If you're to suggest one deck only, which would it be?

[Christina]

Sort of like your valedictory deck advice to the readers of these forums. It can be a deck you find very much essential to any Tarot collection, one which you found personally indispensable, or just one that you've fallen utterly in love with, which has been your most trusted companion for quite some time.

For me it would be the Morgan Greer 😛

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this thread to the tarot decks section, as I don't think it's reviving an old thread from our older community.

It will fit better here in tarot decks 🙂 

[Christina]

20 minutes ago, DanielJUK said:

I've moved this thread to the tarot decks section, as I don't think it's reviving an old thread from our older community.

It will fit better here in tarot decks 🙂 

thank you @DanielJUK 🙂

[DanielJUK]

For me it would be a RWS deck. I know not everyone likes it or can associate with it, but I think it's a good deck when learning as there are so many resources out there for the exact artwork and symbols. It's good to learn the basic system with and then you can stick with it or move on to other tarot branches.

It's one deck everyone should have in their collection and then they can add to it, find their path through decks ahead or the art that talks to them.

[katrinka]

It's a tossup between the Tarot Fortune Cards (Thomson Leng) and Ryan Edwards Playing Marseille. Both are incisive, with none of the vagueness that one sometimes encounters with Tarot.

[WizardintheWoods]

Playing Marseille is my go to in the world of Tarot’s. It’s a no muss, no fuss good reading deck. Get someone that deck and Caitlin’s book Untold Tarot and they are set up to go for the long run. 

[Scandinavianhermit]

I'm predictable, and I answer: Either Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot or CBD Tarot de Marseille. 

 

[BradGad]

HI Folks, 

 

I took a too-long time-off from tarot for a while, but am back.

 

And, I have a clear answer -- for me -- to this question: the Marseille Tarot, developed by Anna Morsucci, published by Lo Scarabeo.

 

I have, I dunno, 30 - 40 decks, about half of them high-end reproduction TdMs by Yves Renault, but for a deck I will just reach for, or use for a reading with someone else, this one. Here's my Amazon review of the deck: 

 

"This is a great deck. I only acquired it recently, but I am confident in saying it will become my go-to deck.
I have… enngh… 30 or so decks, including quite a few of Yves Renault’s high (very high) quality restorations of historical TDMs.
Let me just put some things I like in a bulleted list:
* It’s based on the Conver deck. There is, over course, no definitive tarot deck, but for me the Conver is the, umm, “most canonical.” The reference deck.
* It’s a modestly priced mass-market deck. Readily available, easily replaceable. (You know the thing — the belief, superstition, tradition… let’s say tradition — about how one’s first tarot deck should be given to you, not purchased? This is a deck that if you had a great reading and bonded with a querent, and s/he expressed an interest, you could just give the deck to hem, right there, in the moment, and know that you can get another on Amazon tonight.)
* Shuffles beautifully.
* “Proper” proportions. The obvious deck to compare this with is the CBD (very good). The CBD cards are atypically narrow. Not a problem, but, well, they feel a bit weird in my hand because of that. (OTOH, narrow cards make it a bit easier to lay out a big spread.)
* Wonderful faces. The only other deck I have that has comparably good faces is the Yves Renauld restoration of the Pierre Madenié deck. The faces in a lot of historical decks are, well, too grumpy and ugly for me. The faces in the CBD deck are too uniformly happy happy. Maybe I should move this to the top of the list, because it might be the single best thing about the deck, but it seems to logically flow here.
* It’s a modern clean replication of a historical deck. That means you lose the messy goofiness of the old decks… which is good and bad. But of the modern clean restorations (CBD, Jodorwsky, this one), this one somehow achieves a “light touch.” The colors are not quite as bold and constrasty; the black lines are thinner… just enough to delineate but not become an element.
* Traditional (i.e. neutral and nice) card back pattern… no problem if you want to use reversals.
* The box is just a tuck box, but see below.
OK, here were in the below, where I can be a bit discursive.
That cheap tuck box box. It’s actually a really good tuck box! One thing I hate about tuck boxes is that when you’re putting the cards back in, almost always the front card snags on the “lip” made by the fold on the inside of the box. That “ledge” created by one piece of the cardboard being folded up toward the top. And then you have take some out and put some back in, so you won’t hurt your cards. With this deck/box (and probably with other Lo Scarabeo decks), that doesn’t happen. The box is designed right. That never happens. You can just slam the cards back in the box and not worry. I usually carry by decks in a cloth bag, but I like this cheap tuck box. Just feel right, as the way carry it.
The designer of this deck (Anna Maria Morsucci) also wrote a book. The book gets excellent reviews, and might well be the best intro book for reading Tarot de Marseille. Unfortunately, supply of the book is intermittent and shipping is slow slow slow. I don’t have mine yet. But anyway: there is a highly regarded book written by the designer, which should pair wonderfully with the deck. (*Reading and Understanding the Marseille Tarot*)
[Reading and Understanding the Marseille Tarot](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738761141?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title)
Both Morsucci and Ben-Dov started with the Conver deck, and made a modern interpretation. Both know their tarot and are sensitive readers. And, in a lot of cases, they made different decisions on how to execute a good modern Conver TDM. Not taking sides on any of these choices, but some things I notice right away:
* In the Conver deck, most but not all of the human figures have white (not flesh tone) faces. In both this deck and the CBD, not so… very selected few.
* There are tons of things like this… can’t list them all. But, with card [unumbered] (le mat, le fol, The Fool), in many other TDM decks, it looks like one of the Fool’s bell’s fell off, and is now on the ground. There’s nothing of that in the Conver or CBD, but in the Lo Scarabeo, there is a little round thing (not a bell) that looks like the bells (but isn’t). Anyway… point is… there are lots of interesting points of comparison between this deck and its inspiration (the Conver) and its obvious competitor (the CBD): when you see what’s present and missing between versioins, you notice things you wouldn’t have. Like, I would never have noticed that ball/bell thing in this deck if I hadn’t been able to compare this, the CBD, and the Yves Renauld restoration. I mean… tons of little differences like this. Morsucci and Ben-Dov approached the same problem and made interesting decisions… usually the same, but often differnt.
* Very different treatments of The Star
* Exactly the same treatment of the 10 of Cups, which is my favorite feature of the Conver deck.
Anyway…. I think the deck is great.
Oh… and look at the face in that Sun card! Did you ever see a nicer sun? A sweeter sun? If you went back in time and were going to make a 1960s album cover for your rock band, wouldn’t you want that sun?"

 

 

[Scandinavianhermit]

Thank you, @BradGad! I've been wondering about the details of Morsucci-fans' preferences, and you were very informative. The one thing I didn't understand is whether the Fool has dropped one of his bells in Morsucci's deck. Would you like to clarify?

[Simooo_designs]

My favourite is the The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot Deck that I received as a gift. It's not my usual go to but my personal favourite.

[Troll]

I have only one deck and love it so Mary El

[DanielJUK]

@BradGad nice to see you around the place again 🥰

[Saturn Celeste]

On 1/21/2025 at 10:49 PM, Christina said:

which has been your most trusted companion for quite some time.

My Radiant RW.  I purchased it early on and have returned to it more often than any of my other decks.  It was also a card and book set so the purchase was one of the best investments.  The book is an actual reference book, not a chunky book and I've used it throughout the years.  I recommend this deck more than any other.

Edited January 23 by Saturn Celeste

[Misterei]

LOL of course on a Tarot forum the question of Historic [TdM and Tarocchi] vs. Modern [RWS and Thoth] will arise 😉

For RWS my top Most Practical deck is RWS Centennial tarot in a tin. It's small, it travels well, it's the original PCS artwork.

 

Although I'm not a TdM fan, I agree with @BradGad about that LoScarabeo deck in the Pocket size. Easy to travel with and comes in a sturdy box at an affordable price. But I would take a Tarocchi over a TdM, personally.

 

If I could only suggest one Tarocchi, it would be Valenza's Eduardo Dotti reprint. Budget-friendly and easy to travel with.

I love my other Tarocchis but they are more expensive and I would worry about throwing them in a bag to travel with.

 

Edited January 23 by Misterei

[Rose Lalonde]

I used to be part of a section here that's no longer a thing, but it was just to briefly help new readers feel comfortable doing exchanges here, and I'd start by asking them if they'd seen any decks they liked, and -- if they'd done a reading -- I'd ask how they read. Did they enjoy the way they read? If not, I'd go over a couple of different approaches to reading. You see some of them even in this thread.

 

For someone who likes TdM, most TdM's are fine if they have a preference. 

For someone who wants fully illustrated, I agree with @DanielJUK that the Waite-Smith comes with a wide selection of resources and a lot of people to talk to.

If they like historical decks but still want something illustrated, Dame Fortune's Wheel is excellent, as @Scandinavianhermit mentioned, with Etteilla inspired minors and TdM inspired majors. Or Sola Busca, Tarot of the Master.

Or if they have an interest in astrology (especially astrology of Waite & Thoth) I'd recommend my favorite deck -- Tabula Mundi -- for clarity. The Thoth too for that. (Not Waite-Smith, since it's less obvious.) 

If they want a pagan deck, I'd... send them to someone who knows more about them. 😊

Edited January 23 by Rose Lalonde

[alethian]

Has to be Thoth deck for its depth and symbolism.   Just bought Secrets of the Thoth Tarot Vol 1,2,3 by Katz.

 

[Ferrea]

1 hour ago, alethian said:

Has to be Thoth deck for its depth and symbolism.   […]

 

. ... and its beauty.

 

 

[alethian]

3 hours ago, Ferrea said:

 

. ... and its beauty.

 

 

 

This Youtube Tarot reader seems to be reading really well with Thoth deck.

 

 

Edited February 5 by alethian

[Misterei]

1 hour ago, alethian said:

This Youtube Tarot reader seems to be reading really well with Thoth deck.

Yeah. I like that guy. Plus Thoth is 1000x better as borderless!  I personally seldom to never read with Thoth. But it's one of the decks I suggest to students b/c it's undeniably part of Tarot history and evolution. Also Thoth got #14 as Art much better than #14 as Temperance. Even students who use RWS or Tarocchi, I encourage them to study Thoth #14 for the symbolism. It actually helps understand other decks.

 

Going back to the orginal topic. It's near impossible to suggest 1 deck or 1 size fits all. But there is a small GROUP of decks that I *do* find essential to understand Tarot. Thoth is part of that group and I love that they finally released a pocket size.

Edited February 5 by Misterei

[alethian]

26 minutes ago, Misterei said:

Yeah. I like that guy. Plus Thoth is 1000x better as borderless!  I personally seldom to never read with Thoth. But it's one of the decks I suggest to students b/c it's undeniably part of Tarot history and evolution. Also Thoth got #14 as Art much better than #14 as Temperance. Even students who use RWS or Tarocchi, I encourage them to study Thoth #14 for the symbolism. It actually helps understand other decks.

 

Going back to the orginal topic. It's near impossible to suggest 1 deck or 1 size fits all. But there is a small GROUP of decks that I *do* find essential to understand Tarot. Thoth is part of that group and I love that they finally released a pocket size.

 

I agree with all your points especially on the point that it is near impossible to suggest 1 or 2 decks to choose for the only deck to keep and use.

I need as many decks as possible to keep and use for learning and using.

 

I got some I Ching card decks today, which were reading great too.

[Nemia]

The Thoth was my first deck, and it's still my main reading deck. If I had to recommend only ONE deck, it would be the Thoth. It's the real thing. 

 

I have a large greenie and a small non-greenie one and trimmed them many years before I had ever heard about others doing the same. Edged them in black, keep them with incense - they look and smell amazing. 

[alethian]

I am a bit apprehensive in going ahead with trimming the cards, because  they might turn out not straight and tidy.

Years ago, this happened to The Druid Craft Tarot.  I trimmed the cards with the scissors, and some cards were not cut straight and tidy, and the deck looked untidy and a pack of rough pile of badly cut cardboard box squares.

 

I hated the deck after trimming gone bad.  But someone bought the deck on eBay surprisingly, and the buyer of the deck was very happy with the deck.

I was shocked to see the good positive feedback the buyer left to me.

 

Since then I have never dared to trim any of my decks.  But Thoth deck?  I keep thinking about trimming it.

 

 

Edited February 5 by alethian

[Misterei]

5 hours ago, alethian said:

I hated the deck after trimming gone bad.  ...

Off topic, but I suggest practicing on a cheap deck of playing cards or some other deck you dont care about. This gave me the practice and confidence to trim a real deck I actually use. Now back to topic ...

[katrinka]

8 hours ago, Nemia said:

The Thoth was my first deck, and it's still my main reading deck. If I had to recommend only ONE deck, it would be the Thoth. It's the real thing. 

This. There's a real tendency to view new readers as children and recommend an "easy" deck, but people can be perfectly capable of starting with the Thoth.
What to recommend as a first deck will be different for everyone. There's no one-size-fits-all in cartomancy. It can be argued that RWS is best because there are so many books and websites about it. But 90% of those are hooey! If you're going to recommend RWS, recommend good resources to go with it. Eden Gray, not Biddy! Sasha Fenton is very good. And while the PKT is flawed, it's required reading.

[katrinka]

6 hours ago, alethian said:

Years ago, this happened to The Druid Craft Tarot.  I trimmed the cards with the scissors, and some cards were not cut straight and tidy, and the deck looked untidy and a pack of rough pile of badly cut cardboard box squares.

 

I hated the deck after trimming gone bad.

Invest in one of these
and one of these
and Bob's yer uncle, as the British say.