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Unconnected Marketeers (2021)

Duration: 25:30

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4

First lunatic no death :)

I talked quite a bit about strategy in the video but didn't really get into everything I didn't pick - there are 5 main categories of card you might want to pick and a few synergies that are really nice to have, and since you only get 3 starting cards it's hard to pick. Those categories are:
1. Damage cards. Centipede is clearly best-in-class here, Wolf is second. They don't stack which helps, and whichever multiplier is currently higher gets used. I went for Centipede as this is a no death run, and so half of its condition is already resolved. This does make Mike harder though.
2. Damaging active cards, like the fang, sun or moon. I get into bad situations with the fang (from another run) so I ruled that out on a consistency run. The sun has an excessive cooldown, and I felt that I already had enough damage guaranteed.
3. Death avoiding cards. There's two of these, "Money is the Best Lawyer in Hell" and "Death Avoidance Elixir". I went for the latter as bombs are more immediately available and I can't use them due to the Centipede anyway. These do stack and it was a real consideration to take both - but I figured I could potentially pick up the latter later, and other items could prevent more hits.
4. Bullet clearing cards. There are a few of these but to me, Raiko's Drum was the only real choice due to its incredibly fast recovery. Something like Psychokinesis clears more but is less frequently usable, and I valued being able to use the clear more times in a fight than having a more effective single clear.
5. Economy cards, like Kiketsu Matriach's Threat or Yamawaro Shopping Technique, for more gold or more use of gold. These would combo very well with Lawyer if I ever found it. Patchouli's Spell Before the Fall also combos with the Death Avoidance Elixir really well, and while any of these are good choices they didn't fit into my loadout. Lucky Cat With Good Business Sense would have been a solid pick too to help with finding synergistic cards, but since it's always available in Stage 1 (unless you run into the bug...) I planned to buy it there if there was nothing better.

So I went with Centipede, Elixir, Drum, and hoped to find Lawyer or Spell Before the Fall, though I was happy without about a third of the available pool.
Stages 1 and 2 are pretty easy, Sannyo's nonspells are terrifying, Stage 4 is brutal, and Stages 5 and 6 are easy enough with max Centipede and Reimu homing. This still took me about a half-dozen good attempts to pull off, though. Touhou 18 is a pretty hard game that gives tools to make it easier - I'd probably rate it in the middle of the pack for difficulty to clear even with that in mind. UFO lunatic continues to be my best "recent" accomplishment.

Technically second lunatic no bomb but I don't really count this due to the cards - the cards fall into a few categories and I think most invalidate this sort of accomplishment, as most no bomb runs also avoid the main gimmick of the game. PCB border breaks or TD trance would be silly if they were abusable in a run about dodging with few mistakes. To that end, for UM personally, a "true" no bomb run would follow:
1. Active cards are just banned, too much damage or bullet clearing
2. Passive cards that clear bullets (Annoying UFO, Idol Defense Corps etc.) are banned, no point if they clear bullets
3. Equipment cards are fine (though to avoid excessive damage, probably only one?)
4. Other passive cards are fine - including Reliable Tanuki Apprentice (never go below 3 power) and the Wolf Spirit card (+40% damage). Centipede is maybe too OP but it only helps on NMNB so I wouldn't pick it.
5. Buying lives is fine.

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