Hello, everyone! Recently, Ye Mingming Musician has hit a plateau in climbing ranks. I’d like to initiate a discussion on Ye Mingming’s gameplay and counter-strategies for some mainstream decks in the current meta. This article is also posted on my Bilibili account, "阿宽的音乐屋" (Ah Kuan's Music House). Your support is greatly appreciated!

First, Ye Mingming is undeniably strong during the Immortality phase this season. With lv.2 Crane Footwork and Styx Agility, you can consistently do turn-three Weakened + Concentric, which causes headaches for most Immortality-phase decks. However, the heavy rolldown in Immortality often leaves you lacking Soul Cleaving in Incarnation, leading to insufficient end power; when encountering a deck that can win in three moves, this puts you in a disadvantaged guessing game. Moreover, even after navigating various guessing games to reach the finals, Ye Mingming often struggles against Wu Ce and Ji Fangsheng, pretty much 9-1 matchups (and there's the mirror match, too). Thus, figuring out how to derive a win when the opponent makes a mistake, or when we have a slight quality advantage, becomes the key to getting first place.

In this article, I want to break down a typical Ye Mingming match into three phases: pre-Immortality, Immortality to mid-Incarnation, and the finals. If anyone thinks there's a better division, please share! Before diving in, let’s also briefly touch on the importance of relic choice:

Relic choice really depends on the individual, since oftentimes you may not even get the relic you want. Below, I’ll discuss strategies for playing Ye Mingming with specific relics.

Many people believe that Ye Mingming is better suited for Mirror of Stars than Furnace of Void, but I don’t entirely agree. Ye Mingming performs well with both the Furnace and Mirror; the choice often depends on the matchups. Why does Hua Qinrui prefer Mirror? Hua requires fewer critical cards, whereas upgrades don't significantly impact her battle strength. For Ye Mingming, however, whether or not you get to 40 Agility is a game-changer. Ye Mingming is a character with a high floor and and a likewise high ceiling. While she can get going with just one Elusive Footwork, achieving 40 Agility and a lv.2 Soul Cleaving is often crucial for securing victory in finals against powerful opponents (particularly Ji Fangsheng and Wu Ce). Therefore, I don’t recommend just going Crash Fist on Furnace.

Sometimes, Furnace can even make an opponent stumble—like when an unlucky Wu Ce misses Hexagram Formacide until the very end—providing us with a significant advantage. As for Mirror, Ye Mingming’s strength there needs no further elaboration. Additionally, in matches with many Hua Qinrui players, you can let Queen of the Mirror Hua Qinrui do the heavy lifting, then eliminate her in the finals.

If you end up with Pot of Xuanming, I recommend sealing a Musician card in the second round and exchanging the Water (since on Round 5 you’ll usually break through by cultivation). This increases the chance of obtaining Kindness Tune. When many opponents are on Sword Intent, Dharma Spirit Sword, Hexagram Thunders Yao Ling, and Metal Tiger, you can use the Water in Immortality to make Xuanming Regen Tune and combo it with Exercise Marrow to win by max HP (vs. Metal Tiger only in Immortality and early Incarnation). Before you find Heartbroken Tune, Xuanming Regen Tune can also help make qi.

[ Screenshot of a bunch of first places on Furnace ]

The moon waxes and wanes makes Ye Mingming strong in Meditation. I usually save my cards on Round 2 to find pairs, and break through on Round 3. It's best to build some Physique early in case in Virtuoso-phase battles you're unable to reach the second cycle. I typically use Embracing Qi Technique to play Sky-Piercing Claw, then Mountain Falling to clear Styx and Internal Injury.

The best Foundation-phase Immortal Fate is Mark of Dark Heart; besides making qi reliably in Immortality, it can also in endgame combo with lv.max Styx Agility to do turn-two Weakened + Soul Cleaving (or Concentric). If it's not there, then choose Entering Styx.

[ Screenshot: Round 4
1. Mountain Falling (lv.2)
2. Crash Fist - Poke (lv.2)
3. Crash Fist - Bounce (lv.2)
4. Mountain-Cleaving Palms
5. Embracing Qi Technique
6. Sky-Piercing Claw (lv.2)
"A relatively ideal transit; of course, you don't have to exchange for this exactly" ]

In Virtuoso, if you have Kindness Tune, just fold. If you don't, do your best to deal damage; we can't beat anybody in Virtuoso anyway. If you lack Embracing Qi Technique in Meditation, lack Exercise Tendons in Foundation, and face heavy pressure in Virtuoso with everybody able to kill you in the first cycle, I suggest spending some-teen exchanges, looking for Exercise Bones, Bearing the Load, Subdue Dragon, Crash Footwork, etc. to boost your strength and build Physique. (Breaking through on Round 8 by Physique is too important!) After breaking through to Immortality, even with fewer exchanges, the combo of Subdue Dragon, Crash Footwork, and Tremolo still provides decent battle strength.

[ Screenshot: Round 5
1. Gone Crazy
2. Embracing Qi Technique (lv.2)
3. Youthful Vigor (lv.max)
4. Exercise Tendons
5. Kindness Tune
6. (Normal Attack)
7. (Normal Attack)
"Fold, you can always fold!" ]

Important: With The moon waxes and wanes, Ye Mingming has the potential to go first on Round 6, but I don’t recommend it. I believe Ye Mingming’s key to quickly stabilizing Destiny during the Immortality phase lies in forming a coherent system. On Round 8, we need many cards to exchange with, because it often happens that you'll find half the cards for each of the Crash Citta-Dharma, Crash Footwork, and Elusive Footwork decks. With too few cards, you’ll have to exchange one set away, and end up with mismatched cards, unable to assemble a complete deck. (For example, you'll exchange Tremolo and draw Subdue Dragon, or exchange Shake and draw Crash Citta-Dharma, etc.) Furthermore, on Round 6, given that we didn't exchange, we probably can't win even going first; better to hoard cards. For the same reason, on Furnace, don’t think that if you don't make enough Physique you can chill and break through by Cultivation; this approach makes it difficult to stabilize Destiny in Immortality.

This phase is likely the most dominant period for Ye Mingming in the entire game. We need to take advantage of this period to deal big damage to our natural foes! Below are some oft-seen transit concepts:

[ Screenshot: Turn-three Weakened (Round 12)
1. Crane Footwork (lv.2)
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Styx Agility (lv.2)
4. Heartbroken Tune (lv.2)
5. Ghost Howling (lv.2)
6. Concentric Tune (lv.2)
7. Styx Agility
8. Soul Seizing (lv.2)
"Apparently it's been a long time since I've had this in Immortality; the only example I could find was from Incarnation" ]

[ Screenshot: Surging Waves (Round 10)
1. Crane Footwork
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Styx Agility (lv.2)
4. Gone Crazy
5. Surging Waves
6. Overwhelming Force (lv.2)
7. Surging Waves
8. Overwhelming Force ]

[ Screenshot: Regen Tune (Round 9)
1. Crane Footwork
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Regen Tune (lv.2)
4. Crane Footwork
5. Exercise Marrow
6. Exercise Marrow
7. Gone Crazy
8. Soul Seizing (lv.2)
"Lu Jianxin Fortune-Teller invincible in Immortality? Eat my Regen Tune!" ]

[ Screenshot: Xuanming Regen Tune (Round 11)
1. Crane Footwork (lv.2)
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Xuanming Regen Tune
4. Gone Crazy
5. Surging Waves
6. Overwhelming Force (lv.2)
7. Soul Seizing (lv.2)
8. Concentric Tune (lv.2)
"I drew half each of the cards for Regen Tune and Surging Waves" ]

[ Screenshot: Surging Waves (Round 15)
1. Crane Footwork (lv.2)
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Styx Agility (lv.2)
4. Surging Waves (lv.2)
5. Gather Intense Force (lv.2)
6. Overwhelming Force (lv.2)
7. Soul Seizing (lv.max)
8. Soul Seizing (lv.2)
"Surging Waves is also extremely strong in early Incarnation" ]

Generally speaking, if you break through on Round 8 with enough cards to exchange, you can generally win-streak from Round 9 (Round 8 depends, often also winnable). Apart from Weakened + Concentric, there's also Regen Tune vs. Metal Tiger, Sword Intent, and Hexagram Formacide. If you don't have enough Agility, Surging Waves + Overwhelming Force is also very good; you can even try Surging Waves + Ghost Howling + Overwhelming Force + Concentric Tune. In Immortality, unless your draws are too unlucky, there are few opponents Ye Mingming truly fears; she's so strong that you find Cloud Sword - Avalanche dealing less damage than Tiger Pouncing, disgusting!

This is often tricky because the needs can vary significantly between matches. Apart from the usual choices of Solid Foundation or Recuperate at low Destiny, and The Way of Adaptation or Shattered Dao when low on exchanges, I want to discuss the options of Cultivation and Mark of Dark Heart.

Cultivation:
In the finals, Ye Mingming can typically only contend on Cultivation against fellow Duan Xuan members, Lu Jianxin, Hua Qinrui, and Lin Xiaoyue (occasionally). Against traditional Lu Jianxin, Lin Xiaoyue, and formulaic Hua Qinrui builds (which includes most Hua Qinrui decks, to be precise), we can reliably win even when going second. The critical question is whether to contend against Ji Fangsheng, Tu Kui, or other Ye Mingming (that's right, Xiao Bu doesn't count :doge:). If your Immortality build is cohesive, the field has many Duan Xuan players, and your Destiny is healthy, I generally recommend picking Cultivation. To win the finals against fully-geared Ji Fangsheng or Tu Kui (Soul Overwhelming Palm), going first is essential. However, if there are many Ye Mingming players, quality might be more critical than Cultivation, in which case, I recommend Shattered Dao, The Way of Adaptation, or Solid Foundation instead. Against Wu Ce, it's hard to go first; you might be able to sneak ahead in an even-numbered round when her Destiny is high and she holds cards, but doing so often requires ditching your entire hand, so I wouldn't recommend it unless it's critical.

Mark of Dark Heart:
Incarnation-phase Mark of Dark Heart and Elusive Footwork (not Styx Night Footwork) combo well. Two lv.2 Agility cards combined with Mark of Dark Heart and two Elusive Footwork cards (Styx Night Footwork plus the original) make 40 Agility, enabling a finals-level build in early Incarnation. Mark of Dark Heart is particularly good when the other options are poor—for example, when your Destiny is high and you find Solid Foundation, Fortunes and Luck (a.k.a. Colorful Spirit Crane), Mark of Dark Heart. Stygian Moonlight is a joke, feels inferor to Entering Styx.

An Immortality-phase build can generally win until Round 14 or even 15, at which point it's basically the finals.

Typical finals conditions:
1. Opponents with turn-three kill potential or high burst damage (making turn-three Weakened too late).
2. Opponents you’ve previously countered with disruptions, where strategies like qi removal and anti-Chase may no longer work.
3. Opponents not affected by debuffs (Star Moon Hexagram Fan, Giant Tripod, etc.)
4. We have 40 Agility and high-level Soul Seizing and Exercise Marrow
5. We have Chord In Tune + Predicament for Immortals
6. We have a lv.2 Soul Cleaving
7. We have a lv.1 Shura Roar

Let’s discuss some of the tougher matchups next.

1. vs. one lv.max Heaven Hexagram

Since with one lv.max Heaven Hexagram, she'll play Flame Hexagram and Propitious Omen, Star Trail Divination will do a lot of damage. Followed by Fly + Hit, it's pretty much lethal in the first cycle regardless of Weakened, Decrease ATK, Soul Seizing. Our only viable strategy here is to go all out and kill before Fly + Hit.

Example:
1. Crane Footwork (lv.max)
2. Heartbroken Tune (lv.max)
3. Styx Agility (lv.max)
4. Styx Night Footwork
5. Soul Seizing (lv.max)
6. Soul Cleaving (lv.2)
7. Ghost Howling (lv.max)
8. Soul Seizing (lv.2)

Note that Heartbroken Tune must precede Styx Night Footwork, otherwise it's not enough damage. Turn three must be Soul Seizing in order not to die to Star Trail Divination, and Soul Cleaving in order to dodge Star Trail Divination's DEF; turn-four Ghost Howling Ignore DEF.

2. vs. lv.max Heaven Hexagram + lv.2 Heaven Hexagram

Against non-Duan-Xuan characters, this Wu Ce line can heal on turn three and kill on turn four. But against Ye Mingming who heals on turn three, it may not be lethal in the first cycle. With The moon waxes and wanes, in theory we should have higher quality than Wu Ce. (Else what justice is there? Here I'll only discuss the scenario where we have equal or slightly higher quality.)

Against this Wu Ce line, we want to heal on turn three and kill on turn six.

Example:
1. Crane Footwork (lv.max)
2. Styx Night Footwork
3. Styx Agility (lv.max)
4. Ghost Howling (lv.max)
5. Soul Cleaving (lv.2)
6. Soul Seizing (lv.max)
7. Soul Seizing (lv.2)
8. Exercise Marrow (lv.2)

Turn six is Ghost Howling + Soul Cleaving. Without Heartbroken Tune, be careful of not having enough qi. Against a character like Wu Ce who deals damage every turn, without Heartbroken Tune we'll make 4 qi in a cycle; too many copies of Soul Seizing will get us stuck making qi. Turn six must be Soul Cleaving, not Concentric Tune, in order to deal damage. In this situation I often make the mistake of turn-two Styx Agility + Soul Seizing, which misses lethal in the second cycle; so remember to put it later.

3. vs. Strike Twice + Star Moon Hexagram Fan, five-turn big combo

If she goes five turns, we can kill on four. (It's a guessing game, of course.) Don't think about applying Weakened, it's not survivable.

One effective tactic is to use Surging Waves to reach 40 Agility and apply Force to Ghost Howling + Soul Cleaving. For example, in this match otherwise lacking 40 Agility, but having high-level Shura Roar and Soul Seizing:
1. Styx Agility (lv.max)
2. Shura Roar (lv.max)
3. Styx Night Footwork
4. Concentric Tune (lv.2)
5. Crane Footwork (lv.2)
6. Surging Waves (lv.2)
7. Ghost Howling (lv.2)
8. Soul Seizing (lv.max)

It's just a matter of figuring out whatever maximizes your damage in four turns. A common pattern I’ve observed is to play Styx Night Footwork on turn two after applying Internal Injury on turn one, as failing to apply it early often results in insufficient damage in four turns. Lv.max Styx Agility and Styx Night Footwork is a typical quick setup combo for the finals.