Best way to handle multiple Ignition and VVT Maps on a late-model stock ECU

Hi, would like to ask what's the best way to handle multiple ignitions and VVT tables. Car is an ND2 1.5L MX-5 and I'm tuning on Mazda Edit.

I'm aware they all work under different conditions and for reasons such as fuel economy, however tuning with so many tables make it very confusing. So far, I've thought of 2 methods to go about:

1. Copy/paste all tables to be the same. What would be the issues with this method if I were to do it this way? Haven't tried this because I'm afraid of the damage it might cause.

2. To maintain the tables, but only apply the changes, e.g.: add 4degree timing to the same region 2k-4k rpm 0.88 load and above, to all ignition tables a,b,c,d. I've tried tuning with this method, but I've seen no difference in my logs and on dyno run. Maybe the compensation tables are removing my changes, or I have some limit that I haven't removed?

Would like some pointers on the best way to go about tuning a car like this. I am currently renting dyno time, and the last session I haven't had any luck, so before 'wasting' any more time and money on a dyno I would like to seek help from here.

Thanks in advance!

There's two ways I generally deal with this but it's worth mentioning there is no black and white solution as to how you MUSt do it. My preference is to start by working out which table is used during normal operation - this is likely to be, but definitely not always, Table A so i start here, make a change and then see if that change carries over to the logged data. Basically we want to know which table makes a difference. Then I'll base my tuning changes on that table.

You'll often find, depending on the specific vehicle, that perhaps only 2 or 3 tables are used and one may be based on drive modes if available and there will likely be a fail safe of limp home map with quite retarded values. On this basis I wouldn't recommend making all the maps the same as you potentially lose some safety.

From here you need to decide what to do with the other tables that aren't normally used. In general I don't touch the failsafe table and it's your choice as to whether you make the same magnitude of change to the other ignition tables or not. It's really about understanding if and when these other tables are used and under what conditions. Then you can decide how you want to deal with them.

Thank you for the response Andre! I'm a bit clearer on what I need to do now