Yi Xian guides

cardpool.txt

Each player has their own pool.
There are 8 copies of each card, except only 6 copies of Incarnation cards.
Exchanging and absorbing don't return cards to the pool!

Effects that gain a specific card create an additional copy of the card,
including Daoist Rhyme Omen choices other than At Own Pace. Generally,
effects that draw specific kinds of cards create additional duplicate
copies of cards in your pool, notably, Immortal Fates like Mental
Perception and Inheritance of Cloud Sword. At Own Pace takes a card out of
your pool, and the same is probably true of other simple draw effects such
as Thunder Tribulation. Wu Ce's Virtuoso Immortal Fate, Best Choice,
probably takes a card out of your pool, and the same is likely also true of
other effects that draw card(s) from a specific phase. Wonderful Strokes
creates new copies. Card upgrade effects like Enlightenment Elixir don't
take anything out of your pool.

Not only do exchanged and absorbed cards not return to the pool, exchanging
or absorbing a card makes the remaining copies of the card less likely to
be drawn. The exact workings of the mechanic is unknown. It doesn't apply
to Practice Writing, and probably not to other cards with exchange or
absorb abilities either.

An exchange won't give you another copy of the same card.

Each round, your first exchange has an increased chance to draw a
current-phase card.

If you stay at a phase and keep exchanging long enough, you become
increasingly likely to draw Deviation Syndrome, a useless card with the
text "There are no other cards!". In Meditation phase, it happens after
seeing approximately sixty to seventy cards (not always the same number).
I think it takes long enough to happen that it shouldn't deter you from
early-phase reroll strategies. But you should probably move on if it does
happen to you in a game.

One hypothesis I thought of that's almost plausible is that perhaps
whenever you exchange or absorb a card, a random number of additional
copies of that card are removed from your card pool. But it doesn't explain
why sometimes you get a couple more successful exchanges (drawing normal
cards) after drawing your first copy of Deviation Syndrome.

econbasics.txt

Yi Xian Econ basics, by Rorita

2023-3-9

translated by Xom from
https://discord.com/channels/1034354641070198794/1083243436263616583

The following is in reply to 1nferno, who wrote, "Comparing Yi Xian with
Teamfight Tactics, there's a similar skill of econ management. I'd like to
ask everyone, how do you make decisions on rolling, leveling, and Immortal
Fate choices?"

I. Exchanges

Save your exchanges as much as possible until relatively many of the cards
for your desired deck are available in your phase, then exchange the cards
in one breath.

It's also good if the cards you're exchanging for remain useful in your
endgame deck. Considering the proportion of later-phase cards in most
endgame builds, generally speaking, the later the phase at which you start
exchanging, the better. Of course, there are exceptions, which require you
to understand the deck and gameplan you're aiming for.

Exchanges outside of this are less helpful for endgame, but you need early
exchanges to maintain strength to protect your Destiny total.

II. Breaking through

When you've collected enough of the cards you want at your current phase,
you can break through. (That is, when the proportion of useful draws and
exchanges diminishes below a critical point.) Don't forget that you can
still get earlier-phase cards at later phases, so if you can wait until you
get there, it's often better to wait and exchange the cards all at once.

Generally speaking, not every phase has cards you want. (Or it has too few,
and exchanging is not cost-effective.) When you reach a new phase, you may
wish not to exchange, yet fear being too weak if your deck stays the same.
In this situation, an oft-seen strategy is to stay a little longer at the
earlier phase and in one breath exchange for a deck strong enough to last
you until you reach the phase at which you want to exchange for your
desired deck.
(It's as though you're skipping a phase. Often the desired later phase is
Immortality or Incarnation, and the earlier phase is Meditation or
Foundation, where the shallow card pool makes it easy to upgrade cards.
The resulting deck may not even be weak by the standards of Virtuoso.)

Also, don't forget to consider the average quality of the cards drawn each
round, and the max HP increase from breaking through.

III. Immortal Fate choices

The benefit of each Immortal Fate can be modeled and quantified to a
certain extent; for example, drawing one card can be decomposed as follows:
a. seeing one card, equivalent to one exchange
b. holding one more card, which can be exchanged or played in the deck
c. +1 cultivation

The effect of the same Immortal Fate also differs per phase.
Think more and play more to gradually understand what's worth choosing.

Generally speaking, character-specific Immortal Fates are designed to have
a greater benefit as measured by the model than other Immortal Fates of the
same phase.

Of course, you must also consider the synergy with your subsequent build and
strategy:

For example, if you're in a dominant position and have a lot of Destiny,
choose Thunder Tribulation to snowball and increase your cultivation for
even higher endgame strength; if you're weak and low on Destiny, choose
Recuperate to gain time to build your deck and stabilize.

If you're lagging in cultivation behind most or all of your opponents, and
you've already reached Incarnation, choose Solid Foundation and you can much
ignore the cultivation loss and get only benefit.

With Yan Xue's initial Immortal Fate, Bloodline Potential, choosing
Recuperate lets you draw more cards.

Playing Sword Intent / Dharma Spirit Sword, choosing Meteor Quench can give
you one more turn to build up your combo.

IV. Cultivation

Cultivation has two benefits: breaking through sooner; and going first in
battle.

The former is as already discussed; later phases have the powerful cards
that most decks really want. The sooner you break through, the sooner you
improve the draws and exchanges you get each round. (Which can snowball.)

The latter's dynamic is that it only matters who's ahead, and it doesn't
matter whether the difference is 1 or 20, so you should only go for it if
you can win the contest. Always keep your eye on the cultivation of the
other players (which basically depends on their Immortal Fates, how many
cards they hold, and possibly Talent Elixir [TL: or Flying Owl Reishi]),
in order to judge the cost-effectiveness of contesting their speed and
determine your policy on competing for cultivation.

For example, if most of your opponents get more cultivation than you from
their character-specific Immortal Fates, and the few characters whom you can
compete are near to elimination, then contesting cultivation is relatively
cost-ineffective. Conversely, if you easily outspeed most of your opponents,
then competing with the remaining one or two opponents playing
high-cultivation characters is also relatively cost-ineffective.

But note that later in the game, once the gap in cultivation is established,
it's hard to change. Cultivation often matters more and more the later it
gets in the game. (Between endgame decks, the direction of victory or defeat
is often decided in the first few turns, and going first is crucial.) It's
not the same as before when you judged the cost-effectiveness. In the
finals, losing in cultivation is a dire disadvantage. (Because you won't
face any other opponents, every round you suffer the disadvantage of going
second.) You must consider your own chances of making the finals, the
individual chances of your opponents, and the importance of the first move
against each of their decks.