JP 20-Box Update 2: Planning for Zaerog∞

I got a bit impatient and decided to stone stamina to max level Hanzo and evo Satsuki. 20-boxing seems to be at odds with non-IAPing; just buying five spaces with a single stone would’ve saved me quite a few stones in the past and more in the future (not to mention quests refunding you a stone each for 30 and 50 box space). The very nature of the challenge is of patience — something that I failed at in this isolated instance — but with the goals that I want to achieve in the next six weeks or so, I think some amount of stoning was necessary to meet the deadlines (the main one being the Summer REM). Being able to reevaluate the resources you’re used to under the restrictions of the challenge is also important: the time cards take up your box space is a major restriction, so spending resources to free those spaces will be a trade off you have to make for the sake of time, even if they come at the cost of potential rolls. Better planning might’ve saved me from this situation, but that’s partially why I’m now doing this blog series.

As for what my goals are now, it’s mainly just one: start work on Zaerog∞. For my main, this is a trivial task that I could finish in a day. However, the nature of 20-boxing makes each evo material feel like it’s own, arduous step. The use of each box space must be planned carefully and must be balanced with stamina use. This comes at an awkward time, though, as I’m also planning to buy Claire when the Summer REM returns, presumably mid-August. This means I’ll need to have enough box space to both buy Claire and finish Zaerog, should I still be working on him when the event hits.

New Challenge: Get Zaerog∞

If I’m going to continue to give this account attention, I need some long term goals. When it comes box space, perhaps the greatest challenge is finding room for ultimates that require three evolved cards as materials. Zaerog∞ fulfills this challenge and as a result I get a good leader and sub. The impetus of this account is to acquire cute cards and see what dungeons I can beat with them, but I still want to prioritize advancing in the game. Getting a great card like Zaerog will definitely help.

Calculating Needed Box Space

The first step in planning will be clearing the requisite amount of box space. There are two ways to go about this:

1. Get Zaerog∞ first, then evolve the materials: nine box space required – The advantage of this method is that I can throw Badpys into Zaerog as I get them. While I can hold a certain number of Pys in my mail (Challenge and Radar rewards, mainly), stream Py rewards generally come in the form of a one-time dungeon and go right into the box. Considering Zaerog will require 10 Badpys, it might be best to get him ASAP so no stream rewards go to waste.
2. Evolve the materials first, then get Zaerog∞: eight box space required – Doing it in this order requires one less box space. This is obviously preferred, but I might miss out on some stream Pys.
3. The best of both worlds would be to start with (2) then switch to (1) should there be any stream rewards. Since Zaerog is a coin dungeon, we should be able to get him at any time.

Taking Overflow Space Into Consideration

As noted earlier, you can still run dungeons when your box is exactly full (in this case, exactly 20/20). This allows you to collect some number of materials in the overflow space. In general this gives you a single extra box space to work with, but in some cases you can get two or more drops from a single dungeon (the best example might be running Gold Keeper for evos that require two different, non-Rainbow keeper types). Unfortunately, there’s no great way to take advantage of this for Zaerog. At best, when ueoving the original Zaerog, you can run Rare Evo Rush in hopes of snagging the correct Trifruit and Devilit at the same time, but that’s a 1/6 chance for a dungeon that costs 99 stamina per run. This isn’t exactly something I can afford to chance.

Taking this into consideration, the box requirements can be lowered as such:

1. Eight for the normal method, seven for the risky method.
2. Seven for the normal method, six for the risky method.

I think taking the middle road and planning for seven box space is the best way to go. I don’t think I’m willing to risk Rare Evo Rush.

Which Cards to Cut

The aim is to only cut two cards. While I’m not excited to do so, the decision won’t be too difficult this time. However, since I’ll likely have to make this decision again down the road and it’ll only get harder, I’m going to go over all my cards rank them from least to most likely to sell to hopefully things easier when that time comes.

Card	Notes
	Kite is the prize of my box, but I just don’t see myself using him in the future. Since he’s also ugly, there’s little incentive to keep him around even with the possibility of future buffs (even after certain spoilers he’s still pretty ugly…). Almost guaranteed to be sold. Selling him would put a greater emphasis on grinding team cost so I can use Yomi Dragon as a heartmaker on all my teams.
	There’s no need for two bind clearers and despite being ugly, Yomi Dragon wins. I kept Sleeping Beauty around this long because there’s value in an active bind clear that can also contribute true damage, but I can’t justify it any longer. I’d probably keep her if her true damage hit all enemies, but that’s asking too much from a silver. Almost guaranteed to be sold.
	Similar to Sleeping Beauty vs. Yomi Dragon, there’s no need for two delays. Orochi might be off-color, but just a single turn extra turn of delay is huge.
	I thought Baggi would be one of the first cards to go, but his dragon typing gave me second thought; both Zaerog and Satsuki would be able to make good use of him despite being off-color. Wanting him for so long an NA makes me reluctant, but I think I can eventually part ways with him.
	I’m stubbornly holding on to Facet. The main reason being that she’s my best bet for clearing the Arenas since my box is largely TPA-based. Not that I think I’ll be able to clear 2 or 3 anytime soon, but who knows what the future might bring? The chances of Satsuki, Nephthys and Lumiel getting uevos this year is fairly high and they’re all compatible with TPAs.
	Lumiel has always been a strong consideration to sell. It’s even greater now that I have Satsuki as a triple pronger, but it’s hard to sell cute and I’m going to continue hoping that her uuevo will make her better. With Sleeping Beauty likely biting the dust, her laser becomes more valuable.
	Lilith has more immediate applications, but Orochi is the choice for the long term since SI is so important. I don’t think I’ll ever co-op this account, but if I do it’ll be with MHera and the delay will be a critical part of that team.
	I don’t consider him as universally good as Castor, but a couple killers — devil being particularly relevant — on an otherwise solid sub and SI base is difficult to sell. He’s a bit awkward as a sub on my Haku team since he changes fire orbs, but I’ll be glad I held on to him if I ever get a leader like DMeta, Pandora or Persephone. He’ll also make a nice sub on Summer Claire should her leader skill get buffed and he also qualifies for Satsuki’s updated leader skill. He’s also a prime base for Orochi, his orb change being quick enough to be back up after the delay.
	As much as I wanted her, she isn’t all that amazing; she’s still great, but Pandora or Persephone would do so much more for my box. However, the haste synergy with Castor and Haku is pretty strong, especially when Hanzo also gets to benefit from it. I’m looking forward to a uevos, as much for the art as the buffs.
	Even if she wasn’t an MP card, even if I never had the team cost to run a decent team for her, it’d still be hard to sell the best card in my box. I’ll eventually grind the ranks to make better use of her.
	Yomi is my best leader after Yomi Dragon. Even if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be selling her anytime soon; those sweet, sweet time extends are too good.
	For 20-boxing, flexibility matters. Castor can sub on just about every type of dark team and do it well.
	Haku has a few of my favorite pieces of art in the game so there’s no way I’d sell her. Would I sell a trip? Maybe.
	See above.
	Nep is the entire reason why my box looks the way it does (instead of a Kaede box… the regrets). If her uuevo is garbage, I’ll wait for her Awoken; that’s how much I’m committed to her at this point.

The Plan

So, with everything, mind, here’s who I’m planning to go forward. Box space usage is noted in parentheses, minimum stamina needed is noted in brackets.

1. Clear Dragon Rush for Zaerog Drop (16/20) [66]
2. Gather Pirate Dragons (21/20) [250]
3. Uevo Pirate Zaerog (16/20)
4. Feed Kite to Pirate Zaerog so +297 transfers to Zaerog∞ (15/20)
5. Gather Samurai Dragons (21/20) [250]
6. Clear Dragon Rush for Zaerog Drop (16/20) [66]
7. Uevo Samurai Zaerog (16/20)
8. Sell Sleeping Beauty (15/20)
9. Clear Dragon Rush for Zaerog Drop (maybe use same session as step 6) (16/20) [66]
10. Gather materials (Super Dark, Trifuits, Devilit) (21/20) [250]
11. Uevo Zaerog (16/20)
12. Clear Zaerog∞ for drop (17/20) [50]
13. Gather jewels (dark, water) (19/20) [100]
14. Evo Zaerog∞ (14/20)
15. Buy Claire (15/20)

1098 minimum stamina, not including stamina to gain access to the Samurai and Pirate Dragon technicals.

This will be a true test of patience for me. The temptation to stone and just get everything done in a week is extremely strong. However, I probably have at least a full month to pull this off so I need to try my best to do this entirely on natural stamina. My stamina will really be stretched thin as new events hit JP as I’ll need to finish any Challenges for Pys and complete any new dungeons for stones.

Notes:

• Willing to stone (RIP Summer Pandora rolls).
• Will likely buy last trifruit from MP shop. Don’t want to have to go through 33% hell to get the last type. Consider using evo pal machine?
• Will likely buy jewels from MP shop if there’s no challenge available, but Dark Challenge should hit soon so I’ll probably only have to buy a blue one.
• Will have to sell another card (probably Lilith) to make space for Zaerog∞ if there are more stream reward Pys before evo materials are finished. Looking to stone if that’s the case.
  • The next JP stream is on the 28th, so I’ll probably have at least two weeks before stream rewards, assuming we get any at all, are distributed.
• Aiming to at least get all evo material Zaerogs evoed before Claire leaves the MP Shop (likely late August if it follows the same time frame as last year). Don’t actually have to acquire and evo Zaerog∞ before then. Will have to stone otherwise.
• Dragon Rush will be Legend Plus, hopefully 100% drop.
  • Team:
    • Awoken Yomi lead to ensure enough damage and erase DFagan time debuff
    • Satsuki for damage and to take advantage of Beyzul water skyfall buff
    • Lumiel for Extreme King
    • Fire Haku for dragon killer
    • Orochi/Lilith for Zaerog absorb shield
    • Have to stall on Wangren and Beyzul for actives, maybe have to stall more?
  • Add more Yomi friends.
  • Finish Satsuki awakenings.
• Zaerog∞ will be Legend Plus.
  • Team:
    • Probably Awoken Yomi lead for damage and time extends for Zaerog’s combo requirement, but maybe Awoken Haku for Shieldra floor
    • Fire Haku for dragon killer
    • Hanzo for devil killer
    • Satsuki for all-around damage
    • Baggi for Zaerog dispel, surviving Shieldra floor and stalling in general.
• Skill up via Badpys. Thank you, JP.
• Would be nice to awaken via dupes and maybe get a few skill ups in the process, but any of my dark teams will have trouble with the dungeon. However, if the dungeon isn’t too bad, we can take our time doing this since there’s no rush after we assemble all the materials.