy (spell), it only lets you rise a dead. Which is extremely cool, but you can only have the move do it. It appears to me like, instead of Seize by force, in Apocalypse World you had Seize by punching. Basically, a move that you could use, but too much strict to be a general move.

Well, maybe it just depends on how much you want to focus on the details in the wording of the moves. I think I'd just like a more flexible magic system.
Or am I misunderstandig you?

Anyway, I think that making an entirely "school" of magic into a move could work for me. For example (these are plainly based on D&D):

Evoker: when you try to obatin something with violence casting a spell, roll+will instead of roll+fortitude. Your spell counts as a weapon (1-harm hand/close, and choose two: +ap, +1harm, +area, +far, +intimate).

or

Hypnotist: when you try to influence someone with a spell, roll+will instead of roll+charisma. The spell counts as leverage.

As a side note: this is just wizard's magic, not the same for every class. Clerics (or other classes) will have definetly something different.
I know these moves are very little color-specific, but I still don't get why this would lead to poor fiction. They seem very similar to the basic ones to me.

Yes, the extra-roll was my main concern too, but it was the best I came up with; I can see it's not perfect and rolling too much dice may become boring.
I like your suggestion of removing it, but just letting use roll+will instead of every other move seems a little overpowered to me. That way, a wizard could just use magic for every roll.

Anyway, I don't think that a magic move structured this way could really let achieve things without description. As for every other move, to do it, do it; you have to describe how you use magic.
"I swing my hand in the air, casting an invisible spell of hypnosis" is fine with me, same as "I blink my eyes and immediately teleport myself away" or "I chant arcane words pointing a finger and a fireball explodes at the bottom of the hill".

PS: I think that there might be something wrong with the board. It said that this discussion was posted more than 120 days ago, while I posted it last night, and it noted as if Jeff Russell replied, but I can't see his post.

@Matteo: the double "he" isn't a mistake. Yaoi! :-P

I knew it! Well, in our game we have a double she (Vega, the hardholder - that name's cool! - and Impala, the driver).

Anyway, reading it, Johnstone's suggestion makes sense to me, except maybe for the fact that, if the skinner WANTS 1-barter, the hardholder MUST give him the gift, willingly or not.

I'm not sure if the wording of the hardholder's special could cancel the skinner's special option, though. It says he CAN give a gift for free, not that he can CHOOSE to give it or not thus making the skinner's special not working for that option.
I think the former's the right interpretation.

I'd like to know too, since I'm almost in love with what I've seen so far...

In one of our games, we had a friend of ours coming to watch, and he ended up playing a Quarantine. It lasted only for that session, but boy, he spiced up things a lot! One of his inputs came out to be of vital importance for Vega, my hardholder.

Yup, we found the Quarantine dead around the corner at the very next session, but he rocked our world anyway. I'm not sure if this was just a lucky coincidence, but i'd give a try letting your friend just play a new whole character.