New Consumable Type - Rules Cards

[limber blaze]

So you know when you get a deck of cards and it comes with a little bonus card explaining how to play poker or smth? Yea that.

Rules cards are a new type of consumable that focus entirely on deckfixing, mostly via changing cards' rank and suit. They can be found in Instruction packs which work similarly to spectral packs (Normal has 2 with 1 pick, Mega has 4 with 2 picks). They're also all based on classic playing card games so that's fun.

Go Fish
Converts 2 selected cards of the same rank into the most common rank in your full deck (Currently: [Rank])

Solitaire
Changes suit and decreases rank of 2 selected cards by 1 (Spades/Clubs <--> Hearts/Diamonds)

Texas Hold 'Em
Converts 2 selected face cards into Aces

Rummy
Converts 4 selected cards into ranks descending from the leftmost card selected

War
Converts 2 selected cards into a random higher rank held in hand

Spoons
Converts up to 4 selected cards into the rank of a random selected card

Kings Corner
Creates a King of the selected card’s suit

Old Maid
Destroys 1 selected face card, converts 2 random cards in hand into Queens

Blackjack
Select up to 3 cards, convert selected cards into Jacks if sum of selected cards ranks equals 21

52 Card Pickup
Select 1 card, creates 4 playing cards that match its rank or suit

Presidents
Select any cards of the same rank, destroys all selected cards

Crazy Eights
Converts 4 selected cards into a random other suit

Also a pair of vouchers cause I feel like it

Manual - Base
Rules Cards can appear in the shop

Strategy Guide - Upgraded
Rules Cards can affect 1 additional card

[zinc latch]

rouxls kaards

[limber blaze]

Also a hidden spectral cuz I forgot

Euchre
Converts up to 2 selected cards into Joker playing cards

Joker playing cards are basically wild ranks and suits

[still sequoia]

straight flush five???

[zinc latch]

wait thats a bingo space

wild ranks

im so close 😭

[limber blaze]

They can't be multiple ranks at once, they'll just prioritize the highest rank poker hand

[lone pilot]

BIIIINNNNNNGGGGOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

[zinc latch]

DAMN IT

[limber blaze]

I had 2 new seal ideas a while ago #1372066224795553873 message

[lone pilot]

Too long ago

[zinc latch]

the bingo board is new though

[lone pilot]

Yeah!, Eat shit! All friendly of course

[lone pilot]

Which board

[limber blaze]

I actually came up with a joker based on the guy

Duke of Puzzles - Uncommon
Create your last used Rules card when Boss Blind is selected

[keen quest]

I propose the spectral card to be:

52 Card Pickup - Destroy all cards held in hand except for selected cards

[arctic wedge]

I don't think that's really hidden spectral level good

[burnt nova]

How are all of these so unique yet so balanced

[whole bison]

Would still rather we get Token Consumables for Jokers to spawn but shshdhhd- regardless of that, i don't hate this but some of these aren't good in the slightest (War is non-fixing deck fixing, 99 is just niche as hell)- others are worded weirdly (Rummy can be interpreted in 3 ways atm, and Presidents lacks a clear trigger, tho I assume that one is "Select 3 of the same rank, destroy 2 keep 1")- and all the ones i didn't list range from reasonably niche to reasonably strong

Tl;Dr

Idea is good, I'm not big on about 30% of the proposed rule cards

[limber blaze]

Thanks for the feedback!

In regards to War and 99, honestly that's fair lol, I definitely focused just on the theming for those instead of gameplay, kinda just a side effect of making card game mechanics based on other card games :P

Fuck I sent it early gimmie a min

[whole bison]

Take your time LOOL- glad you can see what i mean about War and 99, other than those 2, I think most of these fall nicely into the range of balance Balatro has (assuming i interpret Rummy and Presidents correctly)

Rummy I'm unsure of tho, would greatly appreciate elaboration on it

[limber blaze]

Rummy would basically turn the selected cards into a mini straight with the leftmost card as the highest (ex. 9, 2, 4 becomes 9, 8, 7)

[whole bison]

Okok, so it was how I viewed it, and i think that's VERY cool deckfixing

Id buff it to 4 cards tho if I'm being frl

Since you can't innately get it mid-blind, like Spectrals, four would let it be potent deckfixing for Straights but nothing too powerful longterm

[limber blaze]

And presidents would destroy all selected cards so long as they're all the same rank

[whole bison]

Acc nvm

[whole bison]

Same reasoning as this

[burnt nova]

not really, its up to five, probably 2 usually (well u deleted ur post)

[whole bison]

Nahh, same reasoning as what I listed above- since they aren't innately in shop i revoked my statement

If they could be brought into blinds consistently I'd still think it was powerscaled Hanged man**

[limber blaze]

Yea I get that, it was like that for a while actually

Well it was actually weaker before because the cards had to all be the same suit

[whole bison]

Straight Flush machine 🤤

[limber blaze]

In case anyone wants to try their hand at coming up with rules cards of their own, here's a catalog of classic playing card games and how to play them
https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play

This was the main site I used while coming up with ideas, it's really convenient

[sweet dirge]

This is so tasty

[limber blaze]

I think this is my favorite complement I've ever gotten on anything

[heady crown]

so cool

[shut beacon]

Good one

[copper mantle]

Do these not appear at all before the voucher? Or do they appear in packs only?

How does presidents work with the 2nd grade voucher? What about King's Corner?

[keen quest]

I think it'd only be in packs until you buy the voucher

Strategy Guide probably wouldn't affect Presidents, but I could see King's Corner making a King for each selected card

[limber blaze]

Yea it wouldn’t effect Presidents, although I imagined Kings Corner just making 2 kings for one selected card but I like this idea too

[upbeat pilot]

sniff sniff mmm copyright

but good idea

idk if go fish would work

[keen quest]

these aren't copyrighted i assume

[upbeat pilot]

go fish has a copyright

but overall a lovely idea

would be awesome to see in game

[keen quest]

i assume you mean trademark?

nope cant seem to find any information about a trademark or copyright

[upbeat pilot]

yeah

[whole bison]

Go Fish has been public domain for like 25 years brother

It had a copyright

[upbeat pilot]

oh

[limber blaze]

Coming back to this to say that I came up with a seal and spectral card to go along with these

Viridian Seal
1 in 2 chance to create a Rules Card when drawn to hand (Must have room)

Faerie
Adds a Viridian Seal to 1 selected card

[inland yew]

i love this

i remember playing that game too lmao

[inland yew]

I agree. A lot of the cards near the end are really really similar and it makes me feel like a full 22 cards isn't necessary.

[dense ether]

I love this, not only because it's a solid mechanic and concept but also because it very much fits balatro's themes of mutilating a deck of cards and playing extremely weird poker, to the point you're bringing in rule cards from other games

[keen quest]

yeah it could use a buff but i like the meme of it

perhaps another idea could be "Select a card, all cards held in hand become copies of it"

[limber blaze]

I already have a concept for a hidden spectral (⬆️) but I kinda like this effect too

My only qualm is that I’m kinda iffy about rules cards having copying effects because I want to keep their interactions with card modifiers (enhancements, seals & editions) to a minimum

and that kind of effect would necessarily copy those as well

[keen quest]

true