Tarot Cards in The Magus Circle: Every Named Card in the Official Record

How Tarot Works

Tarot is the mansion’s run-modifier system: cards you set before a run change how it plays, and every card has two orientations — upright and reversed — with different effects. The mansion guide maps where tarot sits among the hub’s other payout systems (potions, wagers, familiars), and an achievement requires unlocking all tarot, so the full pool is larger than the eight cards named below.

One card has published numbers: The Empress grants +10% Speed upright and +10% Mana Efficiency reversed — both orientations confirmed from official material. Every other named card’s effect still needs in-game capture.

Every Named Card, With Its Paper Trail

Two structural facts fall out of that table. First, cards are attached to mages — the notes say “Matcha’s Tower Tarot” and “Milk’s Universe tarot card,” so signature cards exist per mage alongside signature spells. Second, Revive is a mechanic card: the 1.1.3 line “Added iFrames during revive” tunes the revive moment itself, the same interaction Revive’s 1.1.0 bonus fix touched.

The Empress: The Card With Numbers

The Empress is the only card whose effect is public knowledge with values attached — +10% Speed upright for survivability, +10% Mana Efficiency reversed for casting-heavy builds. Until more cards publish their numbers, it is the reference point every tarot conversation starts from. Which orientation wins depends on what your build lacks: mana-hungry spell spam leans reversed, and everything else leans upright — the same mana-pressure trade the Prismatic Gale guide covers from the spell side.

Card-Mage Pairings: Tower and Universe

The two mage-attached cards are worth their own read. Matcha’s Tower Tarot surfaced through a selection bug — it could be picked during a black screen until 1.1.1 fixed it — which quietly confirmed that the mages roster slots own signature tarot cards. Milk’s Universe tarot card got a damage fix in 1.1.3, meaning it deals damage and had been dealing the wrong amount. Both facts are consistent with the same pattern the mage roster shows elsewhere: each mage has a kit identity that extends into the mansion’s systems, not just into combat (the Milk guide tracks her Bunny Form tie to The Magus).

What Is Still Pending

The full card pool, per-card upright and reversed effects, acquisition routes, and whether tarot drops inside runs or only mounts at the mansion — none of it is verified in public sources yet. The 1.0.6 line “Tarot cards no longer leave blank lines in character select” at least confirms cards render in character select, giving in-game capture a concrete place to look. Card rows land here as they are confirmed.

Sources

Official patch notes: 1.0.2 through 1.1.3 (Steam news), Steam store page and official screenshots for The Empress and The Magus numbers. Screenshots © By Witchlight.