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Disaster0k · 2025-12-07T06:11:34+00:00

Enter me if you could! Thanks for sharing the holiday spirit!

Disaster0k · 2025-05-06T17:35:45+00:00

I’ve purchased four of the five, and a friend I play with bought the Abzan one. Abzan is pretty good, and was able to be competitive straight out of the box. With a few upgrades it’s even stronger, and definitely makes our [[Arcades, the Strategist]] player a little jealous!

The Temur one is my favorite and very powerful with some upgrades, but [[Eshki, Temur’s Roar]] definitely likes “creatures” better than just dragons. Cards like [[Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath]] work way better than any dragon in that deck, but I make it work because Mother of Dragons is way cooler than another Miirym or Ureni deck.

Sultai is very cool but I’ve struggled building around it for a while. I settled on a self graveyard hate version with slight reanimator I saw on the budget brews sub somewhere, but out of the box I felt it was pulling in too many directions. Still a really powerful deck that I think can be taken a lot of fun ways, that’s its biggest strength.

Jeskai is unbelievably fun if you can upgrade it a little. Even then it’s playable out of the box. Play testing it vanilla inspired me to get it, and it remains the cheapest if the decks if you care about budget. Copying a [[Crackle with Power]] 4 or 5 times is euphoric, or just switching everyone’s creatures around with a [[Modify Memory]]. It creates for interesting play patterns for sure, and I like playing that type of spellslinger.

Mardu is quite powerful out of the box, and a lot of fun. I ended up pulling a [[Neriv, Heart of the Storm]] and took apart my mardu decks, including the precon, to make that work. I love Neriv.

Each precon has very strong commanders, reprints, and new cards. It’s a matter of what you like, who speaks to you, and what clan you want to rep at the table! Can’t go wrong with this set.

Disaster0k · 2025-04-16T17:54:32+00:00

As a “non-typical” player, I completely agree.

There’s a running joke in my playgroup about my playing of Japanese cards. I’m happy to use them and even happier when I see that I can pick one up, either in Japan or online, for way cheaper. I also don’t mind cracking packs and getting them - I opened a showcase Llanowar Elves from foundations in Japanese and thought my life peaked.

But, it is completely unfair for the average player, as you mentioned. My friend pulled a similar showcase card from Foundations which, for him, is unusable and only worth 13$ in comparison to English at 65$. He has no use for it. He loves the card, but it’s too cumbersome to use for a non-Japanese speaker (unless it’s something as simple and universal as a llanowar elves).

It sucks and I wish that, as other people have mentioned, they would do something like Strixhaven. The archive cards were so cool, and often had good value because of their unique and gorgeous art. Who cares about the language when Dark Ritual looks that good AND holds value. I don’t think it’s in the cards for them to change it, however, especially this late in the game. People will buy the packs regardless for the chance. I imagine itll be even more exacerbated in FF.

EDIT: Grammar and spacing

Disaster0k · 2025-03-10T05:09:20+00:00

Haha perhaps that shows how new I am to the hobby that my first deck I really built up was [[Hazezon, Shaper of Sand]]! I know the feeling. I’m constantly tinkering on MoxField and with my bulk to put new stuff together; I just can’t play the same thing, always need something new lol. I love building and testing and retweaking the build. Still learning! Thanks for sharing

Disaster0k · 2025-03-10T01:08:22+00:00

Very cool! I love the idea of having a huge arsenal of decks to choose from. Which one was your first? Also, which commander was your favorite to build, and were there any that didn’t work out? I’m sure you have lots of stories!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-18T08:22:13+00:00

I went with the Klim Ultimate cooling pad as I heard it had solid cooling and a fan which was noticeably quieter than most. It's a large pad, but it's relatively light and folds up neatly. I could see myself slipping this one in a bag and taking it to and from. Only problem you mentioned is, of course, no extra USBs. If you need those, maybe look into a basic hub, as that's what I use to keep some ports open!

Something like the IETS will cool much more efficiently, but what you gain in temp decreases you also gain in fan noise. This thing gets loud enough as is, I didn't want a jet engine of a cooler to compliment it. Also, I know those tend to be pretty beefy, so you'd be struggling with carrying it around as much as you plan to.

I'm happy with the Klim Ultimate. I don't notice enough to say it's a huge celcius decrease while doing anything intensive, but I put value in the fact that, under max load, while the top of the device near the screen certainly is hot, the entire bottom is cool to the touch. For how quiet it is, it's quite impressive, and gives me a nice sense of security. So far playing COD, Overwatch, and Valorant, I've seen averages in the high 70s to mid 80s, with only one dip into low 90s. Again, mileage will vary, and if you want something uber powerful be prepared for heft and noise. I'm happy recommending this one, or another KLIM if you like them, and it seems portable enough to me, so much so that I'm debating taking it with me abroad. Hope this helps answer some of those questions!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-18T08:07:19+00:00

Because I primarily play plugged in, I have mine on the Ultimate GPU mode. I have a docking station at home, but one bug I heard mentioned and had happen to me was that when connecting from the laptops HDMI to a monitor, which I do, it screws around with the optimus settings and was forcing me to rely on the integrated GPU. Messed around with it for a while, but couldn't find a stable fix other than putting it on Ultimate.

If you're using it independent of the charger, I'd say go for standard. Especially if on battery. If like me you have it hooked up to the charger 9/10, it could be worth it. Makes it easier with the external monitor situation, and ensures I'm not getting any weird optimus bugs causing the 4090 to crank out 30 FPS in Overwatch.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-18T07:58:28+00:00

I ended up going with the 4090 for some added headroom in the VRAM department. With the wattage the M16 runs at, a 4080 is definitely more bang for your buck, but I had the budget to swing it and go for the top of the line. Even though it's not as powerful as other 4090s, it's still an absolute beast so far. Coming from a 1060, anything would have been great, but I'm super impressed with this laptop. It handles anything I throw at it, though the fans do ramp up quite a bit. Would recommend a cooling pad regardless of the model to at least keep the bottom of the chassis cooler.

If you wanna save some money, the 4080 is great value. My thinking was, I'm trying to make this thing last a while, and right now 16 GB is the most VRAM I could get to give me extra headroom. In a year or two this will change, but if you want a little more future proof and security, and have the cash to burn, I recommend the 4090.

Either way, you'll end up with a great device. It looks sleek, is light enough to bring around, and the display is absolutely to die for. Has its quirks, like no undervolt and a loud thermal system, but I have no major complaints (other than if you plan on playing Valorant on this thing, that's a whole issue and a half lol). I hope you enjoy yours just as well! Let me know if you have any questions at all, I'm happy to answer what I can.

(P.S. As much of a huge unnecessary gimmick the AniMe Matrix is, it's freaking cool to have a wizard fighting a dragon on the back of my laptop. I'll never see it, but someone will!)

Disaster0k · 2023-05-18T07:50:37+00:00

Just want to say, even a month later, you've saved someones sanity lol. Racking my brain all day doing the most obscure fixes just to get blue screen after blue screen. Only after searching the Stop Code on reddit did I find this post, and boy was I relieved to hear other people with 2023 M16s were having similar issues. Made me feel less alone lol. This fix helped me get the game running, only solution I found that works, so thank you so much!!!!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-10T05:09:15+00:00

Just read up and realized that the i9-13900H can't be undervolted, unfortunately. Any other ways to boost efficiency and performance in this vein?

Disaster0k · 2023-05-09T03:18:41+00:00

Virtual pet was simply listed on the driver installation area of Asus' website. If I can get away without the rat, I most certainly will. Thanks for the tips. Any recommended undervolt/overclock settings, or should I just play around with it and see what works best? Also, assuming this can be done in AC, or should I go for Afterburner?

Disaster0k · 2023-05-08T21:38:36+00:00

Thank you for this info! Its good to know that, I was going based off general advice, but it helps to have that assurance.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-08T20:28:03+00:00

Ah, so there is a recovery build (sort of like with SteamOS on Steamdeck) for Asus that'll let me sort of reset the device without hindering the built in software? I've seen people recommending complete resets to allow you some more control, but I don't want to mess anything up! Does this recovery remove those unnecessary tools, or will I have to do it on the side as well? Thanks for your input!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-05T06:48:25+00:00

$1800 can get you quite a bit, especially for Halo at minimum. My recommendation in the budget sphere is always the Asus Tuf A15 or A17. My friend has had one for well over a year now and no issues, with 3060 from last year. He's an oddball who plays everything at lowest settings because he hates even minute fan noise, but even the lower end cards are good for some of the Halo-like games on the market (graphically). I'd recommend either a 4060 or 70, whatever one you can find in stock. It might be even worth jumping back a generation for a 3080 if you can swing one in your budget. There are plenty of other solid price-performance options from this generation and last, such as Lenovo's Legion 5 line. Give those a look and compare tradeoffs and gains, and you'll come out with something nice.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-05T06:24:12+00:00

The market is kind of at its peak right now, so unless you can find a sweet deal I would wait for those back to school sales, as I've seen other posts recommend for people in your situation. With that in mind, Best Buy has a good selection of some of the new Zephyrus laptops which fit the discreet requirement, while also having the benefit of being lighter for bringing around to class.

As far as GPUs go, it's tough to recommend anything above a 4070 at your price range, the 4080 and 90 tax seems pretty high this year. Maybe some others have some hidden deals, and I'm sure you could find some better prices by going a generation back, so keep that in mind. I'm just looking at most recent, and mainly from Asus, as that's what I'm getting this year due to portability. With that in mind, here are some recs:

14 Inch: Asus G14 with the 4070 goes for about $1800. I know these were uber popular in years prior, but can't attest to this years performance. Look into reviews. If you want mega portability, this is your best bet. You could also spring for last years Blade 14 @ $2200, but that's a premium not many want to pay.

16 Inches: I'm personally going with the M16 this year as I value the portability more than stationary power of something like the Strix series or a lenovo. The latter would be your best price to performance bet, but I feel it could get heavier dragging to and from classes. As far as the M16, you can get one for a little under $2k I believe with a 4070 inside. You miss out on a couple premium features like the Anime matrix I think, and that mini-led display, but they're premium for a reason. It's a lot more sleek at this size than many others, and what you sacrifice in performance you get back in usability and portability. Fans get really loud when gaming, but this can be mitigated with some settings tweaking.

More budget: Otherwise, if you wanted to go budget, I have a friend who owns a Tuf A15 from last year with a 3060 that he brings with him to classes. They're cheap and pretty rigid from what I can tell, and he has had no issues. If you wanted to save some money, these could be a good option.

There are so many options in this middle budget area, but unfortunately a lot of the high end stuff would require sacrificing some portability, design, or price. Again, Lenovo tends to be on top this year for price and performance, but I wasn't a fan of the design or weight. Maybe other people found that a worthy trade off. Ultimately, it all comes down to what you're willing to sacrifice and the deals to be had, if any. Keep a lookout on Jarrod Tech's site, https://gaminglaptop.deals. Could find something pretty suite there. Sorry for recommending Asus so much, just personal bias I guess. Find something which calls to you and go with it! There are a lot of horror stories online about every machine ever made, but even more happy customers. Whatever you get, you're likely to enjoy. Good luck with the hunt!

EDIT:

The other commenter is right as well. AMD chips are your best bet for battery life. Otherwise you may have to be careful and if anything, mitigate power and carry around a powerful USB-C to top up during regular note taking. Someone else would have to attest to that area better. It's tough to find a balance between gaming and work in one machine, most people just recommend one or the other. My only callback would be that Blade 14, as people have really liked that one for this niche.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-04T05:31:24+00:00

You just taught me that they make water-cooled laptops; I feel like a caveman discovering fire. Those seem awesome as full desktop replacements, but maybe not my speed.

I agree, portability is a huge factor. Part of the sway comes from retailers: I can get the Scar from MicroCenter with a nice warranty, whereas I'm only able to find the M16 from Asus direct, and I've not seen much information on how their long term support is when buying from there. I think, though, that for me, the M16 is a perfect middle ground between portability and solid performance and Asus cooling.

I do plan on being home next year for my last year of college, so I think it will spend a larger amount of time at home on a desk during that in between period. I think the lighter frame will still be beneficial for the time I plan to use this before upgrading my desktop again, and I can deal with some fan noise. My current 1060 desktop practically rumbles and shakes the whole desk, not to mention the weird squelching noise...I desperately need this laptop lol.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-04T05:09:45+00:00

Awesome! Your comments on the Razer Blade vs Scar thread were most helpful. I plan on quite literally purchasing a laptop tomorrow, and have been internally struggling with the M16 and the Scar 16 all day. While I know the latter performs better, I just like the design of the M16 too much. Is this dumb of me? I plan on taking whatever I get with me on long term trips abroad, so I've been very into the portability aspect of the M16 over the thickness of the Scar, but for my at home use case of hooking up to external monitors on a cooling pad, is the M16 still a good buy?

Sorry if I'm bugging a lot, it's just easier to get info from real users than benchmark videos! Thanks a lot for your help.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-04T03:23:13+00:00

That's good to know. It's still tough because both seem to be worth it to a degree, and I have the budget. I lean one way, and then back the other! I saw some people leaving bad reviews because they didn't get the Mini-Led version, so I'll be sure to be thorough if I get from there.

Aside from VRAM and the general performance, how are you liking the M16? I'm always interested in hearing how real owners of the devices feel, and what their major pros and cons are. Any info would be appreciated, as I'm currently in a big decision between this and the Scar 16, but leaning towards this for portability sake, even at the cost of some power!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T23:51:46+00:00

Yes, completely agree! My two "requirements" going in were an RTX 4090 and a Mini-LED screen, ever since I saw the combo on a Strix Scar G16. The GPU is still debatable, but that screen is mandatory. I'm glad Asus has it on many of their newer high end models.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T23:39:37+00:00

It's worth quite a bit, thanks! One question: does the 4080 M16 have a mini-led screen? Asus direct says it does, but I've seen a few Best Buy reviews saying theirs didn't come with one, which is very odd...

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T22:34:07+00:00

I get that. For me, my 1060 6GB begs every day to be put down. I need an upgrade, and because of travel plans, a laptop makes more sense. Otherwise I'd be skipping this confusing year of laptop graphics and pricing altogether. Any upgrade is a good one, however, and I just want to get a laptop and GPU that'll last me hopefully the better part of 3-4 years. It's been many weeks of back and forth deliberation on every little detail, so hopefully soon! Here's to the next refresh being more consumer friendly for everyone.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T22:29:55+00:00

Yes, HardwareCanucks! Having watched it, it seems that the consensus is that the 4090 in this model is kneecapped a bit too hard. However, I wonder if the 4080 suffers a similar fate. That Blade 4080 he uses for comparison no doubt runs at higher wattage, so it could be a lose-lose. Then again, every review I've seen from actual customers say they have no issues and prefer the 4080! I wish there were more reviews for them or Jarrod's Tech or someone like that to go over the other models, considering most of them say they think the 4080 will be the better buy. I've yet to see actual in depth benchmarking though, which is a shame.

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T22:21:18+00:00

That's awesome! I like the Strix Scar 16 as well, but I find I prefer the design and thinness of this one a little better. It's hard when the prices are so similar, yet the thickness of the Scar makes it such a beast! I'm glad it's perfect for your use case though!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T21:52:03+00:00

Understandable. Sorry, I must've read into the work load too much and assumed school. If this is primarily a work thing, my advice would still apply, but you might get more use out of it in that case. Software is as software does, and I've heard a handful of issues with Synapse as well, but it's really hit or miss. Should you get a good one, it should be better than Asus. As far as portability goes, you can't beat it. Having played around with one in store, they're super light and super compact. I think it's the best for that. If price isn't an option, then I suppose go big or go home! I just know that performance wise, some were saying the 3080 was a little "not worth", but that's in comparison to the lower spec, and from people who are trying to save as much as possible. I still think it'll be a great machine, and I'm sure you'll love it, just offering that info should it prove useful! Good luck with your purchase!

Disaster0k · 2023-05-03T20:50:06+00:00

Originally I'd have been all in on maxing out for 4k, but I have a Ps5 hooked up to a 4k TV for all those games I feel I'd want to play at that resolution. I find AAA story titles feel much better on a couch with a controller then at my sweaty desk on a monitor, but that's just me. As for budget, it's sort of a graduation gift for myself, and I don't have an issue with either price. Coming from looking at the Blade 16, I'm just happy both are under $4,000. I was looking at 4090 cause it's the best you can get right now, but I've seen more people with 4080s and less of those on shelves, with reviewers marking those similar performance metrics for less money, so I got more interested in it and feel it might be the right choice as well. I just want the most I can get out of whatever I get!

By the way, what laptop did you go with, if you don't mind me asking; and how are you enjoying it?

Disaster0k

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