I'm looking for my first tarot deck. Wha
Question
I'm looking for my first tarot deck. What kind of deck would suit me best?
Answer
For a first deck, buy a plain Rider–Waite–Smith (RWS) 78-card deck — the standard one with 22 Major Arcana plus 56 Minor Arcana — and skip the "beginner" bundles. That's the deck this reading method assumes, so whatever I read from a draw will line up with the names printed in your book.
What "good first deck" actually means
| Look for | Why it matters for a beginner |
|---|---|
| All 78 cards, individually illustrated | Some cheap decks leave the Minor Arcana as blank pips or suit-only cards. You learn much faster when the 2–10 and court cards have real pictures. |
| Card names printed on the card, or a clear index | You will flip cards by description long before you memorize them. |
| RWS imagery | The most widely documented system — the one nearly every book and website (including what I use) keys to. |
| Cardstock that isn't see-through or floppy | RWS has a lot of thin linework; flimsy stock turns it to mush. |
| Size you can hold comfortably | 70×120 mm is the standard; some "pocket" decks are too small to read details on. |
Two things to skip
- Bundles that include a separate 78-page guidebook sold as the main product. They're padded, and the book usually just restates generic meanings.
- Marseille (TDM) decks, Thoth decks, or oracle cards for a first deck. They're excellent, but their imagery and card names are arranged differently, so they'd pull you away from the standard reference material instead of into it.
Honest limit: no deck will "suit" you better than another on any mystical grounds — I can't tell you that from cards, and no one can. This is purely a practical purchase: what matters is that it's a complete, well-printed RWS deck you find attractive enough to keep reaching for. Pick the one whose art you like; that's the one you'll actually use.
One concrete step before you buy: look at the Minor Arcana close up in a shop photo or listing — check the 7, 8, 9, and 10 of Cups are drawn scenes, not numbered pips. That one check filters out most of the bad decks.
Once the deck is in your hands, want me to pull a single card so you can practise naming its suit or Major number?