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Competitive Budget Deck Masterpost (January 2021)
i'm starting to feel like modern Yugioh is a clown car, and every time the banlist apprehends the first few clowns that lead the format, 4-5 more step out to take their place. we didn't even have Linkross in handcuffs yet before VFD took the wheel and Vanity's Ruler got into the passenger seat. happy new year
This post will give recommendations for decks that can generally do well while generally remaining in the $50 to $150 price range.
Estimated pricing includes a sample completed main deck and some or all of an extra deck, but no side.
Pricing is based mainly on singles and you can easily save a lot of money by buying cores for most of these lists all at once.
Decks were chosen usually based on having some degree of success in recent TCG formats.
These deck choices and rankings are heavily based on online tournaments such as Konami's Remote Duel Invitationals, LCS, and other assorted online events.
Performance on DuelingBook's ranked ladder also slightly factors in to the placement of these decks, with data taken from Ygoscope.
Many decklists will include some middle-range power cards that might drive the price point up, which can be cut for players on an extreme budget. For instance, a set of Ash is $25-30 currently, but Ash is included in many of these lists as a generic staple that players might already own.
Conversely, decklists are oftentimes easily upgraded by adding power cards such as Forbidden Droplet and Triple Tactics Talent.
Decks are grouped into four "tiers" and listed alphabetically by tier. Decklists are built prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness on a budget. Not all of them are perfect, but this post is not an F. Unless there is a particularly offensive deckbuilding error that you want to point out, please don't use this thread to nitpick at the sample decklists. Don't feel obligated to stick to the sample lists either; you should experiment and play cards that feel comfortable and/or optimal to you. Feel free to leave suggestions for budget players, whether it's a budget tech choice for one of the decks on this list or whether it's a different deck that you think can compete in the coming months. [Last updated: 23 Jan 2021] Previous version: October 2020 Post
S Tier
The best bang for your buck. Decks in this category have the capacity to top premier events, though they're almost always supplemented with expensive power cards.
New Ritual-based combo deck from Genesis Impact that has a lot of recursion from the Graveyard, boasting a strong grind game as well as potent turn 1 boards that can win the game outright.
The level 1 Drytron cards tribute other Drytron cards or Ritual cards in hand/field, so this deck abuses Cyber Angel Benten's lack of a once per turn clause to gain a ton of resources and search a lot of power LIGHT Fairy cards, such as Herald of Orange Light and Vanity's Ruler.
Drytron Nova is an automatic 3-of inclusion in every competitive version of this deck, but also currently sits at around $40 each in NA. Novas are a massive boost in consistency, though the deck is honestly still playable without it, and is quite cheap otherwise. With even one copy of Nova, you should look to also include three copies of Drytron Fafnir (their Field Spell) which can search Nova as well.
The absence of Nova + Fafnir from the main leaves a lot of space to be filled. There are many ways you can go about this.
The sample list plays a small Pre-Prep engine with Herald of Perfection. It's very simple to play, especially if you're unfamiliar with the deck, and helps raise your overall ceiling - athough optimized competitive builds have generally moved away from Pre-Prep.
Another viable Ritual engine is the Megalith engine, which provides numerous options. These variants generally also suffer from consistency issues, made worse by the lack of Novas in the budget version. Less consistent access to Alpha means less consistent usage of extra Ritual monsters.
You could play cards that search Drytron monsters in an attempt to patch up consistency. Examples include Where Arf Thou, or normal summons that fetch Drytrons such as Cyber Dragon Core (getting Emergency) and Mathematician. Also viable is Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, which is an interesting tech in Drytron that helps you beat handtraps like Droll & Lock Bird.
Finally, you can always just play more handtraps or generic power cards.
This deck is a relatively new deck, and is getting support in Lightning Overdrive, which might indicate that it's relatively safe from the next banlist. However, there's no telling what Konami will do, so don't take my word as gospel.
Combo deck with an extra deck toolbox, using Synchro and Xyz monsters to break boards or to win the game with True King of All Calamities and their recurring boss monster, Shenshen. The Virtual World monsters have a shared restriction which means that Link monsters are usually not played in this deck at all.
Most of the main deck VW monsters can dump other VW cards from Deck to GY, and their continuous spell Qinglong is a searcher in the GY. Combined with Virtual World Mai-Hime - Lulu's ability to search for VW cards as well, the deck is consistent at doing the same combos and executing its gameplan almost every game, as most combinations of 2 Virtual World cards result in some type of combo.
Despite being one of the top decks in the format, this deck is also quite cheap. Staples aside, the most pricey card in the main is Lulu at around $18-20 each. Can you get away with fewer copies of her? Probably, but you really want to get 3 due to Desires, and her being one of the best cards in your deck.
Saw success immediately after PHRA release, even in the previous combo-infested format where Virtual World took the most representation and top cut spots at LCS 8, eventually winning the entire tournament. Post-banlist, they also took the most top cut spots and then won LCS 9, versus an entirely different playing field full of Zoodiac, Drytron, and Eldlich variants.
Recent combos using Chaofeng, Phantom of the Yang Zing to search either one of the Virtual World tuners (Lulu or Laolao) have opened up some new combo routes that make Foolish Burial Goods a lot more forgiving to play, allowing you to still end on impressive boards despite using Qinglong somewhat suboptimally. On the other hand, Chaofeng's price also spiked quite heavily after LCS 9, so you may not want to play it.
Non-budget players will first and foremost want to add Zeus to the Extra Deck, as it helps greatly with going second and also dealing with threats like Dragoon. Another common inclusion is Triple Tactics Talents, though this card is by no means mandatory in the deck, and has also seen a decline in popularity lately.
A Tier
Strong decks, but limited either by a lack of access to powerful staples or by the natural ceiling of the deck. You could still top a regional with one of these decks on a good day.
Control + backrow deck with incredible recursion and the ability to come back from almost no resources
Altergeist have seen sparse success ever since FLOD, and are a respectable budget contender. They've have had a fairly modest showing online, and saw recent success with a top 8 finish at LCS 9. That deck was a Dogmatika variant piloted by Lars Junginger, playing the recently released Artemis, the Magistus Moon Maiden to make it slightly easier to summon Ecclesia in some hands.
The Dogmatika engine is viable even on a modest budget. It's possible to simply play Dogmatika Punishment as a powerful trap capable of utilizing your extra deck, and even a single copy of Ecclesia (around $20 each right now) goes a long way for improving the power of this package. Of course, the deck is also perfectly playable as pure Altergeist.
Budget players are most hurt by a lack of Pot of Extravagance, Infinite Impermanence, and Evenly Matched. The first three of these cards have reprints, but none are quite cheap enough yet to be easily accessible on a budget.
The extra deck is extremely flexible (as Altergeist are typically played with Extravagance, anyway) and several options are simply tech cards, such as Elder Entity N'tss.
Main deck trap choices are also extremely flexible. Torrential is quite powerful against Virtual World, but this could easily be swapped out for many other cards depending on your budget, available card pool, and locals demographics.
The release of Blazing Vortex in early February also brings along an incredibly powerful staple card in Pot of Prosperity. Altergeist, along with virtually every other deck that enjoys running Pot of Extravagance currently, will appreciate Prosperity as well. Many OCG decks are choosing to play both Extrav + Prosperity in their decklists. Of course, Prosperity is also a Secret Rare, and is virtually guaranteed to be around $100, so this is not applicable on a budget.
Floaty combo/control deck with 4 maindeck Prank-Kids that all float into any other Prank-Kid when used for a Link or Fusion summon
Got a great boost in Phantom Rage with Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu, a Link 1 Prank-Kid monster that makes this deck incredibly consistent and turns any single Prank monster into full combo.
Prank-Kids Place is a little pricey, currently sitting at around $17 per copy in NA. While it contributes to your overall consistency (as it's equivalent to any Prank name), you can definitely get away with cutting copies of Place if your budget is tight.
Notably took 1st place at the Canadian Remote Duel Invitational in mid-January, piloted by Hanko Chow.
This deck appreciates the inclusion of Predaplant Verte Anaconda (currently over $30 apiece in NA) which can dump Thunder Dragon Fusion to help field Battle Butler, your main win condition. It was dropped from the provided list for budget reasons, but it's a great inclusion if you have a copy already. In conjunction with cards like Link Spider, it also improves your ability to play through disruption and through Nibiru.
This deck has many characteristics of a great deck, but suffers from similar problems as Zoodiac in that it struggles to play through disruption on your normal summon, or cards like Ash negating your first Prank-Kid effect. The inclusion of Polymerization in the main deck helps to combat this, but also popular are builds that don't play Poly at all and instead just load the main deck with handtraps and powerful staples like Forbidden Droplet.
Pot of Desires is included in this example main deck to help boost consistency and overall power, but some players opt not to run it.
Link-based midrange deck with a lot of recursion and a special in-archetype technique, where 1 Link Monster is used as the entire Link material to summon another copy of that monster, granting bonus effects
The deck is somewhat halfway between control and combo, establishing respectable boards turn 1 with a fairly compact engine, allowing many handtraps to be played. Their real strength comes in turn 3 and beyond, where their arsenal of free summons from the GY, coupled with their stellar resource recycling, easily overwhelm the opponent.
The majority of the deck is dirt cheap and is mostly able to be built with commons from SOFU+SAST supplementing 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner.
Accesscode Talker is a huge part of this deck's success, able to steal games easily with the help of Update Jammer. Accesscode is not at all affordable on a budget, so the sample list plays Zeroboros instead. Owning one copy of Accesscode is a tremendous improvement to this deck's strength.
Salamangreat has found little competitive success in bigger online tournaments this format, but still regularly performs well in smaller events, remote duel locals, and the like. It's also a fairly safe choice, as it's somewhat unlikely we see further Salamangreat hits on the next banlist.
The provided list plays Rivalry + Strike, a potent option allowing you to sometimes win games even into established boards. Strike is quite solid in the current format, as even the combo decks don't usually end on ways to punish a lot of set backrow.
Parallel eXceed is an optional card, and can be cut in favor of more backrow or handtraps. On one hand, it allows you to more easily link climb when going second, and can easily add a Dweller or Bagooska to your board going first (Dweller is very good right now, as well). On the other hand, players may prefer to run more defensive cards instead of eXceed.
Subterrors are a control deck with a focus on flipping monsters face-down and generating constant advantage with Subterror Guru.
Pure Guru control is the most played variant, and is more or less a stun deck that tries to abuse Guru as much as possible. While most Guru lists online are Numeron and/or Dragoon hybrids, the pure version saw some success earlier this format at the Benelux Remote Duel Extravaganza, finishing top 4. You can watch that deck profile here, and the sample list is generally based off of that list.
While Dragoon isn't budget-friendly, the Numeron engine is very accessible for little cost, and is a viable variant of this deck as well. Numeron cards aim to make Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL going first or simply OTK going second. S0 is an extremely powerful card that can prevent the opponent from playing the game entirely if it resolves. If you are interested in this version, you can check the Subterror list on the previous budget post.
The sample list doesn't have a complete extra deck, mainly because it doesn't play Extravagance and you barely go into the Extra Deck to begin with. Relinquished Anima is a decent option if you can shell out the $7-8 for it, since sometimes you can turn Fiendess into Anima. Apart from that, provided Extra Deck options include anti-Maximus cards for the Dogmatika matchup, and Aussa + Zoodiac Drident in case you face a Zoodiac player. Taking their Zoo monster and then slapping your Drident on top can be potent.
This deck usually plays Extravagance over Desires, but Desires is quite a serviceable replacement. Similarly to Altergeist, this deck also enjoys Pot of Prosperity post-BLVO.
B Tier
Like the above category, but generally weaker, less consistent, and/or impacted harder by a lack of access to a certain card(s).
Dinosaurs are an aggressive deck with consistent access to Evolzar Laggia/Dolkka and Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, a formidable boss monster with incredible OTK power and disruption.
Dinosaur's strength tends to be largely meta-dependent, particularly how well it can counter the existing top decks. During the previous two combo-infested formats with decks like Dragon Link and Adamancipator running around, Dinos had several extremely impressive showing at events, such as TeamSamuraiX1's win at the first NA Remote Duel Invitational, as well as all three first-place players at LCS 7 (a 3v3 event) playing Dino.
In the current format, Dinosaurs are struggling. The Virtual World matchup is difficult, and it's hard for Dinosaur to build to beat all of VW, Drytron, Eldlich variants, and the plethora of rogue decks running around. Additionally, Mystic Mine is not very potent this format as both Virtual World and Eldlich have in-engine outs to the card, which is another blow to the Dinosaur strategy. Finally, the popularity of handtraps like Skull Meister and Artifact Lancea in the side or even the main deck are also reasons this deck has declined.
The provided variant still plays Mine, as it has utility breaking boards. Deckout is a much less reliable strategy against VW and Eldlich, but you can still stall for some turns until you can make a push for game. The addition of Cosmic Cyclone is also an attempt at neutering cards like Chuche and Conquistador.
If you wanted to build this deck without Mines, you would have to find replacements for quite a few cards (and frankly, Dinosaur does not have very many good ones). Most power staples are not budget, such as Lightning Storm, Talents, Droplet, etc. This deck also really appreciates Pot of Extravagance, which still sits barely out of budget range at around $25 each in NA.
Budget Dino must also deal with the lack of Animadorned Archosaur, an extremely powerful addition to the deck that opens up many new combos. However, sitting at around $60 per copy, the card is inaccessible on a budget.
The provided list plays the Simorgh combo, bringing out the WIND barrier statue on turn 1 to steal games. Though a full extra deck is provided, very few cards are actually needed, as the deck typically plays Extravagance anyway.
Dragon Link is a Link-centric combo deck that was a dominant force in the meta for about half a year, but lost a lot of resilience and power with the recent bans to Linkross and Dragon Buster Destruction Sword.
The provided budget version of this deck actually has a ton of extra deck flexibility due to not needing to play Synchro/Link cards related to the Halq/Kross package, meaning that you can play Knightmares, anti-Dogmatika cards, etc. This also means that the budget version doesn't actually care about the Linkross ban at all.
This deck has seen a great deal of variation online, playing a variety of different engines and tech cards. A few of these include Vylon Cube + Smoke Grenade, the Rose Dragons, several different Dragonmaid cards, and even an FTK variant involving Earthbound Immortal Aslla piscu. However, few of these are viable for budget players, especially if you do not own a copy of Halqifibrax.
An interesting option the deck has is to use Union Carrier to equip handtraps such as Artifact Lancea. On the opponent's turn, Hieratic Seal can be used to return the handtrap to your hand, making it live immediately. This is something you may want to consider in the main deck if you frequently have to deal with decks like Virtual World and Dinosaur. Another option is to equip Ally of Justice Cycle Reader to Carrier (they're both machines) and then bounce it to hand, as a weapon against Drytron. Carrier isn't in the example list, but this is a really interesting option to consider.
With Linkross out of the picture, playing Fibrax alone is an option if you either already own a copy or can afford the $20 needed to obtain one. You may have to retool your combos to incorporate Fiber, but the card can definitely add flexibility and resilience to your deck if you use it well.
Backrow-heavy control deck that summons its Traps to the field as monsters and pressures the opponent with Toadally Awesome
After being absent from the budget post for about a year, Paleo makes its triumphant return as its boss monster, Toad, returns to 3. Toad's reprint in Maximum Gold also brought this card down from $20 each to just a few bucks, making the entire deck extremely cheap.
As a control deck, Paleo suffers from more weaknesses compared to Eldlich, Altergeist, and Subterror. Notably, the engine tends to bleed advantage unless you've managed to maintain access to Swap Frog, and you can be quickly outpaced by stronger decks. However, in games where you can establish a Toad early, or where you can maintain control with your backrow, you can do quite well.
Paleo saw a surprising amount of success in various remote duel events this format, though some of that success is likely due to the format being unexplored and some sort of "new toy syndrome" as Toad recently went from 2 to 3.
Paleo struggles to out Dragoon, especially without access to Ice Dragon's Prison, a $40 card. An interesting option catching on in the meta lately is the use of Mirror Force cards, particularly Quaking and Storming, as they both pressure Dragoon. Still, the card puts quite a lot of pressure on this deck.
Speaking of Dragoon, some Paleo players opt to play that package in this deck as well. Swap Frog is a one card Dragoon as you can simply dump Ronin, turn Swap into Almiraj, and then revive Ronin to make Verte from there.
Fiend Griefing is presented as an interesting option which is very decent in the current meta, particularly vs Drytron. Combining it with Absolute King Back Jack is a classic combo that Paleo played a long time ago in 2017, during early Zoo formats.
Price: $100+, can be closer to $50 with fewer copies of Schism Imgur | DuelingBook
Classic Fusion-based archetype from 2014, debuting in Duelist Alliance. Somewhat of a midrange combo deck that can slow the game down with El Shaddoll Winda or be very aggressive with El Shaddoll Construct
Winda is a troublesome floodgate that many decks struggle to out, especially combo decks such as Drytron. Shaddoll cards are currently played in several Dogmatika variants due to the sheer power of Winda and the utility of Shaddoll Schism.
The current meta is favorable for Shaddoll not only due to Winda being effective vs Drytron, but also due to Ariel being very strong against a large chunk of the format, including Eldlich variants. Her ability to banish 3 cards from the GY is so strong that some decks are splashing in Sinister Shadow Games + Ariel just for that option, which we saw played in some of the 60-card Eldlich decks at LCS 9.
The growing popularity of Shaddoll cards has also caused Shaddoll Schism to go up in price substantially. Currently, it's around $17, but it may continue to rise.
The deck's biggest problem has always been its inability to consistently resolve a fusion spell on turn 1. Invoked Shaddoll was a popular hybrid in earlier formats, but with the release of the Magistus archetype in GEIM, Shaddolls got access to Rilliona and Magistus Invocation. This is an improvement since Magistus Invocation can fuse from hand and field whereas the regular Invocation can only fuse from hand when summoning Shaddolls. Additionally, Artemis provides a super convenient way for the deck to turn any Shaddoll into a LIGHT monster, which is important for summoning Construct.
While the full Dogmatika package is very expensive due to Nadir Servant being a $75 card, one option is to play just one copy of Ecclesia (around $20) along with Maximus and a playset of Dogmatika Punishment. Maximus and Punishment have a ton of synergy in the Shaddoll deck in conjunction with Apkallone's GY effect, and this combination is deadly even on a budget.
Other normal summons such as Mathematician and even Gale Dogra are potent on this deck, and can be played in addition to Rilliona or as a replacement for her. Yet another option is to run 1 copy of the now-cheap Eldlich the Golden Lord as a LIGHT monster for Shaddoll Fusion that can easily revive itself.
Another popular variant is a very trap-heavy list, sometimes cutting the Magistus cards entirely. PAK and SirEmanon's YouTube channels both have their own takes on this, if you're interested.
Floaty destruction-based archetype that generates advantage when its cards are destroyed, enabling its gimmick of using your opponent's monsters to Link Summon.
Can be built to go first or to go second quite effectively. Since going second is very difficult this format, the provided list aims to go first, playing a bunch of trap cards.
Fairly modest online performance, doing alright at smaller events and more recently finishing top 8 at the second YuGiJoe online series as well as occasional Luxury events. After the December banlist, Unchained has rapidly gained popularity in online remote duel events, and is one of the more prominent rogue decks this format. This success could be because the format is generally slower compared to previous ones, and many destruction-based cards such as Torrential Tribute are very popular currently, which this deck enjoys.
Mega-Tin reprints of Abomination's Prison as well as their Link 2 have helped make this deck a great deal more affordable. I:P Masquerena being more affordable is also a nice boost, though it's by no means essential in this deck.
This deck's best weapon is its opponents being unprepared for it. Playing improperly into backrow or Unchained floats can very quickly be fatal. It also matches up decently into some backrow decks as well as Dogmatika variants, which rely on destruction-based removal from Dogmatika Punishment and Elder Entity N'tss.
C Tier
Decks in this category have the capability to be just as good as the ones above at times, but often tend to suffer from multiple problems including consistency and power.
Versatile control-based Graveyard toolbox deck that has been swinging in and out of meta relevance since its release way back in 2014.
Gradually got more and more cards back from the banlist, with Cir and Graff being unlimited on the December 2020 list. The deck is now more or less "full power" with the exception of Beatrice, who is still limited.
The deck aims to establish Beatrice on turn 1 backed up with trap cards. The BA cards as well as Beatrice are extremely floaty, so this deck can put up quite a fight in grind games. Fiend Griefing is a solid card in the current meta, and is excellent in the Burning Abyss deck as you can send Farfa for further disruption, Graff/Scarm for followup, or Back Jack for more traps.
This deck was frequently mixed with Phantom Knight cards back in 2016 (often called PK Fire). Nowadays, Phantom Knight decks are typically either built pure or with an extremely compact BA engine. While it's possible to play a more dedicated hybrid build, the release of PK Torn Scales combined with most key BA cards being unlimited means that it's just better to focus on one or the other.
Many other options are playable - Desires for draw power, playing more traps, more handtraps, etc. Consider Needle Ceiling over Torrential as it can be harder to pull off, but combos better with Trap Trick. Players with access to Ice Dragon's Prison should play it, and adventurous duelists can even opt to play Fire Lake of the Burning Abyss.
As a deck easily capable of churning out Rank 3 Xyzs, you also have easy access to Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, one of the most powerful extra deck cards in the format. If this is an accessible option, it should be played.
Spell-heavy control deck that usually maintains only one monster on the field at a time, in the extra monster zone.
Formerly an extremely dominant control deck, modern-day Striker no longer accrues infinite resources through resolving Engage multiple times, but instead is easily able to kill you with an Accesscode Talker push after whittling down your LP and resources for a turn or two. The standard combo involves laddering from Halqifibrax -> Selene -> Accesscode and then dismantling your opponent's board before swinging for game.
You may have noticed a problem: if you're on a budget, you can't use Accesscode. This is a pretty big blow to the deck's overall strength. Some players opt for alternatives such as the Utopia Double package, which Zoé Weber played in the second EU Remote Duel Invitational last format. Another option is to simply not run it at all, and close games the old-fashioned way.
In previous formats, this deck was oftentimes played like an anti-meta going second deck, packing tons of removal cards and usually 3 copies of Mystic Mine in the main deck. In the current format, this strategy is a lot more difficult due to several factors - it's very hard to go second this format in general, and Mine is a lot less effective vs the top decks right now.
Instead, the sample list plays a going-first strategy with powerful trap cards like There Can Be Only One and Solemn Strike. It's possible to build this deck to go second, but you'd probably want to play board breakers instead of trap cards, and potentially also maindeck PSY-Framegear Gamma.
Yet another way to play this deck involves (surprise) Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon and multiple copies of Red-Eyes Fusion. Instead of using cards like Widow Anchor and Afterburners to muscle through disruption and stick a Mystic Mine on the field, you use them to get to your Dragoon and either win the game immediately or put yourself in a position where your opponent can't play through the Dragoon disrupt.
Roze is the most expensive card in this list. If your budget is tight, you can definitely cut her down to 1.
Xyz-focused deck with a gimmick allowing you to use any one Zoodiac as the entire Xyz material requirement for another Zoodiac. This lets you stack Zoo Xyz monsters on top of each other, making use of their effects.
Plays a compact engine combined with around 20 slots dedicated to handtraps, traps, and draw power. This deck is also commonly played as a hybrid deck, oftentimes with Eldlich and sometimes with Dogmatika cards. Both of these options are quite expensive, so they are not shown.
The deck's strength in competitive play comes almost entirely from Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS Sky Thunder, an extremely powerful Xyz monster that Zoodiac can effortlessly make due to Zoodiac Boarbow. Zoo is also easily able to summon Zeus with many materials, allowing it to repeatedly nuke the board.
Budget Zoo without Zeus is extremely weak by comparison. Relying solely on Drident + handtraps is not a reliable win condition, so cards like Parallel eXceed and Pot of Avarice are included in the sample list to give this deck a boost. While Megaclops is a troublesome boss monster in some matchups, the big three decks (Drytron, Virtual World, and Eldlich) generally don't have much trouble dealing with it.
Even with Zeus, the deck has been struggling in the current competitive meta. Noteworthy is its performance at LCS 9, where out of a whopping 51 Zoodiac variants that entered the tournament, only 1 survived until top 16.
Up-And-Coming
Decks to watch out for, oftentimes due to recent online success or new support being announced. Some might also be decks that could potentially be on the main body of the post, but need a little more time to prove themselves.
Link-focused deck that plays a variety of Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters. The maindeck Tri-Brigades cheat out powerful Link monsters, provided your GY is set up. This deck also trivially access the Simorgh link, which can sometimes seal games on its own through the WIND Barrier Statue.
In the current format, Tri-Brigade has seen fairly sparse success, usually mixed with Zoodiac. However, BLVO gives us Tri-Brigade Kitt, a great boost to this deck and a fantastic combo piece.
Further support in LIOV and beyond is also very promising, making this deck a potentially solid investment for the future.
The Tri-Brigade core is currently quite cheap, but this could change in the future depending on hype and the market.
Control deck with an extremely powerful Link 1 monster, Traptrix Sera, that pumps out constant advantage.
The sample list incorporates a very small Dogmatika engine. Dogmatika Punishment itself is very cheap, and is one of the best generic traps in the game right now. Just 1 copy of Ecclesia (around $20) provides a substantial power boost to this mini-engine, as dumping one copy of Titaniklad with Punishment and grabbing an Ecclesia for next turn is extremely powerful. Another option is to dump El Shaddoll Apkallone, then adding and discarding Ariel in order to trigger her effect and banish 3 cards, which is insane value.
If you can't get Ecclesia, you could simply play just Punishment as a generic trap. Another option is to play pure Traptrix, incorporating more power traps/handtraps, and quite frequently the Utopia Double package as well.
Pirate archetype with ridiculous recursion and a unique tag-out and equip mechanic based on Attributes being used in the game.
The pirates become equips for one of (currently) three Patrollships, extra deck monsters that can all discard Plunder Patroll cards in hand to fuel powerful effects. The ships become stronger when manned (equipped with) a Plunder card, with bonuses such as ignition effects becoming quick effects, or being able to replace the discarded card with a new one from the deck.
Many Plunder lists play Forbidden Droplet, as it has great synergy with the cards. Without Droplet, you could fill the space with several different options. This deck chooses to play the Undine package, but you can also go for cards like Foolish Burial Goods, Salvage, Silent Angler, Tenyi Spirit - Shthana, Toadally Awesome + Bahamut Shark, or just more generic staples.
This deck is getting at least one more support card in LIOV, that being Ravenwing. Many people speculate that they'll also get another Patrollship of a new attribute, which would be a huge buff to the deck.
Honorable Mentions
Megalith, Madolche, Pendulum decks, Cyber Dragon, Orcust, Mermail Atlantean, Magical Musketeers, Crusadia (Guardragon), ABC, D/D, Generaider, and more - Decks that are fairly decent but have been left off of the post to make room for other decks that have seen more recent success or have fewer budget resources online.
Dragonmaid, Eldlich, Infernoid, Invoked variants, HERO, etc - Decks that are pretty good but are sorta in limbo due to some expensive individual cards, such as Chamber Dragonmaid, Cursed Eldland, Invocation, etc.
Cubics, Phantasm, Chain Burn, Evilswarm, Yosenju, Dinomist, and much, much more - Unfortunately, there is not enough room to cover every single decent, super-cheap deck.
I hope to keep this post updated for the foreseeable future. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.
[NAFA][Poly] All about NAFA for prospective students! (mainly SOAD stuff)
Hi there! NAFA grad from COVID batch here! I previously wrote tips to not waste time at NAFA. Currently studying in NUS. If you're looking for post O levels/ITE options, look no further! 4 years ago, I attended NAFA's open house after receiving my O level results and back then I was as clueless as the many DMs I've received asking about NAFA ;) . So I'm making this post to clear those doubts! Edit: Added academic calendar to general curriculum and important degree update
Content
Things to note before entering NAFA
What is NAFA and who is it for
Available Courses
When and how to apply
Application Timeline
Financial Aid
During your study
Useful Acronyms
Life at NAFA
Understanding NAFA's SOAD Standard
General curriculum
Electives
Using workshops/Loaning of equipment
Internship
Overseas Immersion/School Exchange Programme
CCA
Post-Diploma
Furthering studies at NAFA
Furthering studies at a local university
Finding Work
Things to note before entering NAFA
[1] What is NAFA and who is it for? NAFA, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is Singapore's pioneering art school. It is a private arts institution. It provides diploma studies with a study duration of 3 years just like poly. The special thing about NAFA is that it provides 1-year degree programmes which any student (usually from relevant diploma courses) can pick up. Well, we always say 'art is subjective', it is a freedom of expression. The school is really open to anyone (and that is on the account that you have a portfolio or passed the test). Literally, you can have aunties and uncles as your classmates! You also have people doing art because it's fun but in all seriousness do not sign up if that's what you think. I'd like to think of NAFA as a school that guides you in the beginning and later on they just kind of let everyone be independent learners. Anybody can say that NAFA teaches you the foundation but they do not intend to fully teach you long term or up to a professional level. The school is excellent for people who have existing art skills (you've won SYF, art awards, distinction in art before you were even 17 years old) and wish to be a local artist. It is also great for people who are passionate and have some sort of basic skill or are/have developing skills already (that's me!) however this group should avoid Fine Arts. You can also be passionate and start on a blank slate but be prepared to work doubly hard for the grades. The school is not competitive, it depends on talent to stand out. Do not come if you are doing for the sake of the diploma because the difficulty of NAFA's diploma is no joking matter. Dropping out is common in every course and you do not wish to contribute to that. That is also the whole point of NAFA charging exorbitant school fees so that you don't run away. Many people actually bet their future on NAFA because they couldn't go to poly/uni course of their choice and it ends up being wasted because it's not what they wanted! You may have heard people of saying that the school's standard is trash but the truth is, it's not the school's problem 100% of the time. For students looking to enter NAFA Foundation Programme, it's still new and dodgy. I strongly advise you guys to take O levels and head to Poly instead if you still wish to pursue further education at local universities. I personally find no point in skipping a year and getting L1R4>25 with an O level cert where you might've passed math seems to be a more lucrative choice to use for entering NAFA. The only benefit you're getting from the programme is a debt $$$. Entry requirements: O Level: L1R4 equal or less than 25 points excluding English (can use CCA points) ITE: Full-time Higher Nitec or Nitec Other Local/International Admission Requirements Important note: NAFA diplomas do not equate with polytechnic diplomas. NAFA being the oldest art school does not mean that it is the best place to go instead of Laselle. [2] Available Courses One misconception is that NAFA has double diploma programmes for 3D Design. I'd like to announce that it is false. The school is not capable of teaching 2 types of diploma at a time but rather mash it up. So if you intend to take my course for example Diploma in Design (Landscape and Architecture), it is usually the 1st word that is mainly taught which is 'Landscape'. List of courses: School of Art and Design 3D Design
[3] When and how to apply? Once you received your results is usually the time applications are open. Local and international students have until March to apply. It varies annually. More here ->How to apply Method of Application: Online portfolio submission or physical admission test Neither is better than the other. You method depends on whether you can show what you have within a given deadline. Online Portfolio Submission Minimum 10 images, various mediums allowed and a short writeup of 100 words. 1.Make the portfolio for the course that you want To make them pick you directly for the course, make it look like you are built for the course. 2. Have a variety of work Fine Arts doesn't only consist of drawings, it can also include some sort of sculpture or performance work. Same goes for the other departments. Click here for what each course requires. If you wish to showcase a single type of work because you are unable to show more, it can make your portfolio look okay/bad compared to other people. 3. A passionate statement Only 100 words. Tbh I wrote what I wished to do after my diploma (plans have since changed and it was an odd statement lol). I don't suggest writing about your contribution to the sch because as long as you're a student you're contributing. Make it short and simple. In case anyone is wondering, my application portfolio was mediocre, showing 11 images consisting of sketches/paintings/photos. If you have a god-tier portfolio because you have that artistic talent, there's a good chance to achieve a 1st-year full-coverage scholarship once you step into NAFA. You can submit whenever you want but my estimated deadline was 2 weeks after applying at the open house which waived my application fees ($70 better treat yourself Haidilao). Admission Test (if someone has taken the test feel free to provide more info) The test dates are staggered once per month from January-March. Held in groups. Consists of a drawing test and write-up. I only know that the drawing test isn't difficult. People who took the test do not intend to submit a portfolio as it's quick and efficient. Nothing much to add on. Important note: If you are writing a 2nd choice as a safety net please be cautious. I do not recommend as you may get the 2nd choice instead if the slots for your 1st choice becomes full. They will just shift you to the 2nd choice and that's where the 'appeal' part comes. Choose to submit a portfolio if you can commit to the deadline, it usually gives you an upper hand over admission test applicants because you're showcasing more. [4] Application Timeline (I only know O levels if anyone can kindly tell me I'll update) O levels: January Receive results > submit JAE > apply for NAFA February Wait for JAE AND NAFA results > receive JAE results 1st > receive NAFA results 2nd You’ll receive NAFA results before poly starts unless you apply late. I applied during Jan on the day of the open house and got my results mid-end Feb. March is the last month to receive results. [5] Financial Aid NAFA Financial Aid Now, we all know private school isn't cheap and many passionate young souls I've met depend heavily on financial aid like I do. If you're a Singaporean with a tight family income, the bursary is attainable for you. It covers half of the annual school fee. Can only be taken once for each year of study. If you are able to claim the bursary for all your years, you’d pay a total of $7050. For those who are hoping to start at NAFA but is at a really tight end, you need perfect grades in art and portfolio to be considered a scholarship/merit in your first year. You'll need testimonials and pass the interview. If you ain’t good in art, pass this opportunity however you can work for scholarship/merit during your diploma years. I’d score close to the 4.0 (3.8X) in Year 1 in order to get a scholarship to cover my Year 2 fees. Other options are the 0% interest study loan by DBS. You can make use of your PSEA which you can also use your sibling account to cover your own sch fees. Last option but not really one is the student assistantship scheme should you already be a student of NAFA. The pay is peanuts, I would not recommend but it's nice to have a one-liner in your resume that you did some work for the school :). There are NAFA students with a possibly far worse situation than yours but they are extremely talented and hardworking to end up not paying a single cent. NAFA is really expensive so if you do intend to work to cover the fees, take care of your grades as well. It is not impossible to do so. I chose to not work as I was in a hectic design course and needed to maintain my grade for university. Next, you would need to understand how the system works.
During your study
[1] Useful Acronyms SOAD: School of Art and Design (Department) SOAMDT: School of Arts Management, Dance and Theatre SOM: School of Music D&M: Design and Media FA: Fine Arts 3DD: 3D Design FS: Fashion Studies FYP: Final Year Project (used in almost every SOAD course lol) OIP: Overseas Immersion Programme [2] Life at NAFA So you wish to know how life is like at NAFA? First thing, don't expect the same amount of glitz and glamour that exists in polys. It's much quieter where you won't even hear a mouse die. Because entry to the school is quite easy, the population regularly consists of graduated ITE students (can’t make it to poly/NAFA is the last golden ticket) alongside many international students. O level cert holders are like a small 10% or less. So if you’re young, prepare to take care of the older lot and expect to carry lazy people. You have to be very committed to the course and can’t skip class. More than 3 times and they start deducting marks. The workload is heavy and even if it comes in small numbers, it is intense. The number of student to lecturer ratio is not a big difference but later on, consultation times may not suffice. Facilities are sufficient unless you’re in a design course. There are CCAs in the sch but not all courses got time for it. Staying in school late is a common culture. Fine Arts students after class just camp in their respective studios and design students would camp till closing 11 pm at the computer lab waiting for renders to finish. Every student will experience staying late and you can say its #lifeatnafa. The culture here is not as toxic and dramatic as poly but more towards weird because we’re creative artsy-fartsy people. It’s easy to get along with course mates but there’s a chance for things to get somehow cranky along the way. Could be you or your classmate. Everyone is pretty open and wild. There’s a lack of competitiveness which is both good and bad. There won't be a course that goes without presentations. That's the point of producing works ain't it, to show it off to the audience. Group work to individual work ratio is about 3:6 so if you worry about bad groupmates, don't worry I've faced them too and it can't be helped ;). Carrying other people during group work is also common. NAFA does stand for lazy people what to do. Your complaints hold no power. (Arguably, many students want the school to make entry to the courses more difficult as there seem to be too many bums to handle) If you're mentally depressed or anything the school does try to help but no legit support system other than the ECG counsellor (which I find it practically useless). Now, the school deals with this quite often so they don't give a damn about your life. Ownself take care ownself is the usual term. School events anyone can participate: Open House (1-day Sentosa fun time with other Open House ambassador) Orientation (has a 1-night camp! Recommend) NAFA Fun Day Overseas Immersion Programme (1-3 weeks long, Asian countries. Recommend but need $) Student Assistantship Programme (1 year-long contract. Peanut pay) The list of programmes here may not seem much but you can add it in your portfolio (except Fun Day). There may be volunteer work available within some courses itself. Do try to be active And that's about it. Nothing special just expensive and less fun. [3] Understanding NAFA's SOAD Standard Take a look at what past graduates have produced within their 3 years as a student. Only you can judge whether the school is great or the right fit for your goals (in being able to attain this particular level of skill for XXX course once you graduate for example). The best standard can be found under the best graduate tab. 2020 The Grad Expectations Graduation Showcase [4] General Curriculum Academic Calendar The 1st semester of your study begins at the start of August and usually ends late November or early December depending on the type of assessment received. The 2nd semester begins in January till May. The span of 1 semester is always around 4 months with a 1-week break in between. We don't really have any sort of term 1/2 thing like poly and is much compressed, so breaks are less. However, you do get compensated with a 3-month vacation between years so that's fair. *Applicable to SOAD only Year 1 1st Semester: Foundation Study (not the same as NAFA Foundation programme for N level) + Basic art and design theory +General Education 2nd Semester: Course Foundation + General Education + Basic course theory (+ Electives) Year 2 1st Semester: 2nd Set of Course Foundation + Intermediate theory + 1st project + Basic report/essay writing (+ Electives) 2nd Semester: Last set of Course Foundation + Another set of projects (+ Electives) Year 3 1st Semester: Internship/School project (wouldn't want to get this) 2nd Semester: Final Year project (practically on your own) + Report/Essay writing + Research and development (+ Electives, not recommended to do during this semester) It’s clearly not much different from poly, slightly worse at certain points. Weeklyschool hours per week will increase each semester e.g year 1 sem 1 is 18hrs a week for classes, next semester you may get an additional 2-4 hrs increase of class time. The longest time I had for class each week was 24hrs, pretty sure the same goes for any SOAD course. Do expect late-night classes. It is inevitable because most lecturers are teaching part-time so do bear with them. Important note: For a lighter schedule, do electives early as that's one of the simplest things to do. The difference in timetable won't affect application to university. [5] Electives 1 common mistake students commit is not reading the student handbook (from studentnet)/contract on the number of credits required for graduation. They end up finishing their electives during Year 3 Semester 2 which is the time one should focus on their FYP. Start doing your electives once you’re in Year 1 Semester 2. Good planning consists of not stuffing your modules until it’s way past 24hrs/week (also known as overloading). You’re required to do cross-disciplinary modules 2-6 credits worth (meaning not related to your course, if you’re from D&M you have to do either FA/3DD/FS) and course-related electives worth 2-6 credits. Days before module registration, plan out the electives you want to do based on your given timetable and then rush to pick on the day of the module registration with no hesitation to secure your placement. You may have to do an elective that is unfamiliar to you. My sample plan: Year 1 sem 1: Can’t choose yet Year 1 sem 2: Photography (Highly recommend, popular as well but must have time and skill + a friend who's free who be your model). 2 credits Year 1 sem 2 special term (aka holiday): OIP to Hangzhou. China Academy of Arts for 3 weeks. Considered cross-disciplinary to FA. 3 weeks long. 4 credits Year 2 sem 1: Intro to Rapid prototyping from 3DD (laser cut/3D print) (didn’t really learn how to use the machine as there are technical officers and I messed up at the end but still passed, great elective for embarrassing yourself if you’re a 3DD student who frequents the workshop ;) ). 2 credits Year 2 sem 2 - onwards: No more electives can focus on FYP Important note: Plan well so you accumulate just nice 120 credits for graduation. No point in exceeding the total credits as you have to pay extra for it. If you miss a few credits for graduation, you will be retained for another semester to finish. Cheat tip: if you go on the OIP to China only, you instantly get cross-disciplinary credits. [6] Using Workshops/Loaning of equipment
The 3D workshop at wing B level 1 operates Mon-Fri 8 am to 6 pm but you need permission from the lecturer or Technical officer to use the machinery.
Laser cutting and 3D printing in the 3D workshop operates from Mon-Fri 10:30-4:30 pm and it is based on a first sign up first serve basis. Booking is always done a week prior to the day of actual usage and maximum of 4 people per day (unless you let others share your slot). Every Friday the slate inside the workshop outside the room is wiped clean for students to book for the week ahead. Even if your name is on the booking board and you don't end up cutting, you will get a temporal ban after multiple attempts. Do ask the Technical officer about the laser cutting template as well and follow accordingly when you create the template so as to not cause a problem of cleaning up your drawing which may overtake another timeslot.
Camera equipment for photography/filming can be loaned from a guy named 'Jack'. Priority goes to courses that require it, followed by the photography elective and so on. Loan lasts for a week and extension can be asked for after loan period.
Photography Studio/Darkroom use needs to have a form signed, given to 'Jack' and then approved. Literally, find this guy for all your photography needs.
Fine Art workshop time depends on the course instructor. People from other courses are free to walk in when its empty but usage not possible.
[7] Internships Usually done in Year 3 Semester 1, this is one of the key semesters every student should complete for it plays a very important role in your portfolio for finding a job post-graduation. The school has a reputable network, however for courses like Fine Art and illustration the intern positions may be limited because Singapore is not very welcoming for such talents. There are top companies who are willing to hire NAFA students on the basis that they have good grades and a juicy portfolio. So if you want the best, you got to be the best. [8] Overseas Immersion/School Exchange Programmes Slots for OIP is limited (especially the ones to China), requires an interview. I think the max for some trips were 35-40 people at most. There are subsidies available and coverage varies. Places NAFA has flown to: *Xiamen (3 weeks) *Hangzhou, China Academy of Arts (3 weeks) *Beijing, Beijing Technology University (3 weeks) Bangkok (1 week?) Korea (might've stopped) Japan (might've stopped) *Special programme during Year 1 Semester 2 vacation only I forgot the cost but I've personally have flown to Hangzhou. Best experience ever despite getting a C. Crazy stuff happened at one of the finest Arts school in China :) Important note: If you miss the chance to fly, fret not, NAFA's degree programme is a collaboration with a foreign university and they will open an exchange programme for 1 month (that is if COVID doesn't persist). Not sure about the cost though. [9] CCA (The price list is not updated as of 2020) List of currently available CCAs:
Short story: Long ago, I actually joined the photography club only to end up leaving before they even started anything because everybody was too busy to meet up and thus disbanded. During my time, Muay Thai is the most popular followed by Yoga. Do check out NAFA OSC account on IG to find out what they do. Looks like they added Korean language class too hmm
Post-Diploma
[1] Furthering Studies at NAFA NAFA Degree courses for Arts Management and Music Update (thanks to the comment below): NAFA is going to change its programmes and collaboration starting from AY2021/2022. The new degree courses are collaborating with UAL (University of Arts, London) and it’s changing from one year course to two-year course which includes 5-7 weeks of going to the colleges in London. All the courses are affected except for Arts Management and Music. Students with A Level certificates, as well as those without relevant diplomas will be allowed to enrol into NAFA’s degree programmes. The stuff I wrote may not apply anymore but I will still leave it here as a reference for NAFA's 1-year degree. The degree website is empty for now. How do you determine if taking NAFA degree is worth it and why should you take or not take the NAFA degree? There’s always a mixed bag of opinions over the degree. Personally, I’m not a fan of it but I won’t be biased and input the pros and cons that can better aid in one’s decision. PROS 1.Existing CGPA from diploma is Low Finding a job with the private diploma cert and low grades can affect your career progression. Make up for the mistakes that were done during the diploma study and try to do well for the degree. 2. High CGPA, expecting a scholarship (or free ride) for the degree course If you easily meet these 3 criteria (1) Singapore's local unis are too expensive for your taste, (2) you might be older than 21 years old and need to work ASAP, (3) "broke" but did quite well during your diploma and has an excellent portfolio to show, taking the degree might not be such a bad option. In some instances, the 1-year degree + years of work experience can allow one to take up a master degree at local uni if the pre-requisites are met. 3. Changing career path (still art-related) It's possible to change paths from design to fine arts. However, for a degree that lasts only for 1 year, it is impossible to acquire a decent knowledge at a degree level compared to the diploma stage in my opinion. Usually, the people who apply for the design degree e.g Spatial Design, have prior knowledge from the related course of study either from NAFA or other polys. 1 year is not enough but never said that it’s impossible and has been done over the years. 4. Increase in starting salary Nobody says this when asked why they want to take the degree but I'm sure they want an increase in starting salary. If you have a fear of starting out with low pay and want to bump it up by sacrificing a short amount of time and money, go for it. CONS 1.Not a legit degree This isn’t a biased answer but an honest one. NAFA's degree is not a professional degree. 1-year won't be enough to acquire a lot of knowledge. There are no internships and full training of Softwares/techniques whatsoever. It's basically aimed at NAFA/poly students who have an existing skillset and internship experience during their diploma studies or international students with similar qualifications. I'm not discouraging anyone who wishes to take the degree because some companies do take in students and if they're lucky, they can work for them after graduation. 2. Not 100% applicable for postgraduate studies in Singapore The local universities may not kindly cater to all NAFA degrees. A number of students after getting a NAFA degree would choose to study overseas to pursue a masters. If getting NAFA's degree is a mean of broadening your studying experience by going overseas, why not? One real-life example that I've heard of works is landscape and architecture diploma + Spatial Design degree + 3 years of work experience at a good company + an excellent portfolio which eventually led this person to enter NUS Masters in Landscape Architecture. Spatial Design has a chance for relevant postgraduate courses although this may not be the same for the other NAFA degrees. 3. Not worth if you are a Singaporean The cost of NAFA's degree is considered affordable for an international student and it was practically built for them. If a Singaporean were to study at local uni for 3/4 years including subsidies + tuition grant for a design degree, it'd still be cheaper than a NAFA degree. Plus an actual degree from the public unis is still considered much valuable. If you stand for better higher educational standards after staying there for 3 years, I say work hard and flee. [2] Furthering studies at a local university It’s not impossible. It was already allowed a million years ago. It just a matter of effort you put during your diploma years. The current standard at NAFA has dwindled where only less than 10 NAFA grads emerge victoriously so don't be surprised knowing that NAFA barely has high flyers, the school doesn't even push for it. Even my juniors don't know my degree existed 1 year ago... 2 things to note:
NAFA diploma is not allowed entry into many courses that are irrelevant from the diploma unless the GPA is high. The usual entry requirements are GPA 3.5-4.0 also dependent on the 10th percentile, juicy portfolio and testimonial (I didn't need it FYI)
Chances are higher for relevant degrees although any degree will definitely have entry requirements to meet. Some degrees require O level pass in elementary/additional math (they say they don't check anymore after 2019 but I don't want to play out my chances). I know of students who were optimistic about their GPA but they did not read the instructions beforehand.
You will be fighting with the best from poly, JC and beyond. Do your best to represent yourself as a student from NAFA and you'll find a way to stand out from the crowd. A warning note to future/existing international NAFA students: I know most of y’all only started living in Singapore just before the beginning of the diploma. I don’t know whether your international qualifications can equate with O levels so consider your future plans in Singapore carefully. My dear international classmates weren’t called up for uni interview (GPA already wasn’t helping, no offence) and the super stringent admission criteria crippled their hopes. Many have remained in NAFA to do the 1-year degree or have returned to their home country. I cannot answer for employment rates. If neither one is the option you want to end up with, do take note. [3] Finding Work COVID really struck a lot of people hard. I can count the number of my coursemate who is employed with my 10 fingers or less. The full-time employment rate is terrible, believe it or not. The school hides it like the fine print in the student contract. Here in the Graduate Employment Survey, you can see the ending choices of NAFA graduates. I really can't tell the success rate of one finding a job even based on IG stories itself. I see quite a number of freelancer or people doing other things. Who will remain in the same industry? The top 10% in the cohort but even the best have struggled or are still struggling to find a job. NAFA students are not only fighting among themselves, there are poly students with similarly named courses out there too with a proper educational lineup that a NAFA diploma can't compare with. A portfolio is usually the passport for finding work and the past 3 years of study is meant to fill it up. Don't waste time being a stubborn student especially when you will be spending a lot of money to study. The best way to make yourself look hire-able is to definitely have good grades and a portfolio. Can't emphasise anything else other than that to convince the company to hire you.
Wrapping it up
NAFA is one of the schools that provides a unique and alternative route away from the usual poly lifestyle. I had some crazy times in there be it social life or workload. It isn't a bad school (I quote 5/10) but if you can work for what you love, you'll do just fine. The Open House is open and I suggest for those interested to take a look. A whole bunch of admission guides are up for talks. NAFA Virtual Open House If you guys have any questions, comment down below so others can read or if you're shy, drop me a DM but I may be busy to reply. Thanks for dropping by!
I live in a small mining town in the mountains of Colorado. Someone is building a massive casino nearby, Pictures Included
I grew up in a small mountain town named Eureka. It was founded in the late 1800s during the gold rush, but after the mines dried up the town began its slow descent into decay. Half the houses are empty or abandoned now. You can see a picture of the kind of houses here in Eureka: First house Second house When a massive construction project began nearby, it was the talk of the town for weeks. Why would they build something in a sleepy dying town like Eureka? It wasn’t until my sister Selene talked to a few construction workers that we discovered they were building a casino. A casino up in the mountains, over two hours away from Denver. None of us could understand why they’d chosen here of all places. After a few months of work, the casino was done. I took a picture of the town with the completed casino in the background to the right. The ten-story-structure sticks out like a sore thumb off in the distance. Town+Casino After the casino opened, they hired a few dozen members of the town, offering high paying jobs to work as dealers or cleaning staff. I was already employed as a firefighter, but my sister Selene got a job as a blackjack dealer. She’s a widow with two young kids, so the paycheck was a real lifesaver. Still, something about the situation seemed too good to be true. The jobs over there paid far too well, and the management was far too accommodating. The fire station where I work is located high on a hill overlooking the town, so I began watching the casino from a distance each day. I had initially thought that the casino was located in a terrible location, but I was apparently wrong. True, Eureka was hours from any major city, but despite that, a bus full of people arrived every morning and left every evening. One night I was over at my parent’s house and had dinner with Selene and her kids. I asked her about her experience as a dealer. “It’s Ok,” she said. “Just a little boring I guess.” “Boring?” I asked. “I’m surprised you don’t have your hands full.” “Why’s that?” she asked. “It’s like you said, Eureka’s too small. I never have people playing cards. The casino is almost always completely empty.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that. If the place was always empty, what happened to the people who I’d seen arriving on buses? “I’ve been keeping an eye on the building,” I said. “A bus full of people typically arrives around 9 AM every day.” “Really?” she asked, looking confused. “If that’s true, I’ve never seen them. “I can see it from the fire station,” I said. “If you head out for a smoke break at 9 AM, you’ll probably see them arriving.” “Interesting,” she said. “I’ll do that. If they’re being processed for their organs or something, I’ll let you know.” She laughed. “Har har,” I said sarcastically. The next night she sent me a text calling me over. When I arrived, she was nearly breathless with excitement. “Orin, You were right,” she said. “A big group of people did arrive, but they didn’t walk into my part of the casino. Instead, they all walked into an elevator at the back of the building. I’m not sure where that goes.” She looked thoughtful. “It was weird. They looked… How can I say it? Desperate? Something about the whole situation was very off. I’m gonna check out the elevator tomorrow.” I told her to be careful, though, to be honest, I was excited to hear about what she discovered. When I visited my parent’s house the next night, I found her two kids there alone. They told me that Selene had never returned from work. I called all her friends, then all our neighbors, but no one had seen her since she left for work that morning. Our conversations regarding the casino flooded my mind, then a plan began to form. Early the next morning I walked across town in my nicest pair of jeans and a button-up shirt. I pushed through the door to the casino and saw that Selene wasn’t lying. The place was all but deserted. Three dozen slot machines crowded the walls surrounding a few tables interspersed throughout the floor of the casino. The only players in the whole building were Bob and Donald, two locals. I walked up to a nearby table where Bridget, a girl I’d gone to high school with, was shuffling cards. She broke into a grin when she saw me. “Hey Orin, you here for a few rounds of blackjack?” “I wish,” I said. “No, I’m here to ask about Selene. She never made it home last night.” Bridget’s expression darkened. “Really? Have you asked around?” “I already called around. Have you seen her?” She shook her head. “No, our schedules rarely line up. I’ll be sure to let you know if I--” Her eyes focused on something behind me, and she cut herself off. I turned around to see the casino’s pit boss watching us both. He was a tall thin man in an impeccably clean black suit. When I turned back towards Bridget, she was looking down at the table and shuffling cards absent-mindedly. “Well, if you hear anything, let me know,” I said. She nodded, so I turned around and headed for the pit boss. I stuck out my hand. The temperature of his hand was so hot that I had to pull my hand away after a few seconds. “Have… have you seen my sister Selene?” I asked. “She hasn’t been seen since her shift here yesterday.” He smiled. “Sir, this floor is for players. You’re more than welcome to head to the tellers for chips, but barring that I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.” I stared at him for a long second before stalking towards the door. When I looked back, he was talking with Bridget. I checked my watch. 8:55 AM, just as I’d planned. I walked around the back of the building and waited as the morning bus pulled around the building. I waited for the telltale hiss of the opening doors and the sound of people descending before I rounded the corner and joined the crowd. None of them paid any particular attention to me as I walked with them into the casino. The crowd walked through a side door down a hallway to an elevator. Small groups of people entered the elevator as the rest of us waited for our turn. I shot a glance at the casino patrons, surprised at their diversity. There seemed to be people from all different countries and ethnicities. I heard one speaking Japanese and another speaking what sounded like an African language. My turn came along with a few other patrons in the elevator. A sickly woman hobbled into the elevator beside me carrying an IV that was still connected to one of her veins. We piled in and rode up to the top. The elevator rose for a few long seconds. I wasn’t sure what I would find, but I steeled myself for something horrible. The elevator’s speaker let out a TING, then the doors opened. We all walked out onto what looked like a standard casino. Another few dozen slot machines ringed the walls, but on this floor, they were almost all occupied by customers. I took in the scene, confused at why they’d have a ground floor that was almost completely empty when this place was almost-- Selene was dealing cards at a nearby table. I jogged over and sat down at an open seat. None of the players around me paid me much attention. “Selene!” I said. “Are you OK? Did you spend the night here last night?” Her eyes were glassy and confused. She looked up at me with a dumb expression and didn’t respond to my question. “Selene?” I asked. “What’s your bet?” she asked me. “This table is for blackjack players only.” “I…” I trailed off, looking at the players around me. None of them were betting with chips of any kind. “What’s the minimum bet?” I asked. “Three years,” she responded. “Three years then,” I said, not knowing what that referred to. Selene nodded, then began dealing cards. I shot a look down at my hand. King and a 9. Selene dealt out cards for herself, showing a 9. I stood, then leaned forward again. “Should I call the police? Are you--” “Congratulations,” she said tonelessly. An almost impossibly warm hand grabbed my shoulder. I spun to see the pit boss I’d spoken to earlier. He gave an impressed smile. “Orin, was it? I’m impressed, truly. Would you mind if I had a word with you?” I shot a look back at Selene who was dealing the next round of cards. Then I got to my feet, balling my hands into fists. “What did you do to her?” The pit boss clasped his hands behind his back. “Nothing more, and nothing less than what I’m going to do to you. That is, offer you the chance to play.” “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” The pit boss nodded his head towards a nearby slot machine. A woman in a wheelchair pulled a lever and watched the flashing numbers spin. They exploded in a cacophony of sirens and flashing lights. “WINNER WINNER WINNER!” The machine screeched. The woman in the wheelchair put her feet on the ground and stood up on a pair of wobbly legs that had clearly never been used before. “As in any other casino,” the pit boss said, “you must wager for the chance to win.” “She... won the use of her legs?” I asked, feeling light-headed. “Wait,” I said. “I played blackjack just now. ‘Three years,’ Selene told me. What does ‘three years’ mean?” I asked. “Three years of life, of course. Did you win?” My mouth felt dry. “I-- Yes, I won.” He smiled warmly. “Congratulations. I hope you enjoy them. I can tell you from personal experience that watching the decades pass is a bore. Give it some time and you’ll be back to spend them.” I watched the pit boss’s face. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me, and I was in my early thirties. I looked around at the casino. No one was playing with chips of any kind. “So what?” I asked. “I won years of life. That woman won the use of her legs. What else can a person win here?” “Oh, almost anything. They can win almost anything you can imagine.” A cold feeling settled in my stomach. “And what do they wager?” His eyes flashed with greed. “Almost anything. They can wager almost anything you can possibly imagine. Anything equal in value to the item they want in return.” He nodded towards a nearby roulette table. A man stood by the table, cradling his hands. “Another finger,” he called out. He only had three fingers remaining on his left hand. As I watched, the ball came to a stop, and another finger disappeared from his left hand. The pit boss extended his hands. “Feel free to try any of our games. Bet and win whatever you’d like.” He reached out and snatched my hand. A feeling of intense warmth passed up my arm to my chest. “There,” he said. “I’ve even given you some house money to get you started. An extra decade of life, on me.” I ripped my hand away, staring at him in horror. Then I looked back at Selene. Something clicked in my mind. “You offered her the chance to play. What did she want?” I asked. “Her husband,” the pit boss said. “Quite the sad story. He died two years ago. She wanted him brought back to her.” “What did she wager?” I asked. “She wanted the chance to win a soul, the most valuable object in existence. I’m sure you can imagine what she needed to wager for the chance to win it. What she wagered is unimportant. The important question is: What do you want, Orin?” I stared at Selene with a flat expression. “I’m sure you can imagine.” His eyes flashed with greed again. “How wonderful. The casino could always make use of another dealer. Feel free to make your wager at any one of our games; I’ll be eagerly awaiting the results of your night. Oh, and do take advantage of our waitresses. We always supply food and drink for ‘high rollers’.” He walked away. I spent the next few hours trying to decide which game to play. I was going to be wagering my soul, so I wanted the highest chance possible. Slots and roulette were out. I’d done some reading online about counting cards, so I figured that blackjack gave me the best odds. I walked up to Selene’s table and sat down. “Bet?” she asked with that same toneless voice. “Three years,” I said. I spent the next hour or so doing my best to remember how to count cards. I knew that low cards added one to my count and high cards decreased it by one, but the casino used three decks. I had read something about how that was supposed to change my calculation, but I couldn’t quite remember how. Every time I won a hand, I cursed myself for not putting everything on the line. Every time I lost, I breathed a prayer of thanks that I’d waited. And all the while, I kept track of the count. I had lost fifteen years of life when the count finally reached +5. “Bet?” Selene asked. “I wager my soul so you can be free,” I said. The table around me fell silent. Selene’s eyes flickered, but she showed no other emotion as she dealt the cards. I watched my first card, punching the air in excitement when I saw a Jack. My excitement turned to ash when my second card was a four. Fourteen. I looked at her hand. One card was facedown, but the faceup card was a King. I swore loudly, staring down at my hands. “Hit?” she asked. The entire table was silently watching me. “Hit,” I said, not looking down. The table erupted in cheers. I looked down to see a 7 atop my two other cards. 21. Blackjack. I looked at Selene who flipped over her facedown card to reveal a 9. 19. I won. The glassy look left her eyes immediately. She looked around in surprise, then her eyes locked on mine. “Orin?” she asked, then almost immediately began to cry. The entire casino broke out in cheers. I grabbed her hand and headed for the elevator. The doors had begun to close when the pit boss reached out with a hand to stop them. “Congratulations,” he said, beaming. He seemed to be honestly excited. “Shouldn’t you be upset?” I asked. “Not at all. Casinos love it when we have big winners. It inspires the other players to make larger bets. I imagine I’ll gain two or three dealers before the night is through from your performance.” “Great,” I said flatly. “Now let us go.” “Not yet,” he said. “You didn’t just win, Orin. You got a blackjack. And blackjack pays out 1.5 times your bet. You won your sister’s soul and more.” I stared, not sure what to say. “What are you saying? I won half a soul extra?” The pit boss grinned wildly. “Just remember what I said. You’ll find living for decades and decades to be a boring experience. After a few centuries, you’ll be back to gamble that half a soul away. Congratulations!” He removed his hand, and the elevator doors slammed shut. I helped Selene back to her house. Her children were relieved. I watched them cry, then moved into the kitchen to start making dinner. It’s been a few days since that experience. The casino is still out there, and buses full of people still arrive. I… I cut my hand pretty bad a few days later. When I checked it an hour later, it had already healed, no scar or anything. I’m not sure exactly what I won at that casino, but there’s no way I’m ever going back. X
Hey everyone. I don't know to what extent "build logs/stories" are allowed here, but I just wanted to share the 5 year long story of my PC - one that I didn't build from scratch, but in the process of transforming it to what it is today, I have at least taken part in just about everything that would go in to building a PC anyways. I want to share this because, for the longest time, PC building was a hobby that I could only ever interact with through a screen. LinusTechTips, JayzTwoCents and a few others were my only way to engage with the PC world. It felt so out of reach to me, and I had basically just accepted that when it comes to PCs, I will likely just settle for pre-builts. That was until August of this year, when I got tired of looking at my PC in its sad and dusty state, and wanted to finally do something about it. We'll get to that, but first...
October 2015
I was 17 years old at this time with no income of my own, and the laptop that I had up to that point (an Asus K55N-DS81) suffered a slow and painful death. Shortly after I got it sometime in early 2013, I stepped on the screen like an idiot, and for the next 2.5 years it was basically a desktop, connected to an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. In its final months, it had become so hot, and I was desperate to extend its life, so I removed the keyboard, sat a desk fan on it, and aimed it straight at the cooling fan's intake. I thought it would make a huge difference, and I guess it was a little better, but with the knowledge I have now, I'm pretty sure I might've made it worse since I believe this laptop's keyboard doubled as a heatsink, and the real culprit was likely dust and crusty thermal paste all along - that wasn't something I had the guts to try and remedy back then, though. In any case, it finally died when trying to upgrade to Windows 10. It restarted and began what I imagined to be the update process, shut down in the middle of it, and would never turn back on again. I was pretty bummed out about it - while this was no gaming laptop, it was my first entry in to playing games on PC. It could handle things like Skyrim, Minecraft, League of Legends, and Sims 3/4, which is all I really needed since everything else was played on my PS3/4 anyways. This was over the summer, and now, in October, I desperately wanted a new PC, so I had somehow convinced my parents to get me an early Christmas present. They let me choose the one that I wanted as long as it was under $500, and I ended up going for the CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme GXI8000, which was around $460 at the time. Even then I knew this wasn't exactly fit for high-end gaming, but it had a dedicated GPU, a case that at least looked the part, and LED fans that I thought looked cool, so I was satisfied. Here's a picture I took of the internals shortly after I had gotten it. I quickly discovered that the LED lighting is heavily exaggerated in the online images - they didn't cast anywhere near that much light in real life, but at least they put some effort in to cable management. As far as specs go, here's what we started with:
CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 @ 3.10GHz
GPU: Nvidia GT 720 1GB DDR3
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1333, Dual Channel
Motherboard: MSI H81-E34
Storage: 1TB 7200RPM Toshiba
While that wasn't going to impress anyone even in 2015, it surely impressed me. Having so much RAM and being able to open so many tabs in Chrome felt liberating. The 7200RPM drive felt so fast coming from the 5400RPM drive of my laptop. The games that I played ran better than they did on the laptop. For everything I used a computer for, this one made it a faster and more enjoyable experience, so I was more than satisfied.
Early 2016
I've had the PC for a few months now, and this is around the time I discovered overclocking. I used Nvidia Inspector to boost my GT720's memory and core clocks by I think 200MHz, or a little bit under. League of Legends was the only game I played at the time that had an in-game FPS counter (can't remember if Steam had this yet, and if it did, I definitely didn't know how to activate it), and I remember my framerate in that game went up by around 20fps with a mix of medium and high settings @ 1080p. Its PassMark score went from the mid 700s to the mid 900s. My laptop's GPU scored in the low 600s IIRC, so I was happy with this. I also remember being really surprised at how cool the PC ran. My laptop was a fiery inferno of thermal throttling, but even after playing games for hours, I remember the air exhausting out of my PC was barely warm. Later on though, I discovered that my GT 720's overclock was perhaps a bit much. I remember seeing 80C readings after long sessions, and sometimes, it would crash and reset itself back to default speeds. Of course, I'd OC it right back, albeit bringing the MHz down each time.
August 2016
It was my birthday, and I was gonna try something new. At this point, I had challenged my PC with some more demanding games like DiRT 3 and Bioshock Infinite, which definitely ran and looked better than their PS3/360 equivalents, but it was pretty rough, especially with no 30fps lock at the least. I decided to buy a new graphics card and perform my first-ever upgrade. I had just over 90 bucks to spend, and, being afraid of the used market, it looked like the GT 740 was my best option. I chose EVGA's single slot version in particular because I like their card designs and it didn't require any external power, something I didn't trust my "TurboLink Switching Power Supply" with thanks to its notorious reputation. Here's an image I took just moments after installing the new card. It's so thin you can barely tell it's there. I was amazed by how simple the process was. I simply swapped the cards (giving the GT 720 to my brother for his PC), and because Nvidia drivers were already present on my system, it just worked. I remember one of the first things I did was run it through PassMark, where it scored in the 1100s. Armed with my new overclocking knowledge though, I was able to get that score up to the 1600s. This totally changed my gaming experience. I was able to play Dirt 3 at 1080p/60 with many of the settings maxed. Bioshock Infinite was also very playable at 1080p, but I'd settle for 900p for a more consistent framerate. Basically, if the game was older than the card itself, I could play it comfortably at higher settings than the PS3/360 versions. Since I had a PS4 for the more modern AAA stuff, I was fine with that.
September 2016-August 2019
With the new card, I tried more demanding games. Dead Island ran great at 1080p, Black Ops 2 (which I mostly only played for Zombies) did too. Later on when I would sell my PS4, I even tried Assassin's Creed: Unity. The audacity right? To my surprise, I was able to get 30fps @ 720p if I kept the settings low. Other than games, I was also big in to Visual Studio, editing things with Sony Vegas, and recording guitar in Fruity Loops, all of which this PC handled acceptably. Unfortunately, around the beginning of 2017 I believe, the red LEDs on my exhaust fan burned out, but it still worked, so I didn't think much of it. I think it would last another full year before the fan itself gave out too, at which point I removed it. I don't have any pictures of my case from this time, but dust buildup was beginning to become a problem. It was coming close to Winter (2018) at this point, so running my PC without a case exhaust didn't really seem to have a big impact on temperatures. It wasn't until the early summer of 2019 that it became a problem. Under load, my measly Pentium could barely stay under 65C, and its stock cooler whined at RPMs I had never seen it achieve before. My GT 740 wasn't faring much better either, now reaching the high 70s while gaming. I also noticed that my intake grille was pretty much completely blocked thanks to my neglect, so that intake fan wasn't doing much of anything. One of my biggest complaints about my laptop, especially near its end, was how hot it ran, and now my desktop was starting to do the same. To solve this, I did something a little drastic.
September 2019
Behold. It's unsightly. It's trashy, but it solved all my problems. Basically, I removed the intake fan from its compartment up front and taped it to the top of the drive cages, so it now blows air towards the GPU and helps push its hot air out of the vented PCI brackets. Next, I stole the exhaust fan out of my brother's PC (to be fair, he didn't use it anymore at this point) and installed it where my old one used to be. I then mounted the PSU fan upside down, since I felt that the bottom vents were too restrictive, and its dust filter had broken up in to lots of tiny pieces at this point. Clearly, this PSU was designed to be mounted with the fan facing down, so the interior of my PC now looks just atrocious, but boy did it make all the difference in terms of thermals. Both CPU and GPU now ran much cooler and quieter after doing these very Linus-esque modifications. The victory was short-lived, though. After over 3 years of a frankly brutal overclock, my GT 740 began giving me problems. Freezes mid-game, random black screens, driver failures, artifacting, you name it. I would try inching down my overclocks in steps, and I had to basically settle for stock speeds. Even then, I would still encounter all of the aforementioned problems, just at a much lower frequency.
October 2019
Not a very eventful period, other than tapping in to my PSU's 12v wires to install some horrifically bright LED strips. The motherboard area was lit up in blue, and the drive cage area in white. Look at this monster. I thought it was cool at first, but looking at my PC's guts for too long would hurt my eyes. When the PC was under load, the lights would adopt a slight flicker (a testament to the quality - or lack thereof - of this power supply, probably), but I never had any issues with it.
December 2019
Even after sitting at stock speeds, the issues I had with the card now became very frequent again. It was frankly unusable at this point. This card was on its deathbed, and it was going fast. It was time for another GPU upgrade. I bought myself the low profile EVGA GT 1030. I got it for a lower price than what I paid for the 740, so I was happy about that. Of course, the first thing I did was overclock it until I could get ~2500ish on PassMark. Truthfully, it didn't feel like as big of a jump as the GT 740 was from the 720 (though I could now at least run Cities: Skylines at 1080p instead of 720p), but it made up for it by running much cooler, consuming way less power, and being much more stable overall.
January 2020 - July 2020
During this time, my PC saw very little use. While I was pleased with the card I bought, my PC's biggest issue now was its hard drive. Being almost 5 years old now, the speed it had pleasured me with when new had vanished. It was now unbearably slow. We're talking 3 minutes from pressing the power button to getting to the login screen, and then an additional 3-5 minutes for the desktop to finish loading up. Doing something about this involved taking steps that were a little more complex than simply popping in a new graphics card, so I honestly just kind of gave up on it. In March of this year, I got a great deal on an HP laptop with a 10th gen Core i3 and NVME SSD. It's so fast and responsive that for a while, I had pretty much "retired" my desktop, only keeping it plugged in if I ever wanted to record guitar, while all my gaming needs would now be served by my consoles. That changed in August.
August 2020
While the laptop was great, it was not at all capable of much gaming and my desktop had five years worth of history that I wanted to keep, so I decided to take action. My PC's case at this point was just a mess. The front intake grille? Ruined. Random hardened grime in unexplained places? Yep. Dust caked all over the fans thanks to the negative pressure air flow? You already know. In addition, my front IO panel - with the exception of the microphone jack - no longer worked. The headphone jack was broken by my cat a few years ago, and as for the two USB ports? I have no idea, they randomly stopped working one day. My case's side panels also would never fully close. It wouldn't bulge from the sides, but I could never get it to slide all the way in to place anymore, and those godawful LEDs really showcased the gaps. My power and reset buttons felt gross and you had a 50-50 chances as to whether or not they would work. The HDD activity LED was a bust. So if I was going to do anything, I first needed a new case, and a small one at that. I went with the InWin CE685. I wanted something console-like in size, it's not that expensive, and it has all the front I/O i could ask for, now including USB 3.0, which my motherboard surprisingly supports. Here's the last picture of my PC in its old case, moments before I would rip everything out. Three hours and lots of fear later, everything has been transplanted in to the new case.
It was frankly a horrifying experience. I was so scared I'd break something, but in the end, the most difficult part was getting the front I/O connectors plugged in to the right pins. Only thing that has changed as far as specs are concerned is the power supply. It's a 300W TFX unit, and interestingly enough, its internal PCB is so much more dense than the "500W" PSU in my old case that I'd be surprised if the old one could safely deliver 200W, let alone 500. I also had to remove the fan shroud from the GT 1030 in order to install the low profile bracket. The screws for the shroud are underneath the fan and I just couldn't be bothered putting it back on. Apart from that, it's still the same PC - I even kept the optical drive. I began brainstorming what upgrades to do next, but I would spend the next few months saving the money for them.
November 2020
Here we are. First thing's first, I ordered a Samsung 870 QVO SSD to replace the godawful hard drive. Rather than go with a fresh install, I wanted to keep everything, so I opted for cloning the HDD to the SSD instead. This was a painful process. I got winload errors after three separate cloning attempts, and it took me all night and the next morning to finally get it right on my fourth attempt (TLDR, EasyBCD saved my life). The difference was night and day. Pressing the power button and getting to a fully loaded desktop took less than 45 seconds. I know that's not as fast as it probably could be if I went with a fresh install, but it was worth it to keep everything. Applications and games saw an equally massive boost in responsiveness. Next, I wanted to upgrade the graphics card. The GTX 1650 was a no-brainer, it's the most powerful low profile card you can get, period. Maybe I should've waited for the GDDR6 version to come back in stock, but I was impatient and got the GDDR5 version anyways, particularly Zotac's, since reviews I've read suggest that this variant has the best cooling solution, whereas Gigabyte's and MSI's run hotter. Here's the 1650 next to the 1030 it's replacing, and here is the 1650 installed. A couple of things worth noting in that second picture. To the left of the graphics card, you'll notice a small fan. I ordered a pair of 40mm fans because I knew that by the time I was done upgrading this PC, there was going to be a lot of heat in this case, so I purchased these to help exhaust it out. They're USB fans, powered internally via a Molex-USB adapter. Secondly, I couldn't install the card at first because there were two small capacitors literally blocking it from slotting in all the way. I tried and tried for over half an hour, and, out of desperation, resorted to bending the edges of the PCI bracket backwards by 90 degrees so they would just glide right over the capacitors. It's straight-up barbaric, but it's not noticeable on the outside, and it worked, so I won't complain. When I turned on my PC after installing the card, the new card made its presence immediately known. It's...audible, even at idle. When playing games, it screams like a banshee, but I dealt with it. I worried about how effective my little 40mm fan would be, but when I reached around and felt how much hot air it was pushing out, I figured that it was worth it. After that, I had a rather tumultuous experience when upgrading the CPU. I decided to stick with this same motherboard, so LGA1150 is my only option. Not wanting to push my PSU too hard, I looked at power-efficient offerings first. I ordered a Core i5-4590T first (for just 35 bucks), but then quickly realized I could do better, so I ordered a Core i7-4765T just a day or so later. The i5 arrived just fine, but I decided to wait on the i7. It was now two or three days past its expected delivery, and I was getting impatient (kind of a common theme, really), so I decided to install the i5 anyways. While removing the CPU cooler, I had actually broke the little plastic tips that lock the cooler in to place. I was screwed. No CPU upgrade was happening tonight. I was put on pause while I waited for my low profile Silverstone cooler to arrive. It was about time for this anyways, though. Just look at how gross the stock cooler had become. Installing this new cooler meant that I'd have to remove the motherboard and install a backplate. This whole process was also terrifying. Took me a few tries to get the backplate orientation right, and once I did, I was worried about if I had put on too much or too little thermal paste, and whether or not I had aligned the heatsink properly so I don't end up screwing holes in my motherboard. Luckily, I made it through, and all was well. Here's a picture taken shortly after the i5 and new cooler install. With a better CPU (finally leaving dual core behind), GPU, and SSD, this thing already felt like a different beast. Unfortunately though, the i7 I ordered never came. I can only imagine it was stolen, so after a couple weeks of back and forth between myself, my post office, the item seller, and eBay, I finally got refunded for that after filing a police report. Also within this time, I added a 2.5" 1TB 7200RPM drive for game installs to take some load off of the SSD. While I was satisfied with the i5, after measuring my PC's power consumption under load (barely 120W), I realized that I could probably get away with a lot more. I found a good deal on a Core i7-4790S, and this time, once the tracking had showed it arrived at my post office, I went to pick it up myself that morning. I installed the 4790S as soon as I got home, and while I was first very excited by its near-10k PassMark score (nearly quadruple the Pentium it replaced), I quickly discovered that the Silverstone cooler was not enough to keep its thermals in check. Given that the 4790S is labelled as a 65W TDP processor, and the Silverstone cooler is rated for exactly that, I was surprised at this. I tried redoing things like the thermal paste and heatsink mounting, but to no avail. I discovered that the CPU is only 65W TDP at base speed (3GHz). Since it spends all of its time turbo'd up to 3.8-4GHz, it's actually more like 82-84W. Temps during an Prime95 torture test quickly exceeded 85C, topping out at around 91-92. I ordered the Noctua NH-L9i right away. Installing this one was kind of weird. I don't have access to the rear of my motherboard while it's in the case, so I had to take out the board again, get rid of the Silverstone backplate, and then basically install the motherboard to the heatsink instead of the other way around. Long story short, it made all the difference. Temps at idle are now in the low 30s, gaming keeps it in the high 50s/low 60s, and torture tests will push it to the mid-high 70s, but I mean, in a case like this, I can't ask for much better. As a final touch, I installed two more 40mm fans. One is right against the main exhaust vent (now occupying both sides of the GPU), and another sits at the front,blowing cool air at the drives (they would get up to 50C because the 1650 just dumps its hot air all over them in this layout), which never go over 35C now. There are now eight fans inside this case, and in case you're wondering, yes, having three 40mm fans in here makes the PC noisy, to say the least. I wouldn't say it's as bad as an old PS4 idling at Modern Warfare 2019's menus, though.
Basically, the only things that stayed the same are the RAM, motherboard, optical drive, and OS install. I'll probably upgrade the RAM to 16GB at some point, but other than that, that's as far as I'll take this one. Killing Floor 2? 1080p, 45-60FPS with near-max settings + Nvidia Flex. Bioshock Infinite? 1440p/60, maxed out. Minecraft with shaders? 1080p, 40-60fps with 16 chunk render distance. Rocket League? 120fps with 1080p and lower settings, but I ran it at 1440p/60 with high settings for a while. COD: Warzone? 1080p/50-60fps with "Normal" settings. That's all I've really tried so far, but these are feats that my PC in its older iterations couldn't even dream of. To so effortlessly chew through the games that I throw at it really blows me away. It really does feel like an entirely different machine, and I couldn't be more happy about it finally being complete. If you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed the journey, and all that I've done to keep my PC alive and well throughout the years. It's a little ugly and definitely unusual, and I could probably make it look much more pleasing if I got rid of the zip-tied and taped 40mm fans, but I like having any extra cooling I can afford. If you're a new builder or someone thinking of pulling the trigger, I hope that this post inspired you to do so. I've struggled at pretty much every turn, and ended up spending more money than I originally intended, but me and my PC came out of it alive, and it's running better than ever. In 2020, it'd probably be difficult to even call this a mid-range PC, but it accomplishes all that I need it to at speeds and settings that were once out of reach, and, considering the specs of this PC at the beginning of its life, it is, again, night and day. It was fun being able to get this intimate with a hobby I've never been able to enjoy before, and I'm really glad I decided to take this PC to the present and future with me instead of putting it in a closet like I planned to at the beginning of this year. Beyond possibly upgrading the RAM, my next project will be starting over from scratch, but that won't be for some time. Thanks for reading.
On Spells and Society, or how 5e spells completely change everyone's lives.
Today i have a confession to make: i'm a little bit of a minmaxer. And honestly, i think that's a pretty desirable trait in a DM. The minmaxer knows the rules, and exploits them to maximum efficiency. "But wait, what does that have to do with spell use in society?" - someone, probably. Well, the thing is that humans are absolutely all about minmaxing. There's a rule in the universe that reads "gas expands when hot", and suddenly we have steam engines (or something like that, i'm a political scientist not an engineer). A rule says 1+1 = 2, and suddenly we have calculus, computers and all kinds of digital stuff that runs on math. Sound is energy? Let's convert that shit into electricity, run it through a wire and turn it back into sound on the other side. Bruh. Science is just minmaxing the laws of nature. Humanity in real life is just a big bunch of munchkins, and it should be no different in your setting. And that is why minmaxing magic usage is something societies as a whole would do, specially with some notable spells. Today i will go in depth on how and why each of these notable mentions has a huge impact on a fantasy society. We'll go from lowest level to highest, keeping in mind that the lower level a spell the more common it should be to find someone who has it, so often a level 2-3 spell will have more impact than a level 9 spell. Mending (cantrip). Repair anything in one minute. Your axe lost its edge? Tore your shirt? Just have someone Mend it. Someone out there is crying "but wait! Not every village has a wizard!" and while that is true, keep in mind any High Elf knows a cantrip, as can any Variant Human. A single "mender" could replace a lot of the work a smith, woodworker or seamstress does, freeing their time to only work on making new things rather than repair old ones. Prestidigitation (cantrip). Clean anything in six seconds. Committed axe murders until the axe got blunt, and now there's blood everywhere? Dog shit on your pillow out of spite? Someone walked all over the living room with muddy boots? Just Prestidigitate it away. This may look like a small thing, but its actually huge when you apply it to laundry. Before washing machines were a thing housewives had to spend several hours a week washing them manually, and with Prestidigitation you can just hire someone to get it done in a few minutes. A single "magic cleaner" can attend to several dozen homes, if not hundreds, thus freeing several hours of the time of dozens of women. Fun fact: there's an interesting theory that says feminism only existed because of laundry machines and similar devices. Women found themselves having more free time, which they used to read and socialize. Educated women with more contacts made for easy organization of political movements, and the fact men were now able to do "the women's work" by pushing a button meant men were less opposed to losing their housewives' labor. Having specialized menders and magic cleaners could cause a comparable revolution in a fantasy setting, and help explain why women have a similar standing to men even in combat occupations such as adventuring. Healing in general (1st-2nd level). This one is fairly obvious. A commoner has 4 hit points, that means just about any spell is a full heal to the average person. That means most cuts, stab wounds, etc. can be solved by the resident cleric. Even broken bones that would leave you in bed for months can be solved in a matter of seconds as soon as the holy man arrives. But that's nothing compared to the ability to cure diseases. While the only spell that can cure diseases is Lesser Restoration, which is second level, a paladin can do it much more easily with just a Lay on Hands. This means if one or two people catch a disease it can just be eradicated with a touch. However doing that comes with a cost. If everyone is instantly expunged of illness, the populace does not build up their immune systems. Regular disease becomes less common, sure, but whenever it is reintroduced (by, say, immigrants or contact with less civilized humanoids) it can spread like wildfire, afflicting people so fast that no amount of healers will have the magic juice to deal with it. Diseases become rare, plagues become common. Continual Flame (2nd). Ok, this one is a topic i love and could easily be its own post. There's an article called "Why the Falling Cost of Light Matters", which goes in detail about how man went from chopping wood for fire, to using animal fat for candles, then other oils, whale oil, kerosene, then finally incandescent light bulbs, and more recently LED lights. Each of these leaps is orders of grandeur more efficient than the previous one, to the point that the cost of light today is about 500,000 times cheaper than it was for for a caveman. And until the early 1900s the only way mankind knew of making light was to set things on fire. Continual Flame on the other hand allows you to turn 50gp worth of rubies and a 2nd level spell slot into a torch that burns forever. In a society that spends 60 hours of labor to be able to generate 140 minutes of light, this is a huge game changer. This single spell, which i am 99% sure was just created as an excuse for why the dungeon is lit despite going for centuries without maintenance, allows you to have things like public lighting. Even if you only add a new "torchpost" every other week or month sooner or later you'll be left with a neatly lit city, specially if the city has had thousands of years in which to gather the rubies and light them up. And because the demand of rubies becomes so important, consider how governments would react. Lighting the streets is a public service, if its strategically relevant to make the city safer at night, would that not warrant some restrictions on ruby sales? Perhaps even banning the use of rubies in jewelry? Trivia: John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in history, gained his wealth selling kerosene. Kerosene at the time was used to light lamps. Gasoline was invented much later, when Rockefeller tasked a bunch of scientists to come up with a use for some byproducts of the kerosene production. This illustrates how much money is to be had in the lighting industry, and you could even have your own Rockefeller ruby baron in your game. I shall call him... Dohn J. Stonebreaker. Perfect name for a mining entrepreneur. Whether the ruby trade ends up a monopoly under the direct supervision of the king or a free market, do keep in mind that Continual Flame is by far the most efficient way of creating light. Gentle Repose (2nd). Cast it on a corpse, and it stays preserved for 10 days. This has many potential uses, from preserving foodstuffs (hey, some rare meats are expensive enough to warrant it) to keeping the bodies of old rulers preserved. Even if a ruler died of old age and cannot be resurrected, the body could be kept "fresh" out of respect/ceremony. Besides, it keeps the corpse from becoming undead. Skywrite (2nd). Ok, this one is mostly a gag. While the spell can be used by officials to make official announcements to the populace, such as new laws or important news, i like to just use it for spam. I mean, its a ritual spell that writes a message on the sky; what else would people use it for? Imagine you show up in a city, and there's half a dozen clouds reading "buy at X, we have what you need", "get your farming supplies over at Joe's store" or "vote Y for the city council". The possibilities are endless, and there's no way the players can expect it. Just keep in mind that by RAW the spell can only do words, meaning no images. No Patrick, "8===D" is not a word. Zone of Truth (2nd). This one is too obvious. Put all suspects of a crime into a ZoT, wait a couple minutes to make sure they fail the save, then ask each one if he did it. Sure its not a perfect system, things like the Ring of Mind Shielding still exist, but it's got a better chance of getting the right guy than most medieval justice systems. And probably more than a few contemporary ones. All while taking only a fraction of the time. More importantly, with all the average crimes being handled instantly, the guards and investigators have more time to properly investigate the more unusual crimes that might actually involve a Thought Shield, Ring of Mind Shielding or a level 17 Mastermind. There is a human rights argument against messing with people's minds in any way, which is why this may not be practiced in every kingdom. But there are definitely some more lawful societies that would use ZoT on just about every crime. Why swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth when you can just stand in a zone of truth? Another interesting use for ZoT is oaths. When someone is appointed into an office, gets to a high rank in the military or a guild, just put them in a ZoT while they make their oath to stand for the organization's values and yadda yadda. Of course they can be corrupted later on, but at least you make sure they're honest when they are sworn in. Sending (3rd). Sending is busted in so many ways. The more "vanilla" use of it is to just communicate over long distances. We all know that information is important, and that sometimes getting information a whole day ahead can lead to a 40% return on a massive two-year investment. Being able to know of invasions, monsters, disasters, etc. without waiting days or weeks for a courier can be vital for the survival of a nation. Another notable example is that one dude who ran super fast for a while to be the first to tell his side of a recent event. But the real broken thing here is... Sending can Send to any creature, on any plane; the only restriction being "with which you are familiar". In D&D dead people just get sent to one of the afterlife planes, meaning that talking to your dead grandfather would be as simple as Sending to him. Settling inheritance disputes was never easier! Before moving on to the next point let me ask you something: Is a cleric familiar with his god? Is a warlock familiar with his patron? Speak With Dead (3rd). Much like Sending, this lets you easily settle disputes. Is the senate/council arguing over a controversial topic? Just ask the beloved hero or ruler from 200 years ago what he thinks on the subject. As long his skeleton still has a jaw (or if he has been kept in Gentle Repose), he can answer. This can also be used to ask people who killed them, except murderers also know this. Plan on killing someone? Accidentally killed someone? Make sure to inutilize the jaw. Its either that, being so stealthy the victim can't identify you, or being caught. Note on spell availability. Oh boy. No world-altering 4th level spells for some reason, and suddenly we're playing with the big boys now. Spells up to 3rd level are what I'd consider "somewhat accessible", and can be arranged for a fee even for regular citizens. For instance the vanilla Priest statblock (MM348) is a 5th level cleric, and the standard vanilla Druid (MM346) a 4th level druid. Spells of 5th level onward will be considered something only the top 1% is able to afford, or large organizations such as guilds, temples or government. Dream (5th). I was originally going to put Dream along with Sending and Telepathy as "long range communication", but decided against it due to each of them having unique uses. And when it comes to Dream, it has the unique ability of allowing you to put your 8 hours of sleep to good use. A tutor could hire someone to cast Dream on him, thus allowing him to teach his student for 8 hours at any distance. This is a way you could even access hermits that live in the middle of nowhere or in secluded monasteries. Very wealthy families or rulers would be willing to pay a good amount of money to make sure their heirs get that extra bit of education. Its like online classes, but while you sleep! Another interesting use is for cheating. Know a princess or queen you like? She likes you back? Her dad put 400 trained soldiers between you? No problemo! Just find a 9th level Bard, Warlock or Wizard, but who am i kidding, of course it'll be a bard. And that bard is probably you. Now you have 8 hours to do whatever you want, and no physical evidence will be left. Raise Dead (5th). Few things matter more in life than death. And the ability to resurrect people has a huge impact on society. The impact is so huge that this topic needs topics of its own. First, diamond monopoly. Remember what i said about how Continual Flame would lead to controlled ruby sales due to its strategic value? This is the same principle, but a hundred times stronger. Resurrection is a huge strategic resource. It makes assassinations harder, can be used to bring back your officials or highest level soldiers over and over during a war, etc. This means more authoritarian regimes would do everything within their power to control the supply and stock of diamonds. Which in turn means if anyone wants to have someone resurrected, even in times of peace, they'll need to call in a favor, do a quest, grease some hands... Second, resurrection insurance. People hate risks. That's why insurance is such a huge industry, taking up about 15% of the US GDP. People insure their cars, houses... even their lives. Resurrection just means "life insurance" is taken more literally. This makes even more sense when you consider how expensive resurrection is: nobody can afford it in one go, but if you pay a little every month or year you can save up enough to have it done when the need arises. This is generally incompatible with the idea of a State-run monopoly over diamonds, but that just means different countries within a setting can take different approaches. To make things easier, i even used some microeconomics to make a sheet in my personal random generators to calculate the price of such a service. Just head to the "Insurance" tab and fill in the information relative to your setting. With actual life insurance resurrection can cost as little as 5gp a year for humans or 8sp a year for elves, making resurrection way more affordable than it looks. Also, do you know why pirates wore a single gold earring? It was so that if your body washes up on the shore whoever finds it can use the money to arrange a proper burial. Sure there's a risk of the finder taking it and walking away, but the pirates did it anyway. With resurrection in play, might as well just wear a diamond earring instead and hope the finder is nice enough to bring you back. I got so carried away with the whole insurance thing i almost forgot: the possibility of resurrection also changes how murders are committed. If you want someone dead but resurrection exists, you have to remove the vital organs. Decapitation would be far more common. Sure resurrection is still possible, but it requires higher level spells or Reincarnate, which has... quirks. As a result it should be very obvious when someone was killed by accident or an overreaction, and when someone was specifically out to kill the victim. Scrying (5th). This one is somewhat obvious, in that everyone and their mother knows it helps finding people. But who needs finding? Well, that would be those who are hiding. The main use i see for this spell, by far, is locating escaped criminals. Just collect a sample of hair or blood when arresting someone (or shipping them to hard labor which is way smarter), and if they escape you'll be almost guaranteed to successfully scry on them. A similar concept to this is seen in the Dragon Age series. If you're a mage the paladins keep a sample of your blood in something called a phylactery, and that can be used to track you down. There's even a quest or two about mages trying to destroy their phylacteries before escaping. Similarly, if you plan a jailbreak it would be highly beneficial to destroy the blood/hair sample first. As a matter of fact i can even see a thieves guild hiring a low level party to take out the sample while the professional infiltrators get the prisoner out. Keep in mind both events must be done at the same time, otherwise the guards will just collect a new sample or would have already taken it to the wizard. But guards aren't the only ones with resources. A loan shark could keep blood samples of his debtors, a mobster can keep one of those who owe him favors, etc. And the blood is ceremoniously returned only when the debt is fully paid. Teleportation Circle (5th), Transport Via Plants (6th). In other words, long range teleportation. This is such a huge thing that it is hard to properly explain how important it is. Teleportation Circle creates a 10ft. circle, and everyone has one round to get in and appear on the target location. Assuming 30ft. movement that means you can get 192 people through, which is a lot of potential merchants going across any distance. Or 672 people dashing. Math note: A 30ft radius square around a 10ft. diameter square, minus the 4 original squares. Or [(6*2+2)^2]-4 squares of 5ft. each. Hence 192 people. Getting hundreds of merchants, workers, soldiers, etc. across any distance is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it could help explain why PHB item prices are so standardized: Arbitrage is so easy and cheap that price differences across multiple markets become negligible. Unless of course countries start setting up tax collectors outside of the permanent teleportation circles in order to charge tariffs. Transport Via Plants does something very similar but it requires 5ft of movement to go through, which means less people can be teleported. On the other hand it doesn't burn 50gp and can take you to any tree the druid is familiar with, making it nearly impossible for tax collectors to be waiting on the other side. Unfortunately druids tend to be a lot less willing to aid smugglers, so your best bet might be a bard using spells that don't belong to his list. With these methods of long range teleportation not only does trade get easier, but it also becomes possible to colonize or inhabit far away places. For instance if someone finds a gold mine in the antarctic you could set up a mine and bring food and other supplies via teleportation. Major Image (6th level slot). Major Image is a 3rd level spell that creates an illusion over a 20ft cube, complete with image, sound, smell and temperature. When cast with a 6th level slot or higher, it lasts indefinitely. That my friends, is a huge spell. Why get the world's best painter to decorate the ceiling of your cathedral when you can just get an illusion made in six seconds? The uses for decorating large buildings is already good, but remember: we're not restricted to sight. Cast this on a room and it'll always be cool and smell nice. Inns would love that, as would anyone who always sleeps or works in the same room. Desert cities have never been so chill. You can even use an illusion to make the front of your shop seem flashier, while hollering on loop to bring customers in. The only limit to this spell is your imagination, though I'm pretty sure it was originally made just to hide secret passages. Trivia: the ki-rin (VGM163) can cast Major Image as a 6th level spell, at will. It's probably meant to give them fabulous lairs yet all it takes is someone doing the holy horsey a big favor, and it could enchant the whole city in a few hours. Shiniest city on the planet, always at a nice temperature and with a fragrance of lilac, gooseberries or whatever you want. Simulacrum (7th). Spend 12 hours and 1500gp worth of ruby dust, and get a clone of yourself. Notably, each caster can only have one simulacrum, regardless of who the person he cloned is. How this changes the world? By allowing the rich and powerful to be in two places at once. Kings now have a perfect impersonator who thinks just like them. A wealthy banker can run two branches of his company. Etc. This makes life much easier, but also competes with Continual Flame over resources. It also gives "go fuck yourself" a whole new meaning, making the sentence a valid Suggestion. Clone (8th). If there's one spell i despise, its Clone. Wizard-only preemptive resurrection. Touch spell, costs 1.000gp worth of diamonds each time, takes 120 days to come into effect, and creates a copy of the creature that the soul occupies if the original dies. Oh, and the copy can be made younger. Why is it so despicable? Because it makes people effectively immortal. Accidents and assassinations just get you sent to the clone, and old age can be forever delayed because you keep going back to younger versions of yourself. Being a touch spell means the wizard can cast it on anyone he wants. In other words: high level wizards, and only wizards, get to make anyone immortal. That means wizards will inevitably rule any world in which this spell exists. Think about it. Rulers want to live forever. Wizards can make you live forever. Wizards want other stuff, which you must give them if you want to continue being Cloned. Rulers who refuse this deal eventually die, rulers who accept stick around forever. Natural selection makes it so that eventually the only rulers left are those who sold their soul to wizards. Figuratively, i hope. The fact that there are only a handful of wizards out there who are high enough level to cast the spell means its easier for them organize and/or form a cartel or union (cartels/unions are easier to maintain the fewer suppliers are involved). This leads to a dystopian scenario where mages rule, kings are authoritarian pawns and nobody else has a say in anything. Honestly it would make for a fun campaign in and of itself, but unless that's specifically what you're going for it'll just derail everything else. Oh, and Clone also means any and all liches are absolute idiots. Liches are people who turned themselves into undead abominations in order to gain eternal life at the cost of having to feed on souls. They're all able to cast 9th level wizard spells, so why not just cast an 8th level one and keep undeath away? Saves you the trouble of going after souls, and you keep the ability to enjoy food or a day in the sun. Demiplane (8th). Your own 30ft. room of nothingness. Perfect place for storage and a DM's nightmare given how once players have access to it they'll just start looting furniture and such. Oh the horror. But alas, infinite storage is not the reason this is a broken spell. No sir. Remember: you can access someone else's demiplane. That means a caster in city 1 can put things into a demiplane, and a caster in city 2 can pull them out of any surface. But wait, there's more! There's nothing anywhere saying you can't have two doors to the same demiplane open at once. Now you're effectively opening a portal between two places, which stays open for a whole hour. But wait, there's even more! Anyone from any plane can open a door to your neat little demiplane. Now we can get multiple casters from multiple planes connecting all of those places, for one hour. Sure this is a very expensive thing to do since you're having to coordinate multiple high level individuals in different planes, but the payoff is just as high. We're talking about potential integration between the most varied markets imaginable, few things in the multiverse are more valuable or profitable. Its a do-it-yourself Sigil. One little plot hook i like about demiplanes is abandoned/inactive ones. Old wizard/warlock died, and nobody knows how to access his demiplanes. Because he's at least level 15 you just know there's some good stuff in there, but nobody can get to it. Now the players have to find a journal, diary, stored memory or any other way of knowing enough about the demiplane to access it. True Polymorph (9th). True Polymorph. The spell that can turn any race into any other race, or object. And vice-versa. You can go full fairy godmother and turn mice into horses. For a spell that can change anything about one's body it would not be an unusual ruling to say it can change one's sex. At the very least it can turn a man into a chair, and the chair into a woman (or vice-versa of course). But honestly, that's just the tip of the True Polymorph iceberg. Just read this more carefully: > You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into a nonmagical object, or the object into a creature This means you can turn a rock or twig into a human. A fully functional human with, as far as the rules go, a soul. You can create life. But wait, there's more! Nothing there says you have to turn the target into a known creature on an existing creature. The narcissist bard wants to create a whole race of people who look like him? True Polymorph. A player wants to play a weird ass homebrew race and you have no idea how it would fit into the setting? True Polymorph. Wizard needs a way to quickly populate a kingdom and doesn't want to wait decades for the subjects to grow up? True Polymorph. Warlock must provide his patron 100 souls in order to free his own? True Polymorph. The sorcerer wants to do something cool? Fuck that guy, sorcerers don't get any of the fun high level spells; True Poly is available to literally every arcane caster but the sorcerer. Note: what good is Twinned Spell if all the high level twinnable spells have been specifically made unavailable to sorcerers? Do keep in mind however that this brings a whole new discussion on human rights. Does a table have rights? Does it have rights after being turned into a living thing? If it had an owner, is it now a slave? Your country will need so many new laws, just to deal with this one spell. People often say that high level wizards are deities for all intents and purposes. This is the utmost proof of that. Clerics don't get to create life out of thin air, wizards do. The cleric worships a deity, the wizard is the deity. Conclusion. Intelligent creatures not only can game the system, but it is entirely in character for them to do so. I'll even argue that if humanoids don't use magic to improve their lives when it's available, you're pushing the suspension of disbelief. With this post i hope to have helped you make more complex and realistic societies, as well as provide a few interesting and unusual plot hooks Lastly, as much as i hate comment begging i must admit i am eager to see what spells other players think can completely change the world. Because at the end of the day we all know that extra d6 damage is not what causes empires to rise and fall, its the utility spells that make the best stories. Edit: Added spell level to all spells, and would like to thank u/kaul_field for helping with finishing touches and being overall a great mod.
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New to online Slots? - Starter guide/tips for newbies playing online slots
Okay so I decided to create this guide with the hopes of it becoming a sticky thread for all newbies to the online slots world, to read as we deal with the same topics repeatedly and the same answers/advice are given repeatedly. Not that we do not want to help, but these would prevent you from getting into situations before its too late, or blaming casinos when you were in the wrong. Signing up or Registration Registration – Please carefully read the general terms and conditions about every "Right" the casino has and please note that you accepted these terms upon signing up, which means you are saying you are okay with it and agree with what the casino state about what they can and cannot do.
No Deposit bonuses/Signup bonus – Many players are still NDB (No Deposit Bonus) hunters and register simply for these reasons. Please read the NDB/Signup Bonus terms carefully to make sure your country is eligible to receive the NDB/Signup bonus. We had many players getting upset about this factor and then end up closing their accounts immediately out of anger which leads to SE (Self Exclusion) at times. which I will address later in this thread. However, we do have instances where a casino does not list the eligible countries that can or cannot receive the NDB/Signup bonuses.
More than one player in 1 house Hold – Many casinos only allow one player per house/IP address to register at a casino. You can ask a casino if you and your partnesibling who stays together can both signup and some casinos would give the "Ok". Just make sure you have this in written confirmation via email or something and not live chat.
Claiming Bonuses Read the bonus terms carefully before claiming any bonuses and look for the following pointers when reading the bonuses rules:
Wagering – Many casinos have increased their wagering on bonuses lately which makes bonus wagering very difficult to complete these days. Decide whether the wagering attach to the bonus is high or low for you since you know your game play and strategies. Many factors can influence whether you will be able to meet wagering, which is the x amount of wagering, game providers availability and deposit amount just to name a few. Also note that wagering for "certain countries" are higher than others. For me personally I think wagering between x35 – x50 on the "Bonus" amount "Only" is reasonable and fair.
Max Bet – 99% of casinos have a max bet rule in place when claiming a bonus. Note what the max bet is for the specific casinos as it can range anything from 1 – 5 euro/$ per Spin. Deposit methods can affect the max bet as well as some casinos limit the max bet rule between 1 – 2 euro per spin for deposits using e-wallets, however that same casinos allow a max bet up to 5 euro per spin for credit card/Alternative deposits. Even though a casino state the max bet rule another tricky rule in the terms that we tend to miss is the coin value. Some casinos state that the max "Coin domination/value" should be $0.20 or $0.50 per spin which means if you want to bet higher you would need to adjust the "Level" portion in the slot if the coin domination/value limit is reached according to the terms. If you breach the Max bet rule and it is stated in their terms, you do not have a case, period. There are some casinos who you can explain your situation if it was a mistake and they do sometimes make exceptions.
Deposit methods – Many casinos lately have restricted the claiming of bonuses using e-wallet deposit methods such as Neteller, Skrill etc. Note they mention these 2 as they are most popular, but that also means any other form of e-wallets are not eligible to claim bonuses. I have seen a lot of players complain that they did not receive the bonus simply because they did not read the terms before claiming the bonus and the deposit has already been made. Also make sure you deposit using your own card, do not use your parents or any other siblings credit card to make deposits as this would cause a problem during verification which in the end results in to winnings not being paid out.
Deposit Methods Additional Info – Many deposits are available from Casinos or let's say most casinos have the same deposit methods available, however the country that you reside in has the influence on what deposit methods are available and the same counts for withdrawals. So, for instance if AskGamblers website state deposit by phone which is "Boku" is available at that specific casino it does not mean that it will be available for all players, as that is depending on your country. Deposit by phone is mostly available for the UK players basically as an example.
Max Cash-Out – Many players claim bonuses and after they complete wager, they tend to withdraw immediately. Some players are left with substantial amounts only to find out they can only get x2 the bonus amount (Casinos like "Viks" casino and "Quasar Gaming" have this rule) or x10 their deposit. I understand this is frustrating and upsetting, but the problem is with the player itself. Stop blaming casinos because you could not do the simplest thing in the world which is just take 5 minutes to read the bonus terms.
Restricted games – Please check which games are allowed and not allowed to be played with bonus funds. Some casinos have a feature where bonus money is not even visible on the restricted games, but other casinos bonus money will show on restricted games. In many instances these would not lead to confiscation of winnings, it just that it would not count towards wagering. They also have a term where they would say that bets place on all "Other" games other that "Slot machines" will be deemed in violation of the terms and condition and your bonus winnings will be voided – So watch out for this one.
Double up feature – The only thing to say here is that this will not counts towards wagering.
Cashable and Non-Cashable bonuses – This one is another tricky one, some people call it a "Sticky bonus". This just means where you receive the bonus you can use it to place bets and for wagering purposes, but the bonus amount can never be withdrawn. I find this term ridiculous and always avoid this type of bonuses.
Bonus Abuse – This is a very complex/broad subject but mention the basic ones (Thanks for forum members tips which I included on this one), the rest you can do your own research about the rest associated with bonus abuse as we all have different opinions
Bonus per player, per account, per IP address etc. If you take that same bonus twice or more times, using different accounts under your name, then it's an abuse.
Claiming free spins offers – Deposit to get free spins and withdrawing deposit after claiming free spins but continue to play free spins is also some form of bonus abuse.
Accumulating bonus rounds and start playing them when your bonus balance reach zero, and you win those money as real cash.
Anything you can think of that disadvantages the house (Casino).
Bonus wagering period – This never really is a problem, but just make sure you complete you bonus wagering with the set time frame the casino provided. This can range anything from 3 – 30 days otherwise winnings will be voided.
There are other bonus terms that I have not mentioned but I think the above ones are the most important as these could affect you in terms of confiscation of your winnings should you breach any of them. Verification This is pretty much standard for a casino to ask for some form of Identification, proof of address and proof of deposit when requesting a withdrawal. Depending on the amount win, some casinos might not need documents, however when a substantial amount has been won additional verification or security checks might be done which means a longer withdrawal time frame. Verification or KYC is necessary, however I feel when casinos ask for selfies with your ID next to you etc. in my opinion is just ridiculous. Also, I have noticed some casinos requesting your source of income to see where you get the money to make deposits etc. This seems standard and you would need to do it to get your withdrawal, however all of us have different opinions about this verification procedure. Withdrawals Many casinos have different withdrawal time frames and when you accept the general terms and conditions you have to a abide by them, by this I mean stop being impatient and complain that the casinos withdrawal time frames are the worst etc. As you knew this before you started playing provided you have read the terms and condition. You decided to deposit and play so then wait for your money, eventually it will come unless you breached some rule, or the casino is a rogue casino. Here are some of the tips you should note when it comes to withdrawals at casinos:
Verification – This is standard procedure and you have to do this if the casino request it.
Time-frames – This one I feel can be interpreted in many ways but let me give you my version of how I View things. When a casino says e-wallets 0 – 1 or 0 – 24 hours. This means that the casinos use that time-frame to process your withdrawal and after it being processed your money should be instantly available. Credit cards that state 3 – 7 business days and this is where some newbies get this wrong – This simply state the time frame they take to process the payment to your card, it does not mean you will get your money within 3 – 7 days, however this is possible. Prepare yourself for the longest waiting period to avoid becoming impatient and upset – So if a casino says 3 – 7 days expect to get it in 10 days max, however you can get it within 4 days, but sometimes casinos just stretch it to process it on the last day possible with the hopes you would reverse the withdrawal and continue to play. This technique of casinos sometimes works. So, if they process your withdrawal it can take another 3 – 5 days to hit your account based on your location and the banks in your country as they have internal controls with foreign currency. There are however hiccups with payment providers/processors etc. but these are at times out of the casinos control. My best is advice is "Patience".
Reversing Withdrawals – With the timeframes explanation I just gave above and being impatient, players tend to reverse their withdrawals. They continue playing and end up losing their winnings. Stop blaming casinos as this is your own fault that you Lost the funds. You made the decision to reverse the withdrawal. If you really need to play, make a deposit at another casino or sister website and play there while you patiently wait for you withdrawal. Some casinos have the lock feature, so lock down your withdrawal so you do not reverse the withdrawal or play at other casinos which has quicker withdrawal time frames of 0 – 1 hour instead of days. The key here is "Patience".
Self-Exclusion Self-Exclusion is a big thing these days and most cases substantial amounts are involved that are being confiscated. There are at times very little that us forum members or even AskGamblers can do when a player self-excluded and played at a sister website or similar, as we know the result and of course the house is kind of right. However, I think it's bad that a casino only realizes the self-exclusion portion on a player profile once it reaches withdrawal stage, because I feel they should have something in place that can detect that you self-excluded upon registration or before you even make your first deposit. People with gambling problems tend to self-exclude but the alternative is to read this guide - https://www.askgamblers.com/forum/topic/2152-sos-i-am-addicted-to-gambling-what-to-do/ . My advice is to keep your casino account open and do not play there anymore, because even if you request a permanent account closure, some casinos tend to self-exclude you without you knowing it and this would cause problems in future since you opened another account at their sister website or something.
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