Not sure where this 'Pacific doesn't matter' narrative originated...I can't say I really see that on the board here, but maybe I'm missing it....but we need all the help we can get in all parts of the world to make it snow down here....not to mention, a lot of luck. But we certainly don't want to see a bunch of troughing up and down the west coast (a la the new 18z GEFS)
But for me personally, the heavy -AO/-NAO pattern is my favorite. It doesn't always work of course, but there's something a bit mesmerizing seeing the model runs come in with that big block forming, and with the slowing of the downstream flow over the Atlantic, and with everything in the flow backing up behind it such that, in the really good ones, the entire height pattern just drops uniformly south. It's like watching a giant wreck at Talladega and all the chaos that ensues behind it.
Also, these types of patterns are associated with some of the iconic snowy and/or cold winters / periods across the south, like 1935-1936, Jan 1940, Feb-Mar 1960, Jan 1966, 1968-1969, 1969-1970, 1976-1977, 1978-1979, Jan 1982, 1995-1996, 2009-2010, Dec-Jan 2010-2011