How Plasma Deck works in Balatro and how to win with it

The Plasma Deck is one of the most fun and unique decks in Balatro. It mixes up how scores are calculated by balancing both Chips and Mult of the poker hand you’ve played. Understanding the math behind it can help you win using the Plasma Deck.

What does Plasma Deck do in Balatro?

The Plasma Deck changes how your poker hands score by averaging the values of Chips and Mult before multiplying them after all extras are factored in.

For instance, if you play a basic Two Pair hand with Q, Q, 10, 10, without any Jokers or card enhancements, the score calculation of this hand in a regular deck would look like this:

This means your final score would usually be 60 times two, which equals 120. But with the Plasma Deck, there’s an additional step before doing that multiplication. It adds the final Chips and Mult values together, then divides by two to find the average. In this case, that’s 31. Next, it uses 31 in place of both the Chips and Mult values and multiplies them (31 times 31), leading to a final hand value of 961.

As you can tell, the same hand scores eight times more points in this example when using the Plasma Deck compared to a regular Balatro deck. The catch with the Plasma Deck is that the score needed to beat all Blinds is twice their usual amount, making it harder to win. The Plasma Deck also changes the game flow: You’ll breeze past the first few rounds since even simple hands get huge scores, but the increased Blind values mean the later rounds are much more challenging than with a standard deck.

To win with the Plasma Deck, you’ll need a strong strategy. Here are some ideas.

Best strategy to win with the Plasma deck in Balatro

The best way to score big with the Plasma Deck is focusing on Chip bonus Jokers and enhancements. This is key because, with the Plasma Deck, the Chips and Mult values get combined into one number. So, increasing the total of Chips and Mult is crucial, and Chips bonuses and card upgrades often have a higher base number than Mult bonuses.

For instance, the Sly Joker adds +50 Chips if you have a Pair in your scoring hand, while the Jolly Joker boosts your Mult by +8 in the same scenario. In a regular game, the +8 Mult might seem more valuable, but with the Plasma Deck, the Sly Joker does a lot more for the combined Chips and Mult total than the Jolly Joker. That’s why, when playing Pairs with the Plasma Deck, choosing Sly Joker is a better move overall.

This means you should look for Jokers, Tarot cards, and plating cards that add Chips, like the Bonus Card (+30 Chips) and Foil (+50 Chips) enhancements, and prioritize high-rank cards like aces and face cards. These options increase your Chips directly, offering more immediate benefits than other cards that might only boost your Mult value.

Still, grabbing cards that multiply your Mult can be a good move, especially later in the game when you’ve already secured a solid base of flat Mult from other Jokers. These multipliers are calculated before taking the average, so they can significantly boost your total Mult, potentially making them more valuable than some Chips-focused cards, depending on your setup.

To sum up, start by focusing on cards that increase your Chips for a strong early game. Once you’ve built up a good base of Chips, consider adding a few cards that provide flat Mult boosts and multipliers that grow over time, like the Obelisk.