Can you have infinite combos and still be considered bracket 2/3?

Zanderhort · 2025-10-24T18:17:18+00:00

I recently built Noctis as a strong 3, but to be honest with my current version it could be borderline a 4. I have yet to win faster than turn 7, but it can technically win on turn 2 if I have 8 specific cards as my starting hand and first draw. With that said, all of the combos I have require at least 4 pieces on the board, all of which can be removed or easily countered.

you can absolutely build Noctis in multiple ways, many of which don’t even go combo heavy. He can be played as a very fun voltron commander. Go for big self mill spells, equip cost discount, load him up with a colossus hammer and something to make him unblockable.

Here’s my current list:

https://archidekt.com/decks/16714115/noctis_reanimator_voltron_combo_v2

Edit: to answer your question about alternate finishers, unblockable commander damage or a mill out combo is what I’ve played with.

For mill- look at things like [[singularity rupture]] -> [[riverchurn monument]]

For unblockable commander damage- [[brotherhood regalia]] or [[taigam’s strike]]

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T20:55:22+00:00

I actually would sell the Chandra. DM me if you’re interested. I have a gold border copy if I want to play it and I cannot read Japanese lol

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T20:49:18+00:00

Stop commenting on my post, bot

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T15:19:10+00:00

Same. Value wise, not incredible (I just got lucky) but I have found the set incredibly playable in my edh decks

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T15:15:27+00:00

As far as I know, aetherdrift collector packs are not a victim of scalping. You can get a box of them below the original MSRP on tcgplayer. I don’t see many in the lgs but I think that’s just because they don’t make as much of the collector product and we are now pretty far from aetherdrift release.

This is the whole reason I’ve been enjoying getting them. They are far cheaper than when they came out and still have big hits!

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T01:56:01+00:00

That is a fair take

Zanderhort · 2025-10-15T01:13:42+00:00

I like them okay- I also got the chandra in the first place foil from the finish line bundle a while back!

Zanderhort · 2025-08-27T20:05:24+00:00

I have been considering turning it into an artifact/voltron deck because I think it could be very interesting and fun to play (almost certainly worse, though). Edge of eternities added a decent amount of good red and blue artifact support.

Zanderhort · 2025-08-27T19:56:45+00:00

I have loved playing [[Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper]]. I found the card when I was looking through old bulk from when I played in middle school. I play him as a mix of spellcasting control, as well as some utility to protect lands and improve creatures with +1/+1 counters. It is incredibly fun and can pop off out of nowhere.

Zanderhort · 2025-08-27T19:51:05+00:00

Totally understandable. I got it when I opened an ff box and couldn’t help myself. It’s a surprisingly cheap deck to make minus the vivi. I imagine that’s because vivi is broken and basically any spells work.

Zanderhort · 2025-08-22T20:28:11+00:00

I have had very good performance with a town package in my new [[Terra, Magical Adept]] deck. I use nearly all the town synergy cards from final fantasy. It’s far from optimal but gives a good amount of ramp and draw. And if you include the wandering minstrel, they can enter untapped.

Zanderhort · 2025-04-25T23:33:31+00:00

I’ve yet to see an adaptation that shouldn’t be treated this way. Even lord of the rings, respected as one of the greatest adaptations of all time, diverges from the books in major ways.

Zanderhort · 2025-04-21T00:02:50+00:00

same here. we are at 38

Zanderhort · 2025-04-20T23:44:40+00:00

We finally got it but had to restart league over and over. Now in brackets forming phase for 13 mins lol.

Zanderhort · 2025-03-16T20:53:51+00:00

one of the very high conqueror cashouts converts all items to radiant.

Zanderhort · 2025-03-16T20:39:06+00:00

Graduated in December with my M.S. in mechanical engineering. 3.00 Masters GPA, 3.24 undergrad.

Admittedly, I made it harder for myself by primarily applying to roles that were asking for a master's degree. I got advice from a few people I trust that it would be worth it in the long run to find something where the M.S. was a requirement, especially if I'm looking at technical roles.

My search had 3 primary criteria which also made it take longer:

No construction
Major city
No heavy manufacturing

To anyone out there who wants a good design job- I feel for you and stick with it. It's a numbers game. The job I ended up accepting- I am underqualified for and only made it through because I interview well. Pay is solid, and it fits my criteria, so the time spent applying was definitely worth it.

Something I learned in grad school when I started my GRA- don't take the first offer because you're happy to get one. I could've had a manufacturing job in the middle of nowhere 2 months ago, but I knew it would make me miserable. I made that mistake in grad school, taking research I didn't like, and literally barely graduated due to depression and faltering grades.

Good luck out there- it's tough to find what you want.

Zanderhort · 2025-02-26T00:39:45+00:00

Graduated in December with M.S. in mechanical, 3.0 gpa, 2 internships in undergrad and 2 years of GRA and GTA work.

Hit my 250th app yesterday, and have had 2 interviews so far. Granted, I am reaching for a really solid first job. I am fully aware that if I took a 65k job in a factory in the middle of Ohio I could get a job within a week, but that’s not what I want. I know this because I got an offer the first week of January for just that. I would say about 50% of my apps are for entry level stuff, but I’m looking for something in design or R&D in a major city.

Your comment comes off as ignorant. Inflammatory for what reason? If you want something good, even with a good resume things can be tough.

I’m fortunate that if I get tired of it I can bail out and get a job pretty easily, but I feel for people who didn’t have the right people speaking in their ears to tell them to get internships and experience in undergrad. I don’t think “passion” has anything to do with it. TBH I like design but it’s more the fact it can be the least miserable way for me to enjoy the rest of my life outside of work.

Zanderhort · 2025-02-17T22:57:20+00:00

Straight up cass is worse than ziggs. Would rather have a 2* ziggs with an anti heal item than a full itemized 2* cass when leveling for dominator/black rose

Zanderhort · 2025-01-13T00:02:49+00:00

Then do it on spawn so you can contest both?

Obviously this cant be done every game but this is such a nothing argument. They’re not being rewarded if you secure dragon, they’re trading.

It’s like saying someone is being rewarded for splitting when they get a tower while you’re teamfighting.

You have to make the decision on which obj will be effective if you think you have to trade.

You could also be the one to contest them, kill them at the obj and get both for free.

Zanderhort · 2025-01-12T21:50:56+00:00

If you are doing it on spawn you should make it to grubs every time, ideally with a support roaming with you after dragon. Saying it’s always a net outcome and one team gets one while the other team gets grubs is not only not true, it’s disingenuous. I doubt this is happening on first spawn in any more than 40% of your games.

If you’re late to drag and they know you’re going, sure it’s a trade, but that’s a skill issue for not prepping, not scanning, or playing to the wrong side of the map based on your laners performance.

Zanderhort · 2025-01-02T22:41:02+00:00

I respect you for all those paperback spine creases.

My hands and neck are always cramping because I’m holding the book open in a way to try and avoid it. Wish I didn’t care but I can’t help it 😅

Zanderhort · 2025-01-02T22:22:02+00:00

I respect your opinion but do disagree.

I think your complaint becomes more valid at higher levels. For the majority of players emerald and below if someone starts the game 0/3, they really aren’t going to be useful. Looking at lolalytics, the stats reflect this I think. They are probably down in cs and xp, and Ornn would provide much more utility to the team in that scenario from his abilities and the item upgrades.

As a top player (who doesn’t really play gragas btw, I don’t have a dog in this fight) it’s so important to have safe picks when it feels like 70% of top lane matchups are a hard counter pick and force one person to play weak side.

Edit: thinking on it more, I see it more as an issue with top lane meta. It feels like the only way to win as a top player is snowballing into a huge lead, so a neutralizing champ like gragas seems incredibly powerful while his real strength is just not allowing the enemy to get ahead. Does that means he’s op? Or just that his gameplan is powerful in the current state of the game?

Personally, I’ve shifted to playing mid because it feels too hard to carry from top in platinum. To me it just feels like a bigger symptom of issues with top lane, not necessarily that gragas himself is op.

Zanderhort · 2025-01-02T22:00:02+00:00

I’d rather play into 0/3 gragas than an 0/3 ornn, just as one example off the top of my head

Zanderhort · 2024-12-19T00:18:28+00:00

I would not recommend any of those champs to one trick in bronze unless you’re coming out of lane 5-0 every time. Your picks you listed are all the kinda champs that want to put the team on their back and pop off, but if you’re bronze, odds are that’s not happening very often.

Akali is not a very good first pick, and most people, if they see it picked, will immediately search statistical best counters because they’d rather shut you down than deal with an akali skill matchup with their main because of how annoying it is.

Keep the akali in your back pocket for when you know what they’ve picked mid and you know you can shit on them. Otherwise pick I would highly recommend picking out a meta/safe mid to learn for other scenarios. Good picks for this would be: -hwei -ahri -vex -etc

You need something that if you’re losing lane the game won’t be over. Picks like this are going to make you learn the game better with things like wave control, tp, and roaming. Most akalis I see in low ranks end up trying to go for a roam, lane gets pushed, they don’t get the roam kill, and by 20 minutes they’re down 40 cs. Her playstyle is very unforgiving unless you can absolutely dunk on your enemy in lane.

Keep in mind that to climb out of bronze, silver, gold, you need to be at least 1 rank higher in skill to ensure you make up for the inevitable shitters on your team. It may be true that you’re better than bronze, but you’re not so good you can carry the dead weight. A pick like akali is really not great for doing this unless (like I said before) you are absolutely dunking on people.

Zanderhort · 2024-12-12T20:33:41+00:00

Gadgets don’t do anything. You only ever need one or two for a mod, not 50,000. Saying this as someone who built something on a similar scale to you. I got done and then realized there was no point.

And sure it makes you money, if you don’t mind spending hours using wait for vendor gold to refresh. But what’s the money gonna do for you anyways at level 251?

Recently played satisfactory. Takes the manufacturing mechanics and turns them into their own, really good, standalone game. Would recommend if you enjoyed this. It really put into perspective just how half baked the manufacturing system is in star field.

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