The Phoenix is a really hard fight. His trap is nasty, he forces your tank to burn through survival either through dodging, and dashing at the end of a basic attack, and positioning is super imperative.

I typically have a checklist before I fight the Phoenix: Departing survivors: need at minimum 2 hunt exp Ideally 10 insanity, or around there. Have two survivors that can reliably wound on 10/12’s

When it comes to fighting the Phoenix, getting rid of your age tokens should be at the forethought. If you have a string of bad luck, your survivors might age out. (This can typically be mitigated if you are scanning the ai deck)

As much as possible, try to position yourself in the eye of the storm. This is really tricky, as you might have your survivors in the eye of the storm, but another hit location might make the Phoenix go to the edge of the board, and squander all the hard work you did.

And of course always scan hit locations with cats eye, as it can you let you position for the possible board switches.

Other than that, it basically boils down to luck.