I think of discs in slots. If it fills the need of "neutral fairway" or "OS wind fighter" or whatever it doesn't matter to me what the stamp is on it. That stops me from needing to keep tweaking things, just knowing it would take that same slot as something I already have and use.
If I'm between two discs then I see if one is better for both BH and FH for me since I throw 50/50. I also compare wind resistance or effective power range. Then I look at plastic durability, especially to compare if it's something I want to stay the same for a long time like a beefy driver, or if it's for a slot that would pick up a ton of distance so a bit of a beat in would be ok.
Basically I just feel like I need to look forward to throwing whatever disc is right for the line in front of me. If I am worried about it doing something weird when I take it out of the bag, then I get the itch to try something new in that slot. Otherwise I know that a new stamp won't change how I throw.
I could've written this. Once you assess what shots/slots/roles you need in your game to be successful, it all rolls downhill from there. This isn't the same for everybody b/c people have different hands, arm speeds, form variance, and style variance (i.e. BH vs FH). I find my slots based on how often these things come up in given round. For me my slots are:
•Putting putter: Almost assuredly the most important slot to fill and not **** around with.
•Throwing putter: Same mold as above or different molds to better fill niches (i.e. FH or lid)
•Go-to mid: For most people this is the stable mid, i.e. Roc, Buzzz, EMac Truth etc.
•Flippy mid: For carving up woods.
•OS specialist: For me this is a Banshee/EXP-X. OH, spikes, skips, flexes, HW, FH rollers, etc
•US specialist: For me this is a Seer (think Leopard). Rollers, uphill turnovers, hard turns, etc.
•Go-to FW driver: For most this is a Teebird/Eagle type disc.
•Control drivers: These double as precise distance drivers and FH distance
•Max D driver: For open bombs
Those are my essentials. Course-dependent essentials:
•HW D driver: For bombs into wind, big flexes, long hyzers, etc.
•OS mid: Useful mostly on wooden and short, open holes.
•Big D roller: A fast, flippy driver (i.e. King)
•stable-US FW: Beat version of your go-to FW or a TL, Crave, Rival type.
I throw a lot of trick shots like rollers and I'm almost 50/50 BH:FH these days so my essentials are rather varied.