The image speaks first
Imagine the Queen of Swords twice: stern and cool in one image, with a tired, kind expression in another. I could see clarity in both. But the first makes me think of a boundary; the second perhaps of permission not to explain everything.
To me, design is therefore not packaging around an unchanged meaning. It is part of meeting the card. Colour, posture, distance and the direction of a gaze guide my attention.
Beautiful does not always mean readable
A deck can be beautiful yet tell me very little. If every face smiles alike and every scene glows softly, distinctions I need when reading disappear. Equally, a serious card need not look brutal to be taken seriously.
With redesigned or AI-generated decks especially, I would look at details: can I distinguish the figures? Does the number of coins match the numbered card? Does the scene support the theme, or drown it out?
Try two decks
Put the same card from two decks side by side. First write down only what you can actually see. Then what you read into it. Which statement comes from the traditional meaning, and which from this particular picture?
I do not want a neutral deck. I want to notice where its visual language leads me. Then I can engage with it without taking my first association as the only possible truth.
Personal views and illustrative scenes. Astrology and tarot are symbolic interpretations, not established predictions.