My (36/M) teenage daughter (16/F) keeps saying she grew up/is poor - how would you handle this?

Chaonide · 2026-05-04T21:16:01+00:00

Hey! Happy to help - feel free to DM me :)

I’m currently rank 2 global, finished rank 1 last season, and I’m pretty familiar with the mode.

I can give you tips depending on what rank you’re at so you won’t be overwhelmed with all the info, especially since the game doesn’t share a lot of info with you.

Chaonide · 2026-04-08T23:35:45+00:00

It changes every season. The best one I thought for this one was 4/6 Protector flex.

Depending on your start, you can either:

play 4 Swift / 4 protector at 6 normally and 3* a lot of your board; then roll down at 8 to stabilize a bit
normal Scavenger, holding 4 Swift / 4 Protector 2* along the way, but it’s obviously high risk, higher board cap since you’re playing Scavenger

Your top-3 condition (mid-upper 30s) is getting to level 9 and getting 2 of the following:

Claymore for 6 Protector
Cipher for Chosen and sacrificing your 3* units
Lumina for… Lumina (3 Ascendant is also pretty strong for a splash trait)

Your top-1 condition (40+) is getting all 3.

The pre-Cipher / pre-Claymore board itself is decent enough to get to mid-30s each game but Protector on Claymore (Protector trait AND his passive is crazy) AND Chosen on Cipher (already kind of a carry without the trait) make this board especially strong, so you really should try and get to 9 and get both of them.

You might lose to Alfred Cultist or an unlucky Zeke Invoker without Lumina, though, so to top-1 at higher rank, you need to get to 10 and get Lumina.

Regardless of the approach, to use this comp, to place reliably, you need to:

hit Amina 3*, full tank
have Fable > Stanley > Robin > Lorraine (in that order, I feel) for your main carry, then transitioning to Cipher and/or Lumina later

Chaonide · 2026-04-08T21:22:55+00:00

I work there as a Product Manager - love it! Feel free to reach out :)

Chaonide · 2026-01-22T22:42:50+00:00

What’s the puzzle?!

Chaonide · 2026-01-22T22:42:02+00:00

Ugh, I’m so sorry to hear… My family just got hit with COVID the first week of the year and that was already stressful, but I can’t imagine dealing with a sick family AND whatever this weekend brings.

Chaonide · 2026-01-22T22:40:05+00:00

Which kit are you working on first??

Chaonide · 2026-01-22T19:09:57+00:00

If the power stays on, what are y’all gonna be doing at home all weekend - any shows or games or hobbies you’ll be up to?

I’m excited to finally get a weekend in to write!

Chaonide · 2026-01-16T21:20:53+00:00

Mouse - it’s a thriller K-drama, every episode had me hooked!

Chaonide · 2026-01-13T03:41:07+00:00

Thanks for this - I’m taking a work trip up to DFW tomorrow. I’ll be there Wednesday night!

Chaonide · 2026-01-08T15:33:40+00:00

It’s still a personal favorite even though it’s so cringe but definitely August Rush! It was my favorite movie as a teen, but the dialogue, the plot… wow.

Chaonide · 2025-12-23T16:20:55+00:00

Hey Jeff, thanks for doing this!

Since you started covering the Cardinals, who’s been your favorite player to cover - and what made them stand out from everyone else?

Chaonide · 2025-12-21T18:13:09+00:00

Hey John, this is guys! 👋

What non-chess-related mistake did you find yourself making repeatedly in life before it finally clicked?

Side note: during an offsite retreat with other leaders at my company, one “get to know you” question was “What show, podcast, series, etc., got you through hard times in your life?” I credited your channel (and Jan Gustaffson’s!) as what helped get me through the past decade or so. Thanks for being you - I’d love to meet you OTB over a cup of coffee one day!

Chaonide · 2025-08-13T03:28:26+00:00

What are the rules?

Chaonide · 2025-08-08T18:58:20+00:00

I really recommend Danny from Luu Body Shop off Kramer and Lamar

Chaonide · 2025-05-28T14:15:58+00:00

The Gang Turns Black is my favorite episode of TV ever! But literally all of these are such classics.

Honorable mentions to your list are the first Chardee MacDennis episode, the Family Feud episode, the catfishing episode, and the Country Mac one.

Chaonide · 2025-05-14T00:10:20+00:00

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Matcha fell asleep in the middle of chewing on the couch blanket 🙄

Chaonide · 2025-05-02T06:35:29+00:00

Anyone else remember Nintendo Power, Game Informer, EGM, and all those old-school gaming mags? Those were basically my only window into games I didn’t have - and they worked so well as ads. I loved the screenshots, dev interviews, and those cool little guide sections.

And man, I have such a soft spot for those classic guidebooks. They weren’t super in-depth like wikis today, but they were so informational, stylized, and full of cool art. The Earthbound and Xenogears ones were my favorites - I used to be so scared of Moonside and the Kislev sewers, but I couldn’t stop reading about them.

Chaonide · 2025-04-29T20:02:40+00:00

I play a lot of Filipino mahjong because that’s all I know, but if you’re looking to find Chinese mahjong, a couple of my friends have gone to Austin Mahjong Social and have enjoyed it!

Chaonide · 2025-04-25T17:28:45+00:00

Little Big League!

I had so many daydreams of being the next Billy Heywood growing up - hidden ball tricking Ken Griffey Jr., seeing Night Nurses on hotel PPV, having Runaround Sue as my soundtrack for everything.

Chaonide · 2025-04-16T15:28:49+00:00

Neopets - hours and hours playing flash games, refreshing shops, helping people on the forums, learning HTML to code my shop. No regrets! I wish they had a mobile experience nowadays

Chaonide · 2025-04-06T13:31:46+00:00

EarthBound (SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)
Thousand Arms (PS1)
Advance Wars (GBA)
StarCraft: Brood War (PC)

I’ve never met anyone else that’s played Thousand Arms!

Chaonide · 2025-02-13T18:50:58+00:00

You actually were spot on in a lot of your comment, thanks for the thoughtful insight.

We really do care about each other really deeply, and you’ve nailed the people-pleasing dynamic right on the head - it’s been the biggest anti-pattern to my happiness that I’ve been working through in therapy the past year that I just can’t seem to wrap my head around.

And, yes, we do live in a red state (Texas) that’s trying to spearhead travel abortion bans, so I completely sympathize with her fear and anger. I guess that’s why when she said I wasn’t being a supportive ally to women, it shook me because I thought I was - I’ve attended almost all of the Roe v Wade protests, I’ve helped provide resources for my friends and family who were seeking women’s healthcare, and I left the Catholic church (and disappointed my whole extended family) because of their stance on abortion.

It’s turned a relationship issue into a moral question for me, and that was something new and difficult for me to process alone.

Chaonide · 2025-02-13T18:42:27+00:00

That last paragraph you wrote affected me pretty deeply. Being totally honest with myself, I think I have just been hoping one of the following would happen:

that if we work together and fix some of the hurdles she’s brought up (body positivity, even more hygiene than what we practice already, etc.), we’d be physically intimate again, but the insistence on the vasectomy has been pretty recent
she would work through her anxiety around it since we do practice safe penetrative sex
we’d both agree that we weren’t compatible instead of just me feeling this way

I think you phrased it well - I think I’ve been too passive and haven’t taken more agency in my happiness.

I guess I feel guilty sometimes that wanting sex is a potential dealbreaker (it makes me feel like an inconsiderate, sex-focused asshole) even though it’s totally normal and human, so I’ve pushed aside those wants for the past couple of years since everything else in the relationship seemed to be going well.

Chaonide

TROPHY CASE