Tarot de Marseilles Convos ES - redrawn Marseille with clear colour palette
Many Marseille decks are facsimile editions: old prints reproduced, complete with discolouration and wear. This deck takes a different route. Otto Spalinger redrew the 18th-century woodcuts of Nicolas Conver entirely, kept the structure and clarified the imagery.
The result is a deck that fits within the Marseille tradition but works with sharp lines and a colour palette that makes contrasts legible. The publisher is AGM Müller, released under the name Convos.
What you see on the cards
The iconography is classic Marseille. That means geometric patterns on the minor arcana, figurative major arcana, no scenes on the court cards. The direction in which figures face plays a role in the reading, just as in other Marseille decks.
Spalinger used bright shades of blue, red, green and yellow. Those colours are not arbitrary: they strengthen the traditional colour symbolism and make the cards easier to distinguish during a spread.
The lines are tight and clear. Details that fade in old facsimile editions due to wear or ink bleed are sharply visible here.
How you work with it
The Marseille style asks for a different approach than the Rider-Waite system. The minor arcana contain no narrative scenes, only number symbolism and elemental patterns. That means more interpretative space, more emphasis on the interplay between cards.
The cards are 63 x 120 mm, sturdy cardstock with a smooth coating. They shuffle smoothly and feel comfortable in the hand, even in larger spreads.
In a spread, watch the direction in which figures face. In the Marseille tradition, the interaction between cards often reveals more than individual meanings.
About Otto Spalinger
Otto Spalinger is a Swiss artist who translates classical design into contemporary applications. For the Convos edition, he redrew the woodcuts of Nicolas Conver without changing the original composition. His work is valued because he leaves the esoteric structure intact while increasing visual clarity.
Specifications
- Number of cards: 78 (22 major arcana, 56 minor arcana)
- Size: 63 x 120 mm
- Cardstock: sturdy, with smooth coating
- Style: Marseille tradition, based on Nicolas Conver
- Language: Spanish
- Publisher: AGM Müller
- Artist: Otto Spalinger
Questions we often get
What makes this edition different from other Marseille decks?
This is not a facsimile. Spalinger redrew the cards completely, making the lines sharper and the colours brighter than in historical reproductions. The structure remains classic Marseille.
Is the Marseille style harder than Rider-Waite?
The minor arcana contain no narrative scenes, only number symbolism and elemental patterns. That requires more independent interpretation. The clear colours and lines of the Convos edition do make that process more accessible.
