Summary

Skipping blinds inBalatrois often a risky decision that can cost you money and a new shop. Butin higher difficultiesor with certain jokers, you might want to skip blinds strategically to maximize your deck’s potential.

What makes this risk worth taking is the tag you get as a reward when you skip a blind. Taking these rewards is mostly worth it once you have a strong setup, but in the early game, skipping too many blinds can set you behind quite a bit. If you want to have a powerful early game, and take advantage of the tags offered to you, keep an eye out for these options.

Meteor Tag - Gives a free Mega Celestial Pack: Choose 2 of up to 5 planet cards to be used immediately.

10Meteor Tag

While planet cards might not be the strongest consumables on their own, in the first few antes they can help you clear most blinds by just playing one or two strong hands, giving you a head start on upgrading your hands and improving your economy.

Considering the cost of planet cards, this tag is worth the trade from the red stakes difficulty and higher. But if you get lucky and upgrade the hand types that you play the most, it becomes a worthwhile investment for your mid and late-game as well.

Rare Tag - Shop has a Rare Joker

9Rare Tag

Rare Jokers have some of the strongest effectsin the game that you can build your deck around. But, as powerful as they are, they typically don’t have an immediate effect on your score, making this tag a high-risk, high-reward opportunity.

In most cases, choosing this tag on the first couple of antes will mean that you will spend all your resources on getting the rare Joker. You need to either have a few powerful setups to support you while you get the rare Joker, or hope to get lucky in your next shop. But, once you get past a few challenging rounds and get the supporting pieces for your rare Joker, you can have amazing runs that will go all the way to the end.

Holographic Tag - Shop has a Holographic Joker: +10 Mult

Rare Jokers cost considerably more than common and uncommon Jokers, so getting this tag in the first round could mean you won’t have enough money to purchase the Joker in your next shop.

ensure you have at least $10 before entering the next shop if you want to get this tag.

Uncommon Tag - Shop has an Uncommon Joker

8Holographic Tag

Holographic is one of the best effects you’re able to get on your Jokers in the early game. The extra Mult provided by the Joker can easily get you through the first two antes of a run, no matter what the Joker itself does.

This is a great boost in the early game, and even more impactful if you can get this enhancement on a powerful Joker. But it also can be put on a Joker that you might want to sell later on, so if you reach the mid-game and have a strong build, don’t be afraid to replace your Holographic Joker with one that suits your build better,

Investment Tag - After defeating the Boss Blind, gain $15.

7Uncommon Tag

While uncommon Jokers are not as powerful as their rare counterparts in the long run, their effects are often more immediate and suitable for the early game. You can build up to powerful mid-game builds and easily transition to more consistent late-game setups.

This makes the Uncommon Tag a worthy investment if you have enough money to buy the Joker in your next shop, and these Jokers can often stay with you throughout the whole run.

Coupon Tag - Initial cards and booster packs in next shop are free.

6Investment Tag

There are a handful of tags that can help your wallet, but in the first few antes, the Investment Tag is the most valuable one you can find. Defeating the early Boss Blinds is relatively easy with a few Jokers, and the $15 reward is more than worth skipping a blind.

It’s a great way to maximize your interest gains as soon as the second ante, and allows you to buy more Jokers, cards, and consumables to prepare for the more challenging stages of the game.

Negative Tag - Shop has a Negative Joker: +1 Joker slot

In the mid-game and when you already have a strong economy, a new shop is much more valuable than the economy tags. Unless you have Jokers that scale based on your money, or you have spent all of your resources in a previous shop, don’t skip blinds with these tags later in the game.

5Coupon Tag

Coupon Tag is another economy tag but with a vastly different effect. This tag makes the initial cards and packs in your next shop free, which is one of the best tags you can get in the early game before you can afford most of the items in the shop.

Buying everything offered in the shop for free can be a huge power surge in the early stages of the game, and with a strong start and some luck, you may snowball into a powerful and memorable run.

Charm Tag - Gives a free Mega Arcane Pack: Choose 2 of up tp 5 Tarot cards to be used immediately.

4Negative Tag

There are a few tags that alter the Jokers that appear in your shop, and while some of them are great for the early game and others for the late game, the Negative Tag is the best one you can get in any stage of the game.

Jokers are the main way of boosting your build andallowing you to get higher scores, making the Negative enhancement the best one you can hope for in a Joker. The benefit of this tag in the early game is that even if you don’t get the effect on a powerful Joker, it can still stay in your build for a while, as it technically doesn’t occupy a Joker slot.

Buffoon Tag - Gives a free Mega Buffoon Pack: Choose 2 of up tp 4 Joker cards.

3Charm Tag

Tarot cards have a variety of uses in Balatro. From enhancing your cards with useful effects to being the core of your build with Jokers such as the Fortune Teller, getting two of them in the early game is invaluable.

The best choices that you can get in the early game from this pack are creating random jokers,enhancing your cards with various effects, or turning some of the cards into a certain suit or rank to make playing flush and pair hands easier and more valuable.

Ethereal Tag - Gives a free Spectral Pack: Choose 1 of up to 2 Spectral cards to be used immediately.

2Buffoon Tag

The hardest part of starting a new run is finding good Jokers and deciding what builds to go for. The Buffoon Tag can be a valuable addition in the early stages of the game, as it makes both those challenges easier.

You get to choose two out of four Jokers, which can make the first few antes trivially easy. If you get lucky and the Jokers offered to you synergize well together, they can give you a clear direction for the rest of the game. Whenever you have free Joker slots, and you see this tag, skipping the blind will be worth it.

1Ethereal Tag

Spectral cards are the most powerful consumables in Balatro, and whenever you get the chance to get them, they will be valuable. The Ethereal Tag allows you to choose one of two spectral cards and use them immediately.

Spectral cards are the only way to find legendary Jokers. They allow you to turn some of your cards into a single rank or suit, they can add powerful enhancements to your cards and Jokers, and they can duplicate your most powerful Jokers. No matter what build you are going for, you can find a card that suits your needs in Ethereal Tag.