Spectrals

Compared to Tarots, Spectrals can be, for a decent amount, risky but also holding some insane potential if used correctly. Spectrals can do many things that other cards can’t do for the most part, even being the only way to earn obtain things. While they won’t deck fix like a Tarots, they still offer forms of enhancing cards, creating copies, adding Editions and Seals. As previously stated though, there is risk involved, from losing money, relying on chance, worse hand size, deck bloat and even losing Jokers. They take a lot more deliberating before deciding what should be taken in the moment.

While Spectrals can create Seals, Editions and Enhancements, I have already gone into depth about each on the Tarots and Seals and Editions posts respectively. If you would like to read up on them, please do check those posts out. Below is the same as many of my other large collection post, notes on what each of them offer, the benefits and draw backs of each and if you should take them.

Appearance	Name	Effect	Notes
	Familiar	Destroy 1 random card in your hand, add 3 random Enhanced Face cards to your hand	Deck bloating, simple as. Just as a note for the two below, just because it says destroy a card, doesn’t mean it’s a good way of thinning your deck as you get more than what you lose. Anyway, getting a range of face cards isn’t all that bad for general face card builds but isn’t that great as you never get a consistent value to help really optimise your deck. Random enhancements are also a bit of a crap shoot. On the one hand, you could get Glass face cards for some crazy scoring. On the other you get Wild cards and considering Wild cards look like runny mascara, you start to wonder why the Jack of Clubs is balling his eyes out instead of making big numbers. Finally it gives decent enough Hologram value at X0.75, very nice but it still means you have to fill it up with junk. This might be good if you’re in a face card build but I would say skip more often than not.
	Grim	Destroy 1 random card in your hand, add 2 random Enhanced Aces to your hand	Deck bloating, sort of. This one is probably the best of the three as you will always get the same value. This makes it great for Four of A Kind builds, as you can easily spam it to gain a tone of Aces and not have to do much deck fixing other than some small cutting, but that’s only after using loads of them so I would still say deck fix normally. Again however, you still get random enhancements, so it’s either Gold and Lucky or Wild cards. Lastly the Hologram value is the worst, only giving it X0.5, which, while still good, isn’t the best of the three. Mainly take if you are running Aces and if you aren’t then skip.
	Incantation	Destroy 1 random card in your hand, add 4 random Enhanced Number cards to your hand	Deck bloating, simple as. Worth of the lost, not only is it not as streamlined as the other two, given that there are nine number cards, it’s terrible for getting what you want. And again the enhancements are random so you could get some cards that are really good, or Wild cards. The only saving grace is that it gives Hologram the most value, by making it gain a whole X1 mult. Still other than that one use case, just ignore it.
	Tailsman	Add a Gold Seal to 1 selected card in in your hand	Gold Seals are generally useful and are very helpful if you have retriggers. That being said, if this shows up when other Seal Spectrals are in the same pack, then it’s kind of the weakest option. It also has to contend with also has to contend with Immolate for being the best money Spectral and also suffers there as you get the money instantly with Immolate compared to having to work for it by actually pulling your Gold Seal. Once you get it though, tossing it out can still give you money, even if it isn’t on something in your build. Pretty decent to take but if put up against the competition then you might want to skip it.
	Aura	Adds Foil, Holographic or Polychrome effect to a selected card in hand	Making an existing card better will always be favourable compared to the bloat that the first three Spectrals do. Adding these effects to card is also a plus if they are Red Seals or holding retrigger Jokers as they will repeat as well. The downside is that it’s a 1 in 3 chance for the one you want and if you get one you don’t want, you can’t re-use an Aura to try again at getting the other effect you want. Whereas the Seal Spectrals let you over-write the previous Seal. Still there is no harm in putting it on a card if no other Spectral seems worth it.
	Wraith	Creates a random Rare Joker, sets money to $0	Setting your money to $0 is scary and almost never worth it is you have great money saved up or a money based build. Sure it creates a Rare Joker, but that could be something as useful as a Blueprint or as useless as Tribe on a late game Straights build. There are times that it might give you just what you need but those will be very small. However, there are some upsides, if you have a way of getting back Econ fast, it being the start of a run, or if you are in negative money, then taking the risk isn’t so bad just to see what you might get.
	Sigil	Converts all cards in the hand to a single random suit	Not overly worth it, mainly if a suit boss is coming up. Changing, on average, 8 cards into something that gets debuffed is generally, very bad, even if it’s a 1 in 4 chance. It might have some niche value in trying to gun for Straight Flushes or Flush Five or Flush House build but there’s still a risk with it where if you have committed to once suit, and then get any of the others, it just shoots your deck in the kneecaps until you can fix it with proper suit changers. Not something worth taking unless it’s early.
	Ouija	Converts all cards in the hand to a single random rank -1 hand size	Sounds great on paper, terrible in execution. Sure you can set up for bigger hands earlier but what’s the point if you lose one of the main ways to even get those bigger hands. Taking it early sucks as now you start off with a smaller hand size, making pulling hands harder from the very beginning. It also sucks late game as it could be a detriment to your build or give you values that don’t work with your build therefore making your deck worse and pushing down your ability to form whatever hand you want to make. It has a single niche use on Painted Deck for Four of A Kind and beyond, as you start with a naturally bigger hand size, so it doesn’t hurt as much, even though it’s not that hard to make those hands work on Painted due it’s high hand size anyway. Actually worse than worthless.
	Ectoplasm	Add Negative to a random Joker, -1 hand size	Negative Jokers are really handy to have, as you can make a core part of your build take up no slots with Ectoplasm. Furthering this is by perposly putting other Editions onto your other Jokers to help it hit the ones you want. Of course the drawback is a huge bite at your potential digging an hand construction. If your playing bigger hands and have everything you need for a set up, then I wouldn’t take this unless you can reliably pull your winning hand. For smaller hands then I would probably say it’s fine enough to take. It more so matters what it hits after the fact which, while stated before, can be controlled a bit, is still random.
	Immolate	Destroy 5 random cards in hand, gain $20	A Hanged Man with random chance. In the early stages of a run, having a fast and efficient way of clearing your deck to help define a build, is pretty much an instant take, even more considering it gives you money. However in later stages of a run, if the cards in your hand are cards that you don’t really want to lose or only like, two great cards and 6 junk, it becomes more of a risk. Sometimes that risk is greatly appreciated as thinning your deck is vital on higher stakes. Other times you end up losing more than you gain. It all comes down to what’s in your hand so be mindful before taking, even if it’s in your Consumable Slot for later use.
	Ankh	Creates a copy of a random Joker, destroy all other Jokers	Great if you get a strong Joker early or many Jokers are Eternal. Having Eternal Jokers means that Ankh won’t destroy them if it doesn’t hit them but if it copies one, you get a copy of a joker that you can’t sell. Obviously if you have a build made and use it, you just end up shooting it in the head. If there is something you want to copy that you can live with only two of, then I would say just sell everything else so that it always hits it. A bit of a risk but Eternals might make it not sting as much.
	Deja Vu	Add a Red Seal to 1 selected card in in your hand	Very much is determined by what you draw when opening a pack. With on average, drawing 8 cards into your hand, you have a small range in what this can be put on. You would mainly want this on something that you are going to play that, that triggers Jokers and/or has enhancements. Just tossing it out isn’t going to give the same value as a Gold Seal which can still have value if you toss it out by itself depending on what it is. If you get something in your hand you would really want to put it on, then it’s a extremely valuable take, if not, then pass.
	Hex	Adds Polychrome to a random Joker, destroy all other Jokers	Polychrome is a strong enhancement to have on any Joker, and having it as a guarantee is superb, except for the catch being deadly. It has the same strengths and issues as Ankh but for an effect rather than a copy. Sometimes it can matter which is better to take, the X1.5 mult on top of something or having a copy of something that could be really strong. It also is given to you at the start of Ghost Deck, so that gives it a bit of bonus points.
	Trance	Add a Blue Seal to 1 selected card in in your hand	A reliable way to receive Blue Seals is something that I feel always should be considered. Sure it might be up against ones that give more score and such but I feel this is always a take. You can slap a Blue Seal on anything that you were or weren’t going to play and it will always be handy. This makes it not matter what cards are drawn from your deck when opening a pack, though I prefer it on Steel and Gold cards.
	Medium	Add a Purple Seal to 1 selected card in in your hand	Has sort of the opposite problem of Red Seals but more to a lesser extend. If the cards drawn are ones you weren’t going to play or discard anyway, then you can just slap it on them. A very fixed deck, more late Ante 8 and even more with endless, may struggle when this shows up as you’ll mainly have your hand filled with things you want to play and retrigger, or keep for value, so this showing up is kind of a waste compared to some of the more powerful options.
	Cryptid	Creates 2 copies of 1 selected card in your hand	Like having two DNAs without needing to play a hand. Obviously making two copies of a selected card is going to be good depending on what it is. Although, the funny thing about it is that it ignores your max hand size, meaning you can go over it. This is especially good with multiple copies and Steel cards to shoot your score to the moon. It is also a strategy used in endless mode to get the naneinf score by making negative copies of it with Perkeo.
	The Soul	Creates a Legendary Joker (Must have room)	The Soul is one of the most unique cards in the game. It is the only way to gain access to Legendary Jokers. Taking one can be good or bad depending on the run. You could either get one that’s really helpful for the current run, or Triboulet on Abandoned Deck. The pool is 1 in 5 for whatever one you want. If it’s the start of a run and get one, there’s no reason to skip it. Later however, if you already have a build, it is a bit more of a risk, you could get something worth it or not. Although, they all sell for $10, so you can sell it if it’s not for you or keep for Temperance value. Soul is a rare drop though, only having a 0.3% to appear in Arcane and Spectral Packs so it won’t be as common as all of the above.
	Black Hole	Upgrades all Poker hands by 1 level	There’s really no reason not to take this when it appears. Making every Poker Hand better by 1 is generally great and has no drawbacks. It also means that if you don’t get the Planet card for a certain hand but get Black Hole, it means you still get that level. It does have a rare chance of showing up at 0.3% of appearing in Celestial and Spectral packs just like Soul for Tarots.