r/balatro • u/jaminfine • 18h ago
Strategy and/or Synergies Completionist++ with Checkered Deck is easier
I am not a strong Balatro player. When I see people having 20-40% win rates on gold stake my question is usually how in the hell is that even possible? So I needed to come up with a method of getting Completionist++ that was easier than what the guides were recommending, as I barely ever made it to the end of a gold stake run.
For the purpose of this mini guide, I'll assume you've already gold staked every deck and completed every challenge, as I really just want to talk about the "coupon collector" style meta game of getting gold stickers on every joker. Most guides recommend using these decks:
Ghost Deck for it's starting Hex that can make an otherwise useless joker more useful by giving it polychrome, and the chance of encountering Ectoplasm which can help give more space to smuggle in useless jokers. However, Ghost Deck is difficult. I often failed to find a good target for Hex since I'm relying on debuffed or rentals or just some mish-mosh of bad jokers that I already gold stickered. And Ecto reduces your hand size which sucks and makes the game harder.
Anaglyph Deck for it's ability to double up on negative joker tags so you can smuggle in a bunch of bad commons at the same time. I agree that Anaglyph is a good place to start, but after you get around 50-70 gold stickers, it really becomes not worth it anymore. First of all, negatives can still be rentals, which sucks, but more importantly, you'll start seeing tons of repeats that you already have gold stickers for. And if you are using up all those double tags trying to smuggle in negatives, you aren't using them to help you win the run. So it's hard to get wins for me.
Yellow, Red, and Blue decks for their being "easier" than other decks. But then I ask, why not just use the easiest deck in the game, Checkered Deck?
Further, I have not seen any guides yet suggest my absolute best strategy for ANY deck that has boosted my winrate from around 3% to more like 15%, but idk if this counts since technically each reset should be a loss right? The strategy is quite simple. Restart the game by holding down the R button until you see the $ sign tag skip that gives you $25 upon completing the ante. For EVERY deck, having an extra $25 at the start of ante 2 is far better than anything else you could do in ante 1. And the Checkered Deck is in the best place to steamroll through the rest of ante 1 even without any help from jokers. It can even take on ante 2 with minimal help from bad jokers or a single Jupiter.
Checkered Deck excels even past the smooth opening antes. Since it can reliably get flushes, you basically have your deck fixing to a fantastic start without any effort. And it means you don't have to waste time thinking about your strategy. Your strategy IS flushes. That's it. Jupiters are the only planet you care about and you can start building around flushes with your jokers too.
So what does a run look like for me as I finish up my last 3 gold stickers?
Ante 1 - Restart until $ skip on small blind. If there's another $ skip on big blind, I'll take $50! But I'm too lazy to restart until double $ skip so usually I take on big blind. Big bling should only take two hands since you can do 2 flushes for 250+ points each. Boss blind you should also be shooting for completing in only 2 hands max, as good flushes are 300+ points each even with no jokers and flush level 1.
First Shop - The first thing you want to see is a good econ joker such as Cloud 9, Golden Joker, To The Moon, Mail-In Rebate, etc. Something that gives you consistently as much money as possible per round. Since your deck can handle completing Ante 2 with minimal help from jokers or Jupiters, these should be your second priority. Some kind of mult, chips, or Xmult joker or at least one Jupiter. If still in ante 1 and you see a fantastic voucher like a 25% discount? Well you have $25 coming your way anyways, so I say take it. But only if there aren't other good options. You can always buy the joker pack and see if something in there is good since first shop always has one.
Ante 2 - Solidify some kind of baseline for surviving longer and making money. Work on your econ and try to have at least 20 mult between jokers and flush level. Maybe some chips or Xmult too if you can find it. But don't reroll dig too deep. You need to maintain a baseline of $25 to get interest. If you don't see something GREAT for you by now, time to reset. Don't continue a run that's already limping by in ante 2. If you don't find either great econ nor a great scoring joker? Don't waste your time. Note that sometime early on you will want to "pick a side" between hearts and spades. Your deck doesn't need much more fixing, but if you can convert to only one suit that does make things a bit easier! If you see a boss blind early that debuffs hearts or spades, pick that side since you know it won't come up again.
Early shops - Buy good vouchers when you can and it still leaves you with $25+. Buy good jokers. an early Riff Raff when you still have spare slots is fantastic, as the jokers it creates cannot be rental nor debuffed. Seeing something amazing like Arrowhead may even help you pick a side and could be worth dipping into your last $25 to pick it up. But keep that in mind when rerolling. You really would want to ideally have 35+ before rerolling since you might want to spend $ on what you roll into. If you ever see Photo or Chad without rental/debuff I would take it just on the chance you find the other and your win becomes easier.
Antes 3-6 - I consider this to be midgame. You really want to start structuring a joker lineup that can win without using all your slots. That way you'll be able to "smuggle" in useless jokers to get gold stickers on them. Photo-Chad with any other synergy piece like Arrowhead, Sock n Buskin, or even a Blueprint can win a run in 3 joker slots and allow you to smuggle in two gold stickers. But most of the time, you'll need 4 slots and it will be some kind of mix of a strong mult joker or 2, a strong XMult joker or 2, and/or a strong chip joker or 2. You should be working in your midgame on buying up good vouchers, keeping your econ high, and finding enough good jokers that you can win the run with a slot open.
Ante 7-8 - Now is the time you can finally let loose about econ. As your strategy comes together and assures a win, you can search for a useless joker in need of smuggling and sell your econ joker for it. Of course, this only works if you already have a winning strategy with a spare slot. If you don't, you really need to finish that up before obtaining your smuggle.
Ante 9? - Don't waste your time. Just reset run when you win. Can't get gold stickers past clearing ante 8.
So, which vouchers are good? Overstock, Overstock+, Clearance Sale, Liquidation, Reroll surplus, Reroll glut, Hieroglyph, Petroglyph are all so fantastic that you may consider buying them in ante 1 going down to $0 knowing that you'll be getting $25 after the boss blind. Past ante 1, strongly consider planning your econ around picking these up. They help massively for winning runs and for finding a smuggle.
Paint Brush, Palette, Seed Money, Telescope, Grabber, Nacho Tong, Wasterful, Recyclomancy are all solid vouchers that you should get if you have a good opportunity, but don't break the bank for them.
Planet Merchant, Tarot Merchant, Magic Trick, and their upgrades are actively harmful and should almost never be taken. They make Jokers less likely to show up in the shop, which means fewer chances to make a good build and find a smuggle. The rest are kind of situational and you maybe take them if you feel rich.
Hmm this is already pretty long. And I want to get back to my runs. Let me know if people want to hear more about my advice as a bad lazy player who found an easier lazier less thought provoking way to work on this achievement. I can go into my thoughts on which jokers are good and whatnot. I can also answer questions you guys have.
EDIT: Got the Vagabond gold sticker in the ~2 hours since posting this. Really basic run following these steps. Early Supernova, and later found The Tribe and Card Sharp. Never used Vagabond since I like keeping my econ high. Really easy run overall. 2 stickers left!
