I couldn't seem to find a post or discussion page with concise info on getting ready for Metroplex day, so I thought I'd make one.
Get Fireworks Ready
I made two each of the following (one to give to the guy in the Fireworks Trade encounter and one to use myself):
You can buy as many legal fireworks as you want in the University Bookstore. You'll also want to get twisted fireworks by fighting Fireworks Serpents with a Myers sampling kit equipped on the actual day if you don't have them left over from a previous year.
Prepare a Deck for the Intertwined Serpents
This is the bit that made me want to make this post. I dimly remember from previous years that a good strategy is to make a deck 4x Pyrophobia at chain 6 and then 2 each of a Fire tech and an Etheric tech at three other chain numbers. I remember using the cold-themed Etheric tech, although I don't remember if there's an actual mechanical advantage to it or if it's just that the chain numbers work out well.
For what it's worth, here's the anti-Serpent deck I made. I'd love comments on ways to improve it:
| Chain | Techniques |
|---|---|
| 6 | 4x Pyrophobia |
| 5 | 2x Blazing Torch, 2x Serpent Pattern |
| 4 | 2x Nitro, 2x Frost Breath |
| 3 | 2x Fire Serpent, 2x Razor Snowflake |
IIRC what you want to do is equip a cold skull or numbing skull so that Pyrophobia will be effective against either serpent. Then use the rounds before the serpents separate to winnow techniques so you can set up a 4 chain all of one damage type to take out one serpent, leaving you (if everything works out) another 4 chain of the other type to kill the remaining one.
On the day itself
I like to start out non-Etheric to do the Fireworks Trade, set off one of each kind of fireworks, and see all of the different kind of fireworks at least once. The I go Etheric to fight the Intertwined Serpents and restock on twisted firework drops from the Fire Serpents. After doing all of that, hanging around the Docks after I sober up should let me see the finale.