StarTopic Balatro |ST| Ode To A Card Shark

[darthdiablo]

Congrats to Balatro team for hitting a million sold!*

* (across all platforms I believe)

 

[ngpdrew]

This is the best rogue-adjacent since Dicey Dungeons.

I love the lo-fi, minimalist thrills. I'm going to be disappointed when I inevitably get into poker and discover it's not really this exciting/chill(?).

 

[SuperCharlie78]

This is the best rogue-adjacent since Dicey Dungeons.

I love the lo-fi, minimalist thrills. I'm going to be disappointed when I inevitably get into poker and discover it's not really this exciting/chill(?).

I used to play poker with my friends and I remember we did a lot of "minigames" in between hands, which acted pretty much as the jokers do in this one lol.

 

[linkwashere]

Finally beat the gold stake! It happened with the yellow deck and it was tough. Campfire saved me at the last ante, I had money enough and I could grow a X5 multi to go with my face deck.

 

[Niraj]

Finally beat the gold stake! It happened with the yellow deck and it was tough. Campfire saved me at the last ante, I had money enough and I could grow a X5 multi to go with my face deck.

I just did as well last night finally with the checkered deck. I got an early eternal Lusty Joker, and my next joker was a holo Madness. I got an eternal Cartomancer which helped me buff up all my cards. Mostly just spent money on tarot cards and planet cards and eventually an eternal Supernova. Thankfully the boss blinds were cooperative.

 

[Zellia]

I need to get back to this. I've beaten the base difficulty with every deck available to me as well as red stake with one deck, but haven't tried the next difficulty up yet.

 

[big lantern ghost]

I need to get back to this. I've beaten the base difficulty with every deck available to me as well as red stake with one deck, but haven't tried the next difficulty up yet.

It definitely makes things a little spicier! I think the first bump up is not getting paid for small blinds, which I find it is just enough of a deficit to put the pressure on. I've gone back to base difficulty while trying to work out strats I didn't gravitate toward naturally, which is also kinda tough!

 

[linkwashere]

The balancing of the game is totally different from base difficulty to gold stake. In gold stake you are mainly targeting ante 8 and some Jokers that are considered bad in lower difficulties because they don't help building multi towards the higher Antes, here they are more valuable since getting out of Ante 2-3 can be a challenge by itself whilst in the lower stakes is a given and you are mostly building past Ante 8.

 

[Dragoncaine]

Just bought Balatro two days ago, loving it so far but have yet to see a run through to the end. I've made it to the boss of Ante 6 a couple times but keep failing, and I play a lot of poker IRL, so I'm hoping I continue to understand the meta better as I go. Phenomenal game so far!

 

[Somnia]

It's amazing how hooked I am on this game... there's always that indie game every year that just hooks me. This is for sure that game for me this year.

 

[SuperCharlie78]

Just bought Balatro two days ago, loving it so far but have yet to see a run through to the end. I've made it to the boss of Ante 6 a couple times but keep failing, and I play a lot of poker IRL, so I'm hoping I continue to understand the meta better as I go. Phenomenal game so far!

After a couple hands, this usually becomes a game that has little to do with poker lol

I'll give you some tips:

• go for the jokers that give x mult;
• tarot cards are better than planet cards (for me);
• money is important;
• keep in mind that you can change jokers' and cards' positions by pressing A and swap between them. This is particularly important for jokers (for example if you have a joker that gives x mult and another that gives + mult, it's better to trigger the + mult first and then the x mult!)

 

[Dragoncaine]

Lmao

 

[big lantern ghost]

Balatro's first big update is coming up real soon!

Balatro's first big update hits public testing with new Joker mechanics, more

Balatro, the acclaimed poker-themed roguelike from developer LocalThunk, has just received its first big content update…

www.eurogamer.net

If you play on Steam, you can join in on the testing before it goes live for all versions in about a week.

The patch notes, ripped from that Eurogamer article:

Update 1.0.1c patch notes:

• Updated version of Love2D - this fixed an issue on Windows and Steam Deck causing poor/stuttery performance for some players
• Added toggle for 'Reduced Motion', removing the swirly background and gyrating card motion
• Changed default fallback tarot from Fool to Strength (when all tarots are on screen)
• Changed Gold Stake random seeds - now ensures that the first Legendary Joker on that seed is a Joker that you have not won with on Gold Stake (For Completionist++ hunting)
• Changed ante scaling in white stake:
  • Ante 3: 2800 -> 2000
  • Ante 4: 6000 -> 5000
• Changed ante scaling in green stake:
  • Ante 2: 1000 -> 900
  • Ante 3: 3200 -> 2400
  • Ante 4: 9000 -> 7000
• Changed ante scaling in purple stake:
  • Ante 2: 1200 -> 1000
  • Ante 3: 3600 -> 3000
  • Ante 4: 10000 -> 8000
  • Ante 5: 25000 -> 22000
• Changed Orange Stake:
  • Scrapped increasing pack cost
  • Added new 'Perishable' mechanic, Jokers have a 30% chance to have a 'Perishable' sticker, disabling them after 5 rounds
• Changed Gold Stake:
  • Scrapped -1 hand size
  • Added new 'Rental' mechanic, Jokers have a 30% chance to have a 'Rental' sticker (stacks with eternal/perishable), making them cost $1 up front and $3 every round
• Changed eternal to apply to Jokers in Buffoon packs
• Changed the first shop in every run to always include a normal Buffoon pack as one of the pack options
• Upcoming blinds/tags can now be seen in the shop immediately after defeating a boss blind/cashing out
• Some Blinds are now be banned on challenge runs - banned Crimson Heart, Verdant Leaf and Amber Acorn on 'Jokerless' - banned Verdant Leaf on 'Typecast' - banned Verdant Leaf on 'Non-Perishable' - banned The Plant on 'Mad World'
• Buffed Saturn
• Now gives +3 mult instead of +2 mult for Straights
• Buffed Neptune
• Now gives +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Straight Flush
• Buffed Eris
• Now gives +50 chips instead of +40 chips for Flush Five
• Buffed Ceres
• Now gives +4 mult instead of +3 mult for Flush House
• Changed Uncommon tag - Now makes the uncommon joker free
• Changed Rare tag - Now makes the rare joker free
• Negative, Polychrome, Holo, Foil tags all make their respective joker free
• Changed Investment to give $25 instead of $15
• Changed 8 Ball - scrapped old effect, new effect -> 1 in 4 chance to spawn a tarot when any played 8 is scored
• Changed Blue Seal - now creates the planet card of the final poker hand played during the round
• Changed both Mad and Clever Joker - scrapped 'contains 4 of a kind' effect, now applies instead to any hand that contains a 'Two Pair'
• Changed Yorick - scrapped old effect, new effect -> gains X1 mult every 23 cards discarded (starts at X1)
• Changed Magician Tarot - now applies lucky to 2 cards instead of 1
• Changed Midas Mask - now only applies Gold enhancement to scoring face cards, costs $7 was $6
• Changed Vampire:
  • now only removes enhancement from scoring cards
  • gives X0.1 mult per enhancement instead of X0.2 mult
  • Rare instead of Uncommon
• Changed Madness - now only applies on small/big blinds, not on boss blind selection
• Changed To Do list - poker hand no longer changes on payout, always changes at end of round (won't get stuck on Straight Flush)
• Changed description of Shortcut to include a more apt example (10 8 6 5 3)
• Changed Ancient Joker - the selected suit is no longer able to repeat between rounds
• Changed Swashbuckler - Now adds sell value of all other Jokers to Mult, not just the Jokers to the left
• Changed Hanging Chad - Now retriggers the first played card 2 times instead of once
• Changed Flower Pot - Now includes the base suit of debuffed cards when determining if it will trigger
• Changed Bootstraps to include current mult bonus in description
• Changed all 4 Sinful Jokers (one for each suit) - they now each give +3 mult per suit instead of +4 mult
• Changed Banner - now gives +30 chips per remaining discard instead of +40 chips
• Changed Fibonacci - costs $8 instead of $7, because Fibonacci
• Changed Steel Joker - Now gives X0.2 mult per Steel card in full deck instead of X0.25 mult
• Changed Odd Todd - Now gives +31 chips per odd ranked card instead of +30 chips
• Changed Sixth Sense - Now uncommon and $6, was rare
• Changed Hiker - Now gives +5 chips to every scoring card played instead of +4 chips
• Changed Gros Michel - Now has a 1 in 6 chance to go extinct instead of 1 in 4
• Changed Seance - Now uncommon and $6, was rare and $7
• Changed Riff-Raff - Now $6, was $4
• Changed Vagabond:
  • Rare, was uncommon
  • $8, was $6
• Applies when you have $4 or less, was $3 or less
• Changed Cloud 9 - Now $7, was $6
• Changed Mail-In Rebate - Now $5 was $3
• Changed Reserved Parking - Now common, was uncommon
• Changed Lucky Cat - Now gains X0.25 per lucky proc, was X0.2
• Changed Trading card - Now costs $6, was $5
• Changed Campfire - Now gains X0.25 per card sold, was X0.5
• Changed Smily Face - Now give +5 mult per face card, was +4 mult
• Changed Golden Ticket - Now payes out $4 per gold card played, was $3
• Changed Bloodstone - Now has a 1 in 2 chance to proc, was 1 in 3
• Changed Onyx Agate - Now gives +7 mult per club card, was +8 mult
• Changed Glass Joker - Now gives X0.75 mult per glass card destroyed, was X0.5 mult
• Changed Stuntman - Now gives +250 Chips, was +300
• Changed Invisible Joker - Now requires 2 rounds and costs $8, was 3 rounds and $10
• Changed Burnt Joker - Now is rare, was uncommon
• Changed wording on most scaling jokers to refer to 'this joker'
• Fixed bug where opening a booster pack with hand size of 0 was unskippable
• Fixed bug where the card generated by 'Certificate' was not being debuffed by the boss

The "rental Joker" mechanic for Gold Stake sounds awful (in a good way!).

And just to add on to the advice @Dragoncaine: you can swap your Jokers around at any time, including while the hand you played is being calculated!

 

[slide's]

all of that looks cool but the most critical change they need to make is swapping the L/R button icons on the switch version

 

[Dragoncaine]

Balatro's first big update is coming up real soon!

Balatro's first big update hits public testing with new Joker mechanics, more

Balatro, the acclaimed poker-themed roguelike from developer LocalThunk, has just received its first big content update…

www.eurogamer.net

If you play on Steam, you can join in on the testing before it goes live for all versions in about a week.

The patch notes, ripped from that Eurogamer article:

The "rental Joker" mechanic for Gold Stake sounds awful (in a good way!).

And just to add on to the advice @Dragoncaine: you can swap your Jokers around at any time, including while the hand you played is being calculated!

You bastard, you shared this dope update RIGHT as I beat my first run, haha!! Went HEAVY on flushes with 28 cards in my deck being hearts, the +4 heart mult, the x3 mult if you've played the played hand previously in the same round (I had 35 flushes by the end of my run lmao), and a couple other great Jokers. Had a scary encounter with The Fish at Ante 7 but managed to pull through. Can't wait, thanks for sharing

 

[big lantern ghost]

You bastard, you shared this dope update RIGHT as I beat my first run, haha!! Went HEAVY on flushes with 28 cards in my deck being hearts, the +4 heart mult, the x3 mult if you've played the played hand previously in the same round (I had 35 flushes by the end of my run lmao), and a couple other great Jokers. Had a scary encounter with The Fish at Ante 7 but managed to pull through. Can't wait, thanks for sharing

Just call me big bastard ghost

Congrats on your first win!

 

[Niraj]

The anaglyph deck is going to be crazy with those tag changes.

 

[SuperCharlie78]

Balatro's first big update is coming up real soon!

Balatro's first big update hits public testing with new Joker mechanics, more

Balatro, the acclaimed poker-themed roguelike from developer LocalThunk, has just received its first big content update…

www.eurogamer.net

If you play on Steam, you can join in on the testing before it goes live for all versions in about a week.

The patch notes, ripped from that Eurogamer article:

The "rental Joker" mechanic for Gold Stake sounds awful (in a good way!).

And just to add on to the advice @Dragoncaine: you can swap your Jokers around at any time, including while the hand you played is being calculated!

Can you have them trigger twice if you're fast?

 

[big lantern ghost]

Can you have them trigger twice if you're fast?

That...is a very good question!

 

[Dragoncaine]

I bought this game on Saturday or Sunday, and I have struggled to think of much else since!

 

[Dragoncaine]

Alright fami, I haven't beaten a run since that first Blue Deck victory I mentioned the other day. I have Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, and the Telescope deck unlocked. Would y'all recommend any of these decks over the others for my next win, or should I go Blue Deck Red Stake?

 

[Niraj]

Alright fami, I haven't beaten a run since that first Blue Deck victory I mentioned the other day. I have Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, and the Telescope deck unlocked. Would y'all recommend any of these decks over the others for my next win, or should I go Blue Deck Red Stake?

Yellow deck is nice since you start with that extra money. Makes it easier to afford an uncommon/rare joker early on.

 

[Dragoncaine]

Yellow deck is nice since you start with that extra money. Makes it easier to afford an uncommon/rare joker early on.

I'm always torn between yellow and green, since you can build up a lot of cash quickly with green thanks to the bonus money for remaining discards and hands left to play, and it lasts for the duration of the run. Does the interest that you miss out on by choosing green make enough of a difference to declare Yellow the better deck?

 

[Leviraps]

Love this game so much. The most addicting and fun rougelite I’ve played.

How do you guys think Slay The Spire compares? Better or worse? Used to play it years ago but fell off. Heard a sequel got announced though

 

[big lantern ghost]

Alright fami, I haven't beaten a run since that first Blue Deck victory I mentioned the other day. I have Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, and the Telescope deck unlocked. Would y'all recommend any of these decks over the others for my next win, or should I go Blue Deck Red Stake?

I like the yellow deck, especially when you get the "$15 for beating the boss blind" tag in the first ante. You can stack up really quick and coast for a bit while you rack up yet more cash.

The nebula deck is one of my faves! Starting with telescope is pretty clutch; if you stick to 1 or 2 hands to build up around, you can level it very efficiently. Playing in a focused way can also be good because there are numerous jokers and vouchers that unlock by avoiding stuff. If you finish a run without playing a three of a kind hand, for example, you unlock the Joker that gives three of a kind hands a 3x multiplier.

 

[Dragoncaine]

Thank you for the advice @big lantern ghost and @Niraj! I guess I can see how yellow deck is better than green in the early going, since you can focus on playing every hand and discard at your disposal, free of consequence. I think I'll experiment with Yellow and Nebula next

I'm also shouting from the mountaintop about Balatro to anyone IRL who plays games and will listen - one of the most addictive roguelites I've played in years.

 

[Zellia]

Love this game so much. The most addicting and fun rougelite I’ve played.

How do you guys think Slay The Spire compares? Better or worse? Used to play it years ago but fell off. Heard a sequel got announced though

I think they're fairly different, to be honest.

Slay the Spire is a much more... traditional deckbuilder I guess? I feel like it has a lot more depth, but is also harder to get into as it requires you to learn the game and the cards to really make a good deck.

Balatro is really quick, and at least superficially much more simple and easier to get good combos going. I like StS but I think Balatro is more my speed - that's just my opinion though!

 

[Niraj]

I'm always torn between yellow and green, since you can build up a lot of cash quickly with green thanks to the bonus money for remaining discards and hands left to play, and it lasts for the duration of the run. Does the interest that you miss out on by choosing green make enough of a difference to declare Yellow the better deck?

Green deck is good too, but you're reliant on having excess hands/discards for money. Sometimes that's just not as possible as you'd like, depending on what jokers you get access to. Yellow deck you already start with an extra $2 in interest, and you can potentially get up to the max interest per round fairly quickly.

 

[Dragoncaine]

Just beat my 2nd run, this time with Yellow Deck! Had a really sick build with these Jokers at the end of Ante 8:

1) Face cards give +50 chips when played (Holo)
2) Even #s add +4 mult (Bonus)
3) +15 mult when out of discards (Poly)
4) x3 mult during final hand of round
5) Variable, but I ended Ante 8 with +4 hand size

For most of the run, I had the Banana card for +15 with a 25% chance to go extinct...and it lasted me from Ante 4 through Ante 7

Before I landed the x3 Mult card, I also had the +30 chips for odd cards as well...meaning I had multipliers on odd, even, and face cards. Better yet, I had 11 Kings, 10 Jacks, 6 10s, and eight 8s, and I bought the telescope voucher and upgraded Full House to Lv. 11.

What an incredible game!

 

[Barely Able]

Got this on the sale. Done a couple runs and starting to get the hang of it. I can tell this will be one of those “Tetris” type games that becomes and obsession and a “one more turn” type of game.

 

[linkwashere]

Yellow deck is great if your plan is just winning Ante 8 and don't want to be frustrated with too many resets in Ante 1/2. It was the one I won Gold Stake with. However, there are better decks if you wanna go infinite since yellow deck doesn't offer anything more than a good start.