The Sea Rebel season brought four Variants: Azure Astrologer I, Spudchant I, Math Melon I and Joe Tycoon I.
Full context
The Sea Rebel season brought four Variants: Azure Astrologer I, Spudchant I, Math Melon I and Joe Tycoon I. This page replaces the four short launch posts and answers the question that matters when you spend Sprout Coins: is the Variant better than the base card?
The short answer, per the wiki simulator, is no. None of the four beats its base card on the simulator tier list from Oct 21. Each one has a deck where it makes sense, and that's what this page covers.
IF YOU'RE JUST STARTING
- You need the base card to get the Variant.
- The Variant inherits the base card's level. Level up the base and the Variant goes up with it.
- Base and Variant can't be in the same deck: it's one or the other.
Details and source
Three rules from the official tutorial apply to every Variant:
So the right order is to have a strong base card first. If you're still collecting your core cards, save your Sprout Coins. The where to get each card guide and the Variants page show where each one comes from. In the deck builder, turn on "allow variants" to see if any of them fits your deck.
THE COMPARISON IN NUMBERS
- Azure Astrologer 75.5 (2 decks) vs Azure Astrologer I 28.4 (1 deck).
- Spudchant 69.4 (3 decks) vs Spudchant I 42.2 (none).
- Math Melon 67.6 (4 decks) vs Math Melon I 33.1 (none).
- Joe Tycoon 56.7 (1 deck) vs Joe Tycoon I 23.4 (none).
Details and source
Score from 0 to 100 on the simulator tier list (Oct 21) and how many of the 34 strong-player decks each card appears in:
AZURE ASTROLOGER I (COST 5)
- The base gives a flat amount (+4/8/16 ATK) to a frozen Minion, or to itself if there is none. The Variant gives a share of its own ATK and has no fallback: with nothing frozen, its Ready does nothing.
- Use: freeze the Minion you plan to buy and keep it as the only frozen one, so the bonus doesn't spread.
- For top players: the base is one of the cards that grows most with level in the simulator (+28.7 points at level 12), while the Variant loses points at both measured levels (−6.7). The base's strong combo is with a frozen Chuckleberry: every +1 ATK it gains in the Shop becomes +6 on your Minions at level 12. The math is in Is Chuckleberry unstoppable?.
Details and source
Official text: Ready: gives 20%/25%/30% of its ATK to 1 random frozen non-Azure Astrologer Minion in the Shop. Level 8: 23%/28%/33%. Level 9: 26%/31%/36%. Max level, per the patch notice: 38%/43%/48%. It comes from the Club Shop.
SPUDCHANT I (COST 3)
- The base gives 1 free Shop refresh on every purchase and barely fights (1 ATK). The Variant trades the refresh for a discount.
- Use: a cheap opening. In round 1 (10 Sun), the first Spudchant I costs 1, leaving 9 for other buys.
- For top players: the base's refresh is worth something all match, the Variant's discount only on the first copies. That's why the base shows up in 3 strong decks and the Variant in none. The Variant only wins in a deck that wants Spudchant at 3★ early, which is rarely the plan.
Details and source
Official text: the first Spudchant you buy each match costs 2 less and gains +1 ATK. Level 4: applies to the first 2. Level 7: the first 3. Max level, per the notice: the first 6, with +6 ATK.
MATH MELON I (COST 5)
- The base gives a flat +6 to the target, no conditions.
- Wiki math: at +2 per purchase, the Variant only ties the base on the 3rd purchase of the round. In a 12-Sun round, Math Melon I (5) plus two cost-3 cards (6) is 3 purchases. If the Melon itself counts, it ties at +6; if not, it loses. The text doesn't make this clear, and it still needs checking in game.
- Use: buy it last, after the cheap purchases. It does better with discounts: Seed Peon (cuts the purchase price by 2) and Spudchant I. The ATK is permanent (the text doesn't say Temp), so put it on your main Minion.
- For top players: the Variant's simulator gain is small (+3.3 at level 10 and +4.3 at 12) and it doesn't appear in any strong deck. In the Black Market Vault stage of the Club Race (buying lowers your board's ATK), it's the worst pick.
Details and source
Official text: Deploy: increases the selected Minion's ATK by +2 for each Minion purchased this round. Level 7: 2 to 3 per Minion. Max level, per the notice: +4 per Minion.
JOE TYCOON I (COST 8)
Official text: Deploy: increases the selected Minion's ATK by +1 for every 2 Suncoins spent this round. Level 7: 2 per 2 Suncoins. Max level, per the notice: +5 per 2 Suncoins.
- The base gives +8 to the target, spends all your Suncoins and adds +2 ATK per coin spent.
- Wiki math for a 12-Sun round at base level: the base, bought with 12, gives 8 + 2 × 4 = 16 ATK. The Variant, bought last after spending everything, gives 12 ÷ 2 = 6 (if its own cost counts). With 20 Sun banked, the base reaches 32 and the Variant 10.
- The Variant's advantage is that it doesn't empty your Suncoins. In a deck that lives on banked Sun, like Dragon Hoarder (+4 ATK for every 5 Suncoins), the base Joe wrecks the economy and the Variant doesn't.
- For top players: the base is in the deck builder's prebuilt rush decks (score 74 with a 105 HP Captain and 90 with 150 HP) and in the summon deck with Variants on (86). The Variant is in none. It only makes sense in a Sun-banking deck, and even there the simulator keeps it in tier D.
WHEN THE VARIANT IS WORTH IT
- Azure Astrologer I: only if you already play around a frozen Shop every turn and want the bonus to scale with its ATK.
- Spudchant I: a deck that merges Spudchant early for economy.
- Math Melon I: a deck with lots of cheap purchases, outside the Club Race.
- Joe Tycoon I: a deck that needs to bank Sun and wants a cost-8 buff without emptying its Suncoins.
Otherwise, play the base card.
SOURCES
Text and levels: card pages (version 2.0.1021). Max level: official patch notice, Sept 29, 2026. Variant rules: official in-game tutorial. Scores, use in strong decks and gain per level: simulator tier list, Oct 21, 2026. Prebuilt decks: deck builder (Oct 21). Math and uses: my analysis.