UPDATE: The take-away from this exercise is that tarot is much more accurate for doing sports predictions. I’ve had some remarkable successes with it going back to Super Bowl 51 in 2016 and the World Series in 2018. From a learning perspective, the advantage of doing them is that you get immediate feedback on the outcome.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m currently making a serious effort to learn playing-card reading, so I decided to use it for my annual Super Bowl prediction. In fact, its numbering scheme is more suitable for my scoring model than any other cards I’ve tried as long as the game isn’t a total blow-out. What appears to be on-tap this Sunday is a hard-fought defensive battle in which the lead see-saws back and forth within a narrow band. I don’t foresee a “laugher” for either team but stranger things have happened.

My present technique is to avoid trying to determine leaders and winners according to raw scores, which has never worked out well, and instead go by the point spread at the end of each quarter. This will show by how much the leading team is ahead at the end of those periods, but the leader won’t necessarily be the team with the most imposing cards since I’ve decoupled the scoring routine from the performance profile represented by those cards. I will, of course, still do an analysis of strengths and weaknesses on that basis. For the record, the Seahawks have been given roughly a five-point advantage by the odds-makers and are universally seen as the better team.

This year, the AFC Patriots have received “home team” status (although neither one is “at home” in Santa Clara, CA), so I’ve placed them in the top row of the layout with the Seahawks below. When doing this reading with the tarot, I always use the Chariot to represent “triumph” as the Opportunity card, but there is no equivalent card in a playing-card deck so I chose the 10 of Diamonds to stand for a “big payday” full of rewards and recognition.

This looks like a close game all around, with the Patriots holding on by a touchdown in the “Chance to Win” column.

In the “Strengths” column, the Patriots’ 8 of Hearts suggests an extremely positive attitude going into the game, with the keyword “protection” signifying the expected focus on shielding the quarterback. The Seahawks have the 3 of Spades as their “Strengths” card, which conveys ideas of loss, confusion, a worsening condition and trials and tribulations, and it’s certainly possible that the Patriots’ strong defensive play could aggravate some of this disarray. But the key concepts of “meddling” and “what goes on behind the scenes” suggest that questionable officiating (which has been a problem in a few games this season) might arise to bite them when they can least afford it.

The First Quarter point spread came out as five points, which can be rounded up to two field goals (6 points) or a touchdown (7 points). At this juncture, the Patriots seem to have things going their way, so it would not be unreasonable to peg them as the leader.

In the “Weaknesses” column, the Patriots’ 4 of Diamonds can be read as an overly-cautious “by-the-book” offense, and the number Four (representing stability and conservatism) could mean that their ground game – while solid – loses steam as a result. The Seahawks have the 7 of Clubs, also implying caution, and they could have their hands full with the Patriots’ defensive line (a “risk of work overload” scenario) and the danger of being forced into “making the best of a difficult situation” (translated as “slim pickin’s” on offense).

The Second Quarter point spread is three points, with the emphasis shifting by a field goal in the direction of the Seahawks although they don’t have a markedly better card here than the Patriots and will probably have to work extra-hard for the advantage. It looks like a bruising quarter for both teams, with the goal of minimizing critical mistakes and injuries uppermost in their game-plan.

The “Offensive Edge”column is pretty much a toss-up. The Patriots with the 3 of Diamonds might expect small gains with only partial, “on-again, off-again” success, and a lack of focus could haunt them (maybe in their kicking game). The Seahawks have the Ace of Diamonds, bringing with it the need to summon a little “fire” for a fresh start after each third-down failure-to-convert, but they will have to dig deep for it. The upshot is that the offensive game could go a little “flat” in the Third Quarter, with the ball changing hands repeatedly.

The point spread at the end of the quarter is also “flat,” with only one field-goal or perhaps a single extra-point kick or two-point conversion separating the teams. At this level of play, such a meager gap is unlikely, so a more liberal (and realistic) estimate of the separation would be a single touchdown, with a slight nod going to the Patriots.

The “Defensive Edge” column is also evenly matched. The Patriots with the relentless King of Diamonds could exert a little more authority than the Seahawks’ potentially-erratic Jack of Spades, which could manifest as more offensive turn-overs for the Seahawks. But their “clutch” defense could keep the Patriots from capitalizing on the miscues.

The point spread at the end of the game remains at a field goal, giving the impression that the teams will trade score-for-score with no “break-out” moment. I find it impossible to propose a winner at this time due to the frequent shifts in momentum that seem to be persistent on both sides of the ball.

The “Chance to Win” column tells a slightly different story. The Patriots’ 10 of Clubs is a card of ambition, achievement and success, while the Seahawks’ 4 of Hearts carries a more lightweight vibe that may reflect a shortage of “true grit.” It could become a matter of attrition, where the Patriots outlast the Seahawks, particularly on defense.

It’s noteworthy that the 10 of Clubs (“achievement, in general”) also echos the 10 of Diamonds (“success, in general”), creating a goal-oriented convergence that boosts the Patriots in the ranking. In addition, the Patriots’ four-card “performance profile” is all red, agreeing with the “Opportunity” card, and red is usually interpreted as a favorable (or “yes”) answer while the run of Diamonds could mean that the Patriots come up with the big “money plays” when needed. In contrast, the Seahawks’ row is two-thirds black (or “no”) cards and half are unfortunate Spades.

The “Decision” card is the 5 of Spades, which has a connotation of “cutting” and could be interpreted as the victory going to the team that mounts the most “surgical” attack throughout the contest (but particularly in the Fourth Quarter when it counts the most), thus “excising” the other team’s retaliatory mojo – or how about “cutting ’em off at the knees?” I usually compare this card to each series to see whether it favors either of the adversaries to pull out the win.

It aligns most closely with the two Spades in the Seahawks’ row, which may not be a good thing since “stacking up” Spades can spell “serious trouble.” There are no strong links to any of the Patriots’ cards, which escape the “negative reinforcement” that is prominent in the Seahawks’ profile. Whether this is enough to secure the trophy for New England is an open question since the rest of the reading is such a mixed bag. Although I’m a New Englander, if I were a betting man I would probably go against the inconclusive evidence in the cards and stay with the experts’ pick of Seattle, but I would keep my wager very small.