'Workhorse' Decks

celticnoodle

My Robin Wood deck, though the last few personal readings it seemed bored & tired, so giving it a rest.

I also love my Druid Craft, but the size of the cards can be a put off. However, they read great. The Hanson Roberts is also a great deck for daily readings as is my Golden Tarot by Kate Black.
 

Charlie Brown

Reading with the Golden

I'm very intrigued by the Golden, but I was under the impression that most people just thought of it as an art deck. Obviously, you like it a lot if it's your daily deck. Can you tell me a little bit about how it reads?

fwiw, I use the Sharman-Casselli as my everyday deck for self-reading and Centennial RWS for others.
 

ayuryogini

My go to decks lately have been:

RWS Centennial
Flornoy's Dodal TdM
Tarot of Prague (although i really like the deck, I have other favorites, so I'm surprised at how much I love to read with it.)
 

Nemia

The Golden as an art deck and nothing else? No, for me it reads beautifully. It follows RWS' footsteps so closely that they might stumble into each other. It's really easy to read with and looks beautiful. I can easily imagine people using it as workhorse. For a while, I did so myself.
 

Virgo26

I'm very intrigued by the Golden, but I was under the impression that most people just thought of it as an art deck. Obviously, you like it a lot if it's your daily deck. Can you tell me a little bit about how it reads?

fwiw, I use the Sharman-Casselli as my everyday deck for self-reading and Centennial RWS for others.

I was excited to get the Golden Tarot and then not so much when I started to read with it at first. It is an art deck but like the other poster said it's pretty RWS aligned. I did a deck interview with it recently and instead of daily reads I started using it for brainstorming/problem solving type things and I think it's kind of worked better for me.
 

tarotesoterica

I go through cycles, but the Navigators of the Mystic Sea Tarot is always set out. I usually have one RWS, lately that has been the Radiant Rider Waite. Everything else is a rotation depending on the season and mood.
 

JoJoCat

About the definition of workhorse: there's another thread talking about decks having topic preferences. So for me a workhorse deck will read consistently and clearly on a wide variety of topics. And it surprises me so but... only RWS fits this definition hmmmm. Night sun (my go-to deck) has been branching out to read on love and romantic relationships but he flat out refused to for a long time... so I guess there can be a difference between workhorse and go-to decks wow!
 

Gwynydd

About the definition of workhorse: there's another thread talking about decks having topic preferences. So for me a workhorse deck will read consistently and clearly on a wide variety of topics. And it surprises me so but... only RWS fits this definition hmmmm. Night sun (my go-to deck) has been branching out to read on love and romantic relationships but he flat out refused to for a long time... so I guess there can be a difference between workhorse and go-to decks wow!

I feel the same way, myself. Although, I'd imagine if someone is a die-hard Thothy, then the Thoth would work equally well. I'm not confident with the Thoth to see it as a workhorse just yet.
 

baconwaffles

Normally, I would say The Spanish Tarot or the Jean Noblet, but the strangest thing happened, perhaps not so strange. I purchased a RWS centennial for a project, having never owned a RWS before, and I have just fallen in love. I had planned on using it just for the project and gifting it forward, hence why I purchased it cheap and used, but boy oh boy, I am not giving that deck away. It's all somewhat strange as I only really use TDM decks and playing cards, but one day about a month ago I started playing around with a Thoth I have lying around, and I was flabbergasted. What power and beauty! After being floored I wondered if I would experience the same feeling with the unnappealing, to me previously, art of the RWS. Well, I started a project, aside, that happened to involve the traditional RWS. I went looking for the cheapest used deck I could find. When I received it, shuffled it, asked questions, I was a goner! I fell in love, head over heels! I carry the deck with me wherever I go just to look at the cards when I can.

So my workhorse decks are:
The Spanish Tarot or Jean Noblet (for clients and myself)
RWS centennial for myself
Thoth for myself
 

ladyempress

Workhorse decks -

Starchild tarot (the new borderless is divine!)
Morgan-Greer
Fountain
Lumina
and turning into a workhorse is Cheimonette - this deck is DEEP

<3