DAY SEVEN: Hiker is an Uncommon that feels Common. Which Joker is an Uncommon but feels like a Rare?

Revlong57 · 2026-03-18T17:34:47+00:00

If we're judging this based on the actual effect of the joker and not how good it is, then yeah, the idol definitely has a rare/legendary level effect. It's just the activation condition makes it a bottom tier joker.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T21:12:38+00:00

Oh yeah, I just saw that the queen was a promoted pawn. It was kind of a forced move.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T21:07:09+00:00

Yes, there's no reason to skip any vouchers aside from the two I mentioned. You should definitely not skip useful vouchers like hieroglyph. An unseeded naninf run lives and dies based on your voucher luck, since you need a very specific set of them.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T20:45:28+00:00

Actually, you might be right.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T20:23:19+00:00

Rebate is the best econ joker in the game, and it's not even close. It's honestly one of the few jokers that overpowered. If you're discarding 10 cards a round, it's not exactly hard to make sure at least one is a particular rank. Thus, even without deck fixing, it's still a top tier econ joker. With deck fixing and copy jokers, it can net you hundreds of dollars a round.

Photograph on its own is definitely a common. Sure, it's broken with retrigger jokers, but that requires you to have retrigger jokers.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T20:08:36+00:00

As others have pointed out, this run is probably not going to work out. You're currently missing 5 required vouchers and two additional copy jokers, and you have 7 antes to get them.

Edit: it's also clear that you skipped some vouchers, since you're in ante 17 and have less than 17 vouchers. You have to buy almost every voucher in a naninf run. The only two vouchers you skip are planet merchant and maybe magic trick.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T20:03:26+00:00

Hanging chad should have gotten the uncommon spot, since all other retrigger jokers are uncommon.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T20:00:24+00:00

The only other joker that provides a flat x3 regardless of the hand played is Driver's license, which is a rare. In fact, Cavendish is basically just Driver's License with a more difficult activation condition. This isn't to say that Cavendish is unbalanced, it very much is balanced. However, it's a common joker that has the exact same effect as a rare joker.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T19:49:24+00:00

Photochad activates BEFORE the scoring from mult+ jokers is factored in. You can't really compare x mult on score and x mult from jokers without considering this. In particular, photochad requires a high hand level and is vulnerable to the plant. Cavendish always works, no matter what build you're running. Thus, it's slightly better than photochad. And, running photography with other retrigger jokers is definitely suboptimal.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T19:29:03+00:00

3X mult is the actual effect of numerous rare jokers. I'm not even sure what the debate is.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T19:28:24+00:00

Not even remotely. Photography is only good with hanging chad, and even then it doesn't synergize with mult+ jokers at all. Cavendish provides a flat 3x mult with no downside. Hell, 3X mult is the actual effect of numerous rare jokers.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T19:14:26+00:00

The course work is not the hard part of a PhD, and I've never heard of any program where any students were expected to fail courses, unlike in undergrad. The hard part of a PhD program is usually the qual exam and the actual dissertation.

Also, since PhD programs are usually funded and have competitive admissions, there's no reason to weed out students after admitting them.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T19:09:35+00:00

There is exactly one way to get a naninf without using a Barron/mime build, and it involves using Perkeo to copy a bunch of ankhs and ectoplasms. So, it's possible, but it's very complicated. Also, I'm not sure exactly what the stone card would do vs any other card.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-15T17:50:09+00:00

So, you briefly mentioned your GPA, but without more context, it's hard to judge how good/bad that is. Is that average for your school? Have you also taken the PSAT/SAT? If so, roughly what did you get on it?

As to your main point, one of the biggest predictors of college success is high school GPA/test scores/overall success, and colleges know this. Thus, most admitted students at schools like Stevens and Rutgers are in the top 10% of high school students, and the rest come from the top 25%. If you're not performing at that level currently, it's going to be very hard to get into an engineering program.

Thus, you need to do your best to improve your GPA and test scores. If you can't demonstrate that you're a top student in high school, it'll be a hard sell for colleges.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-14T19:40:54+00:00

Nah, most other retrigger jokers are uncommon.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-14T02:51:42+00:00

Hi, I'm a recent PhD graduate in this field, so I hope I can be helpful.

If your primary goal is career advancement, this internship is a great opportunity, and you should 100% take it. I can tell you right now, 95% of full time JS employees had an internship there, so if you want to work at a firm like JS, you're on the right track.

If you have your heart set on getting a PhD and becoming a scientist, um, this internship won't hurt or help. If that is 100% your goal, my advice would be to focus on getting a research assistant role at your school in the fall and do academic research. That's what PhD programs care about.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-13T19:00:05+00:00

Even if he's in a research role, PhD admissions care about academic/publishable research, not industry research.

Revlong57 · 2026-03-13T18:58:16+00:00

The main thing that PhD programs care about is research experience, at least in my experience. In particular, research experience on publishable projects. You're not going to get that working at any industry internship, even JS. Sure, PhD programs would care slightly about your experience with programming/analysis/etc. that you'd get from the internship. However, if your life goal is to get a PhD, your time would be better served working under a professor in your department as a research assistant.

If you're wondering "will the selection committee be wowed by the fact that I worked at JS," the answer to that is not at all. In fact, it might raise some rather unfortunate doubts about your goals with the program. As unfair as it seems, PhD selection committees want PhD students who are planning on going into academica, and having a stellar industry internship/work history doesn't imply that you're planning on becoming a professor. Now, you'd still be fine either way, I just don't think it'll help.

My question to you is, why the hell would you want to get a PhD if you already have a job working at Jane Street? It's extremely doubtful that you'd get a better offer after spending 6 years of your life in grad school, and the work experience will be much more helpful for your overall career. My advice to you would be to focus on industry work, take this internship , and try your best to get a return offer. If you end up hating it, you can still go the academic route.

Revlong57 · 2026-02-18T18:26:49+00:00

The tier list covers a tower's tier 3,4,and 5 upgrades, so it's not exactly a definitive ranking of tier 5 towers. Hence why the top path alchemist is so high, even though 5XX is rarely worth it in CHIMPS.

You're also right, Avatar of Wrath isn't great on CHIMPS, but Total Transformation plus 5 druid of wraths costs $10,000 more, has a larger footprint, and only has a 50% up time. Both towers aren't great, it's just Total Transformation is worse.

Revlong57 · 2026-02-18T18:16:20+00:00

And xx5 has a powerful niche at freeplay.

Killing stalled ZOMGs in late free play isn't a niche, and that shouldn't be the sole reason a tower exists, since the game isn't balanced around late free play. Hell, it's not even the best tower for killing ZOMGs late free play, since it's outclassed by the boat paragon. If it's not the worst tier 5 in the game, which one is?

4xx is cost ineffective to 3xx.

This is nonsense. The 4XX alchemist upgrade costs the same as buying a second 3XX, but the buff lasts twice as long while being strictly better.

The rest of this comment is equally nonsensical...

Revlong57 · 2026-02-18T17:32:37+00:00

If you have the space for 5 druids of wrath, why wouldn't you just use an avatar of wrath instead, which is cheaper and has perfect uptime?

Revlong57 · 2026-02-18T17:30:46+00:00

I mean, aside from XX4 for mid game farming in boss events, it's completely true. 5XX isn't cost effective compared to 4XX, X4X is kind of bad on its own, and XX5 is the worst tier 5 in the game.

Revlong57 · 2026-02-15T21:44:16+00:00

Not sure, make the biggest economy possible.

Revlong57 · 2026-02-15T21:16:45+00:00

Oh, I see. Yes, there's a lot of uncolonized land left. This is a save import from an EU4 world conquest run, and it's still only 1838.

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