CRYMELIGHT uses the ten standard poker hands. Royal flush down to high card, in the same order. A completed hand raises the effect level of every card in it, which is why five weak cards that form something beat five strong cards that form nothing.
The ten hands
| Hand | What makes it | Realistic |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 10, J, Q, K, A of one suit | No |
| Straight flush | Five consecutive ranks, one suit | Low |
| Four of a kind | Four cards of one rank | Low |
| Full house | Three of a kind plus a pair | Medium |
| Flush | Five cards of one suit | Medium |
| Straight | Five consecutive ranks, any suit | Low |
| Three of a kind | Three cards of one rank | High |
| Two pair | Two pairs | High |
| One pair | A single pair | Highest |
| High card | Nothing | — |
The top four collapse completely if one card is missing. The bottom three complete partway, so the hand keeps improving while you are still building it.
Three families
Every hand belongs to one of three families. Pick a family early and the card screen stops being a guessing game.
Matching ranks — pair into two pair into three of a kind into full house into four of a kind. Each extra card of the same rank promotes the hand, and it is already scoring at two. This is the stable one.
Matching suits — flush. Rank does not matter, but four cards of a suit do nothing at all. You carry a dead hand until the fifth arrives.
Matching sequence — straight. Five consecutive ranks. One gap and the whole thing is worth nothing, and you have to draw the specific rank that closes it.
Straight flush and royal flush need a family and a sequence at the same time. Without stacked rerolls they are not something you aim at.
Five slots, so every card is a cut
The hand holds five cards, permanently. Adding a card is the same act as discarding one.
This is where most runs go wrong: five individually strong cards can complete no hand at all. The game reads the hand, not the cards, so while nothing is formed a strong card and a weak card are worth the same.
The practical version: do not cut the weakest card, cut the hand that will not complete. If you are two cards into a pair and want the third, the other two slots belong to that rank. If you are chasing a flush, give up on ranks entirely.
Rerolls are what make a hand reachable
The card screen offers three and you take one. Once rerolls are unlocked and upgraded, you can redraw the offer, which is the only lever that turns a wish into a plan. More rerolls means a higher completion rate, and it is worth more than any single card effect if you intend to win with hands.
A hand that never completes only leaves you with tougher enemies. The hand is decided at the card screen, not in the fight.
Official mediaWhen the card screen is confusing
Turn the tooltip on. It explains the terms printed on the cards — what a normal attack is, what maximum HP refers to, what that particular card actually improves — on the same screen you are choosing from.
If you are stuck between a strong effect and a card that completes something, look at what your hand already scores. With no hand formed, the strong effect is not doing anything yet.