dealbreaker cards in a deck

Or: which cards must a deck get *right*, in order for you to be able to use it?

My own dealbreaker cards are -

The Magician: I see him as sort of representing the spirit of the deck as a whole. If I don't like the Magician then I know I'll never be able to like the deck. On the other hand, if a deck gets the Magician right, I can overlook all sorts of quirks in the other cards. My perfect example of the magician is one of the three Magus cards in the Thoth (the one with the bear). I'm secretly in love with him.

The Hermit: So many decks have boring, dreary Hermits. Another point for the Thoth with this card. I love the energy and intense scrutiny portrayed in the Thoth's Hermit. I also really like the World Spirit's Hermit. It manages to be visually interesting while retaining pretty standard Hermit symbolism. And it has a bunny!

The Moon: I feel this card should be disconcerting and a little creepy. I'm always disappointed if it isn't. It means a lot of the lighter, friendlier decks are ruled out for me. I think the Marseilles and RWS get the Moon right. The imagery is deceptively simple but so strange. Kind of like the Moon card itself.

Two of Cups: I am a hopeless romantic at heart, I guess. This card always fills me with sigh-y joy when it comes up in a reading (even when ill dignified!). I need to love this card in a deck. Again, Thoth gets this one right for me. I don't even know why in this case. It just resonates somehow.

I don't have dealbreaker cards as such, but an individual Major I dislike in a deck can kill it for me.

Star. Alchemical. Ugh. All it makes me think is 'ouch'. Actually there are a few cards from that deck I don't much like, but that one finally prevented me from buying.

Aerin

I don't like grotesque Death cards. If there's one of those, I might pass on the deck depending on how well I like the rest of the cards, but if I want the deck badly enough on other criteria, then I'll just hitch up my big girl panties and deal with a nasty Death card. I don't believe death is that grotesque, especially if it comes naturally, so there's no need for a horrible one depicted in the deck. If the Death card is horrible, then I think it indicates an adolescent-thinking creator of the deck who just wanted to take that opportunity to shock someone and I feel offended at their disrespect of Tarot.

I don´t know whether Im saying the opposite of Grizabela here, but a horrible Death cards is one of those touchy-fluffy huggy inoffensive "transformation" concept thingies, so as not to offend clients. I hate those.

I like to see the grim reaper scything down bishops. Maybe with maggots coming out of his skull.

Never been one for euphemisms.

It's such a newbie pseudo-cliche, but for me Death and the Devil will break it off! That said, after almost a year of looking at decks, I'm growing accustomed to certain things- even if I don't like them!

I love that German site that lets you see a bunch of decks compared!

I'd say it the other way around: one single really bad card can ruin the whole deck for me.

That being said I do pay special attention to the High Priestess, the Moon, the Hermit, the 6 of Swords and the 8 of Cups.

Whereas, I'm different to all of you. I look at the look and feel of all decks as a whole, and can bear with a few crappy cards with great toleration. Hell, my 15-year-fave, the Granny Jones, has a shocker of a "Justice", a card that has important meaning in my life!

I'm also a bit bemused when "favourite card" threads pop up: in every deck it is different. In the GJ, for example, the Temperance card is just lovely, and I don't mind the Sun and the Chariot either. The Wang/Regardie GD "Hanged Man" is just wonderful. The Visconti Hermit, all the versions I've seen of him (I love that it's an hourglass, not a lamp he's carrying). The Mythic's Two Wands is a stunner, incorporating as it does the Hierophant in its background details (it also has a dreadful card to balance it, the Ace Pentacles).

So no there isn't one card I check out before I make a decision to buy, but there are certain cards I immediately think of when I thing of/see the deck, and sometimes when I'm in the process of choosing the deck I'm about to use, I might be guided by my memory of its stand-out card/s.

I know you're all sick of me talking about this stupid card but the Romani Tarot
Hanged Man card with the dead rabbit ruined that whole deck for me.


I really like the Hermit card and how different they can be so if there's one
card I look at right away it's that one. The one from the BBCAts with the
purple robe and the yellow lantern is one of my favorites.

The Lovers card. I don't like seeing naked breasts. I just don't or hangin things. Basically not a big fan of nudity. But most lovers card even without the nakedness is just like ewww yet again another disappointment.

SherryZoned said:

But most lovers card even without the nakedness is just like ewww yet again another disappointment.

Click to expand...

So out of interest, which Lovers card *do* you like?