Obelisk

How Obelisk scales

Obelisk gains ×0.2 Mult per consecutive hand played that is NOT your most-played hand type. The growth is permanent (stays through the run) but the condition is sensitive: the moment you play your most-played hand, Obelisk resets.

The mechanic creates a tension: Obelisk rewards you for avoiding the hand you usually play.

The trick: pick a "trash" hand to make most-played

A standard run plays Pairs and Two Pairs most often. Without Obelisk discipline, those become your most-played hand, and now you have to avoid them — exactly the hand Obelisk asks you to skip is the one your deck supports.

The workaround: deliberately play one bad hand a lot at the start of the run to lock it in as your most-played, then play only your real hand type from then on.

The standard play:

1. In Antes 1-2, intentionally play High Card as your hand type a few times until your stats show High Card as most-played.
2. From then on, play any other hand type (Flush, Three of a Kind, whatever you actually want to score).
3. Obelisk grows every hand because none of them are High Card.

How fast it scales

3 hands per round × 20 rounds = 60 hands. If 55 of those don't match your locked most-played hand, Obelisk hits ×11 mult by run end.

Aggressive plays — 4 hands per round (with Banner-style chips) — can push Obelisk past ×15 by Ante 8 without changing anything else.

Obelisk + Blueprint / Brainstorm

Obelisk's current mult is multiplicative. At Obelisk ×8, Blueprint contributes another ×8 from one slot. Brainstorm same. The full chain triples the effective Obelisk mult.

Important: Blueprint/Brainstorm read Obelisk's current value but don't reset Obelisk's chain on their own. They're free amplifiers.

What resets Obelisk

Obelisk's chain breaks the moment you play your most-played hand. So:

• If "most-played" shifts mid-run (you've been playing a lot of Pair and now Pair takes over from High Card), Obelisk silently changes its target hand. Check the joker effect text periodically — it tells you the current "most-played" hand.
• The Mouth (Boss Blind: only one hand type per round) can force you into your most-played hand. Chicot cancels.
• The Eye (no repeat hand types) forces variety, which is actually fine for Obelisk as long as none of those hand types is the most-played.

When to take

Take Obelisk:

• Early run when you can still establish a "trash" most-played hand.
• You play one strong hand type (Flush, Three of a Kind, Straight) consistently for scoring.
• You have Blueprint/Brainstorm to amplify.

Skip Obelisk:

• Mid-run when your most-played hand has already locked to your real scoring hand.
• Single-hand-type builds (Flush-only) where you can't realistically vary.
• You're missing Chicot and The Mouth is the next boss.

Related Jokers

Same rarity or category as Obelisk.