It’s in the cards: A look at the World of Warcraft Tarot Deck

If you’re a Blizzard fan — especially a World of Warcraft fan — who likes physical merch to celebrate the game you play, there’s quite a bit of stuff in the Blizzard Gear Store that might catch your fancy. Last year, one of the quieter releases was a set of Diablo tarot cards (which no longer seem to be available in the official store US, though it can still be found on Amazon), which came in a cool black, red, and white aesthetic and offered a variety of art pieces drawn from across Sanctuary. However, last November, a second set of cards got released: a World of Warcraft tarot deck, which featured 78 all new hand-painted pieces of art by Joseph Lacroix and Surfside 3D Studio depicting characters from Warcraft — both named characters you know and love, as well as unnamed characters drawn from all across the game, set up to represent the major and minor arcana.

First impressions of the World of Warcraft tarot

Opening up the package, it’s obvious this whole thing is a labor of love rather than a cheap money grab; the white marble-pattern box the deck comes in is nice and compact (these are standard-sized cards, rather than the oversized cards of the Diablo deck), and contains both the WoW tarot deck as well as a guidebook to help people like yours truly learn to interpret the cards — and explain who some of the characters are on each one, with a little blurb on why they fit the interpretation of the card. This book is extremely thorough, and kudos to author Ian Flynn for writing a booklet that’s approachable for both tarot and Warcraft veterans and newbies alike.

The cards themselves

The real highlight, of course, has to be the cards themselves. As the description on the Blizzard Gear Store says, the cards feature 78 new pieces of hand-painted art, and they’re a real treat for anyone who really just enjoys nice depictions of World of Warcraft characters. Each of them has a slight watercolor look and an embossed golden border; the soft, almost pastel aspect can look a little unusual on, say, Arthas, but is still extremely pleasant to look at. The choice of who to depict on the major arcana is extremely important, and I can say that after reading the description for each I ended up agreeing with all of them — my kneejerk reaction was that Wrathion as The Fool didn’t make sense, but in retrospect, it absolutely does. On the other hand, having The Jailer on the Death card may be a little too on-the-nose. Probably the most surprising was The Tower: while you may have expected to see something like Karazhan or Stormwind’s Mage Tower here, instead, the depiction on that card is Sargeras’ sword. You know, that sword.

Even if you don’t necessarily have an interest in tarot decks as a fortune-telling tool, considering the low price Blizzard is asking for it you might still find it entirely worth picking up the World of Warcraft Tarot Deck for the art alone if you’re a WoW fan. If you actually do have an interest in tarot, this one seems like a nice one to start with — especially if you’re new to reading the cards, like me; the guidebook is extremely well-written, a good accompaniment to this deck’s fantastic art.