#The 2 cases a Joker is an strictly better version of another

35 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

warm rain
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In Balatro there's no such thing as Joker upgrades or "levels" and Im sure its not a concept Local-Thunk would explore, not even by chance.

However, there are only 2 pairs of jokers in which one is STRICTLY better than the other.

And by STRICTLY I mean that it is better 100% of the time, and there's not an argument that can state the oposite, for example : We all know that Acrobat is worse than Card Sharp ~95% of the time, BUT ITS NOT A 100% , so there's a few times where Acrobat is better than Card Sharp, and it may save your run.

So having said this, here are the only 2 pairs in which one joker is strictly better than the other.

Onyx Agate (+7 mult per Club played) > Gluttonous Joker (+3 mult per Club played)

Not much to comment about this, its pretty obvious

Chicot (Dissables the effect if every boss Blind) > Luchador (Dissables the effect of the boss blind if this Joker is sold)

While Chicot Dissables every single Boss Blind, Luchador can only dissable the one you choose by selling it

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

Blueprint (Copies the ability of the right joker) (not always > )Brainstorm (Copies the ability of the leftmost joker)

Obviously both jokers are incredible ,but Brainstorm lacks the ability to copy ×Mult jokers with the optimal positioning, while Blueprint is able to do this. BUT Blueprint is restricted as it cant copy the leftmost joker, and this seems pretty stupid as jokers can be moved , but if you have 4 of polychrome jokers or scalable ×mult jokers that havent reached ×2 mult, and for example you have a +80 mult Spare Trousers, It is better Brainstorm as it can copy the mult joker, giving the effect of an 2× mult joker, while keeping an optimal positioning, a thing Blueprint cant do.

Triboulet not always> Photograph

Simple, with pareidolia Photograph always activates while Triboulet doesn't, as it requires Kings-Queens specific ranks, and also if you are building for a 5 of a kind jacks run, Triboulet is worse than Photograph

Thx

tender pawn
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im gonna say it

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mucho texto

hasty pier
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Blueprint is capable of coyping the leftmost joker, by putting it on the left

tulip arch
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onyx agate costs more than gluttonous

hasty pier
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technically all these cases have the distinction that the better one is harder to get

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onyx agate is uncommon and costs more than gluttonous

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chicot is a legendary

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blueprint is more expensive than brainstorm

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trib is a legendary

compact socket
hasty pier
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oh i guess i misremembered

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fsr i thought brainstorm was like $8

compact socket
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It is with clearance

hasty pier
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maybe thats what i was remembering from, idk

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I don't particularly like having rarity or cost be the downside that allows one to be objectively better than the other

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but it is technically precedented

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BP and Brainstorm are still different though; Brainstorm lets you put a different trigger in between

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it's not particularly useful but that is a thing

winged holly
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i would throw merry andy in here

neon furnace
winged holly
neon furnace
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also i have an argument against this. but it might be mucho texto

winged holly
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i mean a lot of jokers iterate on each others ideas so i generally disagree with this

scarlet trout
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you can identify brainstorm in amber acorn because of its different shape but thats the only advantage it has

neon furnace
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I got a couple points so crack open a nice bottle of milk, and let get started.

#1 About onyx and glut: you can get both kinda like brainstorm. It's a second blueprint or vice versa, you can have one (without showman or copy cards) so the other serves as a second to your lineup. And onyx can be worse, if you need to spare money for interest in early game, or finding it, you see a glut every other run but onyx, you find it once every 20-30 games. plus onyx only has this because of the stones-suits theme, bloodstone is Xmult, rough gem is econ and arrowhead is chips, the only logical thing for onyx to be is +mult.
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#2 Chicot and Luchador: I don’t have much to say about this, like Chicot is legendary of course it’s better, and yeah i know that legendaries should also be balanced, but luchador is a cool concept but it’s a one time use that gets overruled by DC/Retcon, Chicot is boring but also allows you to make fun builds knowing you don’t need to worry about a boss blind ruining your run. So luchador is a risk-reward type joker. It makes you think “should i use it now or can i survive this one and save it to remove a more harmful boss" while Chicot makes you build in a way you normally couldn’t because who would do a pareibuskin build if the plant makes your whole deck useless.

#3 Everybody is here: is this a good time to say, this is my opinion and not the truth, this is based on how i play and will have bias. Anyways, I think that adding jokers that outclass or get outclassed by a joker or jokers isn’t good game design and bloat, but these examples are fine because they don’t entirely have the same game plan, again for the forgetful ones, onyx is a build, glut is an addition to a build. Chicot is a background/passive joker, luchador requires more thought and strategy from the player, making it more fun. Remember the game's goal is to make money and, more fun>makes people play it more>makes more exposure>makes more people look into it>makes more money, well unless BLT just wants us to have fun, where that makes it more simple, more fun>more fun.

#4 in concussion: i think glut and luchador being strictly worse isn’t a bad thing. And remember, this is my opinion and I’m not the sharpest blub in the sky.

ruby kraken
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Glutt and Greedy should both give chips, that way aggate doesn’t need to change and they’re more unique

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Cause I don’t think onyx aggate is the problem

winged holly
neon furnace
winged holly
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All good just wanted to correct it so it wasn't confusing

neon furnace
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what do you think of my new username