Summary
Spectral cards are a less common type of card inBalatro, typically being found in booster packs or obtained as a result of certain Jokers and Tags. Of the three main types of consumables, the other two being Tarot and Planet cards, they are by far the least commonly found.
When used, these powerful cards can have a variety of radical effects on your deck, and more often than not come with some sort of downside in return for what benefits they confer. Spectral Cards, as with many of the mechanics in Balatro, are all about therisks versus the rewards.
8Cryptid
Creates Two Copies Of A Chosen Card In Your Hand
Some Spectral Cards have relatively simple effects, offering smaller upsides with no downside to balance them out. Cryptid is one of those cards, and brings with it the ability to further customize your deck in a manner befitting certain strategies, such as working towards building specific hands.
It does this without culling any cards from your deck in return, meaning that your deck may be larger than is useful. Thankfully, there are many ways to rid yourself of unwanted chaff, some of which are other Spectral cards.
7Deja Vu
Adds A Red Seal To A Chosen Card
The Red Seal is one of the most valuable modifiers in all of Balatro, and the backbone of many of the most successful strategies for generating huge amounts of chips. The effect of the Red Seal is simple: the card is retriggered one time, doubling its value in your hand.
This is particularly effective when using Jokers or other cards that boost your Mult or Chips, meaning that any Mult already factoring in to a given card is also reapplied. This effect can stack, leading to much greater results.
6Hex
Adds Polychrome To A Random Joker, Destroys All Others
Similarly, using the Hex Card means that one of the Jokers in your hand will gain the Polychrome effect, a very useful enhancement. Building your Mult is one of the most important strategies in Balatro, and Jokers are the main vehicle for this.
The more Mult, the better your hands will be, and the Polychrome enhancement adds a flat x1.5 Mult gain to your score on top of whatever the regular effect is. Jokers affected by modifiers such as this are doubly useful, essentially being twice as effective as others. The downside of Hex? When used, all other Jokers will be destroyed.
5Ankh
Duplicates A Random Joker And Destroys All Others
If you’re able to manage it, stacking Jokers can be hands down one of most valuable outcomes to pursue in Balatro. A Joker such as Hack, for example, can mean having an enormous bonus to your Mult score. Having two of them, then, is a winning strategy.
Ankh will create a duplicate of one of the Jokers in your possession, at the detriment of all other Jokers you may have. Therefore, this Spectral Card is best used strategically — if you have a Joker you know is useful and don’t have any others to discard.
4Wraith
Creates A Rare Joker
Jokers in Balatro come in certain levels of rarity, those being Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary. The higher the rarity of any given Joker, the greater the effect, generally speaking. For the price of what is essentially all of your money, the Wraith Card will bestow upon you a Rare Joker.
This is almost always a good trade, unless you have a considerable amount of money on hand. The lower you stores of cash the better a deal this is. If you have no money at all, there is no downside.
3Ectoplasm
Adds Negative To A Random Joker, Reduces Hand Size By One
Of all the possible enhancements that Jokers can have, Negative is quite possible the most useful. A Joker with the Negative enhancement will not take up any space in your inventory, meaning that you can have more Jokers than you would normally be able to own.
The more Jokers you have, the more strategies you can build for. A smaller hand means less flexibility when creating combos. Reducing your hand by one is a significant debuff, but there are ways to mitigate this,such as Vouchers.
2Black Hole
Upgrades All Possible Hands By One Level
The Black Hole is an unusual Spectral Card, in that it can potentially be found inside of Celestial Packs in addition to Spectral Packs. This makes it unique among all the Spectral Cards, as one of two Spectral Cards that can be found in another type of booster pack.
The effect is simple yet universally useful: an upgrade to every possible type of hand, the equivalent to every type of Celestial Card all at once. This doesn’t help in any one specific circumstance, but is instead a way to increase your effectiveness across the board.
1The Soul
Creates A Legendary Joker
If the Wraith Card is good, then this one is even better. Legendary is the highest rarity of Joker available, and, unlike Wraith, there is no downside to choosing this Spectral Card. Similar to Black Hole, The Soul can be encountered not only in Spectral Packs but in Tarot Packs as well.
While all of the Spectral Cards can be useful in their own way or when trying for different strategies, it can never hurt to have a little boost in the form of a Legendary Joker.
