Balatro

Most of the challenges aren't too bad, save for the final 3, so I thought I'd put some thoughts down shortly after unlocking this while my memory is still fresh.

Golden Needle
This was the 2nd-hardest challenge for me. My main piece of advice is (much like the real-world counterpart), don't get lured in by the allure of the credit card and go into debt you can't dig out of. The key to this challenge is getting a strong economy rolling by about Ante 4, as you'll need funds for the discard bonanza that burns through cash faster than you think.

I found it easiest to target a high-ish scoring hand type (flushes), and simply use the excess discards against my strong economy to filter my hand until I had the exact buffed cards I wanted.

As you may have already realized, Dusk is one of the most ideal jokers here, as you'll get an auto-retrigger of every played card thanks to the 1 hand per round limit. Combine this with the usual xMult suspects like Constellation and you should be OK if your deck has been manipulated decently.

Cruelty
I think there are a couple viable ways to approach this one. I've seen people online say to create one of the "engine" joker synergies (ex.: Midas + Vampire) to scale xMult until it's unstoppable. I ended up using a more traditional joker stack - Banner, Supernova, and Constellation.

I think this one is extremely RNG-dependent, as I needed Foil/Holo/Poly enhancements on all jokers and an overpowered combo to win.

Jokerless
For me, this was the hardest by far, and also insanely RNG-dependent in the first 3 antes especially. I've seen people online say that 4-of-a-kind builds (+Mars) are best for this, but after a couple hours of trying I couldn't get it to work. Here's what I did instead:

• Flush build

• Target Empress for +Mult in early antes (or Hierophant/Magician if I couldn't roll Empress). Some Chariot steel cards can be useful early too, but don't overdo it, as you need the flat +Mult more early on

• Keep economy strong - you need to really ensure you don't overspend in the first 2-3 antes, because you will need to make it rain like never before in mid/late game in order to buff your cards to compensate for being Jokerless

• I think the #1 most important thing to roll is Blue Seals, as they allow you to continually scale your planet card without losing cash. This lets you focus on allocating dollars to Tarot needs while still scaling your chosen hand type's chips and mult

• If you've got some extra cash, don't sleep on Standard Packs - if you're playing a club flush build for example, you might open one and find a holographic ace of clubs with a red seal, which you can instantly start targeting with Death to take your deck to another level

• Around ante 4 or 5, you absolutely need to start pivoting from Hierophant/Empress/Magician to Justice (Glass) and Chariot (Steel). In fact, depending on the maturity of your deck evolution, you may even start switching some +Chip or +Mult cards to Glass or Steel to prepare for the demands of endgame

• A note about consumables: where possible and/or logical, carry them into the round with you rather than applying them in the shop screen. This ensures you have a backup plan if you get a poor draw, and can apply the buffs to your in-game situation for more flexibility. Also, it probably goes without saying, but don't needlessly use your Glass cards if you're easily clearing blinds. You need those for ante 7 and 8, so don't use one before then unless you really have to

• As mentioned, I did a flush build, and made sure more than 75% of my deck were clubs to ensure consistency. In normal (non-challenge) rounds, if I'm playing a flush build, I often use a card outside my chosen suit to assign Steel cards to; but here, it made more sense to ensure I had lots of club Steel cards in order to give flexibility if I got hit with an unlucky card draw. I didn't have 100% clubs, so being able to play a Steel card if backed into a corner came in handy during ante 8.

All in all, Jokerless is definitely a game of "restart simulator" during the first 2-3 antes. After you've attempted the challenge 25-30 times, you'll start to get a feel for whether you have a snowball's chance in hell by the middle of ante 3. If your gut tells you your deck is underpowered (or if your economy just can't seem to get off the ground), do yourself a favor and just restart. The challenge is RNG-based enough that there's no sense torturing yourself on dozens of doomed runs - there's always a better seed around the corner.