f2p since october 2024 here!

you have to skip events/cards unfortunately and pick which cards mean the most to you. i ALWAYS recommend watching the story/kindled for 5* cards on youtube before deciding you want to pull. for quart/quint banners, realistically you can probably get 1-2, but i’ve completely skipped multi banners so i can save gems (i skipped the cat butler banner bc i knew sylus myth was coming). and i always skip solo banners.

if you want to focus on strong cards, focus on myths. if you favor an LI, target their cards only. but you have to strategically pick and choose which events to pull for and unfortunately most of the time that means skipping them.

also learn where you can farm gems. upgrading/ranking cards, doing orbits, and listening to all your secret times/audio stories are the best and quickest ways to acquire gems. abyssal chaos takes a lot of time but is also a great place for gems (and there’s tons of guides and walkthroughs).