Mail-In Rebate

Mail-In Rebate

Effect

Earn $5 for each discarded [rank], rank changes every round

Rarity

Common

Unlock Requirement

Available from start.

Stats

Buy Price

4

Sell Price

2

Type

Economy

Activation

On Discard

Compatibility

Copyable

✓ Yes

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Mail-In Rebate is a Common Economy Joker that gives $5 for every card discarded of a certain rank. The rank changes every round, choosing from a random rank in the player's deck (this chooses more common ranks in the deck more often).

• Red Deck ( {{hl|red|+1}} discard every round Unlocked from start Red Deck.png) grants an extra discard, allowing more cards of the selected rank to be discarded.
• Painted Deck ( {{hl|orange|+2}} hand size, <br> {{hl|red|-1}} Joker slot Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Green}} difficulty or harder Painted Deck.png) allows the player to have more cards in hand, letting the player discard more cards without sacrificing good hands.
• 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) can more easily take Mail-In Rebate, as it has more Joker slots, and it is recommended to discard more with Black Deck anyway, as the player must play better hands to compensate for having fewer hands. Black Deck can also hold more Jokers that help with discarding, like Drunkard ({{hl|red|+1}} discard each round Common Effect N/A (Passive) Drunkard.png).
• 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) and Mad World ( ) both contain fewer ranks and total cards, making it easier to find the selected rank and discard it.

Hands that need fewer cards are better if the player has a smaller hand size, like Three of a Kind, which allows them to discard 5 cards if they have the default hand size. For this reason, Straight, Flush, and Full House are less valuable with Rebate.

However, Five of a Kind and Flush Five are sometimes better in highly centralized decks, as with more of that rank, Mail-In Rebate will likely choose that rank, and discarding them will be fine, as the player is more likely to draw more to form a Five of a Kind still.

• Jokers that add more discards work great with Mail-In Rebate, those being Drunkard ({{hl|red|+1}} discard each round Common Effect N/A (Passive) Drunkard.png) and Merry Andy ({{hl|red|+3}} discards each round, <br>{{hl|red|-1}} hand size Win a run in {{hl|orange|12}} or fewer rounds Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Merry_Andy.png). It is recommended to be cautious with Merry Andy, though, as the lowered hand size can sometimes result in the player discarding fewer cards by virtue of wanting to save a strong poker hand.
• Jokers that give an effect when discarding, like 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), 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), and Hit the Road (This Joker gains {{xmult|0.5}} for every {{hl|orange|Jack}} discarded this round<br> {{Currently|{{xmult|1}}}} Discard {{hl|orange|5 Jacks}} at the same time. Rare Multiplicative Mult Mixed Hit_the_Road.png), synergize well with Mail-In Rebate, as the player can use them to get even more value out of discards.
• Blueprint (Copies ability of [[Jokers|{{Hl|orange|Joker}}]] to the right Win a run Rare Effect Blueprint.png) and Brainstorm (Copies the ability of leftmost [[Jokers|{{hl|orange|Joker}}]] Discard a {{ph|Royal Flush}}. Rare Effect Brainstorm.png) can copy the money generation effect, then copy a different Joker's effect for scoring hands, effectively allowing the player to double Mail-In Rebate's effect for free.
• 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) and 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) usually work well with Rebate, as the player will want to discard to find the card desired to play the first hand. DNA particularly works well, as by adding more cards of the same rank, the chance of Rebate selecting that rank is higher.

• The Hook ( Boss The Hook.png) discards 2 random cards every hand played, potentially triggering Mail-In Rebate if discarded cards are chosen for this blind.

• Wasteful (Permanently gain {{hl|red|+1}} discard each round Base Wasteful.png) and Recyclomancy (Permanently gain an additional {{hl|red|+1}} discard each round Discard a total of 2500 cards Upgraded Recyclomancy.png) give additional discards, allowing more chances to find the cards of selected rank and generate more money.

• Blast Off ( ) doesn't work well with Mail-In Rebate, as this deck only starts with 2 discards.

• Any Jokers that benefits from not using Discards, like 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) or Banner ({{Chips|+30}} for each remaining {{hl|orange|discard}} Common Chips Independent Banner.png), have anti-synergy with Mail-In Rebate.
• 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) removes all discards, effectively disabling Mail-In Rebate.

• The Water ( Boss The Water.png) sets your discards to 0, making Mail-In Rebate useless for the round.
• Since debuffed cards do not have a rank, any blind that debuffs cards makes it less likely for the player to make use of Mail-In Rebate.

• Blue Stake and above hinder Mail-In Rebate's potential because they have 1 less discard by default.

Mail-In rebate has an extremely high potential cash output. The player should try and maximize its potential by ensuring that all the cards in your deck are the same rank. This can be done through a variety of methods.

Copying Mail-In Rebate with Blueprint (Copies ability of [[Jokers|{{Hl|orange|Joker}}]] to the right Win a run Rare Effect Blueprint.png) or Brainstorm (Copies the ability of leftmost [[Jokers|{{hl|orange|Joker}}]] Discard a {{ph|Royal Flush}}. Rare Effect Brainstorm.png) while discarding 5 cards gives a total of $50, and adding more copies just adds more money per discard.

The player should be careful not to discard too much, as completely running out of cards is an instant loss.

• In real life, a "mail-in rebate" (MIR) is a special type of rebate usually done as a form of sales promotion. Typically, the customer buys a product at full price, and by mailing in a coupon or a receipt to the manufacturer, they receive a partial refund (or in some cases a full refund) on the product. This mirrors the Joker's ability in Balatro. By purchasing Mail-In Rebate and discarding certain cards, players can get a refund on their purchase.
• This Joker is addressed to Jerry Seinfeld's apartment from the show Seinfeld.
• If the deck has no card with any rank (i.e., full Stone Cards ({{chips|+50}}<br>no rank or suit Stone Card.png)), Mail-In Rebate will default to +$5 per discarded Ace.

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