Magic: The Jokering Mod Puts MTG Cards in Balatro

Last updated on January 20, 2025

Jester's Cap | Illustration by Dan Frazier

If you love both Magic and video games, then you've probably heard about Balatro, the indie roguelike deck-builder that was one of the most acclaimed games last year.

You may have even heard the Universes Beyond – Balatro crossover jokes (which, with so many Secret Lairs and UB sets this year, who knows how long it'll be just a joke!), and the no-jokes Balatro proxies.

What you may not have heard about yet is that the MTG crossover now exists in Balatro!

Source: YouTube

Magic: The Jokering is a fan-made mod, developed by spire-winder, that brings iconic Magic staples to Balatro.

Wait… Why Do Rogues Like Deck Building?

Anowon, the Ruin Thief | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Roguelikes are a subgenre of video games: Turn-based RPGs with procedurally generated dungeons, permadeath, and resource management, inspired by the 1980 game “Rogue” (hence why these are called Rogue-likes).

A roguelike deckbuilder combines roguelikes with two aspects that MTG players are very familiar with: cards, and drafting. Rather than characters having swords, shields, armor, and magic spells (as they would have in an RPG), you have a literal deck of cards for attacking and defending. You tackle increasingly tougher foes, and you keep drafting cards (usually after each encounter) so you get to tweak your deck all throughout the run.

The genre gained a lot of popularity with Slay the Spire (which can't be recommended enough – if you haven't played it yet, you're in for a treat!), which set the standard for its mechanics. Other popular examples include Monster Train or Inscryption.

Roguelike deckbuilders have exploded in popularity because they blend the quick and repeatable “run-based” format (start a run, build a deck, if you lose, try again) with the randomness of card games, making every run unique.

My Poker Face

Balatro switches the usual high-fantasy setting of most RPGs and takes it to… the Poker table! The game is all about assembling the most powerful Poker hand, and in this aspect is a bit like playing Poker Goldfish, if you will: You don't have an opponent trying to outplay you; you're kind of just playing Solitaire, trying to get the highest score possible, with each subsequent “foe” being mostly a higher score you need to beat.

There are twists aplenty, though. For example: If you know anything about Poker, even by hearsay, you know that a Straight Flush (a five-card poker hand with ranks in sequence, all of the same suit) is the most powerful hand in poker, with Four of a Kind being the second.

Well, in Balatro that ain't true….

Source: YouTube

… and you can get Five of a Kind, or even a Flush Five!

How can that even be possible? That's where the deckbuilding side of roguelikes comes in: As you advance through a run you keep tweaking your deck, that may end up looking something like this:

Source: Balatro page on Steam

Yeah, that's six King of Spades in this deck, so a Flush Five is possible here.

You also collect Jokers that go in a special side deck. There are about 150 different Jokers you can find, each with their own twist (from making your cards give higher scores, to earning you cash that you can buy more cards with after each match), and a few other tricks you can add to your deck to make it more powerful.

Source: Balatro page on Steam

Developed by LocalThunk, Balatro's reception has been overwhelmingly positive…

Source: Balatro page on Steam

… triggering everything from rabidly loving reviews to collaborations with some really big fishes, like crossover quests with CD Project Red's Cyberpunk 2077.

Magic: The Jokering

A fan-made mod called Magic: The Jokering now brings Magic and Balatro together. Developed by “spire-winder” and available on GitHub, this mod adds MTG-inspired cards, packs, and consumables.

Source: YouTube

The current version adds:

• A new suit called Clovers, to match Magic's 5-color pie,
• Around 30 new Jokers with some wild effects,
• A new consumable type for the in-game shop: Magic cards, which you can find in Magic packs, 
• Around 30 new Magic cards,
• A new mechanic: direct damage.

With this mod, some of the Jokers you can collect are staple MTG cards, adapted to Balatro.

Waste Not, for example, either gives you cash, draws you cards, or deals direct damage whenever you discard a card.

Or you could add Blood Moon, which will turn all your cards into Hearts in addition to their other suits – making Flushes really, really easy to pull!

Source: YouTube

You can find MTG cards in “normal” Balatro packs and in the shop, but of course MTG wouldn't be MTG without some MTG Boosters!

Source: YouTube

How To Run Magic: The Jokering

Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion | Illustration by Valera Lutfullina

First of all, you'll need Balatro on your PC, which you can get from Steam. The game is not free, but costs just a bit more than a Play Booster. If this is your first time playing, you may want to try a few runs with the normal game first.

(Warning: While one run usually takes 1-2 hours, “a few runs” do tend to become “lots of runs” real soon, so handle responsibly!)

Magic: The Jokering is a fan-made mod, and it's free to download and play. To dive in:

1. Visit the Magic: The Jokering GitHub page for installation instructions.
2. Check out gameplay videos, like this YouTube showcase, to see the mod in action.

The mod is still in development and balancing, so if you find any bugs be sure to give developer spire-winder some feedback. And if you don't find any, some thumbs up.

And happy Jokering!