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Kapryov

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,159
Australia
Finally, Stuntman is unlocked (and bought) so I nabbed the 100 million and Completionist achievements!

High Card on Ghost Deck was indeed the key. That and getting stupidly lucky with this combination of Jokers:
ZhnKgHA.jpeg

(really lucky)

The Bloodstone joker is just there as it's uncommon, I didn't use it much otherwise and would've replaced it if something better came along.
I was cloning a steel diamond queen with a red stamp, which was doubled by the Brainstorm, and the combination of all the steel jokers I had been creating was just going crazy that it was usually over at that point. I wanted to see what would happen if I swapped those first 2 jokers but never had the chance.
My deck:
jR01d5q.jpeg


Highest hand was 635 million. Probably would've gone higher if we kept it going, but this was heavily built as a High Cards only game and we got wiped out by the Ante 10 boss which was the Psychic. Even 5 of these queens was not quite enough (maybe it would've been if I hadn't wasted the first hand before I saw who the boss was).

Thank you everybody for your advice! This thread was invaluable.
 

Farmboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,154
Golden Needle and Jokerless are not fun.

Stuck on Cruelty myself. It's obviously doable with some good RNG. Reached the ante 8 boss blind with a Half Joker build that leaned (too heavily, I admit) on three of a kinds and was felled by the Cerulean Bell (the one which pre-selects one of your cards) because it never selected a card that was part of the two three of a kinds I held. Even then I was only 10K short because I had upgraded High Card a bunch as well.

Still having fun with it though. Not looking forward to Jokerless.
 

MadDogTannen

Member
Feb 21, 2023
1,569
I've won 3 different rounds now at the white chip difficulty. +Extra hand/extra discard and +$10

I've found the best way is just go all in on pairs. The joker card that gives you 100 chips for 3 or less cards played and only buy planetary cards for pairs

Is that a viable strategy for higher difficulties?
 
Oct 28, 2017
335
A pair strategy is certainly viable for higher difficulties depending on the jokers you get obviously. Blue Joker, Bull, Stuntman combined with Half Joker let you play a high card game or pairs. It helps to have an x mult joker of some sort and some cards held in hand that can contribute to scoring like steel cards.

It does depend if you're playing just to beat the stake or challenge, or go deep into Endless also, I've found. With good jokers and some red seal steel or glass cards, you can go very far. Often though, I'm only looking as far as beating the challenge or stake.
 
Oct 29, 2017
4,294
I'm constantly getting to like $350-370 without any vouchers, would easily get $400 but the game is refusing to give me the interest vouchers even using the voucher tag. Annoying.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
so Balatro Experimental Patch notes 1.01e

  • Made some non-retroactive scaling Jokers incompatible with 'Perishable' (Ceremonial Dagger, Glass Joker, Hologram, Ride the Bus, runner, constellation, green joker, red card, madness, square joker, vampire, rocket, obelisk, lucky cat, flash card, spare trousers, castle, wee)
  • Removed more motion from the 'reduce motion' mode
  • Changed Runner - now starts at +0 chips and gives +15 chips per straight, was +20 and +10 per straight
  • Changed Square Joker - now starts at +0 chips, was +16 chips, now increases by +5 chips, was +4
  • Changed Bloodstone - now gives X1.5 mult per heart card, was X2 mult
  • Changed Wee Joker - now starts at +0 chips, was +10 chips
  • Changed Stuntman - now Rare and $7, was Uncommon and $6
  • Changed Vampire - now Uncommon and $7, was Rare and $8
  • Since the margins are no longer as razor thin on higher stakes, I have also slightly increased ante scaling for mid-late antes:
  • Changed ante scaling in green stake:
    • Ante 3: 2400 -> 2600
      • Ante 4: 7000 -> 8000
      • Ante 5: 18000 -> 20000
      • Ante 6: 32000 -> 36000
      • Ante 7: 56000 -> 60000
      • Ante 8: 90000 -> 100000
  • Changed ante scaling in purple stake:
    • Ante 3: 3000 -> 3200
      • Ante 4: 8000 -> 9000
      • Ante 5: 22000 -> 25000
      • Ante 6: 50000 -> 60000
      • Ante 7: 90000 -> 110000
      • Ante 8: 180000 -> 200000
  • Changed Eternal/Rental/Perishable sticker location to be closer to the top right corner
  • Banned top-up tag and Antimatter on Jokerless Challenge
  • Fixed a bug where perishable Jokers were still giving their effect when debuffed
  • Fixed bug in the rate at which eternal/perishable Jokers were being generated
  • Fixed bug where Buffoon Pack could show up in Jokerless challenge
  • Fixed bug where debuffed negative Jokers being sold doesn't reduce the number of available joker slots
  • Fixed bug where sticker seeding was shared between shop and booster packs
I'm glad to see vampire back down to uncommon. While I was fine with it being a rare in general, it just didn't make sense mechanically and I was pushing for it to be uncommon again or for it to be altered again at rare lol.

I will also quote this for the patch notes "Hey people! I have a new update 1.0.1e on the experimental branch. Hopefully this should be the last one before we push it live everywhere."


which to mean reads like it should be going live you know, everywhere, not just on public PC, so... that should be good news for everyone.
 

Creamium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,714
Belgium
I have a few decks on purple stake now but no luck yet beating it. Score required ramps up so fast, feels like you need to be ahead of the curve at all times. I keep switching between checkered/abandoned/plasma but it's hard on all of them. Sometimes it feels like I'm doing well, only to fail out of nowhere bc of the ramp up around ante 5.
 
Oct 28, 2017
335
I made some real Balatro cards. My test pack arrived today and I'm very pleased with the results.

This is just a personal project for my own enjoyment and not for sale or anything.

I used the artwork for the front of the cards from the wiki. The cards needed some work to clean up and resize to fit the printing template. I designed the backs myself. This was done before the patch, so my full deck will be after the patch has been released.

The full deck will be about 250 cards altogether including jokers, tarot cards, spectral cards, planets, vouchers, and deck modifiers like steel and gold.

(Sorry, can't seem to put a picture in. Tried Imgur and Instagram.)

Full gallery
 

Kiro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,942
Ottawa, Canada
Okay, I've got double 4x multiplier four of a kind. A DNA helix. The steel Joker. And the tarot +mult Joker. I have about 14 Steel Kings, one with a red tag. I have a four of a kind and five of a kind in my consumable with the consumable multiplier.

My goal is to try and hit that hundred million in one hand. I'm assuming I should be aiming for: Baron King, more Steel Cards and red seals, and the card that reads each hand card effect again. Eventually I'm assuming I drop the four of a kind and just start going for high card?

Any other jokers to look for?
 

Creamium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,714
Belgium
Okay, I've got double 4x multiplier four of a kind. A DNA helix. The steel Joker. And the tarot +mult Joker. I have about 14 Steel Kings, one with a red tag. I have a four of a kind and five of a kind in my consumable with the consumable multiplier.

My goal is to try and hit that hundred million in one hand. I'm assuming I should be aiming for: Baron King, more Steel Cards and red seals, and the card that reads each hand card effect again. Eventually I'm assuming I drop the four of a kind and just start going for high card?

Any other jokers to look for?
Mime https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Mime_(Joker)

Absolutely pops off with any steel/red seal build
 

Kiro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,942
Ottawa, Canada
Mime https://balatrogame.fandom.com/wiki/Mime_(Joker)

Absolutely pops off with any steel/red seal build
Haha I found this too!

I had Mime, Steel, Blue Print, DNA, Baron by the end. About 40 Steel Red Seal Kings. No Negatives unfortunately.

Got to ante 14 and e^13, but I got murdered by the boss (discard 2 cards from hand), as not enough kings were there to get my score high enough. I didn't even think to switch the boss-type, which I easily could've.

Oh well! Crazy high score for me, and unlocked the stuntman!!! Woooo
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
I made some real Balatro cards. My test pack arrived today and I'm very pleased with the results.

This is just a personal project for my own enjoyment and not for sale or anything.

I used the artwork for the front of the cards from the wiki. The cards needed some work to clean up and resize to fit the printing template. I designed the backs myself. This was done before the patch, so my full deck will be after the patch has been released.

The full deck will be about 250 cards altogether including jokers, tarot cards, spectral cards, planets, vouchers, and deck modifiers like steel and gold.

(Sorry, can't seem to put a picture in. Tried Imgur and Instagram.)

Full gallery
They look great already :)


I assume the question is "what do seeds do in this"?

which is allows you to play the same set of variables, aka the same drops will happen (though you won't get any unlocks from it) meaning to can make the same jokers show up, the same cool cards from the same packs show up (though it can be a bit different depending on what deck you are playing and what you have unlocked and what not)

a lot of people like using them for going for crazy high scores, and for doing competitions for one another and what not.
 

BBboy20

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,248
They look great already :)


I assume the question is "what do seeds do in this"?

which is allows you to play the same set of variables, aka the same drops will happen (though you won't get any unlocks from it) meaning to can make the same jokers show up, the same cool cards from the same packs show up (though it can be a bit different depending on what deck you are playing and what you have unlocked and what not)

a lot of people like using them for going for crazy high scores, and for doing competitions for one another and what not.
Like, how do I access it? Just do a new run? Does it have a save slot? Is it like some one time thing?
 

Farmboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,154
Unlocked the Stuntman, finally! Here's how I did it:

- Ghost deck: used the Hex on a hiker, which got me through the early blinds and leveled up the chips-side of the equation.
- DNA: Feels like this one is the key to many high-scoring strats, heh. I started by copying a simple Queen of Spades, which turned into copying enhanced Queens. Playing Full Houses, then Four of a Kinds, then Five of a Kinds/Flush Fives eventually became trivial.
- The Family: Came along and became the reason I focused on Four+ of a kinds, rather than building a high card deck.
- Vampire: The big one! Triggering DNA before the Vampire sucked the enhancement away = easy upgrading. Hit 15x, easy.
- Blueprint: Perfection, now I can double-up DNA in hand #1 and Vampire in subsequent hands!
- Fortune Teller: Got this up to nearly +80 once I got some purple seals on my cards and copying those with DNA. Obviously also synergistic with Vampire as many Arcana can enhance cards.
- Driver's License: Another xMult always helps! Although anti-synergistic with Vampire, the DNA/Purple Seal-pipeline made sure I never dropped below 16 enhanced cards.
- Important vouchers: Overstock + Tarot Merchant + Tarot Tycoon = always access to enhancements, which helped fuel Vampire and Fortune Teller (and keep Driver's License active. And generate extra cash), Director's Cut got rid of annoying blinds, paint brush countered Ectoplasm.
 

UberTag

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
15,472
Kitchener, ON
Finally landed my final Legendary Joker on my 24th Soul card... which, surprisingly, did not come from a Mega Arcana pack that I had been grinding through Charm tags to spawn. Was only landing repeats doing that. Instead, I took one of those repeats onwards to a full run and then landed my holdout (Perkeo) via a 2nd Soul card drop from a lowly Spectral pack in the shop around Ante 5.

So that's 100% of my collectibles cleared prior to the patch (which was my goal).

when you go to start a new run, there is a thing to select do a seeded run
CWYzF2S.png

select it and a seed box will appear for you to put a seed in
H01M9Gk.png
Oh so that what it does. Thanks.
Give Seed 11135IT7 a spin if you want to play through a run where Soul cards drop like it's Christmas and play around with the Legendary jokers before you unlock them.
 
Oct 25, 2017
1,350
Jokerless finally done, and with that I think I'm ready to close the books. No way am I going for a full collection stamp or any of that stuff.

I think that and Golden Needle are way too far on the frustrating side and require very particular starts to even be a viable attempt. I like the other challenges because they showcase certain builds or help teach you that you can win without certain conditions.
 

Menome

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,441
I made some real Balatro cards. My test pack arrived today and I'm very pleased with the results.

This is just a personal project for my own enjoyment and not for sale or anything.

I used the artwork for the front of the cards from the wiki. The cards needed some work to clean up and resize to fit the printing template. I designed the backs myself. This was done before the patch, so my full deck will be after the patch has been released.

The full deck will be about 250 cards altogether including jokers, tarot cards, spectral cards, planets, vouchers, and deck modifiers like steel and gold.

(Sorry, can't seem to put a picture in. Tried Imgur and Instagram.)

Full gallery

Oh wow, these are beautiful! Do I have permission to share this link with some Balatro-playing friends not on here?
 

AstralSphere

Member
Feb 10, 2021
9,235
I'm curious about something.

I got a legendary joker in Ante 1. So I thought this was an opportunity to test something, by seeing if I can use a Fool tarot to get another one. I made it all the way to Ante 7 making use of every single opportunity for tarots and having the Cartomancer joker generating a tarot on every blind, and not using any tarot at all thus ensuring that my last tarot was the legendary one.

Not a single Fool was seen.

So it makes me think. Similar to how the game locks out specifc planet or tarots from appearing in packs if you have that one in your consumable slot, does the game refuse to give Fools if the last tarot was the one that gives you a legendary joker?

PS5 version BTW, so not the updated PC build
 

Kapryov

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,159
Australia
I'm curious about something.

I got a legendary joker in Ante 1. So I thought this was an opportunity to test something, by seeing if I can use a Fool tarot to get another one. I made it all the way to Ante 7 making use of every single opportunity for tarots and having the Cartomancer joker generating a tarot on every blind, and not using any tarot at all thus ensuring that my last tarot was the legendary one.

Not a single Fool was seen.

So it makes me think. Similar to how the game locks out specifc planet or tarots from appearing in packs if you have that one in your consumable slot, does the game refuse to give Fools if the last tarot was the one that gives you a legendary joker?

PS5 version BTW, so not the updated PC build
I'm not sure it would work anyway, as the legendary joker card is technically considered a spectral card, it just happens to randomly show in the tarot booster packs (kinda like how the black hole may turn up in planet packs). Since the fool specifies it's only for planet and tarot cards I assume it'll not recognise it.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
Ah dammit.

So I just got really unlucky then, and I'd have found that out if the game had given me one.
yeah. Everything said is correct. Fool will not copy soul card because it's spectral not tarot, and not finding a fool card is just bad luck.
the only way I know of to make sure a certain tarot card won't spawn is by having it in your consumable area in which case it won't spawn in any packs you open or in any random chances (aka only one copy of a tarot can be around at once unless you have a certain joker) beyond that it's always just a random chance, and sometimes random chance is against you.
 

klauskorp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
602
Minnesota
Good grief, finally beat the orange stake after about 50 tries. I swear the purple stake only took me one or two tries. I must have been lucky to have gotten past the purple so quickly.

I don't think I have it in me to try the gold quite yet. I'm going to try out some of the other decks and have some fun for a while. That grind was getting to be not fun.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
Good grief, finally beat the orange stake after about 50 tries. I swear the purple stake only took me one or two tries. I must have been lucky to have gotten past the purple so quickly.

I don't think I have it in me to try the gold quite yet. I'm going to try out some of the other decks and have some fun for a while. That grind was getting to be not fun.
you playing on the experimental on PC, or the current normal version of the game?

if you are playing on normal, ideally the patch will be out for everyone soonish and when it comes orange and gold change quite a bit and I find them far more enjoyable now.

I really hated the pack cost scaling that it previously had, and it's replaced with new mechanics that I find far more interesting.
 

klauskorp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
602
Minnesota
you playing on the experimental on PC, or the current normal version of the game?

if you are playing on normal, ideally the patch will be out for everyone soonish and when it comes orange and gold change quite a bit and I find them far more enjoyable now.

I really hated the pack cost scaling that it previously had, and it's replaced with new mechanics that I find far more interesting.

I'm playing on normal. A buddy of mine told me about some of the changes coming to orange, but I stupidly decided I wanted to do it before the changes, just so I could say I did it. And yeah, you're right, those changes do sound interesting.
 

Agni Kai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
7,057
It's been almost 2 weeks since my last game of Balatro. I no longer see cards in my sleep.

My current retirement looks to be the last one.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
I'm playing on normal. A buddy of mine told me about some of the changes coming to orange, but I stupidly decided I wanted to do it before the changes, just so I could say I did it. And yeah, you're right, those changes do sound interesting.

yeah, they smooth out the game and open up a lot more routes to victory in the higher stakes. The issue with the current higher stakes is if you didn't get decent econ going or a couple specific jokers early on the packs just became too expensive and really hard to overcome and it just was really limiting and not very fun.

The new mechanics are more freeing and more interesting without requiring you to go heavy into econ or need specific jokers as much. You still have to be careful, but feels far less required to have certain things drop and more freedom to go down what your seed offers than in the past.

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last game of Balatro. I no longer see cards in my sleep.

My current retirement looks to be the last one.

if you stick with it, it will be sad to see you go. I hope you at least enjoyed your time with the game.
From the dev's posts today it sounds like he's planning for years of updates to the games, so... you are always welcome back :P
 

Agni Kai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
7,057
if you stick with it, it will be sad to see you go. I hope you at least enjoyed your time with the game.
From the dev's posts today it sounds like he's planning for years of updates to the games, so... you are always welcome back :P

Worry not, Master zulux, for my return is always in the cards. I'm just waiting for the patch to hit!
 
Oct 29, 2017
4,294
I feel like my enjoyment from playing the game hit its peak and it's in a downward trend...

These RNG heavy games always get annoying when you are looking for or trying to do specific stuff.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
I feel like my enjoyment from playing the game hit its peak and it's in a downward trend...

These RNG heavy games always get annoying when you are looking for or trying to do specific stuff.
If you aren't looking for stuff to complete your collection, but instead to try out certain things I would recommend checking out the official discord and nabbing seeds from there to mess around with things.

There are people who post seeds and point out plenty of things that will allow you to experiment with a ton of stuff, and if you can't find something if you just nicely ask most of the people are fairly kind and good at helping out too.
 
Jan 20, 2023
3,003
dunno how i only just noticed this thread existed

5sTumwW.png


currently trying to win @ gold stake on anything. it's proving a total bitch but i just gotta try harder
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
dunno how i only just noticed this thread existed

5sTumwW.png


currently trying to win @ gold stake on anything. it's proving a total bitch but i just gotta try harder
I find the next patch makes things a lot more enjoyable on gold stake.
ideally it will be out everywhere soon, but you can opt into it on pc via opting into betas to be on the experimental patch if you are playing there.

No more pack increase scaling there, but instead new mechanics that make you think harder but give more flexibility than losing your packs if you don't get decent econ.
 
Oct 30, 2017
13,213
Your Imagination
Unlocked the Stuntman, finally! Here's how I did it:

- Ghost deck: used the Hex on a hiker, which got me through the early blinds and leveled up the chips-side of the equation.
- DNA: Feels like this one is the key to many high-scoring strats, heh. I started by copying a simple Queen of Spades, which turned into copying enhanced Queens. Playing Full Houses, then Four of a Kinds, then Five of a Kinds/Flush Fives eventually became trivial.
- The Family: Came along and became the reason I focused on Four+ of a kinds, rather than building a high card deck.
- Vampire: The big one! Triggering DNA before the Vampire sucked the enhancement away = easy upgrading. Hit 15x, easy.
- Blueprint: Perfection, now I can double-up DNA in hand #1 and Vampire in subsequent hands!
- Fortune Teller: Got this up to nearly +80 once I got some purple seals on my cards and copying those with DNA. Obviously also synergistic with Vampire as many Arcana can enhance cards.
- Driver's License: Another xMult always helps! Although anti-synergistic with Vampire, the DNA/Purple Seal-pipeline made sure I never dropped below 16 enhanced cards.
- Important vouchers: Overstock + Tarot Merchant + Tarot Tycoon = always access to enhancements, which helped fuel Vampire and Fortune Teller (and keep Driver's License active. And generate extra cash), Director's Cut got rid of annoying blinds, paint brush countered Ectoplasm.
So the perfect set-up? Got it - I'll keep an eye out for it lol

I just have Stuntman and the $400 Jokers left to unlock, and it's proving a pain with zero Chariots and Red Seals in multiple recent Ghost Deck games. Buyable in-game Jokers are all predominantly extremely sub-optimal plays for either Joker I'm trying to unlock; I guess I just have to keep re-rolling until the game favours me.
 

Farmboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,154
So the perfect set-up? Got it - I'll keep an eye out for it lol

I just have Stuntman and the $400 Jokers left to unlock, and it's proving a pain with zero Chariots and Red Seals in multiple recent Ghost Deck games. Buyable in-game Jokers are all predominantly extremely sub-optimal plays for either Joker I'm trying to unlock; I guess I just have to keep re-rolling until the game favours me.

I hear ya, it's very RNG-dependent. Red seals, blueprint/brainstorm and a good xMult or two (or three) help a lot, but most are rare. Still, once you know the game well at least you'll know what to look out for. (Btw, I do think Balanced > Ghost to do it, but both have their perks)
 
Oct 29, 2017
4,294
HAd almost $200 and 12 double tags and not a single money tag showed up. Unbelievable. This game straight up sucks sometimes.

If you aren't looking for stuff to complete your collection, but instead to try out certain things I would recommend checking out the official discord and nabbing seeds from there to mess around with things.

There are people who post seeds and point out plenty of things that will allow you to experiment with a ton of stuff, and if you can't find something if you just nicely ask most of the people are fairly kind and good at helping out too.
I have like six or five jokers to unlock, honestly I'm not even sure I'm even doing that lol the grind is too annoying.
 

Kiro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,942
Ottawa, Canada
Just beat orange stake for the first time. Got pretty wild with which jokers to sell or keep. Eventually ended with getting double stuntman, tarot +mult, and then like four xMults. One which was like x7. It was a good run. Woo.

Plus the double stuntman got my hand down to 4 so unlocked a voucher, had five glass cards so unlocked the last Joker, and even managed to grab a few unpurchased jokers in the run.
 
Jan 20, 2023
3,003
I find the next patch makes things a lot more enjoyable on gold stake.
ideally it will be out everywhere soon, but you can opt into it on pc via opting into betas to be on the experimental patch if you are playing there.

No more pack increase scaling there, but instead new mechanics that make you think harder but give more flexibility than losing your packs if you don't get decent econ.
Yeah been on the beta as soon as it dropped, deffo an improvement
 

Creamium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,714
Belgium
I have all Jokers unlocked and found now, just need 2 vouchers. Then it's just a matter of beating orange/gold stake. I can't really see myself going for gold on all decks, the game just gets waaay too limiting and restrictive the higher up you get. But maybe that's different enough in the new build/patch.
 

zulux21

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,404
I have all Jokers unlocked and found now, just need 2 vouchers. Then it's just a matter of beating orange/gold stake. I can't really see myself going for gold on all decks, the game just gets waaay too limiting and restrictive the higher up you get. But maybe that's different enough in the new build/patch.
The new patch helps me a lot with that, I will likely end up with gold on all decks eventually, but I'm still doubting I will end up with gold stickers on all jokers as the most logical way to do that is with analog deck and lots of negative jokers and I really don't think I want to play analog deck that much :P
 

Creamium

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,714
Belgium
The new patch helps me a lot with that, I will likely end up with gold on all decks eventually, but I'm still doubting I will end up with gold stickers on all jokers as the most logical way to do that is with analog deck and lots of negative jokers and I really don't think I want to play analog deck that much :P
Yeah that ++ is insane, never getting that.

I did just beat orange stake with go' ol yellow deck. Did 1 gold stake try and immediately feeling that -1 hand size in the early antes.

1 missing voucher removed from a full collection too.