Padma
Thanks for the reply Flizarraga,I hope I didn't seem to be looking down somewhat at pip decks as I really don't,they deserve alot of respect as part of the tarot family,and with how ancient they are.They're very mysterious,even more so than an illustrated deck-after all even someone who never saw a tarot deck before could hazard a guess at what the ten of swords means in the rider waite style decks,in a marseille style deck-theres no obvious clues,memory and intuition come into it more-neither of which are my strong points lol.
I think I am leaning towards the mythical creatures out of the two,maybe I'd work more with a pip deck if I had a really amazing one.
If it helps at all, I learned on a Marseille with no LWB. I was 13, and I got it. And I knew nothing about tarot, at that time. While I do now prefer illustrated pips, I can tell you from experience that your intuition will "get it" when you see the pip cards. There are also study/explanation threads here for pips and courts, which might help
I guess what I am saying is that while I don't own that particular deck, don't dismiss it out of hand over pips. You'll be amazed how your intuition steps in to fill the gaps.