Decks

Decks are chosen at the start of a run and determine either many things in run depending on the one you choose. They vary in terms of how complex they are and what way they may make you play, some make insentivise bigger hands while others may work off altering major mechanics for your benefit or not. Due to this fact, some Decks make Gold Stake a cake walk while others make it hell on earth to even get through Ante 3. So how may one use these Decks and use them to their fullest? That’s what I want to explain so that you can, hopefully have a smooth experience on them (except Black Deck, you will suffer).

Below is a table filled with information on what each on does, how you can use them and how I would recommend using it.

Appearance	Name	Description	Tips and Notes
	Red Deck	+1 discard every round	An extra discard is simple and very helpful on higher Stakes. It makes the modifier from Blue Stake not sting as much and allows you to still fish like you were on a lower Stake on other Decks. There’s not really much else to say about it, simple, clean and effective.
	Blue Deck	+1 hand every round	An extra hand is a bit more usable and vital than a discard as you can do more and have more with it. You can scale better, still dig good enough after the Blue Stake modifier comes into play, get more hand money and have an extra shot at living. It’s like the opposite of Black Deck, offering more survivability to the player during a run.
	Yellow Deck	Start with extra $10	A simple change that effects the early stages of a run more than you think the higher you go. More starting money means playing early rounds actually earns you interest, you can afford more items in the early shops and build up your Econ better. That doesn’t mean I would recommend that you take Rental Jokers early since while it is $10, you may not have other means of getting that money back. Even with that said, it’s still a simple, effective and great Deck for learning the game.
	Green Deck	At the end of each Round: $2 per remaining Hand $1 per remaining Discard Earn no Interest	Losing Interest is a big hit to your Econ and on higher Stakes a bigger hit to how much money you have at anytime. It kind of makes blowing all your money in the shop a decent strategy but also may mkae it so you have no money in the next shop because you may struggle in the previous round. It makes using hands cost and sting more, especially for scaling builds and even makes discarding sting a lot. If you are beating rounds fast you are swimming but if you aren’t then prepare to learn money management in a bit crash course way.
	Black Deck	+1 Joker slot -1 hand every round	A painful experience on higher Stakes. One less hand every round kneecaps so many things through the floor that it makes the first few Antes a pain in the ass. They become brutal slogs with you always on the verge of losing unless you have a very high scoring set up that is low maintinance set-up. This is because an extra Joker cannot make up for losing out on a hand that can help scale Scaling Jokers, dig for Poker Hands, give money for not being used in rounds. Getting Gold Stake on this Deck is most likely the hardest and I recommend you do so after doing all the others.
	Magic Deck	Start run with the Crystal Ball voucher and 2 copies of The Fool	Having 2 Fools early opens the door to many means of fixing your deck and earning money. If you use them right, you can cut out the fat of a Deck immediately and get right to what you want (like using 2 Hanged Man cards or more) or buy means of helping you break through early rounds (spamming Hermit cards). A Crystal Ball also opens the door to many options too, stalling packs to get what you want, holding more Planet Cards for Observatory, getting Omen Globe early for more Spectral cards. There’s lots of openings to this deck early and throughout runs.
	Nebula Deck	Start run with Telescope voucher -1 consumable slot	A very powerful Voucher given way too early and at the cost of a valuable mechanic is what you get when starting out on this Deck. Having Telescope is really handy but mainly in the mid to late stages, when you have found the hand you are building around and want to level that up fast
	Ghost Deck	Spectral cards may appear in the shop, start with Hex card	Spectrals in the shop is a bit nutty, even having a Hex at the start is a bit wild. Just the concept of having a Spectral in the shop is something that could open the door to some things that may never even happen in a normal run like easier access to Seals, Negative Jokers and more. Of course the Spectrals in the shop are random, so you could end up getting a Ouija than something you want but it still is a powerful option an lets you cook up ideas and get really creative. Do keep in mind that Spectrals aren’t a free win, you still need a good build to get through but they help.
	Abandoned Deck	Start run with no Face Cards in your deck	A great deck for Straights and 4 Of A Kinds. Cutting out face cards does mean you loose quick access to some Jokers and set-ups but it also helps streamline a Deck into those previously mentioned hands. It makes it so you can shoot for those Straights as you have less cards making the process of getting one harder and can more often than not get a 4 Of A Kind build going with just a few Hanged Man and Strength Tarots. One small thing to mention that is changed on this Deck is that it has it’s number changed in the description on Erosion from 52 to 40 to fit with the Decks smaller size and to not make it instantly viable when it appears.
	Checkered Deck	Start run with 26 Spades and 26 Hearts in deck	This Deck has a habit of making people “Flush-pilled”, a play-style that affects newer players as it puts them into a mindset of thinking flushes are good to play at higher Stakes by luring them into a false sense of security. Just a tip, they aren’t and you can get by on this Deck without playing them. Spamming Flushes does make you see how good Obelisk is as a new player, and only needing a single suit changer to help get Flush House and Flush 5 is only an extra Strength away. In that sense, it does have some goo merits but it is also kind of like junk food so take it small amounts when playing.
	Zodiac Deck	Start run with Tarot Merchant, Planet Merchant and Overstocked	More Tarot and Planets are great for obvious reasons, more deck fixing and levels for Poker Hands and Overstock allows you to see more so you don’t have to reroll as often. It’s a small benefit that helps with aspects both big and small in a very subtle and obvious ways. It may appear as if you bloat the shop but that isn’t really the case as the Tarots and Planets aren’t so much bloat, rather just seeing more of helpful items.
	Painted Deck	+2 hand size -1 Joker slot	A Joker down from the get-go is already a but of a speed bump. One less Joker just means you will naturally have less options and have to be extra picky. It isn’t as bad as Black Deck though because some builds can get by with 2 Jokers, it’s mainly a hit to utility. The benefit this Deck gives you is nothing to scoff at, making construction of bigger hands much easier while still needing you to dig for said hands. Great for hands like Straights and 4 Of A Kind, and for many builds about holding cards in your hand along with held in hand effects like Steel, Blue Seals and Gold.
	Anaglyph Deck	After defeating each Boss Blind, gain a Double Tag	Skipping is bad, (bold statements only on this site I know) but this is one of the few time skipping is sort of ok. The benefit is that some tags get really good when you are able to copy them like double money tags, rare tags and Tarot pack tags but others just stay the same or are a waste to useyour double tags on. There may even be runs that you just don’t get any value out of them, meaning you are basically playing the Challenge Deck but with out the fun, so maybe try and use them just so that they don’t rot there.
	Plasma Deck	Balance Chip and Mult when calculating score for played hand X2 base Blind size	The most mechanically different Deck in the whole game. It basically takes both numbers from Chips and Mult, add them together, divid them by 2 and sqaure them. Very much more complex, but there are ways to play around it. Conventional builds may not fly here, some better methods for earlier Antes and Stakes is to play mainly into Chips and some people may even recommend using X Mult for later in runs or in general for higher Stakes. Many people also find this to be a nightmare to run on Gold Stake due to how much of a breeze the early rounds are and then having later rounds hit even harder thanks to the Deck having 2 times the base score. Some even think that it is RNG dependant as many of the items you may come across will be less than helpful. It can be a pain but if you keep at it and find some good Chips or X Mult and make it go to the moon then it won’t be too bad, don’t forget planet levels too.
	Erratic Deck	All Rank and Suits in your deck are randomized	This Deck is a guilty pleasue of mine, as it lets me play on of my favourite hands, 4 Of A Kind. Along with that it also lets you play the other big hands in the game. The random values do add a bit of chaos when picking this Deck, constantly opening runs, looking at the Decks status as you have no idea what is in it. I find that to be part of the fun and the way to play, being able to see loads of a certain values and suits gives you an idea of what to play when a run starts, helping to give some direction. That and having the means to play such massive hands early lets you blast through early rounds and build up econ reliably.