Balatro Deck Ranks – (Updated List)

Balatro Deck Ranks – Here is a breakdown of which cards are great, medium, and poor. This ranking was made based on their values.

Balatro Deck Ranks – (Updated List)

I have divided the scores into 4 different categories. Each category will be assigned a scale out of ten and the resulting score is then the sum of the scores of all 4 categories.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING GUIDE CONTAINS ARBITRARY NUMBER VALUES AS MOST OF THE VALUES. IT’S A FUN THOUGHT EXPERIMENT AND GUIDE THAT SHOWS THE UP’S AND DOWN’S OF EACH DECK AND WHY YOU SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT CHOOSE IT BASED ON YOUR PLAYSTYLE.

Balatro Deck Ranks Categories

Stability – How good the deck is early on and how easy it is to win the first few blinds and get going.

High stability means you’ll get to the middle game most of the time, and low stability means you won’t win ante 1 unless you’re really lucky and/or play perfectly.

Ease of Play – How easy it is to go from midgame to winning and requires the deck to think extra or give you perks that make it easier to think or get the cards you want.

Versatility – How good is the deck in different builds? Do their jokers that the deck makes work? Any joker that is anti-synergistic with the deck? Is there more than 1 potential build, or do most games play out similar or die because you didn’t get the jokers you needed to make it work?

X Factor – When you pop up, how much of it is a package? Does the deck provide better and more consistent results at the end of the game? If you were to be sure to ante 8, how far would you go on average?

Each deck will start at 5 in each category and any significant advantages or disadvantages will affect it accordingly.

At the time of writing, I’ve beaten Orange Stake on Yellow Deck (I’ve been crushing gold for the last 6-7 hours of play), Red Stake on most, and I’ve gotten at least one win in each deck to get a feel for how they play.

I tried to make my personal opinions matter less. I personally hate Black Deck because I make stability a big part of my deck selection process, but I haven’t made it to the bottom 3.

Now let’s rank these cards from lowest score to the highest score.

Painted Deck – 17 points

A painted deck gives +2 hand size for -1 joker slot.

Stability – 8

Easy to play – 5

Versatility – 4

The X Factor – 0

Painted Deck trades a bit more stable than early game and makes deck drawing more consistent, at the cost of losing 20% of your joker power.

While I can permanently get out of ante 2 just by drawing more cards and being able to play better cards, not having the ability to have a 5th joker means fewer spots for economic jokers, fewer big numbers, and an overall very difficult late game.

It says something when my only win with this deck was 4 negative jokers (3 were from random decks/trades)

The ease of the larger hand size is completely outweighed by the difficult “which joker do I keep?” you will be bumping all the time.

It’s the best deck for straights, the only deck I can make reliably. A pretty good deck for an early four and a straight.

But they actively prevent you from winning. That’s why it’s the lowest scoring deck.

Green pack – 21 points

A green deck removes the interest and instead you gain +1 extra money for each unspent hand or discarded card.

Stability – 4

Easy game – 3

Versatility – 7

The X Factor – 7

The green deck is the best deck for building money, but you have to have consistent winning combinations or you will lose a lot.

It’s probably just personal preference and the package doesn’t gel with me, but I feel like most of the time I have less money and nothing in return.

It feels like the most average package to me.

Now that you get +1 hand, +1 discarded vouchers, Delayed Gratitude, and more, you can start raking in the cash.

This deck is heavily nerfed by Blue Stake. And while a lot of the jokers in this deck are technically more useful than in other decks, I don’t think its versatility is above average.

This was the last normal deck I won with and the only one I didn’t win with a second time because I personally don’t like the deck.

A few more points in Ease of Play would probably be nice, but knowing that every move you make, even an elimination, costs you $1 makes the strategy a bit more difficult.

Being able to drop or launch Vagabond without penalty is good though.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Magic Pack – 22 points

The Magic Pack starts you off with a Crystal Ball Voucher (+1 Consumable Slot) and 2 copies of The Fool (copy the last tarot/planet card played)

Stability – 7

Easy to play – 5

Versatility – 6

The X Factor – 4

This board seems pretty stable to me. 3 copies of your first tarot can be useful.

Especially if you can get a lot of money, 3 random jokers, turn 8 cards into 1 suit, strengthen the party, etc.

And it also gives a point of versatility, because starting with 5 playing tarots offers many different options.

Once you get past the early game, the deck doesn’t really do much for you. Permanent +1

The consumables slot isn’t… the most useful. I often don’t even have 2 consumables with me, so it’s quite a gap.

I feel like every other deck besides the Yellow Deck has something to offer late game, but this deck doesn’t. This is why both he and yellow have 4 X Factors, while red and blue will have 5.

At higher stakes, you might lose before you get a chance to use your fools, and that would just be bad.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Black Deck – 23 points

Black Deck trades -1 hand for +1 joker slot.

Stability – 0

Easy to play – 5

Versatility – 8

The X Factor – 10

Black deck is by far the worst early game deck. 1 less hand means it’s harder to win against the blinds, you’ll make less money, and the extra joker slot probably comes into play at ante 3 first.

However, if you can overcome the brutal early game, you are rewarded in slotting versatility in the extra joker, and the late game +1 joker is insane, which is why I won with the Black Deck for the first time and got into the ante as well. 13, which was my furthest run.

Based on research, this might be the hardest deck to win with, but if you win, you really win. The game really feels like a slot machine rather than a deckbuilding roguelike.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Checkered Pack – 24 points

Checkered decks gives you the chance to start with just hearts and spades, which means you get to start with 26 cards of each; 2 of each rank per suit.

Stability – 9

Easy game – 8

Versatility – 0

The X Factor – 5

A checkered deck is a deck that digs you into flush builds by making flush builds really easy. Sure you can make a straight or a five, but you pick this deck to make suits.

Flushes is definitely not the strongest in the late game, but they can go along decently with constant planet cards.

I got a level 41 flush with this deck. Flushes make the early game pretty easy and you don’t have to think so much about what to do for your build because it’s going to be a flush.

Having only 2 suits also makes the game easier to play as only 2 suits need to be accounted for.

Without Smeared Joker, about half of the suit-based synergy will be useless to you with this deck, and any joker that benefits different poker hands will be less powerful.

I will advise that you make a two pair that is can act as a flush from a base deck, normally I wouldn’t run a two pair joker with this deck.

(This and the Plasma deck are my only decks that have a 100% win rate against Boss Blind 1)

Abandoned Pack – 25 points

This deck allows you to start with only 40 cards because it lacks any face cards. And you know what they say, skinny to win.

Stability – 5

Easy game – 8

Versatility – 4

The X Factor – 8

So with this deck, you’re trading most of your high-chip card values for a thinner starter deck, making the four-of-a-kind a decently common early game combo that can be built to get you through the midgame.

Now you may struggle with 1 turn of the first blind due to the lower average chip score, but the consistency of the draw is worth it.

Versatility comes in that no joker will do anything for you, but any other joker like Scholar or Walkie Talkie will get slammed by hitting these cards more often.

And if you start to delete more cards, you can quite reasonably get small hand success. Be careful, if you run out of your deck, you lose.

The Abandoned Deck is my favorite at first glance, and definitely my favorite of the simple decks aside from the nice early game that the Yellow deck gives me.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Red Deck – 26 points

(Time for a four-way tie)

Red Deck gives you +1 to discard.

Stability – 7

Easy game – 6

Versatility – 8

The X Factor – 5

Additional eliminations make it easier to build high-value first hands, so you get more of your potential money.

It’s not as good for money or close wins as Blue Decks +1 hand, however the added synergy with discard based jokers for making money is good.

The ability to cycle your deck is a deterrent to making your deck less consistent in the early game, and as you build consistency you won’t need these discards as much.

At blue bet and higher, this deck ability counters blue bets and gives you a normal amount of discards.

And knocking out -1 is bad, but +1 is normally not as good and not as noticeable. Because going from 2 to 3 is a 50% increase, but 3 to 4 is a 33% increase.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Blue Deck – 26 points

The blue deck gives +1 hand

Stability – 8

Easy game – 7

Versatility – 6

The X Factor – 5

Now, while hands are like discards that score points and can give money, discards have specific synergies and use cases that I objectively can’t put a blue deck over a red deck, even though I consider the Blue deck to be the better deck.

It has a better early game with more economic potential, though probably the same economy on average.

And an extra hand can help close with those few extra points needed in close calls with bosses.

Also, you start from 4 hands, so +1 is only a 20% increase, while discard is a 33% or 50% increase.

But if you put all your hands together and discard as one resource, it’s the same either way. It depends on how you think about them and what hands/bosses you run into.

Red Deck is great at dealing with The Tooth, The Needle, from those that have been drawn face down after each card or discard 2 randoms.

But the Blue Deck is noticeably better at The Wall or Violet Vessel, and slightly better against all other blinds.

So a tie for these two decks makes a lot of sense to me, along with the other two decks that also scored 26/40 points.

Yellow Deck – 26 points

The yellow package gives you 10 extra starting money.

Stability – 10

Easy to play – 5

Versatility – 7

The X Factor – 4

Yellow Deck provides starting cash, which means you can buy more in early trades, making it easier to exit early game or build an economy.

But after that, the deck gives you literally nothing, so no mid game or late game help.

Now the Yellow Deck can help get early interest and even earn a guaranteed interest of 2 on a small blind of 1, so it pays not to skip higher bets.

And if you’re able to get your money up and going, getting 5 interest each round can help you snowball in the mid game, but most of my runs see me using money to get out of the early game and grab jokers to helped win as it is. more consistent.

Yellow is my only deck that I’ve beaten high stakes with. The early game cannot be underestimated.

Zodiac Deck – 26 points

Zodiac Deck starts you off with 3 vouchers. Restock, 2x tarot cards in the shop and 2x planet cards in the shop.

Stability – 3

Easy game – 6

Versatility – 9

The X Factor – 8

Vouchers prevent early play. Even if you have the option of having Overstock, you generally don’t want to see Tarots/Planets above jokers in early trades.

And the consistency with the deck itself is really bad because of it.

Anyways, you need to know that you can potentially get versatility and sheer power from extra tarot and planet cards.

If you get a good economy with tarots, you can spend more money and get more with less repetition.

Constellation and Fortune Teller, these are the two great winners of this deck. And the deck kind of works against Orange Stake, but not completely.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Nebula Deck – 27 points

The Nebula Deck starts you out with an observatory voucher but a -1 consumable slot.

Stability – 5
Easy game – 8
Versatility – 6
The X Factor – 8

The Nebula Deck allows you to hyper-focus on a single hand type, and it really provides a lot of benefits if you do.

However, it lacks the ability to rotate, so its versatility is lower than I would have thought.

And also the versatility is brought down by both tarots needing 2 consumable slots to function.

Now, if you decide to build like Full House and do it, that’s great. 4 of its kind has a good scale.

Flush is fine. If your early joker is the pants then congratulations, two pair/full house is pretty much a sure win.

I’ve found that this deck plays itself out once you decide on your hand from the joker options in the early game.

The X Factor is up because if you got lucky scaling with a straight flush, four or five, you have a nice ante of 12 in front of you.

Ghost Pack – 29 points

The ghost pack starts you off with a hex and allows you to spawn spectral cards in the store.

Stability – 6

Easy game – 6

Versatility – 8

The X Factor – 9

The Ghost deck plays very normally, except that you can make your first good Polychrome Joker.

Its stability isn’t that high though, as polychromy only helps slightly in the early game, and if you don’t get a joker you want to keep, you can sometimes run into a 2-option scenario, either lose due to underperformance.

Another major aspect of Ghost is seeing spectral cards in the shop. And that can be very good.

However, the speed with which they appear is not very high.

Most of the time you will see 1 to 2 out of 8 antes if your average reroll per trade is about 1 like mine. More if you have Overstock and Overstock+.

I’ve won games with Ghost without seeing a single spectral card in the store.

So it hardly helps in a sensible game. In the Orange bet, it can be a big plus that you don’t have to buy spectrum packages.

Ghost is incredibly good for late game runs because it can give you a spectral card in your consumable slots that Perkio can copy endlessly. However, this setting is basically impossible to remove.

I’m not sure if the Ghost deck can have Soul or Black Hole in the stores because I think I’ve seen all the other spectral cards except for those two.

Being a solid top 5 deck (4th best) is impressive.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Anaglyph Deck – 31 points

The Anaglyph deck gives you a double tag after every boss blind, for a total of 7 in a normal run.

Stability – 5

Easy game – 8

Versatility – 8

The X Factor – 10

Anaglyph deck really doesn’t play any role until ante 2, but it can make ante 2 and 3 very easy if you can secure good marks.

The Anaglyph deck appreciates strategic skipping, rather than just skipping everything, otherwise it won’t end up doing anything like most decks. This makes it the most fun deck to play.

If you know what you’re doing, it’s pretty easy to complete the run, and if you get a negative joker tag, you’ll only win ante 12.

There is great versatility in how to use double labels. Are you saving them because the run is coasting right now, or you’re struggling and need a few smaller swings.

Now it has a pretty decent RNG factor. If you get nothing but a drop money tag, flip boss, uncommon joker, you’re pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ the whole run.

However, the game will give you at least 1 half-decent tag every 2 antes most of the time.

Orange Stake this deck allows you to take 3 or 4 Mega Tarot decks instead of 1 or 2.

– Balatro Deck Ranks

Plasma Deck – 32 points

The plasma pack will take your two scores, average them, and then square them to get your final score.

Maximize your points. However, the required score changes faster.

Stability – 9

Easy game – 6

Versatility – 10

The X Factor – 7

A plasma deck might not seem like that big of a deal, but you basically can’t lose an ante of 1 or 2 if you try a little bit.

And let’s make the high chip strategies actually work instead of 5 around.

Versatility is high because no matter how you increase your numbers, if you do, you will scale better than any other deck.

And while it comes at the cost of faster ante scaling, I don’t really notice it until ante 6 or 7.

The X Factor would be higher because of how crazy stone builds can be with this deck and how you can get to infinity^2 in points, except for the fact that Ante 10 looks like Ante 12 and it only gets worse from there. So unless you literally packed infinity or won the stone lottery, getting out of ante 11 will be impossible.

Ease of play is the worst aspect of this deck because it requires you to approach and think about the game in a completely different way, which can be difficult, and ante 8 can be very difficult, even getting the desired score of >1mil with a purple pot.

However, if you understand the math, you will quickly find that a bigger number is better.

Throw out whether it’s a mult or chips, just see which number is higher. If you don’t have a good multiplier then you want a multiplier because it pays off better.

And there we are, surprisingly tied with the lowest deck score at 17/40 and the highest at 32/40. And only 1 package did not outweigh its advantages over its disadvantages.

Just because a deck has a higher point value doesn’t mean it’s objectively better. Depending on how you see the 4 factors I have chosen.

You can ignore the X Factor as “a win is a win” and you don’t care about infinity. In which painted would be one of the solid spots with 17/30 and the black deck would be dead last with 13/30.

You can be perfectly fine with repeating over and over and over again until you win or just play seeded runs, which is why Ghost, Black, and Anaglyph are by far the strongest. (Black’s deck is still weaker than the other two by a large amount of seeded or unseeded.)

I came up with random, seemingly arbitrary numbers, ABSOLUTELY. If you think the Painted Deck has as good an early game as the Checkered Deck… Sure. Is it an 8, a 9 or maybe just give them a 6?

Maybe you’re a Green Deck connoisseur who thinks a black deck deserves a bottom 3 instead of more, that’s totally fine.

And that’s why Anaglyph, Plasma, and Erratic are the top three, and they’re so close that it’s basically personal preference

Thanks for reading our post on Balatro Deck Ranks, make sure always to drop comments, and don’t also forget that suggestions are allowed.

Written By: Jakkson K