If your only goal is to find the same colors twice, you might be luckier with looking those colors up on the
Dragon Search page, finding two dragons with them and changing their breed and genes to those you desire. If you are breeding for less rare genes (
rarity guide here) there are some technically rarer genes that are super cheap, which will allow you get a better outcome at less cost. Keep in mind that breeding projects will supply you with a lot of "wrong" hatchlings that you can exalt/sell for profit, which can supply you with treasure regularly.
Example 1:
I want my breeding pair's babies to have the tertiary gene Gecko, which is of Uncommon rarity. I bought two cheap dragons, one of which has a Glimmer tertiary (rare) and one Peacock (common). If I breed them, there is a 1% chance of Glimmer, and 99% of Peacock. I could both buy them Gecko which would amount to a 100% outcome, at the cost of two uncommon gene scrolls, which tallies up to 380 000t on the MP with no discount.
If I only buy one Gecko scroll and apply it to the dragon with Peacock, I will get outcomes of 2% Glimmer and 98% Gecko, for literally half the cost. Given the average egg count in a nest is 3, the chances I get the wrong hatchlings are extremely rare, and thus I will be able to sell the perfect combo at my hatchery.
Example 2:
I want my babies to have Swirl as their primary gene. I've bought two cheap dragons, one of which has Swirl, but the other has Clown. These are both Common genes, meaning my pair has a 50/50 chance of each, something undesirable for a hatchery. Buying another Swirl scroll tallies up to 150000t on the MP with no discount, and would give me a 100% chance for Swirl on my hatchlings.
However, due to them dropping as Coli loot, the gene Python (limited) sells at ~45000 on the AH. Changing my Clown dragon to Python will cost a third of the Swirl scroll and give me an outcome of 10% Python, 90% Swirl.
A lot of people on the site breed dragons indiscriminately for fodder, so chances are unless your combo is super rare, it'll be found in two dragons of different sexes that already exist. If they pass the
Assay Bloodlines test - you have yourself your pair.
If you only find a single dragon with the right colors on the site, you can use the
Line Method to "only" breed for the mate, which reduces the probability of inbreeding by a lot. You just need to make sure your pairs and the single dragon with the right colors don't share ancestry.
If you're out of luck and there truly are no dragons out there with your colors ever, the Pyramid Method is the alternative that has the most risks. It will also allow you to breed for genes/breeds without having to buy scrolls. In this case I recommend making a family tree type chart to track down what dragons are related to whom.
Misc tips:
I've recently ran into an inbreeding issue like yours with my own breeding projects. To make it short, I purchased a bunch of different dragons to make me several pairs. I later purchased more dragons to make more pairs with the intent of breeding their babies together to narrow the range with the Pyramid method, but discovered inbreeding between some, narrow range oblige. While I had ran the Assay Bloodlines tool between my individual pairs, I had not between different pairs... Whenever I discovered inbreeding I listed the common ancestry in the dragon's bio like
here, allowing me to keep track when looking at my dragons.
Once you've checked your parents to avoid inbreeding between the pairs, you also need to make sure you don't cross generations the "wrong" way. If your end goal is two have two dragons that can breed, I recommend keeping the planned ancestors of each dragon separate in a way or another. Example: I am currently breeding for
triple-gem gene ancients. Because I don't wanna buy three gem scrolls, I am forced to breed the gem genes into existence, into a range that doesn't exist for my outcome. What I am doing is separating by "goal": I want a final pair that can give me what I want: my three desired colors, and my three desired genes. I have been working on those two separately. I only breed gem genes dragons with each other with the end goal of a line that gives me the right gene combo and approximate colors, and I only breed the dragons with the best colors together to get a line that gives me the right color combo regardless of genes. Once I have this, I can breed pairs of mates that I can nest in rotation to increase my (poor) odds of getting both colors and genes.
