Are there any cards you check before getting a deck?

Before i get a deck I love to check some cards... I used to be very impressed by death and the tower so I liked tarota that wouldn't be too scary when it came to those two cards.
Now I check also the lovers... I like the lovers to be enchanting...
Are there cards you check before choosing a deck?

I like too check the Ace of Cups/Ace of Wands/Two of Cups/Queen of Swords/Lovers/High Priestess

I find I'm more drawn to the Aces and the Lovers in a deck than the others I've mentioned but those are the cards I tend to look at first in a deck, I bought a deck once solely because I liked the Queen of Swords in it.

All of them.

No, really, I won't buy a deck if I can't find a preview of all cards somewhere. Doesn't need to be high quality or without a watermark, but if I can't see what they depict before buying, I won't buy it. I'm forgiving for most cards though; I don't mind a few that aren't that great... unless they're my dealbreaker cards.

Lareia said:

All of them.

No, really, I won't buy a deck if I can't find a preview of all cards somewhere. Doesn't need to be high quality or without a watermark, but if I can't see what they depict before buying, I won't buy it. I'm forgiving for most cards though; I don't mind a few that aren't that great... unless they're my dealbreaker cards.

Click to expand...

Which are your deal breaker cards?
I love previews too!

Tigerangel said:

I like too check the Ace of Cups/Ace of Wands/Two of Cups/Queen of Swords/Lovers/High Priestess

I find I'm more drawn to the Aces and the Lovers in a deck than the others I've mentioned but those are the cards I tend to look at first in a deck, I bought a deck once solely because I liked the Queen of Swords in it.

Click to expand...

I live the aces and two of cups too

SashaCY said:

Which are your deal breaker cards?
I love previews too!

Click to expand...

Most importantly the Devil (a lackluster Devil almost certainly means that I won't buy). Less important deal breakers are the Magician, Fool, Judgement and the Hanged Man, and also the Queen of Swords, but I'm a bit more forgiving with those than with the Devil.

For me, it's the Moon, the Hermit and the Page of Cups. I want to like all of the cards, naturally, but if any of these are "off" I'm out.

No. In fact, I find that a bit princessy. What, a given card has to be just right, for you to like a deck?

Back in the Bad Old Days of the 1980s when I started buying extra decks, there was no such luxury. You got to see the cards they reproduced on the back and front of the box, and a few decks reproduced some cards on the sides, too. That was it - the decks would be shrink-wrapped.

Buying Tarot was more fun, then. Now, you've seen all the cards that matter to you before you buy the deck, so it's pretty ho-hum. Back then, you'd buy a deck off the shelf, and take it home, peel off the shrink-wrapping, and almost every single card would be a lovely surprise.

We really enjoyed buying back then, and no deck was a disappointment, just delighted surprise. In this day of people poring over scanned images of many of the cards before buying, people complain that they are disappointed all the time.

Yes, nisaba, most definitely yes.

I am quite amazed at how often we get people specifying exactly how cards must be. Whatever happened to an artist's vision, and trying to understand a given slant which might be a bit alarming at first sight? I check cards but often buy decks anyway just because I may come round to what the artist is trying to convey. It may depict an aspect I had never thought of.

I think it's pretty symptomatic that many/some people want cards to reflect exactly what they already think. Isn't that odd? I have been guilty in that I don't like touchy-feely/ rainbow pinky lovely-dovey Death and 10 of Swords cards - but generally, if a card has been revisioned, I'll work at it. It's very very rare for me not to get a deck because of one card. I certainly wouldn't expect to see all cards before buying.

I like to see at least a few of the minor cards (any suit), in order to tell if the minors are scenic. Sometimes a deck's description and packaging is deceptive in this regard -- showing some of the majors and courts, and conveniently leaving out the fact that the minors are very plain.

Otherwise, there's no specific card that I "must" see before buying a deck. I prefer to leave myself open to being pleasantly surprised by an artist's talent and vision .

One thing that will put me off a deck, though, is if I see a lot of blood and violence in multiple cards.