Anyhow, my point today is that the decks arrived yesterday even though Anna had only sent it out (from Austria no less) on the 16th via standard mail… and I live in Taiwan! It was such an awesome surprise. :) My mouth is still hurting from the surgery I had a few days ago, so I haven’t given it as much attention as I would’ve done otherwise but here’s a “review” (Téa style because I like talking about my impressions and am simply no good at giving in-depth thoughts in an eloquent manner)...

• The deck arrived in a thin flip-top box with the cards lying flat, split in two stacks and held together by a black string, plus a booklet (in German only). Anna has an English version of the booklet available in a PDF file, so do remember to ask for it. It’s certainly worth the read and unlike the usual chuck-worthy LWBs out there.
• Some people had mentioned that the cards turned out to be much darker than the pictures shown on Anna’s site, but I thought it was fine for the most part. A few cards were darker than expected, but in most instances, I don’t mind. The Moon was really dark, but I actually liked it that way. The downside for some cards might be the difficulty in seeing the details of “what’s happening” in the picture. One example that comes to mind is the Knight of Cups. I was having a hard time making out what he was doing exactly and what he was holding (a rose?). My sister actually thought it was blood… heh. Overall, though, the colors are simply wonderful!
• You can ask Anna to sign your deck, which I did- making this my first signed deck ever. Unfortunately, she misspelled my name and I ended up being “Thea” instead (as you can see in the picture below). It would’ve been great if not for the mistake, but it’s okay… I don’t mind it too terribly and it’s kinda a bit funny anyway.

• The card stock, as promised, is not coated and shiny like the mass-produced decks these days. I think it feels more personal and intimate this way, so I’m happy in that aspect. It was a bit thinner than I was hoping for though, so here’s to praying I won’t accidentally bend or crease one (something I almost did while shuffling the deck earlier).
• My only real complaint at all for this deck might be the edges of the card stock. The cards are actually perforated and not cut, so you can see the “dots” or where the cards have separated from each other. Here’s a picture of it below, along with a close up. Most of them had little protruding bits that you could probably slice off with a cutter yourself if you wanted to… but a few of my cards actually had the bits torn inwards so it looked like there’s a small chip along the card’s edge. :\ Nothing too serious, and it wouldn’t have stopped me from buying the deck had I known about this… but still worth a mention.

And here’s a closer look:

• On the other hand, I love the barely-there borders and how they don’t all have one uniform color either (as you can see in the few examples on the first pic I posted up top).
• And finally, the artwork? I love it just as much as I had expected to. Having browsed the pictures of her cards extensively, these images were no surprise to me… but I’m so happy I was not disappointed. There have been a few instances in the past where I fell in love with a deck, looked at tons of pictures, but ended up having the cards fall flat when I have them in my hands. I didn’t have this problem for the Anna K. at all. They’re still so wonderfully expressive, and I simply love them! And personal plus points for how the various ways she had portrayed the cards actually fits right into my own views of the meanings. :)

I’ll probably have more thoughts once I’ve truly started to read with them, but for now, these are my initial impressions… which reminds me… I should probably check with her to see if it’s okay for me to scan and post individual card pictures of her deck here, to illustrate any readings I may do with it. Anyhow, if you’re looking for an expressive deck with RWS traditions (often with an interesting take) and tired of all the similar RWS renditions out on the market today, give this one a look. You won’t regret it!

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