"Soul Swallower: Golgari's Gonna Get Ya"

"Soul Swallower: Golgari's gonna get ya"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I tried to challenge myself. I tried to write about the Soul Swallower while listening to a catchy and bubbly Kpop song. And despite the cute song in the background all you have to see is the swirl of souls in this Wurms mouth and it will bring you back to your fantasy horror daze. Don't look at the souls!

There are a lot of things to like about this card. It is fairly cheap at 3/3 for four mana. It also has trample which will come in very handy. However the main thing that I like about this card is the Delirium mechanic that lets you put three +1/+1 counters on it at the beginning of your upkeep if you have met the requirement for Delirium. All you have to do is have 4 different card types in your graveyard.

Hmmmm. Now if there was only a guild that would let you do just that. Oh wait! There is a guild that lets you do just that and that is the Golgari and in a close second is the Simic which also allows you to self mill. In this instance I find cards such as Mulch and the Dredge mechanic of the Golgari to be the best to interact with the new Delirium mechanic. 

This growing Wurm also benefits from Doubling Season that just simply makes it twice as huge making it a 9/9 Trampling creature at the beginning of your upkeep. And then it gets an additional +6/+6 counters in your succeeding upkeeps. I don't even need to do the math on this one. Soul Swallower will just be one of those cards that would fit the Golgari like a glove. Now the only problem is how you would remove another card in that already fine tuned EDH deck. 

"Luzviminda The Brave"

"Luzviminda The Brave"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

It was another hot summer like this one when I once witnessed my mom do something very brave. I woke up late and heard the noises on the street. There was a taong grasa who was naked and sat on one of the lamp posts near our street. Now this was the time before cellphones had cameras  , otherwise this whole thing would have been all over the internet. On this day people still looked on the mentally unstable woman as a sort of entertainment. A spectacle because not everyone sees a naked person all the time , much less on the streets. Children were flocking and adults too because they wanted to see who would make the first move in helping. There were a few hecklers and children seemed to tease the woman. She tried to run after one of the kids which made some of the adults angry. There were things that were thrown at her that made the woman even angrier and confused. 

My mom who went out of our house to see what was happening grabbed a blanket without thinking about it and ran( yes during that time she could still run) and covered the woman. She asked the adults to stay back and the kids to disperse and in typical pinoy fashion the adults backed off while the kids stayed and oggled. My mom talked to the woman and I was amazed at how calmly the woman responded to her. She does have a way with words and anybody who knows her that she has a calming effect on people. It was no different with this mentally unstable person. She instructed one of our helpers to give the poor woman one of the bestidas/Mumus that she just bought to the woman and some clean underear too. The woman responded by asking my mom to help her dress up which my mom did. With the woman now fully clothed the children went away one by one and so did the adults. 

It is funny how people just stood around while she rushed in to that situation. My mom could have gotten hurt but she was in the thick of things. Generous to a fault. A helping hand first before any other considerations. She was like that and now even on these hot summer days I still remember that day. I am proud to be your son. Luzvi the Kind.Luzvi the Brave. 

Happy Mothers Day Ma! 

"Don't Bring Me flowers"

"Don't Bring Me flowers"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

She once said , "Don't bring me flowers when I die"

I remembered nodding with a lie 

She said without saying

bring them while I am alive

Let me savor them now

There are of no use when I am gone

Let me see you smile

and we can laugh together as we dined

I can still be your mom. 

You can still be my son.

Come on over and bring me flowers now.

One Valentine's I brought her a bouquet

the flowers of which she promptly shared

I asked her why she was giving them away

"Look at them son , they have no flowers for themselves."

And I had to laugh at her giving heart

giving what was hers to those who lacked.

Don't bring me flowers she said

but I still do today

A defiant wish of remembrance

To one I will always hold so dear.