You’ve probably been there. You are staring at a Celestial Pack in the shop, five bucks in the hole, wondering if Saturn is actually better than Jupiter for the long haul. Most players treat planet cards like an afterthought. They think the real power is in the Jokers. Honestly? That is how you lose a run at Ante 7.
Balatro every planet card offers a permanent, fundamental shift in your scoring floor. If you aren't leveling up your hands, your Jokers have to do 100% of the heavy lifting. That's a recipe for disaster when the boss blind hits you with a "Discard 2 cards" or "All Diamond cards are debuffed."
The Core Lineup You'll See Every Run
There are nine "standard" planets. You'll see these in basically every run because they correspond to the poker hands everyone knows. But they don't scale the same. Not even close.
- Pluto (High Card): +1 Mult, +15 Chips. Kinda sucks early, but if you’re running a "Burnt Joker" build, it becomes your best friend.
- Mercury (Pair): +1 Mult, +15 Chips.
- Uranus (Two Pair): +1 Mult, +20 Chips.
- Venus (Three of a Kind): +2 Mult, +20 Chips.
- Mars (Four of a Kind): +3 Mult, +30 Chips.
- Jupiter (Flush): +2 Mult, +15 Chips. Most beginners over-rely on this. It's easy to build, but the scaling is actually pretty mediocre.
- Saturn (Straight): +2 Mult, +30 Chips. Straights are harder to hit, so the game rewards you with massive chip boosts.
- Earth (Full House): +2 Mult, +25 Chips.
- Neptune (Straight Flush): +3 Mult, +40 Chips.
You see the pattern? Mars and Saturn are the secret MVPs here. A level 10 Straight (Saturn) hits way harder than a level 10 Flush (Jupiter). People love Flushes because they’re easy to manipulate with Tarot cards, but if you can manage the math of a Straight, Saturn is the superior choice.
The Secret Planets Nobody Finds
Ever notice those empty slots in your collection? Those are the "Secret" hands. You cannot find these planets in a Celestial Pack until you actually play the hand once during that specific run. This is a huge detail people miss. If you haven't played a Five of a Kind yet, you will never see Planet X.
Planet X (Five of a Kind) gives you +3 Mult and +35 Chips.
Then there's Ceres (Flush House). It’s basically a Full House where all five cards share the same suit. It gives +4 Mult and +40 Chips. It’s a monster.
Finally, Eris (Flush Five). This is the holy grail. Five cards of the exact same rank and the exact same suit. It scales with +3 Mult and +50 Chips.
If you're going for those "infinite" runs where your score looks like scientific notation, you are essentially hunting for Eris.
Why You Should Stop Selling Your "Bad" Planets
There is a weird strategy called "blocking."
In Balatro, the shop and packs generally try not to give you duplicates of what you’re already holding in your consumable slots. If you are holding a Pluto card in your inventory, the game is less likely to show you another Pluto.
This means if you really want Jupiter, you should actually keep those "useless" planets in your hand while you reroll the shop. It narrows the pool. It’s basic math, but it feels counterintuitive to hold onto a card for a hand you never play.
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Vouchers That Change The Game
If you see the Telescope voucher, buy it. Seriously. It makes it so the Celestial Pack always contains the planet for your most-played hand. This removes the RNG. If you’ve spent the whole game playing Pairs, Telescope ensures Mercury is always there waiting for you.
The upgrade to that is Observatory. This is where things get broken. Observatory makes it so any planet card held in your consumable slot gives a 1.5x Mult to its specific hand. Imagine holding three Eris cards while playing a Flush Five. The numbers get stupidly large, very fast.
Practical Strategy: When to Pivot
Early game, don't be picky. If you're struggling to beat the first few bosses, take whatever planet pops up. A level 3 High Card is better than a level 1 Flush you can't actually draw.
By Ante 4, you need a direction. Look at your Jokers. If you have "The Duo," you should be hunting Mercury (Pair). If you have "The Tribe," you better be spamming Jupiter (Flush).
Stop ignoring the Blue Seals. If you have a card with a Blue Seal, and it's in your hand when the round ends, it creates the planet card for the last hand you played. This is the most consistent way to level up a specific hand without spending a dime in the shop.
Next Steps for Your Run:
Check your collection right now. If you're missing the secret planets, try a run where you use the Ouija Spectral card or Strength Tarot cards to force a Five of a Kind. Once you play it, keep an eye out for Planet X—it’s the only way to see how high those scores can actually go.