aabicus – The Daily SPUF

Deadlock’s McGinnis

June 5, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments alpha, analysis, class, deadlock, early access, first thoughts, hero, mcginnis, moba, recommendation, sentry, tank

I’ve covered an agile healer and a middling-speed DPS, now let’s complete the roster with a slow tank! Between these three characters, I think there’s something for everyone who is interested in trying Deadlock but struggling to choose a starter class. The final hero in our triumvirate will appeal to players who want a massive healthpool, an easy way to heal and deal damage, and limited mobility so being bad at Deadlock’s movement systems doesn’t kneecap one’s gameplay quite as much as on other heroes. Meet McGinnis! I played McGinnis in my first-ever Deadlock match for all the reasons mentioned… [Continue Reading]

Featured The Competitive Corner

First Major Controversy Hits Competitive Deadlock

May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 aabicus 2 Comments competitive, deadlock, esports

Every esport has matches that have gone down in infamy, that will be talked about for decades after the fact. Some of the most iconic involve a team busting out an unconventional strat that leaves everyone debating whether it should even be legal. CS:GO/CS2 has the infamous “Olofbooster” match, League of Legends has Azubu Frost reaching the World 2 Finals by screen-peeking, Overwatch had the “Brigitte in Spawn” gambit from the 2018 Playoffs. And now Deadlock, despite not having even left alpha yet, has had its own, courtesy of a bizarre interaction between a specific item and a recently-adjusted map element. But before we… [Continue Reading]

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Deadlock’s Seven

May 24, 2026May 30, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments alpha, analysis, class, deadlock, early access, first thoughts, hero, moba, mobility, recommendation, seven

The first time you boot up Deadlock, you’re going to be prompted to play a tutorial to learn the bare minimum of how things work in the Cursed Apple. And this game is absolutely complicated enough that everyone, myself included, will highly recommend you indulge that offer. You will find yourself playing a cackling electricity-ridden scarecrow with a satellite dish for a head, and the first thing I remember thinking was, “aabicus, under no circumstances are you allowed to main the tutorial guy. Any other character, sure, but there’s nothing lamer than playing the easy class clearly designed for noobs.” I… [Continue Reading]

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[FFXIV] The One Potion Useful From Level 1-100

May 19, 2026May 19, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments advice, Final Fantasy XIV, healing, item, items, mmo

Final Fantasy XIV progression, like most MMORPGs, is driven by gear, consumables, and socket enhancements. And all these inventory items are repeatedly and categorically replaced by new ones as players level up, to the point that most of them are all but obsolete every ten levels or so. Consumables are probably hit the worst of all, often outstripped by newer better options every major patch, and there are few reasons to keep ‘last season’s best’ around given how much cheaper, better, and more prevalent the new flavor of the week always is. Except one. There’s a single potion, included in… [Continue Reading]

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In Which Medic Writes Stories

April 1, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments fiction, phoviverse, story, writing

Retvik (known as Medic on this blog) needs no introduction, as she’s far and away the most prolific writer and editor the site has ever seen. She’s written 2,924 articles, more than double everybody else combined, and she also edits, illustrates, and graphically designs most of the rest of what’s on the Daily SPUF. Truly, she’s more dedicated to the craft of writing than anyone I know. But gaming journalism is only one of her ongoing creative projects, she also writes a massive sprawling universe of countless characters, worlds, and narratives called the Phoviverse, and I’ve been reading it since roughly 2015.… [Continue Reading]

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Deadlock’s Ivy

March 14, 2026April 11, 2026 aabicus 3 Comments #GargoyleGaming, alpha, analysis, class, deadlock, early access, first thoughts, hero, ivy, moba, mobility, recommendation

When I was invited to join the Deadlock closed playtest in August 2024, I installed it and logged into the main menu with pretty much no idea what I was getting into. After starting up the sandbox to poke around, I was faced with a massive list of random heroes I knew nothing about, and chose the winged gargoyle because I figured flight would be useful for exploring the map. A year and a half later, Ivy is still my favorite hero in the game. She really has a little bit of everything, and I’m mostly just writing this to gush about… [Continue Reading]

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Player Housing: WoW vs. FFXIV

February 3, 2026February 3, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, comparison, customization, Final Fantasy XIV, house, mmo, rpg, world of warcraft, wow

World of Warcraft has recently made waves in the gaming sphere by finally adding housing! Arguably one of the most requested features since the game first released in 2004, it’s crazy to see it finally come to light 22 years later. And even more exciting, it is (by all accounts) quite good! I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews from those who got to sample the closed beta or PTR version, though I myself have kept my sub suspended for my own productivity. But Blizzard, perhaps anticipating the recalcitrance of fair-weather gamers such as myself, has cleverly offered a free weekend… [Continue Reading]

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How to Hit More Shots in Call of Cthulhu

January 9, 2026January 14, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments accuracy, advice, Call of Cthulhu, grenades, guide, guns, roleplay, roleplaying, weapons

One of the reasons combat builds aren’t recommended in Call of Cthulhu is that the odds are pretty much always stacked against you, even in the areas you’ve specced yourself out to excel. A starting character cannot have more than 75% in any given stat, meaning even if you max yourself out in something (which, let’s be real, is a gigantic stake of skillpoints to expend on a single skill), you’re still gonna fail a quarter of the time! And nowhere is this more visible then when your “WWI veteran sniper” constantly misses more shots than a member of The A-Team.… [Continue Reading]

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My Cat’s Gaming Killcount

October 21, 2025April 21, 2026 aabicus 0 Comments animals, cat, Creatures of Sonaria, d&d, Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy XIV, gaming, Mouse For Cats, pet, pets, pokemon, pokemon go, Team Fortress 2, world of warcraft

Five years ago, Sydney and I adopted a ragdoll named Bean who has quickly eclipsed both of us as the owner of the house. What few cats my family had in my childhood were aloof outdoor loners, so Bean was my first real experience with just how affectionate and loving a cat can be. It’s incredible how many different emotions and personality quirks she has, and she’s become far and away one of the best parts of my life since she entered it. Even when she sits on my keyboard in the middle of a high-stakes gaming moment, I can’t… [Continue Reading]

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What’s the BEST Commoner You Can Make in D&D 5e?

August 10, 2025November 29, 2025 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, d&d, dnd, Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons and dragons, Filler, gaming, math, roleplaying, rpg, ttrpg

This is the sort of dumbass question I love to wrap my head around instead of interacting with my hobbies in an even remotely normal way. Meet the Commoner. Has to be probably the saddest statblock you ever did see. Zeroes in every ability, no skills or proficiencies, a single weapon and its the worst one in the game… D&D 5e has a pretty sorry opinion on the most basic building block of any medieval setting. While there are plenty of things to say about the developers’ rather reductive attitude towards a group of historically quite hardy individuals (I bet… [Continue Reading]

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