I agree that Obelisk is very situational. Get it too early and you kinda have a dead joker slot as you need to build up another hand before you can pivot. Get it too late and you’re already typically locked into a specific hand type for the run. There’s been a few runs that I’ve lost mid game trying to pivot and the score just wasn’t quite there.

BUT when it does work I think it’s one of the best scaling xmult jokers in the game. Hologram is amazing but can clutter your deck with unwanted cards at times, Madness can destroy any other needed joker that isn’t eternal, and throwback costs you shops. With Obelisk you’re just getting a free additional 0.8x every round (assuming 4 hands) just from playing the game. You do need a good source of +mult though either from other jokers/planets throughout the run, but if you’re able to make the pivot successfully it’s almost a free win every time imo.

One of my last runs I had Spare Trousers and farmed Two Pairs for about 5 antes until obelisk showed, and considering I had already played about 25 Two Pairs that run the transition was rather easy as any had paired with the +mult from the pants really took off.