so who will be the better ploy boi

I think Arvis is better because he already comes with a Ploy skill.

Then again, I don't know about Saias' skills, but I don't think he comes with a Ploy in his default skill set.

He will come on wednesday, not tomorrow.

Arvis is better, +1 spd makes much difference and he can be +4 already, while Saias can only have +2 for months.

And Arvis have Recover Ring, a skill that gives him a lot more utility than Saias.

ARVIS SHALL NEVER BE REPLACED BE A BLUE IMITATION!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think they're really comparable. Saias is a Blue tome, while Arvis is a Red tome. Arvis has significantly less competition as is because of the severe lack of Red mages, while Saias has to compete with all sorts of powerful mages like Delthea, Linde, and Micaiah.

In a vacuum situation, disregarding tome color, I believe Arvis is marginally better. This is only because Arvis can literally have anything Saias can have, because of Skill Inheritance, and also have Recover Ring, which -technically- means he has more flexibility.

But if we look at stats and minimal skill inheritance, I actually think Saias is on equal ground. His Res-side bulk is marginally higher thanks to a +3 Hp and +1 Res. His Res bonus doesn't help out much more with Ploy skills, because the only difference is he can now ploy against Arvis and Sheena. Sheena prefers +Res builds, so that doesn't really work, and Saias wins vs Arvis anyways. The reason I think Saias is equal in a minimal-inheritance context is because of Spd ploy. While Arvis has Defense ploy, he can't get as much value from it because well, he hits the Res side. Additionally, only physical-side teammates can take advantage of the debuffed enemies. Saias has Spd ploy, which is much more useful to him on a personal level, since it could help a middling-speed mage like him get doubles better. It also can help all teammates, since everyone appreciates avoiding doubles and doubling enemies in return.

Essentially, in a minimal inheritance budget-build world, Arvis is better as a team support (consistent healing), but Saias is better as a singular unit (more useful debuffs). Equal grounds. So it really depends on what you're using them for in a team. Obviously, you can just give Arvis Spd Ploy, and have the best of both worlds

I think they're hard to compare, but in my opinion blue mages have more use and speed ploy is the better ploy skill.

Arvis will still be a bit better in my opinion. While Saias as an easier time getting all 4 ploys at the moment, speed ploy is coming as a sacred seal sometime, so both can use their base ploy and a seal, it’ll just take time. The big difference is that recovery ring Arvis has. It makes him just barely better giving him the option of being a combat medic. The color also doesn’t matter as much since their job isn’t combat, but support. While Saias will still be an incredible ploy mage, Arvis will just be a hair better.