You lost the fight on turn three, but the mistake happened on turn one. Your carry had the damage. What it did not have was Moxie, because you spent the round playing cards in the order they appeared instead of the order that fed the Ultimate. In Reverse: 1999, the difference between a smooth clear and a wipe is rarely the roster. It is whether you understand the small yellow diamonds under your characters' portraits, and almost nobody explains them properly.
Moxie in one sentence
Moxie is the energy that unlocks a character's Ultimate. You see it as small yellow diamonds beneath each Arcanist. Fill enough of them and that character's Ultimate becomes a card you can play, and Ultimates are where the vast majority of a good carry's damage and utility come from.
That is the whole loop: play cards, earn Moxie, spend Moxie on Ultimates. The depth is in how you earn it, because you have far more control over the pace than the tutorial lets on.
The three ways to earn it
Every Moxie point comes from a card action, and there are three of them. Each is worth one Moxie to the character who owns the card:
- Casting an Incantation. Playing a character's skill card gives that character one Moxie.
- Merging two Incantations. Combining two identical-rank cards of the same skill into a higher-rank version gives one Moxie, and hands you a stronger card in the process.
- Moving a card. Sliding a card left or right in your hand counts as an action and grants one Moxie, at the cost of an AP (action point).
The Moxie always goes to the character the card belongs to, not to whoever is "active." That is the detail that unlocks everything else: you decide which character banks Moxie by choosing which cards you touch.
Why merging is the whole game
Here is the trick that separates players who burst on time from players who are always a turn behind. A merge does three jobs at once:
- It grants a Moxie point.
- It upgrades two cards into one card of a higher rank, which hits harder.
- It frees a hand slot, which keeps your options open.
Better still is the auto-merge. When you cast a card that sits between two identical cards, they merge for you without you spending an AP on a manual move. Sequencing your hand so that casts trigger auto-merges is how efficient players squeeze extra Moxie and extra card rank out of the same action economy. You are not just playing a card; you are playing the card that also tidies the two next to it.
The takeaway for a new player is blunt: do not sit on stacks of identical low-rank cards. Merge them. You lose nothing and you gain Moxie, damage, and space every time.
How Ultimates actually unlock
Once a character banks enough Moxie to meet their Ultimate's requirement, the Ultimate appears as a playable card, usually starting from the following turn. A few things worth knowing so you plan around them rather than getting surprised:
- Costs are not universal. Different Arcanists ask for different amounts of Moxie before their Ultimate is available, and characters bank Moxie up to a cap (frequently five for a main carry). Check your specific unit rather than assuming everyone is the same.
- Ultimates can be held. An available Ultimate card does not vanish if you do not play it immediately. You can bank it for the turn where a buff, a debuff on the enemy, or a status window makes it land for double the value.
- Support Ultimates change the math. Many of the best supports exist to accelerate a carry's Moxie or to set up the exact turn its Ultimate should fire. Building Moxie is a team activity, not a solo one.
If you are still learning how Ultimates interact with buffs, shields, and the turn-order clock, the status effects guide and the Afflatus combat guide cover the layers that stack on top of a well-timed Ultimate.
Sequencing a round for the burst
Put it together and a clean round looks less like reacting to your hand and more like conducting it. A reliable template:
- Decide whose Ultimate wins the fight. Usually your primary carry. That character's cards are your priority to touch.
- Merge toward that carry first. Every merge of its cards banks Moxie and upgrades the card you will eventually swing.
- Feed the rest of the AP into setup. Play the support and sustain cards that will still be relevant when the Ultimate lands, rather than burning AP on filler.
- Hold the Ultimate for the window. If a support can debuff the boss or buff your carry next turn, wait one beat and cash the Ultimate into the amplified turn.
- Do not starve your sustain. A carry that bursts but a team that dies before the next window is a loss. Balance Moxie generation against keeping healers and shielders online.
The through line: Moxie is a resource you steer, not weather you endure. Choose which character it flows to, use merges to earn it for free, and time the payoff instead of firing on cooldown.
Building around it
Some teams live or die on Moxie tempo. A carry with an expensive Ultimate wants a support that accelerates it; a team that stalls wants merge-friendly card spreads so no turn is wasted. The team building guide covers those pairings, and the Psychube and Resonance guide shows how gearing choices can shave a turn off your first Ultimate.
When you are ready to slot the right Arcanists into carry and accelerator roles, start with the Reverse: 1999 tier list and the beginner guide, grab the current redeem codes for free pulls, and keep the Reverse: 1999 hub open as new units shift which carries deserve your Moxie first. Once the diamonds start filling on purpose, the whole game slows down in the best possible way.
