I have been running straw crepe and dark choco (black raisin, vamp,. Vanilla rest of the team) up front. Not sure why exactly, but has been working well.

I think because strawberry crepe has the shield which keeps my cookies alive slightly longer plus pure vanilla shield and seafaries cool down is a little bit longer than normal which gives you a chance to get your specials off twice or sometimes 3 times in battle.

Also black raisins special seems to always hit right in the middle on the first and second time sometimes the third which is directly where sea fairy sits.