Should I not expect to streak on Orange/Gold Stakes?

[0xxian]

Up until orange stakes i was winning most of my runs my best streak was 4 in a row but now I've got a few decks up to Orange I feel like I'm really struggling to be consistent and have gone to losing more runs than I win. I'm currently at 3 orange wins 8 orange losses and have just start trying out gold. Could any of those people with gold experience tell me, is this normal? Should I not be expecting to get run win streaks anymore or am I missing something , Do you have any tips for consistency on the higher stakes?

[SpaceCat]

I haven't beaten gold yet. The -1 hand size is really brutal. Gotten to the 8th ante boss a couple times, and was in position to beat it both of those times, but one was the boss x'ing out the two jokers I needed to activate to win (kept x'ing out a 4x throwback and the 3x card sharp). And one I just came up barely short against the violet large blind. I've probably tried gold ghost deck maybe 50 times or so? I don't think streaks at gold are possible, but it's very possible I'm wrong, but my gut says there's no way you can streak with how razor thin the first couple antes are.

[Aristizle]

It's rough up there. I beat gold with the Abandoned Deck. I reset bad starts, and even then most good starts fell to the whims of rngesus. IDK about other decks, but I don't see how you can streak gold with the deck without face cards. Maybe other decks will be easier.

Increased consistency becomes the end game progression. Very much like Slay the Spire. Maybe like Spire, we'll get gud enough to streak. Maybe there will be more balance patches. I'm not there yet. The game probably isn't either. Maybe I just need to finish with the unlocks.

[0xxian]

Thanks for the responses guys the perspective helps.

[Rithrin]

Getting to Purple/Orange chip has felt like bashing my head against a wall, of course some decks are going to be more difficult than others, but it's real tough. I'm not sure consistent streaks are possible considering how often you can go through the first 4 or 5 shops without even getting a score affecting Joker. Maybe streaks if you don't count rerolling new games until you see favorable skip bonus.

[swolblu]

I'm still trying to beat Orange. The game feels way too RNG dependent on Purple and higher. Just constantly resetting over and over until you get good chip or multiplier bonuses. Even then a good start doesn't mean anything because you will likely still get ♥♥♥♥ shop upgrades later anyway.

It's not like you're learning how to play better either. The game is simple enough to understand and optimize - you're just gated by RNG in literally every aspect of deckbuilding (and to some extent, build execution).

[SpaceCat]

I was 2k away from beating gold today (378k out of 380k), probably now my 8th time getting to the 8th ante boss, ugh. I do think I'm more consistent on gold right now, so I do think there is definitely some learning curve, and I certainly think I can improve, but it's a lot of rng on the first 2 rounds especially.

One thing I've noticed that I think is getting me to antes 6-8 more often is that I think the order of importance changes a bit where it's maybe a chips card > money engine > multi > planet/tarot and you go for high card/pair strats whereas I think on easier difficulties I might prioritize multi / flush builds and start free rolling on planets and tarots more.

Right now I think one of the best early game common jokers you can get is the torn joker (+20 mult for 3 cards or lower) or even the +chips per discard flag card (even tho you only have 2 discards). Just makes the first 2-3 antes SO much easier and you can start to look for a money engine/direction.

edit: ironically I just won on the next game I played finally, high card build with queens multiplier, burnout and space joker early game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3170790288

[0xxian]

Got my first and second golds today as well 1st was

Eternal Mail in rebate as my money engine
Blueprint to dupe the rebate or the vampire as needed
Vampire
Card shark
Juggler

Got the juggler and the rebate early then found vampire and blueprint. Card shark arrived later but I'd raised enough money to feed vampire well he finished as X5 so between that blueprint and cardshark i was well set for a victory by round ante 6.

2nd Was weird playing with checkered deck I kept hitting spectral boosters offering imolate as well as tarit handing me hanging mans, blew up allot of my deck had a small enougth deck by the end I could always draw any hand I chose and went Flush House with Telescope and a Constelation. Flush House got to like level 13 by the end

[☂dizzy]

Gold is extremely rough, and I'll be surprised if anyone gets a major streak on it without holding R to get a good set of tags in ante 1. Losing a discard as well as handsize really maximizes how badly RNG can screw your run over. If you only get economy jokers, or bad tags you aren't making it out of ante 2.