The simplicity, fast pace, and high variance of blackjack are used to nice effect in this run-based deck builder. Comparisons to Balatro may come to mind due to the gambling theme and 2024 release date, but it's more reminiscent of Slay the Spire in its overarching format and how individual rounds play out. It's easy to get into and offers some pretty fun strategy through its various synergies and rule modifiers. As a new player you'll particularly appreciate how much room for error you have, particularly with more defensively-minded decks like those that grant HP or shield when you play a blackjack.

Opportunities for building cool synergies and changing how you play are definitely present in the deck building aspect, and I was particularly surprised at instances where a unique strategy presented itself that was isolated to one match. Sometimes this involves stealing an enemy's card, but can also just come down to "luck of the draw", as certain cards being drawn in certain orders can cause pretty interesting things to happen. I particularly like being able to lock a card in play across turns, which can draw huge value out of effects that change the next card played or increment a counter every turn.

There are a few issues with the game, most commonly just that as the game is currently balanced, some encounters can feel drawn-out and annoying depending on what the enemy's gimmick is. Some runs also just feel over before they're actually over once your health gets too low, with so few reliable opportunities to heal. Most annoyingly and frustratingly to me, I have kept encountering some sort of UI bug where I prematurely end my turn due to the game seemingly being slow to detect that I've hovered over the other button or something.

All that being said, the game has a strong foundation that could definitely be improved upon through future updates, and I think it's worth picking up for a bit of fun if its premise sounds appealing to you. It gets a lot out of the fact that blackjack itself is quite a bit of fun, and while its additions to that core formula aren't quite as exciting to me as some of its peers in the roguelike card world, I have had a solid amount of fun with it.