>>46726697By being mindful of your paycheck and knowing how to hoard. For instance I basically, across the whole month of feb and March, bought the special packs tied to the anniversary, monthly (except the 3k + ticket, that one is not very good) and Iris's event to have those in reserve. Then I used the myraid of free gems to spark for a 3/5 Iris and still have about 20k paid gems for Lopunny.
Another thing is choosing your targets and your timing well. Depending on your paycheck (because you kinda have to be a working adult in order to afford it) it's often way better to space out payments weekly than to just buy everything in one go. Specially if discount packs last longer than 2 weeks.
As for targets let's say, I want Diantha and Easter May both 3/5 and have a spare Striker Candy. With my non-paid gems I managed to get 100 mileage and a single 1/5 Diantha. I still have 21,000 paid gems and, so I could actually continue, however with my remaining gems I can't spark so there is a very real chance I get to taste dick and get nothing for my troubles.
Next comes Easter May and delicious Lopunny. She's a seasonal, and those come with Tiered Scouts. In order to max out the steps and get to spark May you need 20,200 gems which is within my budget.
From there it's a matter of gauging your chances. And wouldn't you know there is greater chances of me pulling Easter May twice across the steps and sparking the 3rd (or at least pulling once, sparking the second and using the candy) than of me pulling Diantha twice with no chance to spark.
Not only that if I do it this way I at least get to cover the worst case scenario and get guaranteed one of each, whereas if I go for Diantha first and I get nothing I end up with only a 1/5 diantha and eating a dick.
From here it's super easy. Everything after May is an easy skip.
