Merry Andy

Merry Andy

Effect

+3 discards each round,
-1 hand size

Rarity

Uncommon

Unlock Requirement

Win a run in 12 or fewer rounds

Stats

Buy Price

7

Sell Price

3

Type

Effect

Activation

N/A (Passive)

Compatibility

Copyable

✗ No

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Merry Andy is an Uncommon Effect Joker that provides +3 discards at the cost of -1 Hand Size.

Merry Andy is a good Joker early game for the economy of the Green Deck ( At end of each Round: <br> {{Money|2}} per remaining {{hl|blue|Hand}} <br> {{Money|1}} per remaining {{hl|red|Discard}} <br> Earn no {{hl|orange|Interest}} Discover at least {{hl|orange|75}} items from your [[collection]] Green Deck.png), since it gains no interest and instead earns money only based on discards and hands remaining, extra discards are pretty valuable. Merry Andy can also be useful early game for the 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), as its hand size penalty is completely negated by the Painted Deck's bonus hand size.

• Straights usually require more discards to set up.
• If the player needs to draw a specific enhanced card to win, Merry Andy enables the player to sift through up to 15 more cards every round.
  • Although, the reduced Hand Size makes it harder to hold multiple Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) and Gold Cards ({{money|3}} if this card is held in hand at end of round Gold Card.png) at once.

• Juggler ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Common Effect N/A (Passive) Juggler.png) helps with negating this Joker's downside.
• Banner ({{Chips|+30}} for each remaining {{hl|orange|discard}} Common Chips Independent Banner.png) can combo with Merry Andy to provide additional chips early game.
• 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) and Yorick (This Joker gains {{xmult|1}} every {{hl|orange|23}} {{hl|gray|[23]}} cards discarded<br>{{currently|{{xmult|1}}}} Find this [[Jokers|Joker]] from the [[Spectral Cards|{{hl|sblue|Soul}}]] card. Legendary Multiplicative Mult Mixed Yorick.png) can scale much faster since Merry Andy allows you to discard 15 more cards per blind.
• It also works well with 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) for economy, increasing the payout by an extra $6.
• Blackboard ({{xmult|3}} if all cards held in hand are {{suit|Spades}} or {{suit|Clubs}} Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Blackboard.png) benefits from reduced hand size, making it easier to hold only Spades or Clubs for its Mult bonus.

• Paint Brush ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Base Paint Brush.png) and Palette ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Reduce your hand size down to five cards. Upgraded Palette.png) can mitigate Merry Andy's -1 hand size penalty.

• If Crimson Heart ( Showdown Crimson Heart.png) disables Merry Andy, the hand size will return to normal, but the current Hand will stay intact until the next discard (e.g., 8/7). By quitting to the main menu and returning, the hand size will actually permanently increase (e.g., 8/8), giving players a permanent hand size upgrade.

• On Blue Stake and higher, Merry Andy can mitigate the -1 discard penalty.

• Five-Card Draw ( )'s reduced hand size may make it impossible to play certain poker hands.

• Jokers with held in hand abilities vary with Merry Andy's effectiveness.
  • Baron (Each {{hl|orange|King}} held in hand gives {{xmult|1.5}} Rare Multiplicative Mult On Held Baron.png), Shoot the Moon (Each {{hl|orange|Queen}} held in hand gives {{mult|+13}} Play every Heart card in your deck in one round. Common Additive Mult On Held Shoot the Moon.png), and Reserved Parking (Each {{hl|orange|face}} card held in hand has a {{hl|green|1 in 2}} chance to give {{Money|1}} Common Economy On Held Reserved Parking.png) are all weakened due to holding fewer face cards in hand.
  • Inversely, Raised Fist (Adds {{hl|orange|double}} the rank of {{hl|orange|lowest}} ranked card held in hand to Mult Common Additive Mult On Held Raised Fist.png) actually benefits, as the player is less likely to hold a card with a low rank at any moment.
• 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) always removes all discards, effectively making Merry Andy -1 Hand Size with no upside.
• Stuntman ({{Chips|+250}},<br>{{hl|orange|-2}} hand size Earn at least 100 million (100,000,000) Chips in a single hand. Rare Chips Independent Stuntman.png) adds an additional -2 hand size, making it difficult to feasibly form 5-card poker hands.
• Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png) and Ramen ({{xmult|2}}, loses {{xmult|0.01}} per {{hl|orange|card}} discarded Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Mixed Ramen.png) discourage discarding due to weakening with each used discard.
• Mystic Summit ({{Mult|+15}} when {{hl|orange|0}} discards remaining Common Additive Mult Independent Mystic Summit.png) does not work well with Merry Andy's ability.

• Ouija (Converts all cards in hand to a single random [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|rank}}]]<br>{{hl|red|-1}} hand size Available from start. Spectral Ouija.png) and Ectoplasm (Add [[Card Modifiers#Editions|{{hl|edition|Negative}}]] to a random {{hl|orange|Joker,}} {{hl|red|-1}} hand size Available from start. Spectral Ectoplasm.png) both reduce hand size, which further debuffs the player along with Merry Andy.

• The decreased hand size doesn't allow many Gold Cards ({{money|3}} if this card is held in hand at end of round Gold Card.png), Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png), and Blue Seals (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 be utilized.

• The Water ( Boss The Water.png) will always set discards to 0.

As skipping is usually a high-risk strategy, it can be tricky to win a run in 12 or fewer rounds, meaning the player must skip at least 12 Blinds, averaging at 1.5 Blinds per Ante skipped.

• A basic Deck, such as Red Deck ( {{hl|red|+1}} discard every round Unlocked from start Red Deck.png) or Blue Deck ( {{hl|blue|+1}} hand every round Discover at least {{hl|orange|20}} items from your [[collection]] Blue Deck.png), is likely the best, as an additional discard/hand makes it more feasible to play more risky as is the case with skipping.
• Plasma Deck ( Balance [[Chips|{{hl|blue|Chips}}]] and [[Mult|{{hl|red|Mult}}]] when calculating score for played hand <br> {{hl|red|X2}} base Blind size Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Blue}} difficulty or harder Plasma Deck.png) can skip more in the early game due to its balancing ability, making the need to obtain Jokers early less of a priority.
• Anaglyph Deck ( After defeating each [[Blinds|{{hl|orange|Boss Blind}}]], gain a [[File:Double tag.png|24px]] [[Tags|{{hl|orange|Double Tag}}]] Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Black}} difficulty or harder Anaglyph Deck.png) earns the player a Double Tag ( Double tag.png) upon defeating a Boss Blind, making skipping slightly more viable.
• Tags in general to look out for are Investment Tag ( Investment tag.png) and Speed Tag ( Speed tag.png), as earning Economy is critical since the player sees fewer Shops and Blind payouts overall.
• Throwback ({{xmult|0.25}} for each [[Blinds|{{hl|orange|Blind}}]] skipped this run <br> {{currently|{{xmult|1}}}} Continue a saved run from the main menu Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Throwback.png) is basically a must-have during the unlock attempt, as it directly benefits from skipping.
  • The Uncommon Tag ( Uncommon tag.png) may be a quick way to obtain Throwback early, on top of retroactively scaling it.

• A "merry andrew" is a term for a jester who entertains by supplying a steady stream of jokes, much like how Merry Andy supplies a steady stream of discards.^[1]
• If you generate Merry Andy through a Judgement (Creates a random [[Jokers|{{hl|orange|Joker}}]] card<br>{{room}} Available from start. Tarot Judgement.png), you will get the extra discards for the current hand without cards being discarded from your hand but will drop your hand size when you next draw.
• Merry Andy has the same unlock condition as the Speedrunner achievement.

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