How do you choose a deck?

I'm new to tarot, and have gone on a bit of a spree and bought half a dozen beautiful decks. But I'm curious as to how more experienced tarot users pick their decks. I've been choosing based on the artwork and that ephemeral 'click!' feeling when you find something that meshes with you.

How is it for everyone else?

I have to love the artwork first and foremost! Then I look online at review videos or images to see if these card pictures are actually readable for me.

However if said deck is a cat deck, I'll probably get it anyways.

Edit to add that sometimes I'll sit on the deck for a month or more while using the Fool's Dog app version to get a feel for it.

I don't choose the deck.

It chooses me.

I am not sure there is only one way to choose a deck.

Well, I think that it's generally something a bit difficult, and some researchs are needed ; generally we choose a deck and think: Oh this one is the good one!!
Yes, but after a while maybe the relationship with this deck will change a bit and will be less strong.

Or you receive the Deck you have chosen and you are disappointed! Too bad , but it's happen unfortunately.
Or else, you could have a strong feeling with a deck while at first you said: "Oh no, I dislike this deck"

I will say it's a process; probably you will try one or two decks (and maybe more!) before you will find your deck!
And a divorce is always possible of course!

I get my first impression from the art. If it is appealing, I look for reviews and iTunes reviews. Check out the website to see if I like all the cards.

If all of these things are good, I may wait for a while to buy the deck, to see other people's opinions.

After all of this, if I want it, I buy it. Once in a while I make a mistake, but I'm usually pretty happy with all my decks.

There is a certain tingle when I see a deck. The images set some wheels inside me in motion, they make somehow sense.

I'm very picky about art and have learned the hard way that decks with high quality art can be hard to read (Margarethe Petersen I'm looking at you!) and others with bland art can be great readers (New Vision for example). I don't judge card designs the way I judge art, that would be unfair, because a modern artist has freedom to create whatever he/she feels the need to create, but a tarot artist has an "order". If the Chariot doesn't convey some sense of Chariot, however freely interpreted and new, we readers complain ;-)

Both the Daniloff and the Dreaming Way are beautiful to look at. From a purely art historical point of view, maybe the Daniloff even is a "better" deck. Maybe. But from a reading point of view? Both made the skin on my shoulders tingle when I saw them, I love them both but I read 10 times more often with the Dreaming Way than with the Daniloff. And for someone else, it's maybe just the other way around!

The tingle can mislead me and in addition to the five cards that fascinated me, there are 68 cards that don't ... so much can go wrong, and it's such a personal thing.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, in this case: the proof of the tingle is in the reading.

Since I read with symbolism as much as I do with intuition, I first look to see which of the main systems a deck follows (and how closely): RWS, Thoth, TdM or Etteilla. Then I consider the style of the artwork: is it soft and gauzy, is it bold and bright, is it dark and moody? Finally, I consider the skill of the artist. There are quite a few decks that are rich in symbolism but I just can't abide the weak artwork. As a general rule, I avoid delicate fairy decks, horror-themed decks, animal decks and overly cute decks. My personal bias for study and private use is toward Thoth and Golden Dawn-themed decks, but for reading in public I go with the overtly more user-friendly RWS.

This is all really interesting! And yes, I've been looking at reviews too. I especially love the review videos you can find on Youtube; many of them go through every card in the deck, so I can be absolutely sure that the art, at least, agrees with me.

But I guess I'll have to wait until I have them in my hands before I know whether each deck and I will read well together... It'll be interesting to find out!

I know I've already come across several decks which, though the art is beautiful, don't feel like *my* deck. I've bookmarked them all - I know I'll want them in my collection someday, just because they're beautiful - but I don't expect I'll be able to read with any of them especially well.

I have found that I'm very suspicious of Zeitgeist decks - I mean decks that latch onto a specific trend of the moment. Ones that are very much of a particular moment, referencing a particular taste often don't have staying power for me. I have learnt this the hard way. Trends come and go - Steampunk, Vampires, Zombies, Witchy whatever - and I now have to ask myself "where will this theme be in 5 years?" Of course I buy lots of decks but have been getting more critical recently - preferring to acquire one expensive limited edition which I shall treasure to 5 mass market ones. Themes date and tire. I find the more objective and unthematic it is, the more staying power it will have for me.

It took me a relatively long time to choose my newest deck, the Fairy Lights tarot. I'd seen the art and liked it when it was first announced, but thought it might be too wispy for me. I took it off my wish list and put it back on several times.

What clinched it was when a friend did a reading with it and asked me for an interpretation. She sent me scans of the cards she had pulled. Seeing those cards closely and actually working with them was what tipped me over. I knew I had to get it (it was still a few weeks but I knew I'd get it when it was time.)

I'd say, if you're interested in a deck, look for readings done with it and then interpret the cards for yourself. Go ahead and actually work with it if you can, even though it's secondhand/someone else's questions/reading. That will help you realize whether you have a good chance at clicking with it in person. And good luck