Balatro Deck Tier List: Which is the Best?

[@redsnipingshot]

I think the thing about Plasma is that it feels like a "reward" deck. Like when an FPS gives you an easy mode weapon because you did some ridiculous task. I don't think it's meant for balance, it's just meant to have fun with the game, and that's why you get it so late.

[@redsnipingshot]

Of course, I still haven't cleared the first Nebula run, so what do I know...

[@ZainoTVLive]

@@redsnipingshot Hahaha, No, I agree, I just wish it was more clearly separated from the rest of the game and that it was the final unlock deck.

[@KirbyCoder]

@@ZainoTVLiveI mean, it makes sense erratic is the final unlock, as a fully randomised deck feels like the ultimate challenge (for a casual). Plasma lets you get the remaining jokers and whatnot you have left to unlock which might help complete a run of erratic.

[@tobiasaugustodeoliveiradia9417]

I feel like the plamsa and erratic deck feel like "Post-game" decks, like a mode you play for fun, endless and completing colection rather than for advancing the game progress

[@JohnLucPicard98]

Black deck makes the other 4 solid color decks look S tier. Black deck imo is the worst deck in the game it’s not even close

[@VincentAdultmanbearpig]

Yeah man black deck belongs in the trash. Especially considering negative jokers can easily accomplish the same thing in any other deck without forcing the player into a crap situation from the start.

[@Derekyounan]

It’s rly not that bad

[@CumCaptain]

​@@DerekyounanThis man is speaking lies and I will not stand for it, the black deck is the absolute hardest desk to win with in higher stakes specifically because of the negative it has being a HUGE negative for the early game. -1 hand means 1 less dollar every round which matters early game, 1 less chance to scale up jokers which matters for progression, and 1 less chance to not die on a tough blind.

[@ValunarTonix]

I got the game 2 days ago, trying to just get a clear on every deck, just white stake (y'know, unlocking decks from clearing the first 5) and while the others only took less than 5 tries, black took 10 just to get a good run and 20 to clear.

[@cadesummers5866]

I wish it would get a buff honestly, the allure of playing with 6 jokers seems so fun but that -1 hands just makes the deck feel like torture

[@djinnJuice-x-]

I think the concept you're trying to fish for when talking about the glyph deck is "win more". Doesn't provide win conditions, just makes the existing win conditions a little sillier when you stack 18 negative tags

[@ZainoTVLive]

Yeah exactly, I think you hit the nail on the head. Although since the first difficulty stake makes the small blind basically useless you do skip a lot in higher difficulties. So I think the double tags can be useful. I'm going to test it out more on stream.

[@djinnJuice-x-]

@@ZainoTVLive I still end up playing small blinds most the time because 3-4 dollars in interest + unused hand credit isn't nothing; and that's not even counting times where you have "on blind" jokers, econ jokers, and jokers with per-hand scaling

[@darkknightx0992]

Probably should be two different tier lists. One for gold difficulty and one for white chip high scores

[@1313hman]

You have no idea how much I appreciate seeing a tier list that (more or less) resembles a bell curve favoring the middle tiers instead of the usual ”all A with many Ss, some Bs and pretty much empty everywhere else

[@WelsknightGaming]

I think the Green Deck is a better than you give it credit for. You usually get enough extra money in the first couple rounds to really kickstart your run, to the point where you can nearly fill your joker slots by the time you reach the first boss, and then it just snowballs from there. As long as you pick up an early economic joker it's pretty easy to have a winning run even on high stakes. Not a top-tier deck by any means because it can be fairly hit-or-miss, but I think it's C-tier at least, B-tier at best. The Red Deck is also better than D-tier IMHO. Everything you said is correct, but you left out one important detail: there are *tons* of very strong discard synergies in the game, and you will encounter at least a couple of them on almost every run. Purple seal cards, Trading Card, Burnt Joker, Mail-In Rebate, etc. There are lots of ways to generate value from having an extra discard, which having an extra hand can't take advantage of. I'd bump the Red Deck up to C-tier. I agree with pretty much everything else.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Those are very valid points on Red Deck I would move it. However, green deck, while I get the point, I feel like is still brutal not receiving interest.

[@yzm2065]

I didn’t think black would be so ass, but it truly is. It’s literally pain to get anything going on that compared to other mid tier decks.

[@Moonfreeze]

I'd put erratic lower, just because you end up restarting until you're happy with the cards. And any time you need to grind to play with a beneficial deck, it takes the fun out of it imo.

[@jkdeadite]

I had such a hard time with black. When I won my first run, I was surprised to realize I was still playing on black. It's not so much that it's difficult to play, but just way harder to get an engine started.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Yeah, exactly. I think it applies to almost all decks at higher stakes, Im rating how hard they are to get started, as once you do you're probably good.

[@shybandit521]

So far my best black deck run didn't clear white stake but it was a funny run because the only Joker I had was Madness. Completely wasted the extra joker slot, was straight up nerfed with one less hand, and it was my best run. I'd probably have won if the tarot RNG wasn't so awful and I was actually able to get Mult Cards. I'd rate it in Awful.

[@moritzwiedemann9029]

@@ZainoTVLive Speaking of getting started i actually disagree with your Plasma deck rating. I wanted to unlock it, so i started playing stakes with checkered Deck and cleared white to blue in one run only playing flushes. Then i had the plasma deck and - yes it is really strong for playing high numbers but you either need some insane chip joker or get a X Mult Joker rolling. If you have both chip and mult jokers it kinda makes the effect useless since they are about balanced out anyways. Ofc Checkered deck wont let you clear insane ante like plasma but talking about clearing ante 8 Checkered is just way more reliant IMO

[@TacDonut]

This game should be example A of how to make a good game. Reasonable price, lots of content, original ideas, high skill ceiling but easy to pick up, endless mode/expanded end game, good artwork… list can go on for awhile.

[@yagami999913]

- Great psychedelic atmosphere - Nice music - FREAKIN' CRT FILTER !!!

[@Oozywolf]

Thanks for linking this on the stream, awesome list. I can't wait to try out the abandoned deck now. I thought it'd be terrible but then as you described it, it made a ton of sense. Great deck to utilize the Planet cards with straights and flushes. Very interesting!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Yeah, exactly. Also if you get "Ride The Bus" early you basically get to grow it to whatever mult you wish. Its plays great

[@Pr1est0fDoom]

@@ZainoTVLive Yeah, I almost feel like Ride the Bus should be disabled for the Abandoned Deck. You get it early and it's GG go next.

[@tabbycar6741]

blue, yellow, red, and green need to go up a tier imo. Blue, yellow, and green are all about economy, which is so important, especially with interest doubling money output at times. The extra hand is extra money, the extra money is extra money, and winning fast is extra money. Red deck is just good. Sure, it’s just a discard, but discards are important, cycling cards in important and how you get hands to play those crazy 10e chip plays. The stater decks (not black) are just good, they do their job well and you can get pretty easy wins , even on gold with them.

[@CerealSSBU]

I love all the starter decks- *glares at black deck* not you -equally and I find them all fun to use.

[@tabbycar6741]

@@CerealSSBU LMAO

[@dominicdupuis4003]

I would love a video on how to play each deck. Like the strategies for magic deck vs abandoned deck. Like what jokers are we looking for? What hands? When to add cards vs tarot cards etc

[@ZainoTVLive]

Great Idea!

[@synpai4539]

I've been grinding out gold stakes recently, out of the 8 I've done so far (including some high tiers like checkered and ghost), surprisingly the easiest climb was Zodiac. With it I only lost 2 runs total in the entirety of the climb between starting White and beating Gold (one at Purple, one preventable loss at Orange). Some of this is probably attributable to just improving at the game since it was my 7th gold stake clear, but tarots are just extremely strong, especially in the consumable slot for hand fixing shenanigans + manipulating fool and being able to bypass the shop booster scaling at orange and gold by buying your planets and tarots directly for $3 is so nice. Add the Overstock voucher onto that to counteract the drawback of eating joker slots and you get a surprisingly consistent deck imo. I'd be interested to see if your opinion of it changes when you try it on harder difficulties - it certainly did for me since I wasn't expecting it to be particularly good when I started with it lol

[@ZainoTVLive]

I'll play with it on stream on Saturday and see how it goes! Interesting results, but I could see it. Overstock is extremely powerful

[@xann2681]

Green deck is meant to be played as a "spend it all" at shops since you get no interest and are encouraged to care less about economy and more about how good your deck is at ALL times, tho, i'd still put it to the level of yellow deck

[@ZainoTVLive]

Good point, I just wish there were more jokers besides Vagabond/campire that rewarded spending it all, type of runes

[@hamxsandwich37]

Starting with the telescope makes it pretty likely youll be offered observatory, which may have been found to be too broken with two consumable slots.

[@jwolf7840]

I for sure havent played this game enough (only 12 hours, just cleared green stake), but i think early game economy is super important for the longevity of the run, which is why the blue and yellow decks give you such an advantage over the others, and also why green and black decks do so poorly. I think the interest vouchers should work for green deck, and for the black deck, i think it should either be -1 hand size which is still detrimental, or -1 discard which would only be annoying

[@ZainoTVLive]

I like moving the black deck to -1 discard and you get a free negative joker or something. So not 6 spots the whole time but also less downside.

[@Neon_tedious]

Appreciate this list as im still trying to unlock and find a reliable deck to clear the higher difficulties and unlock everything

[@Andre-2K]

For me: Yellow deck is Amazing. It enables you to buy a rare joker/mega buffoon pack on Ante 1. Plasma deck is amazing but not too good because you still need good jokers to make him go crazy (it's still the best deck in the game in my opinion, I've got up to Ante 13 thanks to him). Black deck is just awful, especially in the early game and higher stakes.

[@acantilado]

Rewatching this after gaining more experience, I would absolutely put the Zodiac deck in A tier. It’s the first deck I could make it to Ante 12 with (haven’t unlocked plasma yet) and if you luck into Campfire it’s an instant-boost thru Ante 5-8, assuming you can afford re-rolls. I am now working on Blue stake with it and am confident it will get me the Plasma unlock

[@requiescantenpace]

Worst part about black deck is you need to beat it to get the checkered. I FINALLY beat it tonight.

[@Tigerstylin]

Great rankings. Each deck and difficulty should be view separately when comparing scores that way devs don't need to buff or nerf decks.

[@ZainoTVLive]

I think that's a good way of approaching it. Allows you to treat each deck as it's own game.

[@justarandomchannel1319]

the erratic deck has a seed that has all 10s and skooti made a video about it !

[@darkknightx0992]

Black deck remove the -1 hand Green deck +$3 per remaining hand +$2 per remaining discard Nebula deck Remove -1 consumable slot. Start with telescope voucher and the astronomer joker.

[@ZainoTVLive]

I think black deck you can try $1 less on all blinds, this is a similar economic hit as -1 hand, but allows you to at least have that hand available. Green Deck, I like that if we have 0 interest, might be slightly OP. Could do $1 per discard. Nebula, I think either start me with astronomer joker or remove the -1 consumable slot, but either way it would make the deck inline with the others. Love the ideas!

[@tattonscorner7222]

12:52 I’ve actually seen a clip of someone getting like, 23 negatives or something (don’t remember who though)

[@jarokier]

My highest score i've managed to achieve was 2.180e13 using the Zodiac deck. Just getting offered so many tarot cards in the store along with having 3 slots made it very easy to get what I wanted.

[@ZainoTVLive]

The tarot cards in the shop can be very nice, tbh. The planet cards are the bigger annoyance.

[@ShawnKavanagh]

I'm only on the first handful of decks Just beat green deck Played to my style of clearing rounds quickly, and making a lot of money Knowing that there are 15 is wild I'll return to this video when I hit higher levels!

[@ZainoTVLive]

Exciting times, yeah don't spoil anything for yourself XD

[@froztbyte85]

I'm currently doing my gold run with the Checkered Deck (I have once been ~1k from completing the run 😢). I'm far from a good Balatro player but at 50+ hours it's by far the best deck imho.

[@hword5notsoofficial803]

"These decks will never be able to compare to the scores you can put up with plasma" Meanwhile, the first legitimate naninf being made by using the ghost deck with perkeo:

[@donatorimagine]

How do I get out of the mentality of scavenging for jupiters out of celestial packs and playing flushes all the time?

[@ZainoTVLive]

Join the high card dark side

[@benjaminhardin7599]

This list is pretty dead on from what I can tell so far. My only disagreement is that I believe black deck is much worse than nebula deck in the context of clearing 8 antes. The black deck's downside is sooooo bad. It both makes it harder to clear blinds AND tanks your early game economy. I feel that most of my games where I complete 8 antes I have at least one joker that is underperforming and could be replaced, but I never find it. The 6th slot is almost always an underperforming joker. I feel like Nebula deck is around net neutral (ie comparable to a plain deck with no enhancement) as the upside and downside offset each other. I think the black deck is the only deck in the game that is below net neutral.

[@ZainoTVLive]

After one more stream doing black deck, you're 100% right. I would change it now to awful. In terms of Nebula, I seem to have an unfair hatred for only having one consumable when the only benefit to telescope is getting observatory early, which stinks with only one consumable.

[@dayne0987654321]

I think if we’re only talking about white stake, telescope is the best voucher in the game because you can get the Econ to buy every celestial pack fairly easily and even without observatory, getting your main hand to like level 15 is always amazing

[@jwolf7840]

@@ZainoTVLive also, the voucher it gives you is at most only going to ever cost you $10. its giving you the bonus for yellow deck, which you unlock earlier, and spending the money for you, and then takes away a consumable slot. I guess if you're forcing a certain hand build and want the upgraded telescope voucher, then there is a use case for it, but most decks would just be better for it.

[@dayne0987654321]

Am I crazy for thinking erratic is better than plasma because even with bad rng, erratic is good and plasma with bad rng just loses to the faster scaling?

[@ZainoTVLive]

Not that crazy if were talking about beating Gold stake, imo.

[@ncochran01]

I still don't understand how to beat this game. I've beaten the boss once with the blue deck but only gotten back to the boss once in about 60 tries.

[@ZainoTVLive]

I have a couple of more videos about how to play and one how to win currently on the channel, with more coming in the future. Hoping those can help!

[@elxokasbasado]

Sup homie what would be the best deck to reach the 300m points to unlock stuntman

[@ZainoTVLive]

Plasma

[@elxokasbasado]

@@ZainoTVLive what joker should I aim to build? Also high card strat right?

[@mb778_]

Baron/Mime is the big combo to search for

[@Unstopian]

good vid, i agree plasma is waaaay to powerful and should be banned in competitions, or reworked

[@ZainoTVLive]

I almost wish it was just in its own section of the game, or like some "secret" 16th deck thats obviously an outlier from the other 15. Glad you enjoyed the vid!

[@Bobarian]

Man the black deck is hell, i just got the game on friday and i been grinding it, i have been playing through all the stakes before i move on to the next deck and i finally beat the red stake on the black deck its easily the most painful so far, i dabbled with the ghost deck once because spectral duh but the rest im clueless

[@ZainoTVLive]

Black Deck felt like it was made to torture players trying to get Gold Stake done.

[@peahaitchgee1564]

Plasma is the most consistently broken deck, but ghost has the highest potential because of perkeo. If you get the cryptid spectral card you can very easily bypass the hand size limit and create a shitload of steel cards

[@ZainoTVLive]

Thats a very good point, if you don't have ghost deck you need a sixth sense/séance to get cyrptid in your consumable slot for Perkeo.

[@DoofusLoopus]

I dunno, I kind suck at this game but at the same time can't get enough of it. The only deck I was able to get to green chips with is Nebula. Planets if so it happens that you don't get decent Joker cards at all throughout your run (and my luck is below 0 and this game just confirms it) DO save you and at least let you reach ante 9 easily. Out of all decks though I really struggle with (not Black, black is really good once you get decent Jokers at the start and can stack 'em up later) Red. It's way too barebones and +1 extra discard doesn't really help. Besides, it just so happens I've had an insane amount of terrible runs and starts with Red deck. But that's my luck probably at play.

[@olixx1213]

Tbf black is only REALLY bad when you get that -1 hand size from stakes -2 total hand size is a big issue

[@ZainoTVLive]

I almost lost my first ever run playing the game, with red deck, because it is really bare bones.

[@olixx1213]

@@ZainoTVLive tbf it usually takes a while to be good at balatro

[@DoofusLoopus]

​@@olixx1213 i mean you're not wrong, but you can definitely get much better runs if you just spend A LOT of time thoroughly planning how use / stack jokers, manage your funds, enhancing the deck / using the planets, swap your strategy on the go. No wonder a vast majority of decent runs on youtube last from 40-50 minutes up to 2-3 hours. I like to have these runs sometimes, but it can get pretty mentally exhausting (no joke). I like more short and fast-paced runs under 10-15 minutes that get straight to the point (beating the boss of ante 8).

[@TheAustin09]

In your opinion what deck is best for trying to complete the orange stake?

[@ZainoTVLive]

Probably Plasma; however, Checkered/Abandoned could get you there too. Yellow is solid if you don't want to have to restart as much

[@edfreak9001]

I have yet to push past green stakes admittedly but checkered deck is ridiculous lol

[@ZainoTVLive]

I love moving back to checkered deck when I want to think less. Just focus on flushes, flush-fives, flush-houses and relax.

[@Droid6689]

Until you hit a suit debuff.

[@moontan91]

Black should be in the Awful category, but anyway...

[@ZainoTVLive]

Agreed

[@landonlecoq5660]

I guess you could say the Plasma Deck is both the least balanced and the most "Balanced".

[@goldberg91]

why would you put anything BELOW black trash deck?

[@godhimself9396]

Plasma is the "to go" to gold pin all jokers

[@ZainoTVLive]

100% is going to be the way to grab all the gold pins.

[@phinoxford8741]

Getting yellow deck and first game skip for double money is peak

[@ZainoTVLive]

One of the best feelings

[@bahaEpic]

People dont give red deck enough credit, I consider it's one of the best for straight synergies

[@ZainoTVLive]

Im going to give it more of a chance on some upcoming streams, and see how it plays a few stakes up.

[@andrewg3196]

It's just objectively worse than blue deck. Hands are worth 1 gold every round, can be used for scoring, and can also be used as discards. Discards can only be used as discards, give no gold unless you have 1 specific joker, and cannot be used to score.

[@bobjoe258]

nah bro did not just put blue deck in C tier. More hands means more scoring or more money or more time to scale jokers.

[@ZainoTVLive]

You right, I was wrong back then

[@__dane__]

The first deck I won with was the green deck

[@ZainoTVLive]

With the right build it can be very fun

[@__dane__]

@@ZainoTVLive I think the main factors were that I consistently had more money and had finally unlocked enough XMult Jokers

[@BraMoore]

It's not irony if something does exactly what it says it does

[@skuddingomcwinters6119]

I hate the Black Deck so much. 😂

[@ZainoTVLive]

After one week more of streaming I would put it in the awful tier, without a doubt. Its so hard to play.

[@kolael2817]

my name isnt youtube but ... ok

[@Droid6689]

Hard disagree at the start. Purple seals alone put Red deck over Blue. Plus the fact the early and mid game is so discard reliant. Yellow deck is definitely A tier. Having such a head start on economy is good for so many reasons. It's almost the most flexible deck in the game

[@AlexanderSnow23]

Yellow deck os 1000% A if not even S

[@ZainoTVLive]

The more I play, the more I may want to bump it to B. Not sure if I could be A or S tier though. The $10 is fantastic for not having to restart as many runs, but the benefit ends there. Its still pretty shop-dependent like the other decks, but those also have benefits.

[@purememes844]

How is this guy ganna say plasma is too good and only get quadrillions with it… I got e30 first try with it.

[@ZainoTVLive]

Damn, nonillion points is insane, great job!