How to print your deck locally (Print-Ready Kit)

Every digital deck includes high-resolution card images, and the Print-Ready Kit (PDF) tier adds a document that lays every card out with cut marks — in both US Letter and A4 versions. Here's how to turn it into a physical deck.

1. Get your print-ready PDF

Open your deck page, go to Your downloads, and choose Download PDF under Printable PDF. We prepare the file and email you a permanent download link. If your print shop prefers individual images, the high-resolution ZIP archive works too.

Next to the button, pick the layout that suits your printer. Several cards per page uses the least paper. 1 card per page puts each card on its own page with its card back on the next page, in exactly the same spot — the easiest to print double-sided. Both print every card at its real size, and you can come back and download the other layout at any time.

The last page of the PDF is a thank-you card, the same size as your cards, with a QR code that opens your deck's page. It prints on a page of its own with nothing on the back, so you can keep it with your deck or simply leave it out.

2. Choose your paper

Card stock makes the deck. Ask for 300 gsm (110 lb) card stock with a smooth matte or silk finish — it shuffles well and feels like a shop-bought deck. Anything from 250 gsm up also works if 300 isn't available.

3. Print at actual size

Print at 100% scale ("actual size") — never "fit to page", which shrinks the cards. Pick the Letter or A4 version of the PDF to match your paper, and print a single test page before the full run to check size and colors.

Printing double-sided at home? With several cards per page, set your printer to flip on the long edge. The 1-card-per-page layout lines up with either flip setting, and it also works on a printer that only prints one side: print the odd pages, put the stack back in the tray, then print the even pages. Every card back is identical, so the order of the sheets doesn't matter.

Note: most home printers max out around 200 gsm paper. For true 300 gsm card stock, a local print shop is the easier route.

4. Cut along the marks

Use a sharp craft knife and a metal ruler — or a small guillotine cutter — and follow the cut marks on each page, working on a flat, protected surface.

5. Round the corners and finish

A corner-rounder punch (4–6 mm radius) gives the cards that professional feel and stops the corners from fraying. Optionally protect the cards with tarot-size card sleeves or a clear matte spray.

Using a local print shop

Any copy shop or office print center can produce your deck, often within the hour. Hand them the PDF and ask for:

• 300 gsm card stock, matte or silk finish
• printed at actual size (100% scale)
• trimmed to the cut marks
• rounded corners, if they offer it

Prefer it done for you?

We also print decks professionally — thick premium stock, precision cut, rounded corners — shipped to your door, with free worldwide delivery. On your deck page, look for the printed edition upgrade: what you already paid for the digital deck comes off the price. The deluxe edition credits your digital purchase in full, so you only pay the difference; the standard edition takes a fixed owner's discount off its own price. See How do I upgrade my digital deck to a printed deck?

The full step-by-step guide with pictures lives at tails-ai.com/print-guide.