Decks with same-y Court cards

[Le Fanu]

Last week I took out the Old English Tarot and dusted it down and thought Id use it as I´ve hardley used it since I bought it.

Nice, very sweet deck. But then I remembered why I hadn´t really used it since I bought it. Those same-y Court cards. It made me think how decks like Druid Craft and Victorian Romantic and B.gothic have really shifted the goalposts when it comes to Court cards. Now we demand that our Court cards are full of life, with easily perceptible types, strong personalities, distinct traits. And the Old English Tarot Courts just won´t do.

Then I remembered other decks which I habitually get out, intending to use, only to remember exactly why I can never really use them effectively.

Like The Prediction Tarot. Lovely wispy 80s Majors but the Court cards just look like the same person portrayed from four different sides of the throne. Unforgivable...

What do you think are the most same-y Court cards out there, where the Knights are almost indistinguishable from the Queens...

 

[rwcarter]

Witches Tarot by Cannon-Reed. Literally the same pictures just colored differently. That one immediately pops to mind, but I'm sure I can think of others.

Rodney

 

[thorhammer]

This is a problem I have with my recently-acquired Faerie Tarot (Hertz). I love the deck, don't get me wrong, and like to read with it before I go to bed as it really calms me. I dunno, maybe Nathalie had a reason for making the Knights (in particular, but also the Queens and Kings) all EXACTLY the same figure, just two facing left and two right, with different scenery, colouring and clothes. Seriously, it's uncanny, and throws me. I may end up throwing out all the courts in the deck, yet I really am that put off by them.

\m/ Kat

 

[Bridget]

The Alchemical Tarot. I love Robert Place's art, and I think the majors and most of the minors in that deck are wonderful, but the courts are disappointing. Each king is a different animal, which is an interesting choice, but beyond that conveys little personality (and is thus hard to relate to a person). The Queen of Swords has wings, but beyond that she and the Queen of Wands are practically identical. None of the knights are riding horses, and two of them just stand there with their suit symbol. Three of the ladies do the same - in fact, the Lady of Cups is an exact copy of the women that appear on the 3 of cups! The art is well-executed, but the lack of individuality makes the courts flat.

 

[Morwenna]

Ditto the Witches Tarot. I found the situation intriguing when I first bought it but after a while it palled on me. A few other things annoy me about the deck too; I think it's time I traded it away!

BTW, Cannon-Reed did it on purpose, as she states in the LWB. She had her reasons, but it doesn't work for me.

 

[Nydia]

The Golden Botticelli Tarot has courts that are too much alike. The clothes and suit symbols are different, but the same person or two is used over and over. Three queens and the Ace of Cups are the same woman from the painting, Madonna of the Pomegranate, 1487. She is very sad looking.

The kings look like they could be the same man or very close. I don't know what painting the kings are from. The LWB is useless for that. Two of the knights and two pages look like the kings, too, although the pages are standing and the knights are on horses. All the horses are white.

This is a beautiful and colorful deck, but most of the courts are a turnoff for me.

 

[cSpaceDiva]

Hezicos Tarot

Still unpublished/unfinished:
http://www.hezicostarot.com/court.htm

Love the rest of this deck, but the court cards are just portraits. Knights are all facing right, pages all facing left, kings and queens looking straight ahead. Even the rest of the minors are far more interesting than the courts.

 

[SolSionnach]

The Yeager Tarot of Meditation has very similar courts - and all the pages (? I think?) are in colorful tighty-whities with boots. Mercy. I kept that deck for years because of the hilarity factor.

The Greenwood courts are famously all animals - I find that really tough to get my head around. Perhaps if I knew more about animal lore that wouldn't be a problem.

I used to have a problem with TdM courts, until I started really looking at them in sets - all the Queens, or all the Batons, for instance - then the differences started to really pop out!

 

[Chiriku]

Oh, I can't stand "same-y" courts.

You're absolutely correct---decks with sensational courts (like the aforementioned Druidcraft) really make repetitive courts unacceptable by comparison.

And the same goes for decks where court cards are largely just close-up portraits with no props whatsoever...as if courts weren't troublesome enough on their own for many people. I want to tell the creators of such decks: "Throw us a bone, here!"

 

[Le Fanu]

LOL. Such an old thread! I'd forgotten I started this one. From a time when the Hezicos was unfinished! Do those who bought the Hezicos find the courts samey?