What a bad attitude to have. The whole point of a direct ballot means that it bypasses nearly all of the lobbying from big tech that would occur. The PEOPLE vote, like how it should be.
It definitely isn't. I have had experience with both and MSI's card is much better. The fans are much quieter, thermals are better and imo the card looks better.
I would 100% recommend the MSI card over Asus. I have the Gaming X Trio (although the non Ti version) and the fans are much quieter. I would say that the RGB is better too. Attached is a picture of my build