This is driving me crazy. I can make it to Final B consistently, but my resources are usually drained to no lives and a few bombs. Here's a general outline of my usual run;
Stage 1:
9 times out of ten I get through without dying or bombing. I'm good here.
Stage 2:
6 times out of ten I beat this without bombing/dying as well. However, for some reason the horned owl spellcard has been killing me more often when before, I've had no problems.
Stage 3: It all goes to hell here, starting at First Pyramid. By the end of the stage I use about 8 bombs total, losing two lives. The noncards and Legend of Gensokyo get me more than the others, though.
Stage 4: I hate Marisa so much, and the stage before her. I use 2 bombs on average on the non boss parts, and then from there I either have an easy time (Event Horizon/Starlight Typhoon'Double spark = cake, even though my strat for that last one uses one bomb) and then others, like Asteroid Belt, Shoot the moon, and some of her noncards, make me use two bombs at a time, and that doesn't even count deathbombs, in which case it'd be 3.
Stage 5:
The actual stage part of it is pretty tame, but Tewi wrecks me. At least, her first noncard does. The second I can get 3/4ths of the time. Reisen seems to be a mixed bag to me, she used to be very difficult, but now if I'm lucky I can get away with only using 2 bombs. Otherwise, it's like Keine and I get destroyed.
Stage 6:
If I'm lucky, I have about 3 lives, 2 bombs to last me with another one coming from the points the enemies drop. Most of the time, though, I have nothing. I die before even reaching Kaguya. Since you actually have to beat a stage to practice it, I can't do much here, just hope for the best. The farthest I have made it so far is Hourai Jewel, which I managed by lucking out/bomb spamming the Divine Treasures. If I can make it that far, I know I'm capable of finishing this, but I need a little help. I'm pretty frustrated, I've been at this for a week or two and stopped showing consistent progress a long while back. Any good survival tips? Any good strats for some of the more difficult cards, like Legend of Gensokyo?