For safety we always change the update mode to use the merge strategy before running drush config-distro-update
IMHO It would be better to add an option to make this change via drush command option so that something like the following could work.
drush config-distro-update --update-mode=merge
drush config-distro-update --update-mode=full
drush config-distro-update --update-mode=partial
This could possibly just temporarily change the update mode, or just change it permanently.
At the moment we change it manually with this hard to remember command.
drush -y state:set config_sync.update_mode 1 --input-format=integer
Closed: works as designed
2.0
User interface
This was done in Configuration Synchronizer by altering this module's Drush command, see #2997360: Add Drush command for the "reset" update mode → .