Y’know what, I didn’t realize the flexible worked both while playing it and while playing onto it. I think because the wildcards resolve into the card that they are after you play them, I thought the flexible cards worked the same way, but looking at the screenshot with fresh eyes, the fact that the +-1 token is still on the card when it’s on the pile makes that fairly obvious, lol.
In general, I struggled a bit with the 10/J boundary, and the K/A/2 boundaries. To be clear, that is not a criticism, I think that’s part of what makes your game great, since it’s not just comparing numbers. But yeah, that issue coupled with my confusion on the +-1 and it literally never occurred to me that Q on a flexible 10 was an option.
On my next run, I only ever bought autoplay upgrades, and I went a lot further since I didn’t have to do harder “math”. I got a 35x combo at a couple points, which felt great!