Top 10 Balatro Skip Tags

Picture this: you're at the blind selection in Balatro and you see these little squares with icons on them. Those are skip tags, which reward you with a certain prize if you skip the small and big blinds.

It's a good risk and reward system because it allows for insane joker, consumable, or money pulls. However, it's strongly advised not to overdo it, because you still need to finish the regular boss blinds so you can level up your poker hands and acquire jokers.

So for this list, I've rounded up the skip tags that make passing up on a regular blind worth your while.

1. Double Tag

   The only thing better than a skip tag is one that creates duplicates of the adjacent tag (excluding itself). That's what double tags do. If you build up enough double tags, you can get multiple copies of one skip tag, allowing for insane results like endless negative jokers and free shop rerolls.

   On the Anaglyph deck, you get a free double tag after finishing a boss blind, providing serious build-up potential in later antes. The Diet Cola joker also gives you a free double tag when sold, so getting this tag the first chance you get is pretty satisfying.

2. Rare Tag

   Out of all the tags that give jokers of a specific rarity, this one is my favorite. The rare rarity is home to many essential jokers for strong builds like Blueprint, Brainstorm, Invisible Joker, Baron, DNA, etc. So if you skip for a rare joker, there's a good chance you can get one of these as early as Ante 1.

   Or you may get a few duds like Obelisk or the X-mult hand-specific jokers.

3. Investment Tag

   This skip tag adds $25 to your boss blind payout. Pretty good if you're low on cash but strong enough against a specific blind. With multiple Investment Tags, you can pile up a few hundred dollars, which is good for buying Planet cards or scaling the Bootstraps joker.

4. Negative Tag

   If you have multiple double tags and see a black box with a plus sign in the center, don't pass it up. This skip tag adds negative to the first joker that appears in the shop, and many more if you have multiple negative tags.

   These can give you some of your most sought-after jokers you wouldn't normally want to sacrifice your build for, or even stat-changing jokers that are just fun to have overall.

5. Voucher Tag

   Adds one extra voucher in the shop. If you redeemed a voucher early on and were impatient to wait for its tier 2 variant, this tag is worth redeeming.

   You can even get other vouchers you were too poor to buy in earlier antes. Whether it's an extra hand from Grabber or a joker slot from Antimatter, this skip tag is here for you.

6. Ethereal Tag

   The cream of the Jumbo Pack skip tag crop, allowing you to pick two out of five Spectral cards. I already mentioned the best skip tags in another list, and there's a good chance you can get elite ones like Cryptid or Deja Vu if you use ten Double Tags on this.

7. Juggle Tag

   Adds +3 extra hand size for the next round. With multiple of these tags, you can have a large number of cards in your hand, which is useful for jokers that reduce your hand size like Stuntman and Merry Andy, spectral cards like Ouija or Ectoplasm, or even regaining that sweet, sweet -1 hand size you lost to The Manacle.

   This tag also guarantees you'll have enough cards for your best hand and draws plenty of cards with held-in-hand abilities. It is, however, a drag going back to square one with your hand size, since the benefit only lasts for one hand. Depending on the seed, these skip tags can be few and far between. I regret using two Ectoplasms while having Merry Andy and Stuntman in my hand.

8. Polychrome Tag

   Polychrome is my favorite edition for a card and joker because it adds x1.5 mult to your score. Likewise, polychrome tags apply this edition to the first joker in the shop.

   Having multiple polychrome jokers can massively boost your score, though it's best to use this early in the game while you still have an empty build.

9. Boss Tag

   This tag lets you reroll the current boss blind without having to use Director's Cut or Retcon. Though nice to have, this is one of those skip tags you shouldn't overdo, because rerolling the boss blind enough times can land you with an aggravating one like The Plant or The Pillar.