Brainstorm

Brainstorm

Effect
Copies the ability of leftmost Joker
Rarity
Rare
Unlock Requirement
Discard a Royal Flush.
Stats
Buy Price
10
Sell Price
5
Type
Effect
Compatibility
Copyable
Yes
Perishable
Yes
Eternal
Yes

Brainstorm is a Rare Effect Joker that copies the effect of the player's leftmost Joker. Unlike Blueprint, moving Brainstorm around will not change what it copies, only when it does so. To change the Joker that is being copied, a different Joker will need to be moved to the leftmost position. There are some Jokers that cannot be copied, and putting Brainstorm itself in the leftmost position will cause it to do nothing. If Blueprint is in the left-most position, Brainstorm will copy the same joker Blueprint is copying. Brainstorm's compatibility with other Jokers can be seen in its tooltip.

In general, Brainstorm will not copy the following effects:

  • Anything that triggers at the end of a round (ex. Golden Joker)
  • Debuffed Jokers
  • Card Edition effects
  • Sticker effects
  • Card destruction (ex. Trading Card)
  • Joker scaling (only the final result is copied)
  • Changes to hands, discards, hand size or hand typing (except for Burglar, which triggers after the blind starts)
  • Passive effects (like Chicot or Pareidolia)

See Incompatible Jokers for a full list.

Usage Notes

It should be noted that if the player presses "Play Hand", and then quickly attempts to change the leftmost Joker while the hand is scoring, the Brainstorm will copy the effect of the Joker that was on the leftmost side of before the hand is played. For example, if a player has three Jokers, positioned in this way before playing this hand: Lusty Joker, Smiley Face, and Brainstorm, then attempting to move the Smiley Face to the leftmost position immediately after the "Play Hand" button is pressed, the Brainstorm will copy the effect of Lusty Joker instead of Smiley Face.

However, it is also worth noting that the Joker order reapplies once the round is complete. For example, if the player moves Mime to the leftmost position while the player's winning hand is scoring, then the player will receive the benefits of multiple copies of Mime during the end-of-round effects (such as Gold Cards or Blue Seal). Players should move all of their copies of Blueprint and Brainstorm onto Mime while their final hand is scoring for maximum Gold Card or Blue Seal value.

Unlocking Brainstorm can be done easily on either Red Deck, Checkered Deck, or Painted Deck by simply starting a run below Blue Stake and intentionally expending Hands as Discards before drawing a Royal Flush to discard.

Synergies

By its nature, any deck can make effective use of Brainstorm. Its effect is highly flexible and can benefit nearly any archetype of deck, aside from Madness without Eternal Stickers.

Any hand can benefit from Brainstorm in the usual ways. The only hand-specific Jokers that are incompatible with Brainstorm are independent effects such as Shortcut.

Due to the difference in the way it copies a card, and the nature of Jokers triggering left to right, Brainstorm will always be in Blueprint's shadow — by a small amount. Brainstorm's disadvantage is that xMult Jokers (such as Cavendish) must be placed all the way to the left to be copied by Brainstorm, meaning the player cannot multiply the Mult from +Mult Jokers such as Supernova twice. For example, Supernova + Blueprint + The Trio will score more than The Trio + Supernova + Brainstorm. However, a Polychrome Brainstorm can copy a +Mult Joker to its left while still allowing the full benefit of its edition effect. Some notable targets for copying include Jokers that make money mid-Blind such as Mail-In Rebate, retrigger Jokers such as Dusk, and xMult Jokers that trigger before most +Mult jokers anyways, such as Baron, Photograph or Bloodstone. When multiple copies are combined with Baron and Mime, usually while using Plasma Deck, players can achieve the elusive Naneinf score.

When copying a Blueprint, Brainstorm will copy whichever effect Blueprint is copying, not the Blueprint itself.

While it will not work with them, Jokers such as Smeared Joker and Four Fingers can be used to unlock Brainstorm more easily.

See the Blueprint page for more general copying strategies.

Anti-Synergies

Decks

  • On a Knife's Edge starts with a copy of Ceremonial Dagger pinned to the leftmost position, which means Brainstorm can only copy that Joker, limiting it's usage.

Incompatible Jokers

There are 29 Jokers that are entirely incompatible with Brainstorm:

NameRarityEffect
Four FingersUncommonAll Flushes and Straights can be made with 4 cards
Credit CardCommonGo up to -$20 in debt
Chaos the ClownCommon1 free Reroll per shop
Delayed GratificationCommonEarn $2 per discard if no discards are used by end of the round
PareidoliaUncommonAll cards are considered face cards
EggCommonGains $3 of sell value at end of round
SplashCommonEvery played card counts in scoring
Sixth SenseUncommonIf first hand of round is a single 6, destroy it and create a Spectral card
(Must have room)
ShortcutUncommonAllows Straights to be made with gaps of 1 rank
(ex: 10 8 6 5 3)
Cloud 9UncommonEarn $1 for each 9 in your full deck at end of round
(Currently $4)
RocketUncommonEarn $1 at end of round. Payout increases by $2 when Boss Blind is defeated
Midas MaskUncommonAll played face cards become Gold cards when scored
Gift CardUncommonAdd $1 of sell value to every Joker and Consumable card at end of round
Turtle BeanUncommon+5 hand size, reduces by 1 each round
To the MoonUncommonEarn an extra $1 of interest for every $5 you have at end of round
JugglerCommon+1 hand size
DrunkardCommon+1 discard each round
Golden JokerCommonEarn $4 at end of round
Trading CardUncommonIf first discard of round has only 1 card, destroy it and earn $3
Mr. BonesUncommonPrevents Death if chips scored are at least 25% of required chips
self destructs
TroubadourUncommon+2 hand size,
-1 hand each round
Smeared JokerUncommon Hearts and  Diamonds count as the same suit,  Spades and  Clubs count as the same suit
ShowmanUncommonJoker, Tarot, Planet, and Spectral cards may appear multiple times
Merry AndyUncommon+3 discards each round,
-1 hand size
Oops! All 6sUncommonDoubles all listed probabilities
(ex: 1 in 3 -> 2 in 3)
Invisible JokerRareAfter 2 rounds, sell this card to Duplicate a random Joker
(Currently 0/2)
(Removes Negative from copy)
SatelliteUncommonEarn $1 at end of round per unique Planet card used this run
AstronomerUncommonAll Planet cards and Celestial Packs in the shop are free
ChicotLegendaryDisables effect of every Boss Blind

Amber Acorn: This Showdown Blind flips and shuffles Jokers around, potentially causing Brainstorm to copy the incorrect Joker, or copy nothing at all if it happens to be moved to the leftmost position or the leftmost Joker is incompatible for at least one hand.

  • However, this can be easily mitigated, by holding the Joker which the player wants to copy in hand, before Amber Acorn starts shuffling. This allows for the player to put the designated Joker in the leftmost position regardless of shuffling, ensuring that Brainstorm copies the right Joker.

Trivia

  • Certain visuals upon triggering a Joker effect, like the "Level Up!" from a copied Space Joker, have a red background instead of the standard orange one.
  • At $10 each, Brainstorm and its sibling Blueprint are the most expensive Jokers able to be purchased since the Legendary Jokers are never purchasable.
  • On the artwork, the leftmost bauble on the hat, the leftmost eye, and the leftmost bauble on the bottom are highlighted in some way, referencing how Brainstorm copies the leftmost Joker.
  • The card art depicts a messy "back of the napkin" sketch, a rough calculation or idea quickly sketched out during a conversation at a bar or restaurant, which could be seen as the conception of the Joker being copied. This also reflects its limitations compared to the more versatile Blueprint, which depicts a more deliberate and detailed technical drawing.
  • This is the only Joker that has a 90-degree corner (top left) in its card art, as all other Jokers have a rounded radius in all their corners. According to LocalThunk, this represents the unfolded corner of the napkin.[1]
  • The texture of this Joker has protruding areas on the right and down sides, slightly exceeding the boundaries of a standard Joker. This may represent the ragged edge of the napkin after being torn off. The other Joker with this similar property is  Hallucination.
  • Brainstorm appears on the artwork of the Mega Buffoon Pack.

In other languages

LanguageName
Internalj_brainstorm
Chinese (Simplified)头脑风暴
Chinese (Traditional)腦力激盪
DutchBrainstormen
FrenchRemue-méninges
GermanBrainstorming
IndonesianBrainstorm
ItalianRaccolta di idee
Japaneseブレインストーム
Korean브레인스토밍
PolishBurza mózgów
Portuguese (Brazilian)Boa Ideia
RussianМозговой штурм
Spanish (Spain)Lluvia de ideas
Spanish (Latin America)Lluvia de ideas
  1. the sharp corner is the unfolded corner of the napkin - LocalThunk in Balatro Discord