Should You Pull? 300 Seal Crystal Ultra Festival

This Prayer is unlike anything in Touhou LostWord so far, and as such what you really get out of it can be a little unclear compared to a standard Prayer transaction of 50 Seal Crystals or however many God Crystals. New players are probably wondering if it’s worth sinking a good chunk of their Crystals into, while experienced players may be wondering if the allure of a UFES/FES friend they don’t have is worth the chance of possibly getting someone they already have. This article will go over all the pros and cons of pulling on this Festival for all levels of players.

As it is certainly the strangest Prayer so far, here's a quick overview for the cost, reward total and possible Friends acquired for participating: You pay 300 Seal Crystals (no coins required) and receive a 10x Prayer which includes a guaranteed Friend. Then, after the Prayer is concluded, you gain 600 God Crystals as a bonus. Also, this Prayer can only be done once. 

The list of possible Friends acquired from this Prayer is large, but to keep it simple, the timeline for the cutoff of which Friends appear is as follows, as per Live with Phantasma #13:

・Ultra Festival Prayer Friends who have been implemented in-game up until 2021/12/31.

・Festival Prayer Friends who have been implemented in-game up until 2022/2/28. Universe A Friends are excluded, except Marisa (Scarlet)(A6) & Reimu (Scarlet)(A6).

・Standard Prayer Friends who have been implemented in-game up until 2022/2/28.

The Prayer lasts about one week, from 4/7 after maintenance to 4/14 1:59 UTC.

There are 86 Friends total in this prayer, and the chances are unweighted for any particular Friend; each Friend has a 1/86 chance to be welcomed. To see a full list of all 86 available Friends, the Touhou LostWord official site has one for this Festival, as well as in game when the Festival goes live.

So, to get right to it: Should You Pull?

For a new player, it’s pretty much a no-brainer; the chances for getting a new Friend will be very high as you naturally won’t have many to begin with, and seeing as the normal rates for a guaranteed Friend is 750 Seal Crystals, this is explicitly 2.5 times cheaper than a normal guaranteed Friend. And if you’re really new, you can use the God Crystals to complete some of the important early game upgrades to your account, such as the 3 extra School EXP slots, or the 1 extra Dojo Skill EXP slot, and still have a lot of God Crystals left over. But even if you’re finished with those, the 600 God Crystals can be saved for something only new players can access: the 72 hour 300 God Crystal banners. These banners are a 10 pull that guarantees at least 1 of the 6 Festival Friends. There are 2 of them back to back as you start a new account, so make sure to check which friends are on each and pull accordingly for what you want. If you're a newer player but not completely new to the point where the 72 hour God Crystal banners are still up, you can still save for Ascending Step-Up banners’ 60 cost Step to make for a total of 10 10 rolls, which each have a guaranteed Friend and 10 Fortune Dust. That’s a lot of Friends, and just rolls in general considering the low cost.

For an experienced player, although there’s a lot of good Friends in there (considering most Friends are in there), the anxiety of spending 300 Seal Crystals to get a duplicate Friend may be too much to make it a worthy gamble. Essentially, the more unique Friends you already have, the riskier this Festival becomes. However, it may be worth it anyway for the same reason as given in the new player section; the 600 God Crystal bonus is a pretty significant sum, and whether you’re a new or experienced player, 100 rolls with at least 10 Friends guaranteed and 100 Fortune Dust is a lot of rolls, a lot of Friends and a lot of dust. Alternatively, 600 God Crystals is more than enough for a costume, if you're interested in getting one of those without having to painstakingly saving up God Crystals or having to spend money.

Overall, a very unique Festival that allows for players to acquire a guaranteed Friend and large amount of God Crystals (which are normally at a pretty low income for free to play) at the cost of a moderate amount of Seal Crystals. And although 300 Seal Crystals might seem like a lot to a new player, it's roughly the Seal Crystal income of about 2 weeks of daily/weekly quests, so the tradeoff isn't too bad overall.

However, Byakuren (Fantastic)’s Festival will also be running throughout the time of this Festival (Until 4/17), so if you’re interested in her it may not be worth diverting your attention for if you don’t have enough Seal Crystals for both. Also, Touhou LostWord’s 1st Anniversary is approaching in about a month, so there are bound to be lots of Festivals and new Friends coming then as well, although we don’t have any idea what they are yet. But if you do choose to Pray here, good luck!