Hologram

Effect: This Joker gains X0.25 Mult every time a playing card is added to your deck (Currently X1 Mult)

BalatroBuddy tier: S (Our opinion)

Hologram in Balatro: This Joker gains X0.25 Mult every time a playing card is added to your deck (Currently X1 Mult). Rarity, cost, unlock, synergies, and how to play it.

Cost: $7

Rarity: Uncommon

Category: Multiplicative Mult Jokers

Unlock requirement: Available from start.

Verdict

Uncapped X Mult with no deck requirement whatsoever. The most build-agnostic scaling joker in the game, and badly underrated.

Why it works

  • X0.25 per playing card added to the deck, with no cap and no reset. Twelve cards added is X4, twenty-four is X7, and it never goes backwards.
  • It has no deck, suit, rank, or hand-type requirement at all. Whatever run you are in, Hologram works.
  • The trigger is card ADDITION, which is one of the easiest things in the game to automate. Marble Joker adds a Stone card every time a blind is selected, which is roughly three free additions per ante with zero input from you.
  • Because it is a growing X Mult, it is an excellent Blueprint target β€” the copy scales with it automatically.

Joker placement

Right of every additive joker. It is pure X Mult.

How to play

  1. Buy Marble Joker alongside it. That converts Hologram from a card you have to feed manually into an engine that ticks on its own every blind.
  2. Take the Magic Trick voucher so playing cards appear in the shop and every spare dollar becomes permanent X Mult.
  3. DNA gives a guaranteed addition every round β€” play exactly one card as your first hand of the round and the copy feeds Hologram.
  4. Buy it early. It scales with time, so a Hologram picked up at Ante 3 is worth far more than the same card at Ante 7.

Combos

Marble Joker

Roughly +X0.75 per ante, automatically, with no decisions required.

Marble Joker adds a Stone card when each blind is selected, and there are three blinds per ante, so Hologram gains X0.25 three times per ante for free.

DNA

A guaranteed card addition every round, and the copied card can be one you have already enhanced.

DNA copies a card into the deck when your first hand of the round is a single card, which satisfies Hologram's trigger on demand.

Traps

  • Every card Hologram eats makes your deck worse at drawing what you need. In a fragile Straight Flush deck the consistency loss can outweigh the multiplier.
  • Marble Joker's Stone cards have no rank or suit, so they actively break Straights and Flushes. Pair that combo with a hand type that does not care, not with a Flush build.
  • It is slow. Bought at Ante 7 it will not have time to reach a number worth the slot.

Benchmarks

Ante 8

A Hologram bought around Ante 3 with Marble Joker attached is typically X5 to X7 by the Ante 8 boss.

Endless

Keeps growing forever, but at X0.25 per card it grows linearly while the blind requirement grows geometrically. Past Ante 11 it needs a copy joker to stay relevant.

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