Even Steven

Even Steven

Effect

Played cards with even rank give +4 Mult when scored
(10, 8, 6, 4, 2)

Rarity

Common

Unlock Requirement

Available from start.

Stats

Buy Price

4

Sell Price

2

Type

Additive Mult

Activation

On Scored

Compatibility

Copyable

✓ Yes

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Even Steven is a Common Additive Mult Joker that provides +4 Mult when cards with an even rank are scored. In Balatro, the even ranks are 2s, 4s, 6s, 8s, and 10s.

Even Steven is a decent source of +Mult that triggers through cards, effectively being +20 Mult if all played cards are even and trigger once. It works very well as an early-game source of Mult, but can fall off unless heavily built around (and even then, it isn't the best Joker to build around).

• Abandoned Deck ( Start run with no {{F|}}[[Card Ranks#Face cards|{{hl|orange|Face Cards}}]] in your deck Win a run with the {{D|Green}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Abandoned Deck.png) works very well with Steven, since it allows the player to find even ranks more easily. It makes even cards about 20% more common to draw (in an unaltered deck).
• Mad World ( ) will also work as well, although this deck doesn't start with any 10s.
• Magic Deck ( Start run with the {{V|Crystal Ball|class=hl-purple}} voucher and {{hl|orange|2}} copies of {{tarot|The Fool}} Win a run with the {{D|Red}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Magic Deck.png)'s Fools can be used to turn many odd cards into evens with Strength (Increases rank of up to {{hl|orange|2}} selected cards by {{hl|orange|1}} Available from start. Tarot Strength.png)s, or copy a strong even card with Death (Select {{hl|orange|2}} cards, convert the {{hl|orange|left}} card into the {{hl|orange|right}} card<br>{{hl|gray|(Drag to rearrange)}} Available from start. Tarot Death.png)s.
• 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) may have many more even cards than normal.

Steven works best with hands that play five even cards. This is mainly Full House, though Four of a Kind may work well with its higher base chips, and later Five of a Kind. Flushes can serve as a decent alternative, since they can be easier to find and will still (ideally) contain some even cards.

Even Steven is, in essence, a more effective version of the sinful Jokers (the ones that give +3 Mult per scored card of a certain suit). In an unaltered deck, the chance an even card is drawn is ~38%, compared to the 25% of a specific suit, and it gives more Mult. In exchange, it's harder to build around since there are fewer rank-changing methods than suit changers, and it can be harder to make a Full House than a Flush due to the specific even cards being harder to find.

• As with every Joker that triggers an effect when a card is scored, retrigger Jokers increase the effect of Steven by an order of magnitude. Steven itself isn't a great Joker to build a retrigger strategy around, but combined with a source of X Mult from played cards, like Ancient Joker (Each played card with [[Card Suits|{{hl|orange|[suit]}}]] gives {{xmult|1.5}} when scored, <br> <small>suit changes at end of round</small> Rare Multiplicative Mult On Scored Ancient Joker.png) or Glass cards, it can be a valid strategy.
  • Tarot generators also work well with Steven, because of Glass cards and even rank preference from Even Steven.
• Because Steven is best used as an early-game method of boosting Mult, combining it with Economy Jokers is very beneficial. The earlier Antes can be easily cleared in 1 or 2 hands with Steven, meaning you will be looking for more powerful Jokers or other forms of scaling, which is what Economy Jokers help you afford.
• 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) lets you give another boost to 10s and 4s, though without retriggers having both can be a bit of a waste of Joker slots.
• Wee Joker (This Joker gains {{Chips|+8}} when each played {{hl|orange|2}} is scored <br> {{Currently|{{chips|+0}}}} Win a run in {{hl|orange|18}} or fewer rounds Rare Chips Mixed Wee Joker.png) gets buffed for every 2 that scores. Comboing it with Steven lets you play weaker 2-based hands and still gain a decent score.
• Ride the Bus (This Joker gains {{Mult|+1}} per {{hl|orange|consecutive}} hand played without a scoring {{hl|orange|face}} card <br> {{Currently|{{Mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Ride the Bus.png) provides a decent source of scaling that uses Steven very effectively, since even cards are already more desirable with Bus.

Tarot Cards:

• The Hanged Man (Destroys up to {{hl|orange|2}} selected cards Available from start. Tarot The Hanged Man.png) can be used to destroy non-even numbered cards in order to make the even numbered ones easier to find.
• Death (Select {{hl|orange|2}} cards, convert the {{hl|orange|left}} card into the {{hl|orange|right}} card<br>{{hl|gray|(Drag to rearrange)}} Available from start. Tarot Death.png) can be used to turn other cards into even numbered cards in order to maximize the Mult value.
• Strength (Increases rank of up to {{hl|orange|2}} selected cards by {{hl|orange|1}} Available from start. Tarot Strength.png) can be used to turn odd numbers into even numbers and Aces into 2s.
• The Hierophant (Enhances {{hl|orange|2}} selected cards to [[Card Modifiers|{{hl|orange|Bonus Cards}}]] Available from start. Tarot The Hierophant.png) and Justice (Enhances {{hl|orange|1}} selected card into a [[Card Modifiers|{{hl|orange|Glass Card}}]] Available from start. Tarot Justice.png) provide a lot of Chips and Multipicative Mult to help boost Even Steven's Mult bonus.

Spectral Cards:

• 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 onto some even cards, which allows for more Even Steven triggers.
• Cryptid (Create {{hl|orange|2}} copies of {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Cryptid.png) can create more copies of even cards.
• Incantation (Destroy {{hl|orange|1}} random card in your hand, add {{hl|orange|4}} random [[Card_Modifiers#Enhancements|{{hl|orange|Enhanced}}]] [[Card Ranks#Number cards|{{hl|orange|numbered cards}}]] to your hand Available from start. Spectral Incantation.png) also has the possibility to make more even-ranked cards with random enhancements at the cost of sacrificing a card to be destroyed.

• "Even Steven" is a way of saying something is evenly matched or evenly split between things. "I split the cake with my friend even-steven".
• Even Steven is similar in style to Odd Todd (Played cards with [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|odd}}]] rank give {{Chips|+31}} when scored <br> {{hl|gray|(A, 9, 7, 5, 3)}} Common Chips On Scored Odd Todd.png), which gives Chips for odd ranks instead.
• Due to his theming of even numbers, Even Steven's hat baubles, frill baubles, and eyes are all even, the opposite from Odd Todd.
  • Specifically, Even Steven has two sides to his hat and two baubles and has four frill baubles.
• Even Steven being red as opposed to Odd Todd's blue ties into his ability to provide additive Mult to your score.
• He is another Joker to get merchandise from Makeship alongside Odd Todd (Played cards with [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|odd}}]] rank give {{Chips|+31}} when scored <br> {{hl|gray|(A, 9, 7, 5, 3)}} Common Chips On Scored Odd Todd.png) as part of a Combo Pack mini-plush set.^[1]

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