Ancient Joker

Ancient Joker

Effect

Each played card with [suit] gives X1.5 Mult when scored,
suit changes at end of round

Rarity

Rare

Unlock Requirement

Available from start.

Stats

Buy Price

8

Sell Price

4

Type

Multiplicative Mult

Activation

On Scored

Compatibility

Copyable

✓ Yes

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Ancient Joker is a Rare Multiplicative Mult Joker with highly variable power. At the end of each round, a new suit is chosen evenly amongst the 3 suits it is not currently using, regardless of the composition of the current deck. If multiple Ancient Jokers are held, they will all pick the same suit as each other. Each time a card of the current suit is scored, Ancient Joker applies X1.5 Mult.

This effect can vary from incredibly powerful to practically irrelevant. Ancient Joker can carry a run into the late Antes, but only if the deck is built specifically to take advantage of its effect.

• Black Deck ( {{hl|orange|+1}} Joker slot <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand every round Discover at least {{hl|orange|100}} items from your [[collection]] Black Deck.png) allows for stronger Joker synergies to combine with and build around Ancient Joker and works well to mitigate the fewer hands Black Deck gives.
• Nebula Deck ( Start run with the {{V|Telescope|class=hl-cyan}} voucher <br> {{hl|red|-1}} consumable slot Win a run with the {{D|Blue}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Nebula Deck.png) can level up Flushes very quickly, making Ancient Joker work off of a higher base Mult as well as providing modest Chip scaling.
• Zodiac Deck ( Start run with {{V|Tarot Merchant|class=hl-purple}}, {{V|Planet Merchant|class=hl-cyan}}, and {{V|Overstock|class=hl-orange}} Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Red}} difficulty or harder Zodiac Deck.png) allows you to see more Tarot cards, which can create more Wild Cards or other strong enhancements, as well as more Jokers, giving more chances to see one that would work well with Ancient Joker.

All Flush hands benefit greatly (though inconsistently) from Ancient Joker, since they will trigger its effect the maximum number of times compared to other hands. Unlike other Flush-based builds, it is best to not centralize around one suit, as Ancient Joker will only select it one in three times (1/4th on the first selection). Wild Cards add flexibility in triggering Ancient Joker when other suits are chosen.

Ancient Joker provides good scoring by itself, but this can be significantly increased with the effects of other Jokers.

• Since Ancient Joker is a "When Scored" effect, retriggering cards will repeat the application of Ancient Joker, such as Dusk (Retrigger all played cards in {{hl|orange|final hand}} of the round Uncommon Retrigger On Scored Dusk.png), Sock and Buskin (Retrigger all played {{hl|orange|face}} cards Play a total of {{hl|orange|300}} face cards Uncommon Retrigger On Scored Sock and Buskin.png), Hack (Retrigger each played {{hl|orange|2}}, {{hl|orange|3}}, {{hl|orange|4}}, or {{hl|orange|5}} Uncommon Retrigger On Scored Hack.png), and Seltzer (Retrigger all cards played for the next {{hl|orange|10}} hands Uncommon Retrigger On Scored Seltzer.png).
• Similarly, Jokers that apply additive Mult effects when cards are scored, such as Fibonacci (Each played {{hl|orange|Ace}}, {{hl|orange|2}}, {{hl|orange|3}}, {{hl|orange|5}}, or {{hl|orange|8}} gives {{Mult|+8}} when scored Uncommon Additive Mult On Scored Fibonacci.png), Even Steven (Played cards with [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|even}}]] rank give {{Mult|+4}} when scored <br> {{hl|gray|(10, 8, 6, 4, 2)}} Common Additive Mult On Scored Even Steven.png), and Walkie Talkie (Each played {{hl|orange|10}} or {{hl|orange|4}} gives {{chips|+10}} and {{mult|+4}} when scored Common Chips and Additive Mult On Scored Walkie_Talkie.png), can benefit from Ancient Joker. Most notable are other Jokers that trigger X Mult effects, though. Mostly, this will be Photograph (First played {{hl|orange|face}} card gives {{xmult|2}} when scored Common Multiplicative Mult On Scored Photograph.png), since the others require heavy centralization around suits and ranks, but they will all scale off the effects of retrigger Jokers.
• The Tribe ({{xmult|2}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Flush}} Win a run without playing a {{ph|Flush}}. Rare Multiplicative Mult Independent The Tribe.png) can work especially well, since the player is ideally always playing Flushes, making it a smaller, consistent bonus.
• Ways to level up Flushes are very strong in combination with Ancient Joker. The best ways to do this with Jokers are through Burnt Joker (Upgrade the level of the first {{hl|orange|discarded}} poker hand each round Sell 50 cards. Rare Effect On Discard Burnt Joker.png), Space Joker ({{hl|green|1 in 4}} chance to upgrade level of played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] Uncommon Effect On Played Space Joker.png), and Astronomer (All {{hl|cyan|Planet}} cards and {{hl|cyan|Celestial Packs}} in the shop are {{hl|orange|free}} Discover every {{Planet|}} card Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Astronomer.png), though other Jokers can help with planet scaling in other ways, like DNA (If {{hl|orange|first hand}} of round has only {{hl|orange|1}} card, add a permanent copy to deck and draw it to {{hl|orange|hand}} Rare Effect On Played DNA.png) to duplicate Blue Sealed cards.
• Smeared Joker ({{suit|Hearts}} and {{suit|Diamonds}} count as the same suit, {{suit|Spades}} and {{suit|Clubs}} count as the same suit Have at least {{hl|orange|3}} [[Wild Cards|{{hl|orange|Wild Card}}]] in your deck Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Smeared Joker.png) makes the effect of Ancient Joker much more consistent to trigger, as well as allowing for easier Flush hands of either suit pair.

• The Lovers (Enhances {{hl|orange|1}} selected card into a [[Card Modifiers|{{hl|orange|Wild Card}}]] Available from start. Tarot The Lovers.png) works very well, as it makes Wild Cards, which always trigger Ancient Joker.
• Deja Vu (Add a [[Red Seal|{{hl|red|Red Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Deja Vu.png) can apply a Red Seal (Retrigger this card {{hl|orange|1}} time Red Seal.png) to a card, giving retriggers for Ancient Joker.
• Trance (Add a [[Blue Seal|{{hl|blue|Blue Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Trance.png) can apply a Blue Seal (Creates the {{Planet|}} card for final played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] of round if {{hl|orange|held}} in hand<br>{{room}} Blue Seal.png) to a card, allowing for easy planet scaling.

• Checkered Deck ( Start run with {{hl|orange|26}} {{suit|Spades}} and {{hl|orange|26}} {{suit|Hearts}} in deck Win a run with the {{D|Black}} on any difficulty Checkered Deck.png) should be avoided, as it only has two suits, meaning Ancient Joker will be inactive half of the time.
• Erratic Deck ( All [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|Ranks}}]] and [[Suits|{{hl|orange|Suits}}]] in deck are randomized Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Orange}} difficulty or harder Erratic Deck.png) will rarely have evenly distributed suits, making it harder to use Ancient Joker.

• While Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png) can make Flushes easier to play, it enables the player to do so with fewer overall cards, therefore the scoring power of Ancient Joker is weakened if the player opts for a 4-card Flush.
  • It may be suitable to hunt for Planet cards if Four Fingers must remain in conjunction with Ancient Joker.
• Suit-based Jokers like Rough Gem (Played cards with {{suit|Diamond}} suit earn {{Money|1}} when scored Have at least {{hl|orange|30}} cards with {{hl|orange|Diamond}} suit in your deck Uncommon Economy On Scored Rough Gem.png) or Lusty Joker (Played cards with {{Suit|Heart}} suit give {{Mult|+3}} when scored Common Additive Mult On Scored Lusty Joker.png) will not get a lot of benefits since Ancient Joker changes the suit each round.
• Castle (This Joker gains {{Chips|+3}} per discarded [[Card Suits|{{hl|orange|[suit]}}]] card, suit changes every round <br> {{currently|{{chips|+0}}}} Uncommon Chips Mixed Castle.png) can be awkward to use, especially if they both choose the same suit.
• Additive Mult Jokers that trigger during the Joker scoring step, such as Mystic Summit ({{Mult|+15}} when {{hl|orange|0}} discards remaining Common Additive Mult Independent Mystic Summit.png), cannot benefit from the Multiplicative Mult Ancient Joker gives.

• The Goad ( Boss The Goad.png), The Head ( Boss The Head.png), The Club ( Boss The Club.png), and The Window ( Boss The Window.png) all debuff a specific suit, rendering Ancient Joker useless if it happens to pick the to-be-debuffed suit upon entering the Boss Blind. One trick to avoid this is to check the suit Ancient Joker chose before entering the Big Blind. If it is not the to-be-debuffed suit, skip the Blind to ensure Ancient Joker can be used during the Boss Blind.

• The Sun (Converts up to {{hl|orange|3}} selected cards to {{Suit|Hearts}} Available from start. Tarot The Sun.png), The Star (Converts up to {{hl|orange|3}} selected cards to {{Suit|Diamonds}} Available from start. Tarot The Star.png), The Moon (Converts up to {{hl|orange|3}} selected cards to {{Suit|Clubs}} Available from start. Tarot The Moon.png), and The World (Converts up to {{hl|orange|3}} selected cards to {{Suit|Spades}} Available from start. Tarot The World.png) can be awkward to use, as Ancient Joker does not care about suit distribution.
• Sigil (Converts all cards in hand to a single random [[Card Suits|{{hl|orange|suit}}]] Available from start. Spectral Sigil.png) can be awkward to use due to the uneven suit distribution.

• Unlike Castle (This Joker gains {{Chips|+3}} per discarded [[Card Suits|{{hl|orange|[suit]}}]] card, suit changes every round <br> {{currently|{{chips|+0}}}} Uncommon Chips Mixed Castle.png), which chooses its suit proportionally to the composition of the current deck, Ancient Joker chooses evenly amongst the 3 suits it is not currently using, regardless of the current deck's composition.
• The artwork on the card is a reference to OLBAP, a face that Twitch streamer "michaelalfox" (MALF) would often sketch when streaming games that involve drawing. This is confirmed by both Localthunk^[1] and michaelalfox^[2].

This information has been manually compiled. Some updates may not be included yet.