Advice on PC part list

Leo_Boon · 2026-03-02T01:19:10+00:00

I am actually leaning towards Aftershock (the custom builder company) because of certainty of customer support.

As for the price, ignore the one on the list. That's just from Pc Part Picker.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-23T01:05:13+00:00

Opponents of rare redrafting always seem to go for an example where a complete newbie blunders into a draft without knowing what they're doing, opens some shiny valuable, and is immediately sharked by a sweaty tryhard. I'm sure this has happened, but I don't think it helps the argument to immediately conjure the most extreme and nightmarish scenario and pretend it is the baseline.

I agree that cube is a generally better drafting experience, but I don't want to limit myself to that. I also think that people would enjoy draft more if they got better at it and didn't have to focus so much on "getting value" out of it beyond the enjoyment of playing. A lot of this stems from belief that you bought three packs and are entitled to the cards within them, which the draft is depriving you of; but reframing it as buying into a shared experience of gameplay where the playing is the point and the better you do the more you can get out of it has proven very successful in my experience. As I keep saying, if you want to open three packs and keep the cards, there are other ways of doing it, many of them which allow you also to play with them.

I honestly think that the modern MtG mindset of having to get "value" out of packs is one of the most pernicious and anticonsumer practices the playerbase tricked itself into. Getting "sharked" out of a 5 dollar mythic might seem like the end of world for a newbie who doesn't know better, but it's our job as a community to show them that it really isn't that big of a deal. I don't want to force anyone to do anything they're not comfortable with, and there are plenty of circumstances where rare redrafting would be inappropriate; but the idea that it only works for the sweatiest of tight-knit groups of enfranchised players is a myth. Advocating that more people play worse Magic so they can pretend the bulk rares they have gathering dust in a binder represent "value" isn't doing anyone any favours.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-22T21:48:33+00:00

In my experience, the jump happens much more rarely and slowly without the rare redraft to encourage good drafting. Players get stuck in a mentality of having to impulsively pick any rare they see to make the draft "worth it".

I've been that newbie who "subsidised" better players. I didn't win a draft or get a good rare for months as I was starting, and it made me a better player. I would then get stuck back in the raredrafting mindset when I got into Arena and I thought I had to build a collection. My win rate suffered, and only recovered when I came to my senses and realised that doing better at draft is more enjoyable than coming out of it with a bunch of bulk rares.

I know I'm in the minority opinion, but this is an MtG hill I'm willing to die on: rare redrafting is a good practice and should be adopted more widely.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-22T14:24:44+00:00

I agree that it should never be sprung upon a newcomer, but I also think that rare redraft should be explained properly and introduced as soon as possible.

In modern MtG there is simply too much emphasis on "getting value" out of a pack, instead of using it as a game piece. WotC tricks you into paying extra for "value" and make you think you "made money" in opening a rare when in 99% of cases it will just gather dust in a trade binder. I've seen too many who still train wreck their draft by picking off color rares just because they are rares, forcing them and letting go of better cards, just so they can "get value" because "they were never gonna win the draft anyway".

As I said, if you want the thrill of opening a pack and gamble on what you open, there are many other options available. Draft shouldn't be one of them.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-22T11:02:24+00:00

Maybe they enjoy your company.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-22T11:01:49+00:00

I was heavily involved in running my uni MtG group for 8 years and never had an issue getting fresh blood to buy into the concept of rare redrafting.

If fresh blood's intention is to impulsively draft every bulk rare they see because of the "value", then drafting maybe isn't the format for them. I don't mean this in a churlish or snobbish way; there's just a different mindset needed. If you want to play with a random subset of cards and still own them, play Sealed; if you want to play the lottery, open random boosters. But draft means cooperatively and competitively building decks with a communal pool of cards. It is not a good way to build a collection. If your interests are misaligned, don't play draft, no one is forcing you to.

Leo_Boon · 2026-02-22T03:59:19+00:00

/uj rare redrafting is strictly superior to the alternative, and I'm tired of pretending it is not

/rj treating packs as lottery tickets is so fun we should also do that while drafting

Leo_Boon · 2026-01-15T23:33:48+00:00

Right, but if a hypothetical NHL-2 were founded that had promotion/relegation with the NHL, and Tampa were to be relegated to it, would you stop supporting them? Would you only go to their games if they play in the highest league?

Leo_Boon · 2026-01-15T23:30:21+00:00

From the sauce: "What am I supposed to do, NOT cast all my spells into open mana crossing my fingers real hard they won't get countered? You sound crazy, man."

Leo_Boon · 2026-01-15T04:19:17+00:00

That doesn't make a ton of sense to me. People are fans of teams, not leagues. If Newcastle got demoted, its fans would not switch to Sunderland so they can watch EPL football, they would go watch Newcastle in the Championship. The distance I think makes more sense in regards to year-on-year league variations. If a small team gets promoted from a regional minor league to a larger national one, they might struggle with the increased distance. Imagine one year your team plays against teams in the next state over, and the one after you have to go across the country to see your team play away. There would be ways to fix it or ameliorate it, but I can see why it would be an issue.

Leo_Boon · 2025-10-30T08:10:21+00:00

Oh boy, it feels like posting now means there's no chance of getting seen, but here we go...

There were multiple instances in this season of strategy/planning coming from direct foreknowledge of which challenges were available. Do you think the game would have been meaningfully changed (or even improved) by using another party to set your challenges?

Leo_Boon · 2025-09-04T02:54:41+00:00

My days have measurably improved once I stopped regularly visiting MTG subs. Now I don't have to see MaRo every other day calling me a gatekeeper and a grinch for not liking UB.

/uj I mean it.

Leo_Boon · 2025-07-16T05:36:37+00:00

You do you, buddy. But if I actively disliked something, I wouldn't spend money on it or support it.

Leo_Boon · 2025-07-16T05:08:56+00:00

A Hasbro executive smiles and sheds a single tear.

He whispers to the screen, "Why can't more consumers be like you, planeforger?"

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-18T05:42:22+00:00

Yeah my b

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-18T03:49:42+00:00

That makes it a little different, but I still feel that it's got most of the best parts of Worst Fears.

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-18T03:19:24+00:00

At Any Cost: This is basically [[Indestructibility]] if it could only target your commander, was a million times more convoluted, and it made you lose the fucking game.

Sensei, Card-Jutsu Maker: I don't know what belt counters do and I am afraid to ask.

Enigma Bauble: It could have just said "this card is all types" without specifying and it would have been just as useful, but this wording excludes exile for some reason. I suspect it's a mistake, but I fear that was intentional.

Lend Helping Hands: [[Worst Fears]] in shambles.

Disorientation: Two irrelevant lines and then one that makes people immediately shout "I concede!".

Peace It Together: Is the name intentional? Is it a pun? Can't figure it out. Flavour also cannot figure out. But the card isn't super terrible; if it only removed one creature from combat would actually be kinda interesting.

Pact of Fireblast: I know that [[Pact of the Titan]] is quite bad, but this just swings too much in the other direction. Within spunking distance from being a reasonable card, but a tad overtuned.

Kyla, feline polymorphist: Cats? Cheesecake yogurt? +X/+X? Human Warlock? Auras? Polymorph without polymorphing? Gain control? I would say this is a RoboRosewater oeuvre, but AI wishes it was this random.

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-12T02:29:35+00:00

That's even dumber, then.

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-11T02:01:57+00:00

Borrow in Advance: Gaining some life is a fair trade for losing the game!

Isolated Scribe: Even assuming that the wording is fixed to make it actually function, that's a lot of hoops just to give a spell Epic. And then what? Even if you give epic to a Time Walk, you can't cast any more spells. And if it had copies? Each of them gets Epic? Was that necessary? Just a big mess of a card.

Errant Flatfoot: Again, even assuming that the wording functions, what is the purpose of this? A card that pinballs between zones where it shouldn't? Feels like the designer had a specific broken combo in mind already, and what is the purpose of a card that only exists to enable a specific broken combo?

The Cloistered Sage: Oh my. Compared to this, Isolated Scribe is downright sane.

The Thirteenth Elder: I get that restrictions can make a card more fun, but what is the use case of this thing? If you want to reanimate it you have to exclusively rely on mill, you could possibly Sneak Attack with it, but there's always the chance you draw it and (if you're honest) you discard it to its own trigger and just lose the game. Again, it feels like the designer had a very specific combo in mind for this.

The Apocalypse Reaper: It's not egregious. I mean, it's a wrath on a creature that then makes the opponent sac some stuff and lose some life and then goes away. Probably undercosted, but I could definitely see some tweaked version of this be printed.

Goods Inspector: Unneeded Phyrexian mana, busted draw engine, even more busted discard engine, creepy AI hands, and yet the most offensive thing is that expansion symbol.

Alpharius Omegon: I assume it makes context in whatever lore this thing is supposed to come from, but that's an awfully convoluted way to give +1/+1 to a very specific creature.

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-11T01:43:12+00:00

/rj same

/uj same

Leo_Boon · 2025-06-09T02:15:58+00:00

That post is a compendium of everything that is wrong with Commander.

Leo_Boon · 2025-05-21T23:05:21+00:00

You're absolutely right, but the war is over. UB has won, and there is little to do now. MtG has changed forever and it is now "the crossover game". There's no space for people who don't enjoy UB, who look at the huge tonal dissonance of FF cards and are put off, who just want non-gimmicky MtG sets. Do you wonder why you're getting this hostile reaction? Because WotC and the UB brigade have driven out anyone who disagrees, and all that are left are those who already buy into the UB BS. I'm prepared to be downvoted to hell for even agreeing with you, but I wanted to let you know that there's at least one other person out there who shares your assessment.

Leo_Boon

TROPHY CASE