If you haven't gone through all of the ingame tutorials at the Mimic Mansion, I recommend that you start there before using this guide. If you have done that and built the confidence to manipulate the panels to your liking, but don't know how to efficiently win against the various CPUs, then this guide is for you. I have seen the various modes of this game to be difficult to optimize for even the best players in the community.

Below are my approaches to each of the game levels in the 1P Stadium based on my past experiences with the game. These strats work best when you have the ability to make chains as fast as you want. As the leaderboards suggest, these methods have served me well. Still, almost nothing in this game is 100% consistent so feel free to experiment and see if you can find a way to advance the CPU metagame.

One thing is certain, though: it's faster to create two rows of garbage at a time than just one.

Easy

Gary/Brock Simple: x5 chain + multiple combos Advanced: Open with an 8 or 9 combo into a x4 chain with at least one more combo Goal: 6-7 lines of garbage

Everyone else Simple: x3 chain + combos Advanced: Open with an 8 or 9 combo into a 4 or 5 combo for an x2 chain Goal: 4 lines of garbage

Gary and Brock are not cooperative in that they won't ever raise their stack. Fortunately, everyone else will so you can get away with sending less to them.

Normal

Gary x5 chain + combos

Everyone else x4 chain + combos, double 4-combos recommended

First off, Gary is the only uncooperative one in this mode. Secondly, the "double 4-combo" strat of starting your chains with two combos of clearing four panels at once starts to see some real benefits here. It becomes a rather mandatory strat to start your chains in S-Hard so you can imagine what it does here. Finally, most of my fastest wins in this mode come from the following strat:

Start with 4-combo. Make a 4-combo in the x2 chain link, make a 5-combo in the x3 chain link.

Hard

x4 chain + combos, double 4-combos recommended

Most of my fastest wins in this mode come from the following strat: Start with 4-combo. Make a 4-combo in the x2 chain link, make a 5-combo in the x3 chain link.

V-Hard

x5 chain + combos, double 4-combos mandatory

You might be able to get away with sending smaller chains early on. You might also have to make larger chains the deeper you go. Keep an eye on your opponent's stack. It may help to keep your chain alive so long as your opponent keeps chaining, especially in the second half of the run.

Effective October 2020, I am trying more refined strategies for this level. They are as follows, c/o my Twitter:

• In the first half, start your chain ASAP and make it x3-x4 with as many combos as you can find. Follow it up immediately with as many combos as you can find. I got so many 10-20 second kills with this it was ridiculous.

-In the second half, raise your stack close to the top before you start your chain and make it x5-x6 with as many combos as you can find. Follow it up immediately with as many combos as you can find. I have little understanding of why this works, but the timing of the attacks frequently felt better when I delayed my chain.

S-Hard

First 8 stages <= x6 chain + combos, double 4-combos mandatory

Second 8 stages raise stack to full (usually while flattening stack), double 4-combos mandatory, chain until opponent stops chaining

Timing becomes critical here. Keep an eye on your opponent's stack. In general, I have been the most consistent with chaining until my opponent stops chaining to leave them with as few panels as possible to address my garbage. Larger garbage creates more screen-shake, however, meaning you'll have to wait a little longer for that grace period to run out on them. It's why I'm not a fan of sending a chain greater than x6 in the early going.