diff --git a/internal/check-deck-click.mjs b/internal/check-deck-click.mjs
index b9d3a80a6..05c9dc235 100644
--- a/internal/check-deck-click.mjs
+++ b/internal/check-deck-click.mjs
@@ -14,12 +14,31 @@
 //
 // Usage: node internal/check-deck-click.mjs <wallUrl> [stockId] [expectedPage]
 import { chromium } from 'playwright'
+import { readFileSync, existsSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { resolve, dirname, join } from 'node:path'
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 
 const URL_ = process.argv[2]
 if (!URL_) { console.error('usage: check-deck-click.mjs <wallUrl> [stock] [expectedPage]'); process.exit(2) }
 const STOCK = process.argv[3] || ''
 const EXPECT_PAGE = process.argv[4] || (STOCK === 'pokerLandscape' ? '3.5in 2.5in' : '2.5in 3.5in')
 
+// ★ THE LABEL COMES FROM THE CATALOG FOR THIS PAGE'S LOCALE, never a hardcoded
+// English string. This matched /card deck/i, so it could only ever run in English:
+// pointed at ?lang=es it reported "no Card Deck button" and listed 28 buttons all
+// reading "Baraja de tarjetas" — the UI correctly translated, the GATE unable to
+// see it. The card deck is a core prayer artefact and it had ZERO coverage in the
+// ten locales where a rendering bug is most likely.
+const REPO = process.env.DOXA_REPO || resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..')
+const localeOf = (u) => { try { return new URL(u).searchParams.get('lang') || 'en' } catch { return 'en' } }
+const deckLabel = (loc) => {
+  const f = join(REPO, 'library/i18n/locales', loc, 'buttons.json')
+  if (!existsSync(f)) return null
+  try { return JSON.parse(readFileSync(f, 'utf8')).cardDeck || null } catch { return null }
+}
+const LOC = localeOf(URL_)
+const WANT_DECK = deckLabel(LOC) || deckLabel('en') || 'Card Deck'
+
 const b = await chromium.launch({ args: ['--use-gl=swiftshader', '--enable-unsafe-swiftshader'] })
 const pg = await b.newPage({ viewport: { width: 1280, height: 1000 } })
 const errs = []
@@ -27,6 +46,8 @@ pg.on('pageerror', (e) => errs.push(String(e).slice(0, 140)))
 await pg.goto(URL_, { waitUntil: 'load', timeout: 45000 })
 await pg.waitForTimeout(9000)
 
+await pg.evaluate((want) => { window.__WANT_DECK = want }, WANT_DECK)
+
 await pg.evaluate(() => {
   window.__printed = ''
   const real = document.createElement.bind(document)
@@ -50,7 +71,7 @@ const r = await pg.evaluate(async (stock) => {
   if (!host) return { error: 'no poster wall found on this page' }
   const sr = host.shadowRoot
   const btns = [...sr.querySelectorAll('.pbtn')]
-  const deck = btns.find((x) => /card deck/i.test(x.textContent))
+  const deck = btns.find((x) => (x.textContent || '').trim().includes(window.__WANT_DECK))
   if (!deck) return { error: 'no Card Deck button', buttons: btns.map((x) => x.textContent.trim()) }
   if (stock) {
     const sel = sr.querySelector('.pstock')
@@ -66,6 +87,7 @@ const r = await pg.evaluate(async (stock) => {
     cards: doc.querySelectorAll('.card').length,
     qrs: doc.querySelectorAll('.qr svg').length,
     imgs: doc.querySelectorAll('img.ph').length,
+    noph: doc.querySelectorAll('.ph-none').length,
     page: (window.__printed.match(/@page\{size:([^;}]*)/) || [])[1] || '',
   }
 }, STOCK)
@@ -84,10 +106,37 @@ if (r.page.trim() !== EXPECT_PAGE) {
     + (STOCK ? ' — the stock picker is not reaching the renderer' : ''))
 }
 if (r.qrs !== r.cards) fails.push(`${r.qrs} QR code(s) for ${r.cards} cards`)
+
+// ── "116 PORTRAITS" WAS PRINTED AND NEVER ASSERTED ──────────────────────────
+// A prayer card without a face is a data tile. This gate collected the count,
+// displayed it, and checked only the QR codes — so a deck of 116 cards with ZERO
+// portraits passed. That is not hypothetical: card-render.js records that the deck
+// once shipped with no photos at all, because image_url was never requested in
+// fetchListRecords (measured 95/95 groups DO have a portrait, so the omission cost
+// every card its picture).
+//
+// ⚠ THE COUNT CANNOT BE PINNED, for the same reason the packet's could not: roughly
+// half the people groups have no portrait, and the CDN drops some. So two invariants
+// instead of a number:
+//   1. every card is one shape or the other — portraits + typographic === cards.
+//      A card that is NEITHER means the renderer emitted a third nobody checks.
+//   2. a deck drawn from records that carry image_url must have SOME portraits.
+//      DECK_EXPECT_PORTRAITS=0 declares a deliberately photo-less deck out loud,
+//      rather than leaving "none" indistinguishable from "silently none".
+if (r.cards && r.imgs + r.noph !== r.cards) {
+  fails.push(`${r.cards} cards but ${r.imgs} portrait + ${r.noph} typographic = ${r.imgs + r.noph}`
+    + ' — every card must be exactly one of the two')
+}
+if (r.cards && process.env.DECK_EXPECT_PORTRAITS !== '0' && r.imgs === 0) {
+  fails.push(`${r.cards} cards and NOT ONE portrait — a prayer card without a face is a data tile. `
+    + 'This is what a missing image_url in the records provider looks like; set '
+    + 'DECK_EXPECT_PORTRAITS=0 to declare a deliberately photo-less deck.')
+}
 if (errs.length) fails.push(`${errs.length} page error(s): ${errs[0]}`)
 
+console.log(`  locale        : ${LOC}  (matched ${JSON.stringify(WANT_DECK)})`)
 console.log(`  stock         : ${STOCK || '(default)'}`)
-console.log(`  cards printed : ${r.cards}  (${r.imgs} portraits, ${r.qrs} QR codes)`)
+console.log(`  cards printed : ${r.cards}  (${r.imgs} portraits, ${r.noph} typographic, ${r.qrs} QR codes)`)
 console.log(`  @page size    : ${r.page.trim()}   (want ${EXPECT_PAGE})`)
 console.log(`  page errors   : ${errs.length}`)