Partial summary of 橙意十足的宝川's Tan Shuyan Musician Vitality transit guide

Summarized by Xom from the first part of 橙意十足的宝川's 2023-5-21 Musician Vitality transit and endgame particulars guide at https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV11V4y167R2/

Round 1

Try to make a six-turn kill: 40 damage, except against Nangong Sheng, who has 38 HP. Dotted Around is less damage than Shifting Stars, but you can consider playing it for the DEF if you can still make 40 with it. Sometimes you might play Zhen Hexagram + Dotted Around + Striding Into the Wind. Otherwise, if you can't make a six-turn kill, prioritize damage; in this situation, Sparrow's Tail is better than Striding Into the Wind even without Hexagram.

Round 2

The first thing you should do each round is to look at your opponent. In Round 2, if there's a chance you can win (without merging cards), you should maximize the chance. If you have Carefree Tune, that often means breaking through and playing Carefree Tune for a seven-turn kill. But not always. If they have DEF or healing, it greatly diminishes your chances with Carefree Tune. If you have a good deck that efficiently produces and consumes qi and/or Hexagram, don't break through. Due to the position of the star point, often you have a turn-seven kill even if you play a Normal Attack in slot four. Do so if it increases your chance of winning (due to going first, with 7 Cultivation). If you don't think you can win, you might as well break through. If you broke through, if your other card is Carefree Tune or Flank, play it. Otherwise, before exchanging, absorb it to trigger Study Hard. Exchange until you get Stillness Citta-Dharma, Kindness Tune, Carefree Tune, or Flank or a better attack. He doesn't mention Sky Spirit Tune. I would keep it if it's Round 2. But Flower Sentient or Imposing should probably be exchanged. (Maybe settle for Sparrow's Tail or Cutting Weeds if you're almost out of exchanges?) Pay attention to the position of your Consumption cards, and of Only Traces when you're playing Flank; play around the opponent's DEF or healing (for example, turn-one Wood Spirit Seal).

Foundation phase

If you didn't break through in Round 2, do so on Round 3. If you didn't trigger Study Hard in Round 2, do so on Round 3.

Make use of your 3 qi. Any consumer is good; Striding Into the Wind is playable now that it's not your only attack. Astral Move - Stand and Point don't have to be on the star point. Scout all of your opponents to determine whether you need to play or hold a Hexagram card for Golden Rooster Independence, and what other tech cards you need later. If you have Kindness Tune, you should almost always play it, unless you have double Stillness Citta-Dharma. When you don't have Stillness Citta-Dharma, don't hesitate to throw away Flower Sentient and Imposing. You can even consider throwing away Sky Spirit Tune. Absorb cards aggressively to go first, but don't absorb if you have no chance to go first.

Kindness Tune can be merged without thinking. You can consider merging Stillness Citta-Dharma or not. He prefers not to merge attacks, but you can consider it. Don't merge qi cards unless you have Stillness Citta-Dharma, and even then, consider not merging.

Daoist Rhyme Omen (Round 4): Chord In Tune > Great Spirit > At Own Pace

You can consider other cards based on circumstances. For example, if you haven't found Stillness Citta-Dharma yet, you might consider reserving Extremely Suspicious in order to protect your Destiny in Immortality. Or if there are lots of non-scaling opponents such as mono-Metal, you might reserve Regen Tune.

If you break through on Round 5 after reserving a Dao Rhyme card, you'll be short a card. If you picked At Own Pace, break through on Round 5 unless you are very weak. If you reserved a card, break through on Round 5 if you are very strong. If you don't break through on Round 5, break through on Round 6. Expend all exchanges before breaking through, in case you're offered Epiphany.

Virtuoso-phase Immortal Fates

Epiphany is best.

The value of Rejuvenate depends on how many opponents are playing multi-hit decks and on how many copies of Stillness Citta-Dharma you already have; if you have three or more, it's probably better than Birdie Wind; otherwise, Birdie Wind is probably better.

+2 Cultivation, if you merged very few cards, lets you break through to Incarnation on Round 11, which is desirable against opponents who break through and roll down on Round 11. (But you have to be very good at rolling down on Round 11 yourself, which is a difficult skill.) Otherwise, picking Birdie Wind and breaking through on Round 12 is fine.

Fortunes and Luck is not bad. Thunder Tribulation you can only consider if you are very strong and there's no Epiphany or Rejuvenate (since being very strong implies lots of copies of Stillness Citta-Dharma).

[Xom]

The older video was January 2023 and this one, in which he seems no longer to feel as strongly about it, was May 2023.

[Xom]

In an older video he says that Cultivation is better than Birdie Wind because your bottleneck at Incarnation is having cards to exchange. (By way of illustration, he points out that Lantern Spirit Awakening, despite costing you an exchange whenever it draws you a card, still significantly improves your quality in early Incarnation by giving you cards with which to use up all the exchanges you hoarded.)