How to choose your first tarot deck

The best first tarot deck is not necessarily the most famous one or the one with the prettiest box. It is a deck you can look at closely, handle and study with a guide that describes its actual images. If you buy a Tarot de Marseille deck and open a manual explaining Rider–Waite–Smith scenes, you will soon find details that do not exist on your cards. That mismatch between deck and book makes learning much harder than any supposed “level” of the deck.

To choose carefully, look at least one Major Arcana card, one numbered Minor Arcana card and one court card before deciding. You need not know what they mean. Simply check what kind of images are in front of you and whether you want to examine them.

First question: would you rather learn through scenes or structure?

In many decks of the Rider–Waite–Smith family, numbered Minor Arcana cards show scenes with people, places and gestures. A learner can begin by describing who looks at whom, what object sits in the centre and how the composition feels. Such observations can aid memory, but they can also lead to hasty conclusions if you ignore the question and the card's spread position.

In a traditional Tarot de Marseille, numbered cards mainly show Cups, Swords, Wands or Coins arranged in patterns. You will not find a Rider–Waite–Smith narrative scene on a Marseille Two of Swords. Instead, you learn to observe the suit, number, arrangement and neighbouring cards. This asks for a different kind of attention: rather than asking what a figure in the picture is doing, you ask what relationship the card creates within the spread.

Neither approach is universally easier. Some people remember scenes better; others prefer the graphic clarity of repeated symbols. If you can compare both decks in a shop or through official images from the publisher, pick a numbered card of the same suit and rank in each. Say aloud three differences you can actually see. That test tells you more than a “for beginners” label.

Second question: is it a complete, legible deck?

The most common structure has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes the four Italian suits and historical trumps; the Victoria and Albert Museum shows cards from different periods. Some modern decks change card names, artwork or the total number. That freedom can be artistically valuable, but when you start learning, you need to know what differs from the guidebook you plan to use.

Check the card list before buying. A product containing only the 22 Major Arcana can help you practise with that group, but it will not support exercises involving suits and court cards. If a deck includes extra cards, look for an explanation of how to use them. “Tarot” on the cover does not prove that the deck follows exactly the system in your book.

Legibility matters too. Look at the size of the names, the distinction between similar numbers and the clarity of the drawing from the distance at which you would lay the cards on a table. An impressive image enlarged on a screen may become confusing on a small card. Check whether the colours and details survive in the particular physical edition you are considering.

Third question: how does it number Justice and Strength?

Compare cards VIII and XI. In the pattern followed by many Tarot de Marseille decks, Justice is VIII and Strength is XI. Rider–Waite–Smith reverses them: Strength is VIII and Justice is XI. This clue cannot identify every deck on its own, but it catches a common mismatch between deck and manual.

Write down the edition name and the numbering. If your book arranges chapters by number, you will avoid looking up a card in the wrong place. You can also check Major Arcanum XIII, which is unnamed in some Marseille editions, and the names used for court cards. Do not treat these differences as an absolute authenticity test. They are editorial conventions you should know to study clearly.

Fourth question: is there a book about this deck?

A useful manual should not make you imagine objects or figures that your card does not show. Read its description of a Minor Arcana card and compare it with the artwork. If the book insists on an absent scene, it may be describing another system. If it explains suit, number and arrangement for a Marseille deck, or gestures and scenes for Rider–Waite–Smith, its exercises will be easier to apply.

Choose according to the problem you want to solve, too. A beginner's manual helps you learn the structure and study cards individually. A book on combinations is more useful once you can recognise the cards but struggle to explain what happens between two of them. Buying the second type before you understand the deck can turn every pair into another list to memorise without context.

Sabio Tarot has separate book pages for Marseille Tarot for Beginners and Rider–Waite Tarot for Beginners. Check which matches your cards before choosing. The pages show only published editions and formats, so a translation planned for the future is not mistaken for one already available.

A practical test before you decide

If you can see the cards from a real edition, try this five-minute exercise. Choose one Major Arcana card, one numbered card and one court card. Write down what appears on each without checking its meaning. Then ask yourself:

Can I distinguish the names, numbers and details without enlarging the image?
Do the numbered cards show scenes or just symbols of their suit?
Would I like to look at these images for weeks, even when I do not understand a card?
Does the guidebook I plan to use interpret the images present in this edition?
Do I know what differs from the classic deck the guidebook uses as its reference?

If your answer to the fourth question is no, you need not give up on the deck. You could find a dedicated guide or choose a deck closer to the book you want to start with. If the cards are hard to read, look at another edition before investing time in a tool you struggle to use.

Example: two people, two reasonable choices

Ana wants to learn by describing images. When she compares the Six of Cups and the Page of Wands across two deck families, she finds Rider–Waite–Smith scenes easier to remember. She chooses a legible edition of that pattern and a manual that explains its images. Her first exercise is not to predict what will happen; it is to notice what changes when a card appears as a resource or an obstacle.

Luis enjoys comparing numbers and shapes. In Marseille, he likes the fact that the Six of Cups does not hand him a fixed scene: he can look at the arrangement of the Cups and their relationship with neighbouring cards. He chooses a specific Marseille edition and a guide that does not ask him to find nonexistent figures in the numbered cards. Both choices work because each learning method fits the object the person holds.

These examples are fictional. They do not prove that any personality type needs a particular deck. They show how to choose from the learning task rather than a sales promise.

What to avoid in a first purchase

Be wary of a comparison that shows only a box cover or the Fool. Decisive differences often appear in the Minor Arcana too. Do not assume “older” means “truer” or that modern illustration is incompatible with tarot study. Check the real cards, their structure and the quality of the materials. If the edition changes important symbols, ask how its creator explains them before applying a book from another tradition.

If you still do not know which deck you own, the guide to tarot deck types can help. Your first useful decision is modest: choose a deck you can observe and a manual that describes what you see. The rest comes through practice with clear questions and small spreads.

Before buying, compare how to identify Marseille or Rider–Waite–Smith and what to check when an older book does not fit your modern deck.

Sources

Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Before Fortune-Telling”, accessed 26-09-2026.
Victoria and Albert Museum, “A history of tarot cards”, accessed 26-09-2026.