The best part of Balatro is that success is met with more unlocks to enhance future runs. One of these is the Plasma Deck, which sounds strange but can lead to a fantastic build with the right strategy. However, expect a lot of effort to unlock the Plasma Deck in Balatro.
How to Unlock Plasma Deck in Balatro
To use the Plasma Deck, you must complete a run (all eight Antes) with any deck on Black Stake difficulty.
For reference, the initial difficulty is White Stake, which doesn’t provide any harmful modifiers. To get to Black Stake, you must beat four individual runs on White, Red, Green, and Blue Stakes.
This is further complicated by difficulties being unlocked uniquely per deck. If you were to unlock Red Stake on the Blue Deck, that’s the only deck you could use that Stake on for runs. So, you’ll need to find a deck you are very familiar with to even get to Black Stake in the first place, let alone win.
Considering the wrinkle that each Stake difficulty also incorporates every modifier of the previous stakes, the Plasma Deck is the game’s second hardest deck to unlock. The hardest is the Erratic Deck, which requires winning a run on Orange Stake.
Balatro Plasma Deck Strategies & Builds
With the way Chips and Mult combine and balance with the Plasma Deck, you need to focus on both more than ever. While upgrading hand types is still important, you’ll want to focus only on higher-scoring hands. Anything below a Three of a Kind won’t get you the needed returns.
As for Jokers, the best editions are Holographic and Negative. But for effect, avoid anything with a static Mult bonus, like the basic Joker, or anything that gives you Mult based on hand type. Instead, you’ll typically want the Jokers with a Chip bonus. The average Mult increase is single-digit, but Chips can be even 100, which is much more lucrative. Getting a Flush is pretty easy, so the Crafty Joker will be one to seek out when you start.
The Banner Joker, which gives you 40 Chips per remaining discard, is also vital. With this Joker, you’ll make up any low-score hands on the end score tabulation, even if you are stuck making a Pair.
Regarding synergies, you’ll want to find one that works while using the fewest Joker slots. For instance, the Gift Card (adds $1 in sell value to each Joker at the round end) and Swashbuckler (uses the sell value of other Jokers as Mult) can only increase as you hold both, and they also incorporate all other Jokers.
The trick to Balatro’s Plasma Deck is pretty easy to figure out; you just need to choose the best increases that don’t hurt you when balancing the score. If you come up with any terrific synergies of your own, let us know in the comments.
