Montabi Team Planner

Montabi fights are won or lost on a 3×3 grid where you control a Trainer and two active Montabi at once. Cards come from personal decks, action points (AP) govern tempo, and Trainer death ends the entire run. Team building is therefore a logistics problem: who holds the threatened column, who spends AP on setup, who finishes after Flavor or Resonance windows open, and who you tame with biscuits when the map offers a wildcard.

The team planner below is a structured sketchpad. It will not simulate enemy AI or guarantee shop stock, but it forces you to name roles before you buy random Equipment from a vending machine or slap Stickards on the wrong card. Use it after Getting Started, alongside the Trainers hub and Builds hub, and before you spend an evening chasing rank unlocks for Fighter or Chef.

The three-layer team model

Think in layers every time you plan:

1. Trainer layer —What does the leader do every turn? Student moves pieces; Fighter pressures the front with stances; Chef manipulates Flavor on cards.
2. Montabi layer —Two active decks supply your win condition: burst, bleed, control, or scaling.
3. Item layer —Charms, Equipment, Supplies, and Stickards from Items amplify the plan—or dilute it if you buy off-theme.

A team that looks strong on paper fails when layer three contradicts layer two. Example: a bleed Montabi wants Stickards that add riders, not charms that only buff raw HP if you never reach long fights.

Grid roles that actually matter

Assign concrete jobs instead of “damage dealer—labels:

• Column anchor —Occupies the tile enemies want to hit; protects Trainer HP.
• AP banker —Plays efficient setup cards and carries AP when rules allow, enabling double turns later.
• Finisher —Converts debuffs, Flavor buffs, or Resonance stacks into eliminations.

Montabi’s row and column attacks mean position is a role. A Montabi with strong movement belongs in plans that mention who gets shoved after each card—not only who deals numbers.

Biscuits, bench slots, and mid-run pivots

You tame wild Montabi with biscuits after victories. Your planner should include a flex slot: a third Montabi you might swap in for one elite fight even if it is not in your ideal duo. Note biscuit priorities on the map—chasing every wild is how you arrive broke at Gotcharm.

Evolutions at level 5 and level 10 rewrite decks mid-run. When you sketch a team, ask whether both Montabi still perform their jobs after those spikes. If only one evolves cleanly, your finisher role may need to shift to the other partner.

Cafe, thinning, and tempo

The Cafe heals and removes cards. Teams that plan around thin decks should note which Montabi deck gets trimmed first—usually the setup deck once key pieces are online. Teams that rely on wide hands for combo turns should note when not to thin, even if HP is full.

Tempo ties back to AP. If your planner assigns both Montabi as spend-every-point aggressors, verify the Trainer can still reposition on bad AI rolls. Student teams often win by never leaving the leader in a kill column; Fighter teams sometimes accept Trainer risk—but only with supplies and equipment that justify it.

Cross-check with meta pages

After you fill the planner, sanity-check against the Tier list for starter strength and synergy notes, the Review for launch-week feel, and Updates for balance changes. If you are still choosing a leader, compare passives on Trainers before locking the planner fields.

For draft-night questions, run the Starter picker first, then return here with two names in mind. Montabi released August 6, 2026 on Steam/PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch as a single-player roguelike deckbuilder from Mankibo, published by Akupara Games—the planner is tuned for that launch ruleset.

Example planning prompts (manual)

Before you click save on your mental plan, answer these in plain language:

• Which enemy attack pattern ends my run if I mis-position once?
• Which shop room fixes that weakness—Stickards, charms, or supplies?
• Which Montabi evolution changes who holds the front row?

Good answers make the interactive planner a checklist you can execute on the city map, not a wish list you abandon after the first loss.