All about card stock!

Yes, Tag's a she.

I agree about AG Muller. Lovely cardstock. It seems to have remained the same over the years, sturdy and manageable.

I also love Fournier's. However, I think if I could choose one cardstock for ALL my decks, it would be the cardstock for the Flornoy Marseilles decks. Any of them. If I could have all my decks transplanted onto Flornoy cardstock, I would be happy

Yes, the AGM cardstock I think is the best available anywhere; the card is thin and whippy but very durable. I have bent these cards double but they will not crease - I believe they have a carbon layer that makes them particularly strong. Plus, lovely matt, satiny feel! The German premier Rider Waite (The 'Von' Waite) and the AGM Cosmic tarot both use this cardstock.

On the other hand, I can't express just how disappointed I was with the cardstock for the original Mythic Tarot - thin and creases easily. This was for the non-reversible black backs with copyright. Same for the non-reversible purple backs. However, I got hold of the reversible purple back 2001 edition and these are much better. The cardstock is so much thicker, the deck is almost twice the height of the earlier editions! Plus, it comes with a silk spread cloth as opposed to the nylon cloth with the earlier editions - a quality upgrade all round.

I love the AGM cardstock, it shuffles so beautifully! The Cosmic Tarot is my favourite deck. Not my favourite stock, but still very good I really want to get the Von Waite one day

I agree that the Flornoy Noblet has exquisite cardstock!
But the one deck that surpasses them all is my Il Meneghello Vachetta. I don't know how he did it, but it is divine; whenever I hold this beauty in my hands, it is like whipped cream! Really, it weighs nothing, it is like shuffling fluffy feathers. This feeling I have never had with any other deck!

The Tarot of the Holy Light the 1st edition is really lovely.

Trying to LEARN to mix the cards well!

Denever said:

Generally disappointing card stock: the Byzantine Tarot. The individual cards don't feel especially heavy but the whole deck is almost 1 3/8 thick. The cards don't stick together but they're very un-slick. Just not much fun to shuffle.

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I am relieved to see someone mention this. I was beginning to wonder if it was just ME. I have tried most of the different ways to riffle shuffle this deck, but none felt good. I am admittedly small framed, so I though it might be that my hands are just too small and not strong. Glad to hear someone else has noticed this. It is a thick deck, somehow, and all I can figure out to do, is to chunk it into smaller piles, and shuffle those piles. And it just doesn't ever let me do the overhand shuffle. Sometimes I've tried mixing the cards around on a flat surface, but I seldom have that much area open (cats will always "help" at my house!)

I don't care much about cardstock (theoretically!). When the Bonfire appeared on Amazon, I thought to sell my Bonfire as I am getting the one from Amazon (bigger cards, could not resist) and I thought I don't need 2 of the same deck. But when I took the deck out to say good bye (actually to check it out before I put it up for sale) I just couldn't. Because of the cardstock. It just so good and feels great that I'm afraid the new version won't be the same. So basically I kept it because of the excellent cardstock.

rylla said:

I don't care much about cardstock (theoretically!). When the Bonfire appeared on Amazon, I thought to sell my Bonfire as I am getting the one from Amazon (bigger cards, could not resist) and I thought I don't need 2 of the same deck. But when I took the deck out to say good bye (actually to check it out before I put it up for sale) I just couldn't. Because of the cardstock. It just so good and feels great that I'm afraid the new version won't be the same. So basically I kept it because of the excellent cardstock.

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They are not

I found that what cardstock we like depends very much on how we shuffle, the size of our hands, and sometimes how we pull cards out, and at times how we lay them out as well.

- I have small hands
- I over hand shuffle
- Sometimes I riffle shuffle, but I have stop trying to bridge finish
- I only do small spreads
- I often need to fan, but not a must

My favourite all time cardstocks

(1) Bonfire self pub - perfect thickness, perfect size
(2) The Wild Unknown - not the greatest to fan, but OMG
(3) Pagan Otherworlds - riffle shuffled the best, the deck remains straight with no bending after several riffle shuffling. AMAZING.
(4) Alice Tarot
(5) Tarot of Prague 2nd ed
(6) Il Meneghello's textured, thick cardstock which reminds me of art paper. They aren't the best to fan with and using any powder on those might not be advisable.
(7) Fournier and AGM Muller's cardstocks
(8) Ellis Deck's plastic cardstock

The last deck I got, The Slow Holler Tarot, was the first time I felt disapointed with card stock. I never really care about it before, I'm not a deck collector so I only have a few. But this deck, despite the fact that I love it and find it gorgeous and interesting, is a bit a decception regarding the material used. But even now, knowing the cardstock of this deck, I would buy it again anyway.