"Beating Garruk The Slayer"

"Beating Garruk The Slayer"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

There is a side event in the upcoming M15 Pre release that promises to be both difficult and fun. Enter Garruk the Slayer. So Garruk after having a chance encounter with Liliana has slowly been transforming into something black from something green. The guy is tough. The guy is strong and nothing personifies this as much as this card.

So the side event goes like this , you would play your normal PR sealed deck and try your best to kill off Garruk the Slayer. Sounds easy on paper but wait till you check out the arsenal that this Garruk holds.In the hands of a mean player this planeswalker and his wolves will be out for your blood.

Now look at the opening Loyalty counter on this Planeswalker. He is simply like you. He starts off at 20 life/Loyalty counters, only unlike you have he has a tight grip on his abilities and the things that he could to kill you.He knows all his spells and does not need to draw them.

For Zero(0) loyalty counters he could already produce a Green 2/2 Wolf creature token on the battlefield. A free 2/2 creature! Unlike you he is not worried about mana flood or mana drought. Nor is he worried if he could play a creature this turn or not. He simply whistles and a wolf token appears(probably from some dark forest somewhere).

So let us say you manage to plop down a creature to defend against Garruks lone wolf.what are the odds that you had a 2/1 or 2/2 creature on turn one? Close to nil. So The wolf attacks and scores a hit if you do not block it. On the next turn Garruk plops down another wolf to up his token count.

On your turn you would wish for a pyroclasm. Only I don't think that they are reprinting it here. So you either have a creature to block with or nothing at all. Your life total is now at 14.Not looking good at all because on the very next turn Garruk will now have 3 wolves.

And let us say that for some reason you were able to cast a world clas threat like a Siege worm thanks to convoke. Garruk now has the option of using his +4 Planeswalker ability.He gives a +1/0 and death touch on one of the wolves and attacks. If your life total is low enough then you would really need to block with your big creature. If not well , prepare to be overwhelmed next turn.Garruk is now at least at 24 loyalty counters with a couple of wolves already in play.

If the player using Garruk is aiming for the kill , then he or she could just take out your biggest creature with the the -10 ability which makes you lose that creature as a defender while allowing Garruk to either recover Loyalty points or increase what he already has. Not a good prospect. 

So it seems like big creatures are not really the way to killing Garruk the Slayer.So does that mean that you should focus on a fast weenie deck that could outblitz the wolves in terms of damage? Well yeah...then again , Garruk has that last ability of His. -20 , which guarantees to annihilate all his foes. Destroy all creatures that he does not control. Meaning all his wolves will be able to attack while you sit there utterly helpless , flapping your gums as a bunch of wolves dogpile...err..wolfpile you.

After reading this article though...http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/win-ultimate-trophy-2014-06-22....I have to realize that the rules set out to destroy Garruk is via reducing his Loyalty counters to Zero...I guess they designed Garruk the Slayer much like the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek...It just wants to to teach you a lesson that some things in life are futile...Almost winning could still be fun though.

The rest of the article would have been my thoughts of taking the guy out without reducing his loyalty counters to zero. If you are interested in that please do read on. Thanks!

The Non- Zero Way

Another thought would be to destroy Garruk via spells that destroy Planeswalkers directly. In Garruks Wake seems like your best bet in this category but at 9 mana. You might as well be dead without rapid mana acceleration.

Perilous Vault seems like a serious answer to the the fierce planeswalker. In fact it just might be the ticket. Exiling him and his Wolf club would be a lasting answer. If you yourself could last that long.When you also consider that in a Sealed format the chances that only a handful of players could actually get a Perilous Vault , then in my opinion this guy is highly unkillable. (As of this writing I am still not sure of this is ok for the side event. So a bit of a disclaimer here.)

Well , unless you are also lucky enough to get a copy of Garruk , Apex predator in your Pre-Release Kit. Garruk as it turns out is the only answer to Garruk. You only need to get to 7 mana and he could take one mighty swing of that axe and boom. Off with the Slayers head!Not to sound like a wet blanket though what are the chances of that happening? still one can hope and the packs may hold the key to victory.

So yeah I picture that a lot of the pictures posing along side the Standee of Garruk would either look frustrated or disappointed. Me , Id just be happy being able to play.My schedule please be kind!

"Obelisk of Urd: Goblin Worship"

"Obelisk of Urd: Goblin Worship"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Some players would look at the Obelisk of Urd as a big chunky artifact that would be difficult to cast.6 mana is still slow even by today's standards but when I look at it , I see it is a +2/+2 for all of your tribal creatures as early as turn 3.

I could hear a bunch of goblins clamoring for me to buy this card.They won't stop screaming!The dream sequence for the to get this new artifact would go something like this.

Turn 1. Play Mountain,play One 1 mana cost goblin

Turn 2. Play Mountain,play Two 1 mana cost goblins.

Turn 3. Play Mountain,tap all 3 mountains and your 3 goblins for convoke.And cast the Obelisk of Urd.Choose your goblins as a tribe and boom! +2/+2 stat bonuses for each one of them.

At this point you already have 9 points of damage available for the next turns assault. This could escalate really fast because all of the goblins that would arrive under your control will also enjoy this +2/+2 stat.

When I look at this though , it is still a bit slow and well there is still one more way to have this shiny new thing out. 

For the ultimate Goblin crazy dream sequence you could come up with this one turn and hopefully turn two kill...(well turn three, now that I have done the math). It requires a god hand though.

Feast your eyes on Goblin Worship!

Turn 1, Play Great Furnace, Play Chrome Mox , throw something Red(any red spell to imprint on the Mox). Tap for mana , cast 2 Kuldotha Rebirth and sacrifice the Furnace and Mox. You now have 6 1/1 Red Goblin Tokens. Tap them for the Convoke cost of the Obelisk of Urd...watch your opponents jaw draw as they look at their hands and realize that they may not have an answer to 18 points of damage heading their way on your next turn(your next turn).

So there you have it. Goblin assaulters from turn one and hopefully a turn 3 kill. I can still hear some goblins giggling from this evil plan. Time to get me an Obelisk of Urd in the M15 PR.

"Brago , King Eternal: Starting Fresh"

"Brago , King Eternal: Starting Fresh"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

There are cards in the game of magic that tend to be abused more than others.Some tend to be driven into oblivion and forgotten , others tend to wake players up in the middle of the night because there are some cool interactions that they might not have thought possible. And yes the Magic muse does tend to strike pretty much at any hour.

Brago ,King Eternal seems to be one of the cards that would wake you up in the middle of the night. As an EDH commander he would be a 4 to cast Azorius creature(White/Blue Colors) which means that he represents one of the strongest color combinations in all of magic. Total control is what he represents.

Now , when you read that long line of text that Brago has it just simply means that you could return any number of target non-land permanents you control and return them to the battlefield under their owners control.

Let us dissect that a bit. So when Bragos is able to hit an opponent , his ability will trigger which means that for the exception of lands you have just exiled a lot of permanents and then allowed them to come back. 

This massive ability could then be looked at in a lot of different ways.

Brago Defense:

Clamping down on opponents has always been an Azorious thing.With Brago this particularly annoying tendency is increased ten fold.

One of the obvious things to do is to exile creatures with Oblivion Ring,Detention Sphere Banisher Priest and Fiend Hunter. However  , when Brago does his thing and there are better target for these "Banishers" then by all means redirect and  banish a whole set of other creatures or permanents.

Frost Titan , Dungeon Geists and Claustrophobia pretty much works the same way. You could choose another creature to lock down and not allow it to stand up. 

Tumble Magnet used to be limited to 3 activations. If it gets exiled it comes back and you could tumble a few more things with it again. As opposed to it just being a useless piece of metal on the field.

Creatures like Hoverguard Sweepers or Colossal Whale would really just love to keep on Bouncing things while providing you a meaty creature to attack with next turn. 

Lavinia of the Tenth would be a Mass Effect Detain on creatures with mana cost 4 or less. A really great semi-lock considering that most creatures would not be able to block Brago from attacking and triggering again.In which case Lavinia would return and detain again and again.

And if there are blockers now , wait a few turns...there won't be any left.

Brago Support:

So in case you don't have your key cards at hand yet what better way to do things than to have a bunch of permanents to help you get them. 

Wall of Omens and Ichor Well Spring for example allows you to draw cards with Brago's activation.

Sphere of the Suns which like tumble magnet is also limited by the amount of counters on it comes back with 3 fresh counters to be used on the next turn.

Speaking of Counters, How cool would it be to use Jace Beleren to draw one card when you cast him and then use him to draw another card when you bounce him with Brago? Pretty cool right? Now imagine doing this for the other Planeswalkers...Elspeth , Knight Errant comes in producing 6 tokens per turn!

Then from the M15 set comes an awesome Life gainer/ Resetter in the form of Resolute Archangel. It doesn't matter how much your opponent throws at you each turn because this particular angel would just come back into play and reset your life total to 40 in every EDH game. 

There are tons of token producers in White and Blue , one of my personal favorites come from the New Phyrexia set. The Splicers Wing and Blade which could give you a 3/3 Golem each time they come into play. Pretty neat because you can add more damage into a rapidly expanding army. 

Sun Titan could potentially trigger twice on your turn by attacking(returning a much needed permanent) and then being exiled and returning for another Trigger. Diluvian Primordial could also cause a lot of havoc since there will be a lot of spells that you could possibly use(preferably in the late game).

Brago Offense:

On the offensive side , well there seems to be no lack of big monsters this side of Blue and White but with all the clamp down from controlling creatures it is only a matter of time before your opponents succumb. For me though , if I had Brago , I would savor the moment by well just simply destroying things.

Spine of Ish Sah makes a case for smashing things albeit one by one.

If you are really impatient in dealing aggro damage then you could have Clone or Phyrexian Metamorph come in as a copy of pretty much the biggest creature and go to town with them. Godzilla level leveling ensues.

One of the things that I would love to do is to have Brago equipped with this card...Whisper Silk Cloak.Why? Sure Damage that is why! I mean you have a commander that attacks and triggers and short of Mass Removal there is no way your opponents could stop his triggered ability! Yup. Brago will definitely keep me waking up in the evenings.

"In Darkness...Waiting"

"In Darkness...Waiting"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

I would sleep with your secrets

and I would breath in your sighs

Waiting for you to get them from me

waiting for these hours to pass me by

I will hold on to this memory

to the things you whispered in the dark

I will remember and I will know

hiding all these behind my mask

I will smile and things will fade

though things are not the same

the familiarity of it lingers

I whisper you name...

"Ephara, God of the Polis:Creature Draw"

"Ephara, God of the Polis:Creature Draw"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

To begin I would like to like at an early round of EDH. An early round of EDH usually consists of playing land cards and mana producing stones. Creatures are cast much later because one is still trying to keep up appearances of being civil and polite and apolitical. No one wants to cast a creature since someone will always interpret this as a great board position even if you just cast a lowly Iron Myr. Being civil and polite and apolitical takes a back seat however when you are playing with the god Ephara. She would want you to keep on casting at least one creature every turn. The reason for this is oh so simple.

Her ability as a god allows you to draw an extra card on each upkeep if you have cast at least one creature the previous turn. Think of it as an investment , a return for having an aggressor on the battlefield. In standard games you get one card on your opponents upkeep.If you have a creature with flash and cast it at the end of the opposing players turn you could again benefit from Ephara and draw another card on your own upkeep.

So the key here to abuse Ephara (that doesn't really sound right) is to always cast creatures on the 2nd main phase before your turn ends and to cast creatures on your opponents turns. Casting on your opponents turns requires creatures with Flash. Two cards from  Ravnica come to my mind here and those are the Deputy of Acquittal and Hussar Patrol.Oh and so we can be sure that everyone has flash , lets not forget this guy.

"What's up?"

The great thing about this strategy is that you are filling up the battlefield with creatures while you are effectively replacing your hand for each creature that you are casting. You incur card advantage and for someone who needs to control the board and bluff with a full hand like the Azorius(Blue/White) colors this is very important indeed. These extra draws also increase the probability that you have at least one creature to cast and another extra draw. Filtering out your library or even getting to your key cards in no time. Now imagine Ephara in an EDH game. As long as you keep casting creatures you could potentially net a total of 3 cards per turn( one for each your opponents in a 4 man pod).

One particular card that works well with Ephara and this drawing engine is the Zendikar enchantment Archmage Ascension. During each of your end steps you are sure to draw at least two cards. And I am betting that you also have other draw spells or even Azami as back up if you are playing blue.Imagine being able to fill this awesome enchantment with 6 counters and on each of your draw steps or any time you would draw a card , you instead "Tutor" that key card out! Wow. Any card you want. If you would draw , just go ahead and pluck it from the library. How is that for card advantage?

I am not even mentioning that 6/5 frame that Ephara has which could manifest in physical form in a short amount of time since you will be playing a lot of permanents/creatures to draw cards here.Well in her case, The More the Merrier. She just loves them creatures and thrives in their adoration. 

Ways to win? Well with all that card drawing and all that library tutoring(with a full 6 counters on Archmage Ascension) I am sure that victory will always be near your grasp. Ephara smiles upon you. 

"Babala: MP3 Niya"

"Babala: MP3 Niya"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I

Sumisigaw ang mama sa gitna ng ulan

lumingon ang bata sa kanyang pagdaan

takbo! Bilis! tumabi! ka sabi ng lalaki

Ang bata , bumagal ,nagmistulang bingi

II

Di maintindihan kung ano ang nangyayari

alam na tiyak na sasapol ang sasakyang palapit

pinilit ng lalaki na abutin ang bata

tuloy ang pagtungo tungo ng ulo habang kumakanta

III

kakaheadbang ,kakaheadbang

natodo ang volume at nilunod ng tunog ang lahat

napalingon ng lang ng bahagya at napansin niya

sumapol sa bata at sa MP3 niya.

"Phyrexian Infiltrator:How to lose a Creature for 4 mana"

"Phyrexian Infiltrator:How to lose a Creature with 4 mana"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

One of the greatest things that I enjoy working while working in  Eastwood City is that I could walk around and look for stuff. Magic cards in particular , with the help of my friend Mark I was able to find a 2rats store in the City walk area.. 

I had fun browsing through binders that had old cards and one in particular caught my fancy. The Phyrexian Infiltrator. Right off the bat the ability to exchange this guy for one of your opponents meaner creatures appealed to me. I mean imagine your opponent mana accelerating to a cool creature like Griselbrand or Avacyn or even struggling in the EDH rounds to cast such a wonderful fattie creature and here you come along with 8 mana. Play a Phyrexian Infiltrator and starts stealing whatever you deem gives you more advantages at the moment. In an EDH game there is always at least one player who would try to dominate the board with a huge creature.It is safe to say therefore that here will always be a target for the  Phyrexian Infiltrator.

I mean for 8 mana you could already exchange it the moment it comes into the battlefield or if you don't have anything worthy of stealing you could simply bide your time and use it as an early defender. Sometimes an EDH battlefield can get so clogged up and it does become harder to keep track of things. Chances are an opponent will forget your Phyrexian Infiltrator is even there in the first place and this is the best chance to strike. I mean it could just mean stealing their combo piece creature when they don't have mana to defend themselves.

When playing the Phyrexian Infiltrator you also need to be mindful of your opponents mana base. In EDH all you need to do is look at an opponents commander and your targets become really clear. Choose the ones that do not have blue.Stealing a creature is wonderful and all but it does seem a bit silly and wasteful of your efforts if your opponent could just steal that creature back.

There are a lot of ways for you to prevent your Phyrexian Infiltrator from returning. One of them is to kill it or to simply bounce it back to your hand. Yup even though you just gave it to your opponent ,  you just gave control of it to someone else and when it goes back to its owners hand , it would still be back in your sweaty palms because guess what? you still own the guy.Another trick is to use a Pithing Needle so that the Phyrexian Infiltrator's ability won' ever be used again.Making the transfer a one way street in your favor. 

One sneaky(and political) way to win is to bribe an opponent with the Phyrexian Infiltrator so that he could go ahead and steal the weakest players only stalwart defender and go in for the kill.Of course that means that they have to agree that you would be left unharmed. For the price of merely taking care of one opponent rather than facing 3 that could gang up on him or her then the Phyrexian Infiltrator could really help improve your chance of survival until you are ready to unleash your next string of tricks.

Biding for time as always until the time is right to reap everyone for the win. Well the Phyrexian Infiltrator is a wonderful soldier in this regard.It could even do the task by its lonesome when you actually get a killer creature to smash your opponent with. Turning their own force against them. How ironic. 

Well this is all I could write for today. In the mean time keep on brewing , keep on playing. 

"Marchesa , The Black Rose: Bloodied Thorns"

"Marchesa , The Black Rose: Bloodied Thorns"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

The Dethrone mechanic. A wonderful way of growing creatures while taking down an opponent a notch. I view creatures that have Dethrone as a modified Slith , creatures that get a +1/+1 when they deal damage. As an added twist though creatures need to hurt a player with the highest life total or tied for most life to get the +1/+1 counter. This is an interesting bit that would make no one safe on the battlefield. It limits the mechanic somewhat since it can only get the stat bonus if it attacks that specific opponent. In an EDH game , things are somewhat unpredictable since those with the highest life total could easily have these points dwindle and soon you could find yourself paying dearly for testing the patience of the person next in line. They might remove your growing threat with spot removal or worse yet just wipe out everything on the board because they want to keep their life points intact.

Of course ,there is a Lord or in this case a Lady that will support the creatures with the mechanic and even if they don't have Dethrone  , they will have it when she comes into play. Enter Marchesa, The Black Rose. Having Grixis(Blue/Black/Red) colors and at 4 mana she could easily shape the battlefield to your advantage.

She herself has Dethrone so she could bulk up that already big 3/3 frame. She is as strong as a Beast!( they usually come in at 3/3 , just ask Garruk). She also gives the mechanic to all your creatures. Let us let our imaginations run wild for a bit. Imagine having any of the titans in play. Frost , Grave and Inferno. 6/6 not enough? they provide you a bonus when attacking and then they get bigger. 

To top that all of , Marchesa has a particularly nasty ability that lets any creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it return to the battlefield at the beginning of your next end step. As long as a mass removal doesn't exile creatures or shuffle them into your library you could be sure that you would have a horde in your next end step and assuming that Marchesa also has a +1/+1 counter on her then you have creatures that could potentially come back again and again. Grixis creatures have some really nasty come into play abilities too. Any of the  Primordials could provide you with so much advantage as well when they come back into play on your side.Oh and let us not forget....Dethrone has a Dragon!

One of the risks in this dream scenario is when Marchesa gets taken out before any of your Dethrone shenanigans takes place. So what would ensure her survival in case an unwanted spot removal or mass removal pops up? Well a drop of dragon blood of course. You see Dethrone doesn't care where the +1/+1 counter comes from as long as a creature you control has it. It comes back.

Just in case you don't have the good old trusty Dragon Blood , well you could also Power Conduit some +1/+1 counters on creatures that you want to beef up or save. I think Dethrone will be one of those things that players will flock to in no time at all. I mean every one is a Slith that could come back with Marchesa in play? What is not to like?

I would like to think that creatures with Dethrone are Marchesa's thorns. Each of them demanding blood , each of them thriving in the violence.  I can't wait to play a Grixis Dethrone deck. 

"Dack Fayden: Stealing Victory"

"Dack Fayden: Stealing Victory"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The moment I saw Dack Faden , I suddenly blurted out Dack Faden in the 28th and a half....century! Boy am I old. I am remembering Daffy duck for crying out loud. I started laughing for a minute or so because I just had to get that out of my system. I have not read the Magic comics yet and have no back story about Dack Faden but what I do have is an interest in is his Planeswalker incarnation.

All I know is that the guy is a thief and he loves stealing artifacts among other things. He also comes out in the Conspiracy set that makes him unavailable to the Standard players. As an EDH player I am happy to welcome him into my Izzet deck. At 3 mana Dack gives you an amazing advantage the moment he lands on the battlefield. 

Let us look at his +1 ability. Target player draws two cards,then discards 2 cards. As the controlling player who is playing Izzet colors(Blue/Red) this first Planeswalker ability allows you to filter your deck. Consider it as drawing care when you haven't got Jace Beleren yet. Consider also that these guys could play with each other and net you tons of cards in no time. As support Dack Fayden with this one ability would fit right into a Grixis deck that abuses the graveyard. The discard effect is a bit more controlled than the one the much maligned Tibalt has because you decide which ones would need to go to the graveyard. Hint: Choose the Largest creature possible!

Another Grixis deck with a different build that features Nekusar could also abuse a player and may bring about their nasty end with a well timed draw , as if suffering through all the pain caused by Nekusar/Teferi's Puzzlebox/Underworld Dreams/Howling Mine is not enough , your opponents also need to survive targetted card drawing! Yup , we have so much use for you Dack Faden.

And now we move to another Planeswalker ability that has a lot of people who love artifacts shaking in thier Lightning Greaves.Since Mirrodin and Scars of Mirrodin , the game of magic has been literred with tons of artifact cards that have just been begging to be used in an EDH setting and true enough there are lot of staples that have won games again and again. With Dack Faden you could now choose to steal that artifact and make that win condition your own. About to get beatdown by Blightsteel Colossus? Time to steal it. Memnarch beginning to annoy you by stealing your lands? Well Steal that too and start stealing other peoples stuff too. Yup. One stealing begets another stealing.Thanks Dack!

And now on to the ultimate ability of our Master Thief. You get an emblem(I wonder what it looks like) that says "whenever you cast a spell that one or more permanents, gain control of those permanents. Playing with blue and red you have spells that directly target creatures. For red you have burn spells that you could use to target the Bigger creatures without killing them. If an indestructible creature is threatening you at the point like Avacyn or Tajic. Well, a single Lightning Bolt would change their mind about you.They would join your ranks! Hexproof creatures would remain the bane here but then again things might already be too late when you are stealing permanents left and right. Imagine a shock imprinted on an Isochron Scepter , how many creatures would that steal right? or Aura cards latching on to opponents creatures and spiriting them away. And now that Journey Into Nyx cards have joined the pool of possible cards to use Polymorphous rush has suddenly gotten me excited. I mean not only do you target the meanest creature on the playing field , making one of your own creatures(or if you have more mana more creatures into a copy of that creature, thanks Strive mechanic) a replica of that awesome critter.In addition you also gain control of that creature you targeted netting you two big awesome creatures. Be careful with Legendary cards since one of them would blow up and just leave you with one creature. Creatures like Blightsteel Colossus makes me excited and now even if I am playing Blue/Red I can now own one.Heck , I'd own two!And since there aren't any known removal for emblems I could keep on acquiring things until I have everything on the board( insert maniacal laughter here).

Yup , Dack Fayden is welcome to planeswalk in my neck of the woods any time. So keep on playing. Keep on Acquiring. 

"Reklamador"

"Reklamador"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Pambihira sobra sobra na ang ingay

ng mga tupang nagpapakita ng sungay

sasabog na akong nang di namamalayan

isasagot ko sa kanila ang karit ni Kamatayan!

II

Buka ng buka ang kanilang mga bibig 

hangin lang ang lumalabas at wala nang iba

walang lalim , walang dahilan ang mga pahiwatig

mga nilalang na dapat di nakakahinga ng malalim

III

Di ko alam na ganito pala kabilis maubos

ang pasensiya ko na mahaba pa kahapon

Di na ako makakatayo sa galit kong ito

isasama ko na din sila sa aking burol

IV

Mga tupang akala mo kung sino magsalita

Mga sayang sa espasyo dito sa lupa

di na dapat tumagal ,di na dapat tumagal

Isasama ko sila , Isasama ko sila.

"Maynilads Grand Plan: Broken Roads for all"

"Maynilads Grand Plan: Broken Roads for all"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

Thanks to the wonderful Maynilad excavations that have been ongoing all summer long one of the busiest streets in our area has become a veritable Abortion Road and Bane to sensitive Scrotums. Every few feet you would literally fall into inches deep horizontal cuts into the ground. Every few feet you bounce around and hit your head on the low ceiling of the tricycles that are the main form of transport here.

So why the long hold up in covering these nuances? No one seems to hold the answers. So every day all sorts of motorized vehicles have their shock absorbers put to the test , people who normally dont have those are also put to the test. It is a bumpy ride in the least , a head thumping , dizzying , slow ride at its worst. And traffic does slow down to a crawl at certain times of the day. Even better is the ever changing placement of barricades , if those things cause such a traffic in a wide road like EDSA , imagine what it does to a 2 way side road. You get Commuters grumbling , you have tricycle drivers shouting at each other. Fights have broken out but not so much that anybody dies. Still why wait till it reaches that point right? why not just go back and fix the damn things?

Over the Holy Week , a pipe burst and because it was a holiday it took quite a while for Maynilad to respond. A whole day. I imagined that they had to drag someone from a long deserved drinking spree somewhere to fix those damaged pipes. In the time it took them to send someone over though , some kids have taken to the streets and enjoyed in the cascading waters. The waters that pooled at the bottom of our street was used to clean tricycles and water plants and stored for later use. It was free water. The kids loved the water fall. I on the other can only shake my head as I look at the equipments that have been left , the barricades and endless broken roads. 

The rains recently have not been so kind , the only thing that was done to make the roads even was to put some sand or gravel on them. Those dont last very much and they are carried off with each passing wheel until you have a hole that could threaten your tires or your sanity. Low riding Tricycles have had so many troubles. It is just really puzzling that they break up roads in so many places and then just leave it open? So it is either someone in Maynila has some stake in the Shock Absorber market or their grand plan is not actually to fix pipes but provide broken Roads for everyone.Seems like it.

In the meantime the pregnant ones and those with sensitive scrotums beware. It will still be a bumpy ride.  

"Momir Vig:Simic Death Sequence"

"Momir Vig:Simic Death Sequence"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

After I have acquired my Momir Vig through a trade that was done in the wee hours(around 2am!) of the morning( thanks Sir Noudz Prado) I just had to stay up for a couple more minutes to find out if I would stick to Vorel of the Hull Clade as my commander or would this be the right time for a leadership change in my Simic EDH deck.( This was already 3am and I simply could not sleep from excitement)

After a few play tests I have concluded that Vorel and Momir shape a simic deck in different ways. Vorel has the more aggressive tilt because of all the counters on the Hydras I have put in my deck while Momir Vig basically creates a Sequence of Death.

I honestly did not want to play the Simic in the original Ravnica block and when I looked at their Guildmaster who at 2/2 is just begging for a shock to the face, I did not even read all of the text Momir has , a couple of years in the future , I find myself reading the text and loving what it gives me. In short if I play a Blue/ Green creature I can search my library for any creature and put that card into my hand. Creature fetch is the name of the game.

I have found one particular sequence that I would really love to play in an EDH match. Momir Vig's Death Sequence goes like this:

#1 Cast Biovisionary  , trigger Momir Vig's ability

#2 Fetch Progenitor Mimic

#3 Play Progenitor Mimic copying Biovisionary , trigger Momir Vig's ability once more.

#4 Fetch Clone. At this point you could say Done or copy Biovisionary. 

After your opponents turn...

#5 Progenitor Mimic puts a token copy of Biovisionary into play on your upkeep. 

#Play Clone and Copy Biovisionary...

All you need to say is DONE and it is over for everyone.You see if you have 4 creatures named Biovisionary  at your end step , you win the game. I am sure that once you are able to pull something like this off prepare to defend your Biovisionary  because it will always be eliminated first in the suceeding games or any games in your play group for that matter.

So there you have it folks the Simic Death Seqeunce. In the meantime keep on brewing , keep on playing.