Zodiac Deck

Zodiac Deck
Effect
Start run with Tarot Merchant, Planet Merchant, and Overstock
Unlock Requirement
Win a run with any deck on the Red Stake difficulty or harder

The Zodiac Deck is an unlockable deck that starts the player off with Tarot Merchant, Planet Merchant and Overstock. It is unlocked by winning a run on the Red Stake difficulty.

Starting Contents

It contains the 52 cards of a normal deck: four suits, each with 13 cards (2 to 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace). The Tarot Merchant, Planet Merchant and Overstock vouchers are automatically equipped at the start of a run on this deck.

Since players start with Overstock and immediately have a third card slot in the Shop, Zodiac Deck has a slightly higher chance to generate Jokers with reroll; Zodiac Deck generates about 1.53 jokers per shop roll while every other deck without any vouchers generates about 1.43 jokers per reroll.

Deck Joker Weight Tarot Weight Planet Weight Slots per Shop Average Number of Jokers per Roll
Normal 20 4 4 2 2×2020+4+41.43
Zodiac 20 9.6 9.6 3 3×2020+9.6+9.61.53

Synergies

  • Egg and Gift Card, which both increase the sell price of Jokers, become much stronger due to the ease of finding Temperance in the shop.
  • Jokers that are centered around Tarot cards or card enhancements, such as Fortune Teller, Driver's License and Vampire become easier to scale and utilize due to the abundance of Tarot cards.
  • Constellation, Satellite, and Astronomer are much more viable since Planet cards are easier to come across.
  • Campfire becomes faster to scale due to the increase in cards available in the Shop.
  • Reroll Surplus and Reroll Glut are more powerful due to Zodiac Deck starting with 3 card slots instead of the typical 2, making it easier for players to find their desired cards.

Trivia

  • The word "Zodiac" comes from the Greek word ζῳδιακός (zōidiakos), which means "circle of little animals", and is used in both astronomy and astrology, referring to a belt in the sky along which the paths of the sun, the moon, and the planets move. Astronomy is the study of planets, while astrology is linked to fortune telling, similar to tarot cards, explaining why both consumables are more likely to be found on this deck.
  • The circles on the back of Zodiac Deck are not regular circles, and are one pixel wider on width than height.[1]

In other languages

LanguageNameNotes
Internalb_zodiac
Chinese (Simplified)黄道牌组
Chinese (Traditional)星座牌組
DutchSterrenbeeldkaartspelLiterally 'Constellation Deck'. A more direct translation would be 'Dierenriemkaartspel', matching the word Zodiac's greek origin.
FrenchJeu Zodiac
GermanSternzeichendeck
IndonesianZodiac Deck
ItalianMazzo zodiacale
Japaneseゾディアックデッキ
Korean황도대 덱
PolishTalia Znaków zodiaku
Portuguese (Brazilian)Baralho do Zodíaco
RussianЗодиакальная колода
Spanish (Spain)Baraja del zodiaco
Spanish (Latin America)Baraja zodiacal
  1. The pixel art for zodiac deck is one pixel wider than it is tall for all the circles - LocalThunk in Balatro Discord