The art of the mix tape (mixing spheres for wins)

[darklogos]

Hello! I'm darklogos the noob of Folrart here to bring some life to this section of the forum. What I'm about to talk about may be new to some but common to most experienced players. I call it the mixtape or better known as mixing spheres. This happens in other games it is often known as min/maxing but I hate to call it that. Mixing spheres doesn't always mean min/maxing but it can be done. So lets introduce some basic themes to our mix tape. The fist mix tape I have for you is called "Beach Tan Tunes". As the deck suggests its a mix of reffess and falkow. Why mix the 2? First off its one of the easier more synergetic combos out there. Second it requires little investment in cards. Third Falkow has all the agi buffs Reffess needs to be a threat. Lets look at one of my decks I'm currently running now.

1 [card=183]time reader[/card]
3 [card=199]spiked shield knights[/card]
2 [card=187]shrine knights[/card]
3 [card=190]Priestess of the Holy Weapon[/card]
2 [card=192]coatl[/card]
2 [card=189]holy dragon[/card]
2 [card=194]priest of the holy word[/card]
2 [card=274]enchanter[/card] (f)
1 [card=275]rapidly flying aprentence[/card] (f)
2 [card=277]invisibility edge[/card] (f)
1 [card=6]holy light[/card]
1 [card=186]judgment hammer[/card]
3 [card=185]blessing[/card]

Now many can say that this deck has flaws. Well yes because I'm limited on cards but the main basis of a mix tape can be seen here. Overlook the fact that this is Big Reffess peanut butter cups for a moment. The falkow units (marked by an (f) ) are mainly there to buff and help the flow of battle in this deck. Slyph can easily do the same thing if you would want to place those in there. But they are nothing more then fodder after they are placed. Next note the low amount of sphere points invested in falkow. It caps at lvl 2. When mixing spheres its best not to invest more then lvl 2 unless you are mixing big monsters. Thats another post in of itself. Rapid Flying Aprentence does one thing Reffess can't do well outside of hp and that is bide you time. You only need to flip the field once. More then that is to much of an investment for what she does. This gives you a turn to get the sp needed to bring out cutol or holy dragon. When you combine time reader with enchanter you can pump your support to become secondary attackers or even make your cutols counter even more dangerous. Now with all that said you may wonder why i only have 2 of most of the cards. The main reason is to fit a diversity of cards in the deck. That is the main function of a mix tape is to get as much in there as possible. The next reason is my own personal limitations. lol. Third you will find you will not need all the buffs all time. Time Readers ablities, mainly her lvl up ablity, are nice but aren't always necessary when you are ahead. Many times she just yells "come kill me". Priest of the Holy Word doesn't really help against units that can lower defense or break through defense. Enchanter doesn't help you if your units have an an agi of 4 or higher. So you got to know when to use which buffer first.

So out off all you said Darklogos can you sum it up for us how to make a basic mixtape.

1. Pick a main Sphere
2. Pick a second sphere that fills in the gaps or boosts what you want to do.
3. Balance your tanks/damage dealers around your main sphere.
4. Put your buffers, and support grimmores(if you can) in your second sphere.
5. Don't invest to much in your second sphere.

I don't need to go into soul skills because if your mixing spheres you already know how to manage your soul skills for your cards. So this is a basic introduction to the mixtape deck. Next time we will talk about mixing big monsters.

[lupos]

Nice write up. I linked all your cards.

[EvilGenius]

Hybrid files are tantamount to theme decks. While fun to play casually, they're never seriously competitive against single Empire files. Play one for fun, but don't expect to win very much.

With that said, I love mixing spheres! I don't have any 4 or 5 star cards to fill up my Soul Slots nor make any competitive files, so rather than try to win, I try to have fun (and sometimes win).

[SadistOkita]

Ha, i got a dalos on my gowen account, but am not sure if i should use it.
I mean i could build a deck around him whit the 2 driads i got and the bonus dmg cards, but it seems so much better when it's in my soul cards. Free revive on unit and 40 dmg to target annoying enemy unit?

Oh and almost forgot to mention how a kurina SS would boost him and the fact that his 3 SP skill dosn't require range!
By the end of the game i could have like 100 or more dmg on him, but is it worth the risk? Gowen is to summon mass units, but the enemy could have some row dealing dmg.

The main problem is, i don't have a labeau SS and no sylphs or undines.

Hybrid files are tantamount to theme decks. While fun to play casually, they're never seriously competitive against single Empire files. Play one for fun, but don't expect to win very much.

Refess is allways mixing.

[EvilGenius]

Refess is always mixing.

I have to disagree with you. Refess may splash another sphere, but the usual Refess file is pure Refess.

[SadistOkita]

I have to disagree with you. Refess may splash another sphere, but the usual Refess file is pure Refess.

Almost every Refess i encounter in Florart is mixing his deck. The ones who don't have only their starter decks.

[darklogos]

Nice write up. I linked all your cards.

Thanks a lot!

thanks a ton.

Hybrid files are tantamount to theme decks. While fun to play casually, they're never seriously competitive against single Empire files. Play one for fun, but don't expect to win very much.

With that said, I love mixing spheres! I don't have any 4 or 5 star cards to fill up my Soul Slots nor make any competitive files, so rather than try to win, I try to have fun (and sometimes win).

I disagree, but i see your point. For the amount of effort you put into another sphere you could put in less in your own sphere and pump it up. But the flaw in that is that no single sphere covers all holes effectively. That is why i pointed out the timing element of when to put out buffers. Even Lawtia, the most self sufficent, sphere can benefit from reffess and falkow. Even a Norwieden fairydance x2 combo is pretty impressive if you think about it. The issues is that Gowen/Lawtia, the two self sufficent spheres, get not as much benefit from other spheres.

Some of the stronger mix sphere experiences come with reffess decks. People are doing the best they can to make that sphere work for them. At the same time they are finding that speed and attack ability are not really on their side. Fore example burning sun spore combo. Or I like to call it burning spore. Is a Gowen players worst nightmare because most of their units don't get past lvl 3 unless they are running big Gowen. Even then the Devouring Lizard shield is going to get effected. But why stop at the spore when you can add in mystical weapon and even a fire arrow.

My question to anyone who has a problem with mixing spheres is this. What do you think the are the major set backs mixing spheres?

[Xovian]

My question to anyone who has a problem with mixing spheres is this. What do you think the are the major set backs mixing spheres?

I ran almost all dual sphere files save Falkow during set 1.

The disadvantage is quite simple: SP generation VS cost effectiveness.

The only multisphere files that can remain competitive are only running 1 SP cost creatures (most often great spirits) but some utilize some outside of that like the Burning Spore. The reason for this is the need to use SP to up a secondary sphere, or using SS that accomplish this.
This can put you at a disadvantage either way. If you use SP outright, it means you are not putting something on the board to take field control. If you are using one of the many SS sphere increasing cards, you are not only loosing that slot, but also potentially loosing an LP you might want later in the game, as all of those SS are lp1.

More often then not, there is a curve in any given match where field control becomes controlled by one Iczer or another, and once established it generally remains that way, outside of certain effects. With dual sphere you give that control up early and have to try to take it back. If you can't get over that "hump" in the match it will be a loss due to the SP disadvantage from the first few turns because you could not gain and keep control of the field.

Next set will likely see more dual sphere as a number of units/characters are based on dual sphere. However single sphere will still almost always net more bang for the buck, simply because focus can accomplish more then diversity fairly often, especially among some of the more hardy spheres.

Not to say it doesn't make the files fun, but it is very hard to make competitive files outside of rush files by going dual sphere.

As to the comment about dual spheres, like using fire arrow?
It would be useless to do so. Most dual files wont be adding more then 3 into any given "extra" sphere. So that would make the card a 30dmg card, which for its cost of 3SP doesn't really accomplish much. So it makes another disadvantage to try and run cards like this in dual sphere.

[Candi]

When splashing (lv1 cards only) or mixing (lv2 or higher cards) spheres you have to look at card levels differently in your secondary sphere.

For example, you suggested a Noirweiden + Fairy Dance combo, since you are playing Noirweiden your primary sphere must be Lawtia, thus Fairy Dance (a level 2 Gowen card) is actually 4 SP for the first cast... That's 2 rounds of waiting, you're going to need some SP generators to overcome that leap. Also, in terms of that particular combo, Blessing is better. Same net cost, greater buffs. Sure, you lose out on the ability to run magic weapon as well (for more AT buffing of your pretty angel), but on the flip side you can also run a Dispel as an anti-DEF grimoire, then use an SS for more AT boost.

So - the primary reason for dual sphere files mostly being "splashed" is because the net cost of the splash cards (say a couple sylphs) is 2 SP, which can be generated in one round that you don't have to revive anything. Once you run level 2+ units you're getting into a tough game where you're sacrificing (as Xovian said) field control for diversity an your diversity had best give you the edge you need to regain field position.

[Logress]

Splashing is great for people who just have starter decks and whatever lower rarity cards they can scrape up. There are some crazy combos out there, like Folrart Paladin and Sylvan Wing. All of a sudden you got one bad **** level three with effectively 10 regenerating DF.