Does RWS better than The RWS. Please don’t come at me. Purchased 2020

Nudity Warning! The cards ahead have scandalous boobies.

Overall: 8/10 I will admit, I’ve had some prejudice against this deck in the past. There was a stretch of years where everyone seemed to be coming out with Art Nouveau style decks and even when I first got this deck I felt a little burned out on the style. It is perhaps a good thing then that I waited so long before writing a proper review! This deck does so many things right and executes so many things well, that I’ve never looked for another Art Nouveau specific deck, and it would not surprise me if this deck will continue to sell for many years down the road.

After my failed attempt at using the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, my Tarot-enthusiast friend loaned me her copy of The Tarot Mucha, and I have to give it credit for being my traditional RWS teacher. When I finally relinquished her deck, I purchased my own copy. It reads like a dream and provides great insight. It is a solid deck, and I can see why it was such a big deal when it first came out (way way back in 2014).

I do not think that this deck gets enough recognition for the incredible expressions of emotion! That Page of Swords clearly doesn’t know what they are doing, the Hermit looks a little crazy, and that 3 of Swords is painful to look at!

This is a really soft feeling deck, but it has BIG EMOTIONS. Saucy, even melodramatic at times. Like the traditional RWS, this deck tends to not silver-line situations, but it is a straight-shooter when it comes to the raw emotions of a situation without being critical or mean. That said, I do feel like this isn’t a snappy sort of deck that’s quick to call you on your b.s.—rather, it is quite “lazy,” in that you really need to stop and LOOK at all the small details on the cards and take your time in a reading.

Card Quality: 4/5 It’s fine. Rather stiff, holds up well to lots of use. Higher end gloss finish makes the cards look new after years of use.

Readability: 5/5 A very, very pretty, accessible and sensible RWS semi-clone, and arguably the easiest reader of all the decks I own. I do like using this for really feminine emotions readings and love and relationship readings. I also tend to pick this off the shelf if I’m reading in the morning, the soft colors seem to bring about that vibe. It also gets a lot of use in the spring. The card border indicates where, in either the major or which minor each card belongs which is really useful in large spreads. This is an easy “learners” deck since the emotions of each character is pretty clear. You got to be more emotionally developed than me (which I suppose is a low bar) to want to use this on the regular–the characters portrayed in the art have big feelings.

This deck has some strong juxtapositions and now I have come to really love it for that. While the beautiful cards are really truly beautiful, there’s also the poor pox covered person on the 5 of Pentacles, and look at that grey/green dead solider in the 10 of Swords. This deck has a savage side!

Art: 4.5/5 I mean, it’s exactly what you expect you’ll get, but so much more. I think Mucha would have been proud to be the inspiration for such a deck. It’s rich in details with that “vintage” feeling colors and style while having the modern RWS reader in mind and delivering very clear imagery and symbols in the cards. This feels like a deck that was designed by an artist who has done tarot as long as they’ve been art-ing. I think it’s easy enough on the eyes for most people who don’t read, and would loan itself well for client readings while also being a great deck to use as a more experienced reader looking for a classic.

I have to say that each card is fairly complex and really gives you a lot to work with, with each image (unlike the Ethereal Visions which is so stark it’s hard to use). And each image is quite original even though it’s definitely traditional RWS (unlike The Golden Art Nouveau which is a copy-paste RWS).

This deck has two artistic faults (imo): one, it’s backs. I wish they would have done something more creative with the backs of these cards. I feel like the backs almost look like a front of a card. Two, I will say that there isn’t much diversity represented in the art (there are one or two non-Europeans), but I suppose there wasn’t much diversity in the original Art Nouveau style of Mucha’s art. 

Favorite Card: XIII Death. Okay, I’ll be honest: I bought this deck because I love the take on the RWS, but mostly because I LOVE the Death Card. The Death Card cracks me up. I will keep this deck because of lucky XIII. Death is so done with your bullshit, Steve. Death f*cking told you, and here you are—did you listen? Nope.

Least Favorite Card: XV The Devil. I dunno you guys, this Devil looks rad. I like this card, but it’s not what I think of as the Devil. She seems awesome. Tenacious D vibes.

Card I Identify As: XVII The Moon–SOOO mischievous!

The deck Identifies me as: This deck, despite how much I’ve used it, has never given me a specific identifier.

Season: Late Spring/Early Summer

Boxes it Checks: Traditional, Soft, Romantic, Feminine, Old-School, Love Readings

Similar Decks: The Golden Art Nouveau Tarot, Ethereal Visions Tarot (though honestly I think Tarot Mucha did a better job than either of these), Tarot Art Nouveau (which looks really intricate and colorful), Romantic Tarot, The Harmonious Tarot