Golden Needle

Golden Needle

Rules & Modifiers

Discards each cost $1

1 hands per round
6 discards per round
Start with $10

Initial Jokers & Consumables

Credit Card (Go up to {{hl|red|-$20}} in debt Common Economy N/A (Passive) Credit Card.png)

Deck

Standard 52 card deck

Restrictions

Banned Jokers: Burglar (When [[Blind|{{hl|orange|Blind}}]] is selected, gain {{hl|blue|+3}} Hands and {{hl|orange|lose all discards}} Uncommon Effect On Blind Select Burglar.png)
Banned Vouchers: Grabber (Permanently gain {{hl|blue|+1}} hand per round Base Grabber.png), Nacho Tong (Permanently gain an additional {{hl|blue|+1}} hand per round Play a total of 2,500 cards Upgraded Nacho Tong.png)

Golden Needle is a Challenge Deck. With only one hand per round, the player must play a winning hand every time, and will be penalized financially for discarding too much.

The starting deck contains the standard 52 cards and a Credit Card (Go up to {{hl|red|-$20}} in debt Common Economy N/A (Passive) Credit Card.png).

• Mail-In Rebate (Earn {{Money|5}} for each discarded [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|[rank]}}]], rank changes every round Common Economy On Discard Mail-In Rebate.png) and Faceless Joker (Earn {{Money|5}} if {{hl|orange|3}} or more {{hl|orange|face cards}} are discarded at the same time Common Economy On Discard Faceless_Joker.png) could help offset the discard penalty. Trading Card (If {{hl|orange|first discard}} of round has only {{hl|orange|1}} card, destroy it and earn {{Money|3}} Uncommon Economy On Discard Trading Card.png) may be useful too, but it's limited to the first discard.
  • Faceless Joker (Earn {{Money|5}} if {{hl|orange|3}} or more {{hl|orange|face cards}} are discarded at the same time Common Economy On Discard Faceless_Joker.png) works especially well with Pareidolia (All cards are considered {{hl|orange|face}} cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Pareidolia.png), allowing the player to obtain a net of $4 for every discard with more than 3 cards.
• Dusk (Retrigger all played cards in {{hl|orange|final hand}} of the round Uncommon Retrigger On Scored Dusk.png) will trigger on every hand, improving scoring and potentially increasing money through Gold Seal (Earn {{money|3}} when this card is played and scores Gold Seal.png) and specific Jokers.
• Acrobat ({{xmult|3}} on {{hl|orange|final hand}} of round Play {{hl|orange|200}} hands Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Acrobat.png) will provide an additional X3 Mult for every hand.
• Troubadour ({{hl|orange|+2}} hand size, <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand each round Win {{hl|orange|5}} consecutive rounds by <abbr title="Discards are OK to use.">playing only 1 hand</abbr> Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Troubadour.png) cannot reduce hands per round below 1, so it effectively provides +2 hand size without any penalty.
• Banner ({{Chips|+30}} for each remaining {{hl|orange|discard}} Common Chips Independent Banner.png) supplies up to 180 Chips if no Discards are used.
• Delayed Gratification (Earn {{Money|2}} per {{hl|orange|discard}} if no discards are used by end of the round Common Economy N/A (Passive) Delayed_Gratification.png) can be very strong in early games if players can win without using Discards, as it provides a whopping $12 per blind.
• Mr. Bones (Prevents Death if chips scored are at least {{hl|orange|25%}} of required chips <br> {{hl|red|self destructs}} Lose {{hl|orange|5}} runs Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Mr. Bones.png) can save the player from sticky situations where one hand isn't enough.

• The Needle ( Boss The Needle.png), The Eye ( Boss The Eye.png), The Mouth ( Boss The Mouth.png), and The Fish ( Boss The Fish.png) all become trivial due to the 1-hand limit.
• The Hook ( Boss The Hook.png)'s forced discard does not cost $1 like normal discards.

• Redeeming Hieroglyph ({{hl|orange|-1}} Ante, <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand each round Base Hieroglyph.png) cannot reduce hands per round below 1, making this Voucher free to take.
  • Petroglyph ({{hl|orange|-1}} Ante, <br> {{hl|red|-1}} discard each round Reach Ante 12 Upgraded Petroglyph.png)'s punishment is also irrelevant here as even though it takes out a discard, you still have 5 discards to work with and you can get that discard back by means like Drunkard ({{hl|red|+1}} discard each round Common Effect N/A (Passive) Drunkard.png).

• Jokers that have effect based on the amount of hands played will be significantly weaker in this challenge, including Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png), 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), and Supernova (Adds the number of times [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] has been played this run to Mult Common Additive Mult Independent Supernova.png).
• Card Sharp ({{xmult|3}} if played {{hl|orange|poker hand}} has already been played this round Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Card_Sharp.png) will never activate under normal circumstances.
• Loyalty Card ({{xmult|4}} every {{hl|orange|6}} hands played<br>{{hl|grey|5 remaining}} Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Loyalty Card.png) becomes extremely hard to activate, as the player might need to defeat 5 blinds to activate it.
• Jokers with random scoring, like Misprint ({{Mult|+0-23}} Common Additive Mult Independent Misprint.png) and Bloodstone ({{hl|green|1 in 2}} chance for played cards with {{suit|Heart}} suit to give {{xmult|1.5}} when scored Have at least {{hl|orange|30}} cards with {{hl|orange|Heart}} suit in your deck Uncommon Multiplicative Mult On Scored Bloodstone.png) (unless with Oops! All 6s (Doubles all [[listed probabilities|{{hl|orange|listed}} {{hl|green|probabilities}}]] <br> {{hl|grey|(ex: {{hl|green|1 in 3}} -> {{hl|green|2 in 3}})}} In one hand, earn at least {{hl|orange|10,000}} chips Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Oops!_All_6s.png)) are not advised, because a stable score is crucial for adjusting gameplay during this challenge, and scoring too little at any point will lead to game over.
• Without a strong High Card build, 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) and Sixth Sense (If {{hl|orange|first hand}} of round is a single {{hl|orange|6}}, destroy it and create a [[Spectral Cards|{{hl|sblue|Spectral}}]] card <br> {{room}} Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Sixth_Sense.png) are unlikely to be useful purchases.
• Ramen ({{xmult|2}}, loses {{xmult|0.01}} per {{hl|orange|card}} discarded Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Mixed Ramen.png) would rarely see it's full value.
• Mystic Summit ({{Mult|+15}} when {{hl|orange|0}} discards remaining Common Additive Mult Independent Mystic Summit.png) costs $6 to activate.
• The Water ( Boss The Water.png) will almost certainly kill any run unless the starting cards contain a winning hand and players aren't relying on Banner ({{Chips|+30}} for each remaining {{hl|orange|discard}} Common Chips Independent Banner.png) for chips.
• The Wall ( Boss The Wall.png) can be very hard to overcome, especially if encountered early, since players often didn't have time to build up yet and it's hard to win with 1 hand against the 3x score requirement.
  • This also applies with Violet Vessel ( Showdown Violet Vessel.png).

• Grabbing any card that decreases the number of Hands you can play, such as Troubadour ({{hl|orange|+2}} hand size, <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand each round Win {{hl|orange|5}} consecutive rounds by <abbr title="Discards are OK to use.">playing only 1 hand</abbr> Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Troubadour.png) or Hieroglyph ({{hl|orange|-1}} Ante, <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand each round Base Hieroglyph.png), makes The Needle ( Boss The Needle.png) give players 2 hands instead of 1. This is presumed to be a bug.