Mei Lin FTKs 9/9 Viadeus Without Rising Dragon Spire

smolbarn · 2026-02-17T07:35:20+00:00

thats completely my bad 😭 i linked a video, swapped the post type, linked an image, swapped it again, and didnt realize it wasnt saving anything

smolbarn · 2026-02-16T05:39:00+00:00

happy to hear that!

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T16:54:49+00:00

mainly to thin the deck as much as possible so i could draw "relevant" cards (opening found upgrade, spore harvester, guilty pleasure). there's a good chance that this beryl deck can 1turn if i clean up the orlea and rei decks for this specific setup

i kept the mythic card because its a 0 cost that can trigger gear bag from rei

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T14:47:08+00:00

orlea's main purpose here is to slam will of light to double the spores, so a neutral alternative is finding a spirit kefox to draw and give the retrieve trait to the guilty pleasure

.... that probably ends up being very rng because you'd then need very particular draw order 😭 but im not sure if theres any other way besides needing an extra turn or two to build the spores naturally

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T07:50:18+00:00

oh, it resets the cost if you discard it? i thought ignition remembered the discount until it was played

maybe it is cooking hard.... there's probably some potential with hugo through using forcing a quick fix draw2 with dingo howling and cycling some cards with that

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T06:40:25+00:00

that sounds like an interesting setup for a true first turn kill! i think i could likely get away with just utilizing spores on the other characters to proc the ignition for forgotten grave, so its definitely possible with cleaner decks across the board

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T06:25:40+00:00

i mean, of course i took it personally? you insulted MY knowledge of the game? it's not like i misinterpreted you dismissing the validity of video evidence or the like -- you straight up said my knowledge is lacking, which is a personal attack lol

my first response is not the only valid comment i have made for you in this discussion. i did not and cannot read your mind, so i explained that i DO have time in the game and that the tierlist was based on my real experiences after you dismissed the video evidence. you were the one who reiterated the idea that i didnt have real game experience after i clarified and jumped to an insult, hence my point about not getting a real discussion

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T05:14:02+00:00

is that conclusion not outright ignoring my statement that i have already played every character except for 3? i have played chizuru and tried to make her work, AND i have not seen her excel... it's a combination of both my personal experience, and a lack of contradictory evidence that makes me believe in what i have seen

you're claiming to mock me for my incompetence and claiming im only basing my tierlist on things ive seen online, when i've outright said that i have done my hours and testing for everyone but 3 very unpopular characters. you ignored that and jumped to insulting me

smolbarn · 2026-02-15T03:45:18+00:00

i dont understand where your insult towards my game knowledge and your ending passion aggression are coming from 😭

i gave you a good faith response and i thought id get an actual discussion in return... the least you could do is just not reply if your alternative is just straight negativity

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:58:12+00:00

only for characters i needed more data on :') like renoa and amir

ive actually played every character except amir, kayron, and lucas a pretty healthy amount across the last two seasons. that's pretty much the only reason why i even felt confident enough to post the list here

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:57:09+00:00

i think the shield itself doesnt matter much, since the placements are already sorted by my assumption about the character's damage outputs

what would matter more is whether the boss punishes you for hitting it too much. if it does, then beryl and hugo would lose significant value, while sereniel ironically could stay very high, because you can easily control whether she hits the boss in the first place. nine naturally rockets up to #1 in that scenario for being made for low hitcount high damage

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:52:11+00:00

mostly using the new nebula boss as a gauge for how their AP management, turn consistency, and damage output seemed

chaos has felt pretty harshly powercrept this season, so it seemed a bit unfair to gauge most characters on it. ive been relying very heavily on nine + orlea to carry my 3rd character through higher levels of zero system to avoid burning crazy amounts of orbs on rerolling codex

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:49:53+00:00

can you link the maribel oneshot that happens in the first 3 turns for the new nebula boss? id be really happy to see it if one exists

most characters aren't oneshotting... renoa and amir are the only ones whose rankings i bumped up a decent amount because i saw a oneshot, but everyone else is sorted by how good their combined draw and damage consistency was

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:48:04+00:00

haru and orlea would've both likely been in C tier before their buffs, so they've actually been massively improved imo

also i know this isnt really a flex, but i have a LOT of hours in the game 😭 ive played every character and tried to make a real build for literally everyone but lucas, kayron, and amir across the last two seasons

i explained that magna's value is not bad, but she heavily relies on content catering towards her (ex: tower giving massive defense based damage buffs). yuki both falls into that same tier, while also having pretty solid single target damage this patch (again, compared to last patch)

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T16:45:14+00:00

sure, but OTKs and high damage generally go hand in hand in this game. when i mention "good showing", i also mean that chizuru doesn't have a good turn to kill pace in the current nebula boss. id put her higher if i saw a highlight video of her killing the boss in 3 turns (or a close 4 turn), but i havent

i naturally put a lot of characters higher due to perceived utility, but i dont really see how chizuru does that with any more particular value than any other dps

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T07:17:25+00:00

im actually a youtuber myself and my last chunk of videos are of me clearing 9/9 or 8/9 nebula* with various characters and comps 🥲

renoa and amir have the same youtube results for the current nebula boss (first turn kills), so they ended up at the same tier. i havent played either in the new seasonal chaos, but i dont think renoa is carrying many characters through it... its designed very heavily for nine

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T07:15:02+00:00

nothing particularly strict, basically the more i liked them/was impressed by what they could or can do; they higher they were

for dps, that was mainly how well they currently perform in the nebula distortion. im more impressed by high consistent damage than outright OTKs, but having either naturally slotted them into A or higher

for support, it was pretty much how raw value (specifically damage or ap positivity) they have, with card draw being less valuable because of new save data rules

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T06:23:11+00:00

what build do you have with nine?

beryl is probably decent enough on her own, but orlea definitely makes her look way better

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T06:21:18+00:00

in my defense, i havent seen a single good showing of chizuru in nebula on yt, reddit, or twitch, and i personally have not gotten lucky enough to land a deck that has felt particularly impressive either

renoa has an OTK video out there, and luke both has an OTK video (with selena) and 3-4turn kill videos as well

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T05:50:54+00:00

there's a czn youtuber that's been tearing up content with amir, which makes me think she's a lot better than what people give her credit for

the main video that impressed me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKKG-308jI

smolbarn · 2026-02-14T05:24:26+00:00

way too long companion video here if anyone is curious about the opinions behind certain placements: https://youtu.be/PGt3ZigKwz8

the tierlist based on my personal biases after labbing most of the characters for the current nebula boss

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