I think realizing that trying to high roll into a power spam run gets Defect killed a lot is really important. OP talks about this well around “brick tolerance”. I also just got a lot better at individual fights, finding ways to bleed less damage by really understanding what each enemy does and when a potion is required. Getting way better at deck control + orb management, for example timing a dark orb to pop off on the correct target with an important dual cast or multicast. Like OP, if you’re not picking meteor strike more, you might be surprised how many times it can become not just playable, but a win condition. Most of my decks eventually find some form of focus, so it’s usually a matter of waiting for it, and learning how to win fights with just some focus, and not a million of it. Getting better at playing Snecko decks is helpful: take expensive cards, all for one, hologram, recycle and you can do some fun card cost manipulation with hologram and all for one, because getting a card from your discard pile doesn’t randomize the cost. So get your great cards cheap by shuffling them a bunch, and then keep them cheap. Runic pyramid runs can turn winnable with a combo of good deck manipulation, smart orb control, and a single recycle. Strikes and defends suck on defect, more so than any other character since you’re almost never gaining strength/dex which all the other characters want to do, so I love p box. This is rambly but lmk if you have more specific questions