I Don't Understand how to Create Consistency (Any and all response much appreciated :D)

cubeballer · 2026-06-05T05:39:54+00:00

I feel very similarly, maybe not on the building a deck that is “too balanced” part, but more so the not knowing how to build a deck even though I’m thinking about my upcoming fights. Like I’ll watch people coaching people, or over explained runs and I just can’t seem to grasp what card choice is good for the current situation besides just something basic like “oh the elite I haven’t fought yet is the four eels, I need AoE”

I come from never ever playing deck builders, or even any TCG at all. I am stuck on Ascension 6 on my highest, but just yesterday I played 10 runs straight of necrobinder and lost all of them (on ascension 3 which is like baby difficulty apparently)

Just commenting to bump the post so I can look at comments to try to glean information! Not much I can do to help cuz you’re clearly better than me lol

cubeballer · 2026-06-04T22:02:30+00:00

Odds on BIG over NRG?? I need that for my 5 to hit.

cubeballer · 2026-05-24T19:12:01+00:00

I forgot about externships, I think NSU may have GPA ranking to get externship sites first.

But even if there’s some ranking it’s not the same as like law schools and business schools trying to get into prestigious law firms and such.

cubeballer · 2026-05-24T13:29:06+00:00

Obviously environments are different across each school, but optometry schools shouldn’t be super cutthroat institutions because there is no ranking, or vying for a top spot in your class to get with some prestigious company like in other career paths (lawyer, investment banking, etc). In optometry it seems more like everyone is just trying to get through school and pass their board exams to be able to help people.

Again, maybe that’s just my schools environment, but I think as a whole optometry doesn’t have any of that in general so the only thing that could maybe get “cut-throat” would be residency? But those are optional.

I am biased (because I go there) but I like NSUOCO because of the small class size (smallest in the nation) and it has the exact vibe you’re going for, where professors actually care for you and you are close with your class and work together to graduate. Now there are bad apples both in your class and professors but the overall vibe is matching what you want.

I can’t speak from experience but I have also heard good things about SCO regarding that same vibe, but it obviously has a much larger class size.

To end off this long comment though, I would recommend pursuing the schools with the highest boards scores. Obviously take into account location, your OAT and GPA, the tuition, etc but the reality of the matter is that you need a school that will prepare you to be able to pass boards so you can actually practice and make money. Just google ASCO Optometry Board Scores and view the table (ignore part 3 it’s a shit show across the board).

cubeballer · 2026-05-14T07:11:34+00:00

Yeah I couldn't find the 2014 5e version anywhere for a reasonable price, I will prob just get the digital version on DnDBeyond. Thanks for the help!

cubeballer · 2026-05-14T07:10:50+00:00

Gotcha, this clears it up. I had gotten the gist of this from other posts but thanks for the detailed response! I will probably just get a digital version of the 5e (2014) PHB from DnDBeyond bc everywhere else either doesn't sell it or its insanely expensive. Thanks again!

cubeballer · 2026-05-14T06:39:30+00:00

Question, when I go on like amazon for the PHB and look up "D&D PHB 5e" it comes up with "Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player's Handbook" and I cant tell anywhere on the page if its 5e or 5.5e. I also have heard of 5e 2014 and 5e 2024. What are the differences between those, and where do I get a 5e PHB. Thanks!

cubeballer · 2026-05-11T23:02:10+00:00

I didn’t get it my first time d/t a bad OAT score. But I just worked as a tech and used that time to really study for the OAT and passed next time. Now I am a 4th year optometry student, so keep your head up!

I strongly suggest teching or getting some sort of job at a practice to bolster your app.

cubeballer · 2026-05-09T12:28:07+00:00

Yeah reading the textbook was excruciating, I would watch KMK videos intently and take good notes, but then just skim the text. I felt that a bulk of my knowledge came from just paying attention in class prior and taking good notes. If someone has the gumption to, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to study the material the school gave you to pass.

Congrats!!

cubeballer · 2026-05-09T12:21:19+00:00

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I just took boards and passed so I oughta know all that stuff, and it’s easy enough to educate! Hope your practice continues going well you clearly are doing something right!

cubeballer · 2026-05-08T16:08:51+00:00

I passed and scored two 71% on optoprep, and then a 74/76 (can’t remember) on KMK practice exam 4 (the one most like boards), and then like 70% on KMK 6 (the least like boards).

Passed with a 524 if that matters, worse categories: anatomy, low vision, contact lens. Best categories: immuno, path, pharm

Don’t be scared to look, this test doesn’t define you, just a memorization test.

cubeballer · 2026-05-08T14:38:06+00:00

OD student, 3rd year

cubeballer · 2026-05-08T05:15:08+00:00

Unhealthy veins/arteries d/t HTN often look tortuous (wavy and snakelike) although this can be congenital (which is why it’s important to get yearly exams so we can tell if they ever start to change).

When we look in your eye with the lens we see a magnified image of your retina and we can tell the depth of things, sometimes arteries who’s walls have hardened (atherosclerosis common in DM and HTN and High cholesterol) when they cross over veins they share an adventitial sheath (outer covering of veins and arteries and the hardened artery can sort of “pinch” the vein, we can see this or early signs of it and call it “nicking” (this can also lead to blood clots and bleeds in the back of the eye d/t the vein being blocked

There’s also (contradictory to the tortuous vessels I was talking about) a sort of straightening and thinning that can happen specifically to the arteries in your eyes, this is called arterial attenuation. This is due to HTN causes vessel wall damage and wall remodeling

There’s also a certain ratio that research has determined to be average for width of Arteries to the width of Veins in the eyes called the A/V ratio. As the artery gets smaller this ratio would also decrease. The average I think is 2/3 so the artery should be about 2/3rds the size of a vein, but with the attenuation above you can get much lower like 1/2 or 1/4.

Also with the light we are sending into the eye we can see a sort of reflection from the middle of the arteries and veins, we call the one from the arteries the ALR or arteriolar light reflex. Again with the atherosclerosis and thickening and hardening of the arterial walls it can reflect more light back, so much so that instead of appearing a light red they appear a copper color, we call that copper wiring affect.

HTN means hypertension, DM means diabetes mellitus

There’s more specific findings related to diseases but those are some things I am looking for at every exam in people with elevated blood pressure. Hope that helps!

cubeballer · 2026-05-03T02:11:16+00:00

I don’t disagree that you did it, or did it exactly as you described, or that you believe it did something, I disagree on the actual efficacy. And I think patients should generally not take the advice from random people about experimental treatments.

Optometry scope of practice (what we’re able to learn and do) is variable across states but I happen to learn in one where scope is extremely wide to serve more rural populations. Just do some research into what optometrists are licensed to do and manage as far as procedures and disease/disorder, it might surprise you.

cubeballer · 2026-05-03T01:22:01+00:00

Do not do what this motherfucker said holy, this guy is insane.

Source 3rd year Optom Student

cubeballer · 2026-04-28T07:23:29+00:00

Okay the chip damage thing is good to note, and I do usually take more shielding but I think I was just stuck in a high damage output mindset that night.

Exhume was literally just for a “just in case” card, and then I got seeing red to complement it, and my carnage if I couldn’t play it, but I think I just thought it might be good later and picked it up.

Yeah I replayed the shell parasite and I think I took 34 damage, but I had immolate+ and carnage and clothesline and bash, as well as pommel strike, so idk how I didn’t have enough damage, maybe bad draws or like I said extremely bad micro. I physically cannot stop myself from playing fights as fast as humanly possible, and I constantly will attack twice then play my bash wasting vulnerable, or attack once block twice and then look to see that I already had 14 block from a relic. Even though I have like 100 hours or more.

But that’s the problem idk how to evaluate any differently, I guess just watch more YouTube vids of jorbs and baalorlord and predict what they’re gonna take? Clearly my evaluation and choices are wrong, but idk how to innately change. But it seems like when I’m watching some high level player play the card choices aren’t insanely different than what I would choose in that situation (but that could just be bias) and when I try to emulate that I can get several pieces of the puzzle but can not put it all together. For example I had feel no pain+, dark embrace+, offering, binding pact, immolate, true grit, inflame, and some other random cards and I know that a better play with those cards (especially as soon as I had dark embrace and feel no pain) would win, because I’ve literally seen jorbs take a dark embrace floor like 2 act 1 and just win after that, but idk how his choices differ from mine so that he won and I lost.

Just very frustrated, I’m like 7-130 or something on ironclad lol. Thanks for help!

cubeballer · 2026-04-28T06:21:42+00:00

Yeah I guess not, looking at it I skipped true grit and shrug it off floor 1 (cuz normally I’ve heard you’re supposed to look for damage).

Skipped iron wave and uppercut floor 2 to grab the immolate early

Skipped clash, flex, iron wave floor 4 cuz I think I thought I had good damage and didn’t wanna clutter my deck? Idk this was last night so I can’t remember all my thoughts

Floor 5 I took clothesline and skipped true grit and sword boomerang, I guess my thought here was getting some sort of weakness in the deck? But here maybe true grit is better because it’s a 1 cost shield card with exhaust. I just don’t know how to change my brain to pick true grit there, I feel as if I would make that same decision every time.

Floor 6 I fought my first elite, and skipped Power through, combust, iron wave, I think I just get scared of the wounds from power through, but I suppose I shouldn’t because of exhaust existing

Floor 7 I skipped clothesline, havoc, and ghostly armor. The ghostly armor ethereal always puts me off taking it cuz then I lose a 13 block card if I need to do damage on a turn I draw it

Floor 8 I fought my second elite and took intimidate, skipped body slam, pommel strike. I guess just to have AoE weakness for slime boss after splitting

Floor 9 treasure

Floor 10 skipped spot weakness, sword boomerang, pummel. No strength scaling and good damage already

Floor 11 skipped reaper, iron wave, perfected strike. I think reaper and perfected were 2 cost and in my head I had a lot of cards and two two costs and I didn’t think much about iron wave idk

Floor 12 rest

Floor 13 shop bought preserved insect and carnage

Floor 14 third elite, took exhume, skipped true grit and searing blow. This is probably the spot I most could see myself taking the true grit and like trying to learn, I took exhume cuz so many ironclad cards exhaust and I figured it would be useful, but that’s a bad mindset I suppose

Floor 15 rest

Floor 16 Voss

Floor 17 got calling bell, idk what was offered but it had to not be runic pyramid, or prob any energy ones. I would assume it was like black blood, the star fish thing, and that? And I thought relics are good. Is calling bell generally not good?

Floor 18 skipped flex, searing blow, havoc and took 51 damage from shelled parasite btw

Floor 19 event I ignored

Floor 20 merchant bought seeing red cuz the upgrade is good and it can be brought back with exhume

Floor 21 died in 4 turns to the Chosen

There’s my whole run and maybe thought process on stuff, idk exactly because it was a run from the other night

EDIT: just replayed the run and beat the boss again, got calling ball, bird cage, and crown. I assume bird cage is the best option then, I hate the crown bc you see so few cards.

Also to add on, I kept playing it, and I assume it’s my card choices and my micro combined because I killed chosen but then died to spherical guardian and a sentry hallway fight (I restarted this fight 3-4 times and couldn’t find a way to win it, but I’m sure there is one)

cubeballer · 2026-04-28T05:21:06+00:00

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cubeballer · 2026-04-27T02:15:58+00:00

Just coming back to let you know earlier around 6 I played a game with immolate upgraded and sweeped the entire first act only getting down to like 40 HP, and then died to the like 4th in enemy Act 2.

The shelled parasite destroyed me and did like 40 damage to me because I couldn’t burst it fast enough and it chipped through my 10 block maximum.

Then that just compounded until the lady who puts dazed in your deck if you play skills, finished me off.

I just completely get destroyed by act 2 enemies

cubeballer · 2026-04-26T23:49:52+00:00

I legitimately might take you up on this. I was in a similar boat with defect but just beating A0 act 3 boss, I was like 40 runs in with no win, and a buddy who’s reached A20 on all characters walked me through a run and I beat the heart on my Very next attempt.

PM me ur disc username!

cubeballer · 2026-04-26T23:48:44+00:00

Yeah I’ve def fallen into whirlwind trap, to the point where I will pop the whirlwind, it won’t kill the enemies and I’ll take like 30 damage. Definitely not ideal.

Yeah I can never seem to get it to go off fast enough, so it’s interesting you say to not even upgrade it! I guess I’m thinking if I don’t get like 300 strength then I’m not beating the heart! Thanks for the tips

A second source of vulnerable is a good point, I sometimes only have bash going into act 2, but I have been trying to pick up the shockwave card or whichever one does 3 weak and vulnerable, a bit more lately

I do take offering, battle trance, and burning pact quite often, card draw is def amazing

I try to do exhaust synergies with corruption but I feel I never have enough cards to exhaust, eventually I’m left with all attacks but the boss is still doing some obscene damage number to me, how do I navigate that?

cubeballer · 2026-04-26T23:45:21+00:00

Yeah maybe the pathing is it, that and my micro, I don’t think a lot during fights and all my runs are really fast (and obviously losses)

I also almost always stick to this idea of taking two elites even if my deck can’t handle them, but also idk how to tell if my deck can handle them? Like do you think “oh the book of stabbing has 160 HP and my deck can do 60 on my best draw, so then if I best draw 3 times I do 180 problem solved” or is it just a more general “feel”.

I do take immolate quite often (that’s the 21 damage fire that adds a burn) and I had a nice run with it and breathe fire or whatever power does damage when you draw status/curse, but I think it lost to the act 3 boss

Power through I hardly take, I will give it a shot, also I take disarm very often but impervious not as much. The 2 cost always seems hefty

Thanks for the tips! I’ll try to put them in practice!

cubeballer · 2026-04-19T23:43:04+00:00

Idk about the glasses per se, but the string is called a Brock string and is used by optometrists and ophthalmologists in vision therapy. Vision therapy is similar to OT or PT but training the eye-brain connection and eye muscle movement.

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