Actually... one explanation for the increase of his patrons this month is the fact that Patreon suddenly this month started counting patrons who deleted their pledge as well, while previously the patron count dropped as soon as the patron deleted their pledge. So anyone cancelling their support in January are still listed as his patrons, and will be until their membership ends in February 1. So he might get a bigger drop than usual come beginning of February.In the past, I noticed with a creator where I was the only patron at a certain level that even after my payment was denied (lost and blocked old card, didn't receive a new card yet)/ I couldn't access patron-locked posts, but I was still listed as a patron for that month. When I canceled, patron count for that tier dropped to zero.
Could that be the case here? (I kind of doubt it, since patron counts drop every 1st, but maybe that's just for a specific method of payment?)