"Midweek Magic 2018 #30: When the Threat is not Bolas"

"Midweek Magic 2018 #30: When the Threat is not Bolas"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have always prided myself in making decks that are strong enough to have an effect on the battlefield and maybe win from time to time. My play groupmates have shown me respect and acknowledged the decks that I make as evidenced by the number of times that I have become the de facto Archenemy when I should not have been.

In the latest and I think would be the last deck that I would make in this vein the Nicol Bolas , The Ravager led deck that I have been developing for several weeks now. When it goes off I win in combos or if not I get eliminated really and rest while the rest of my playgroup mates try and destroy each other for the win.

Normally I don't mind all the team playing around me. I am usually the threat or they really don't want me to develop a board presence to be the threat. 

What I really do not get is when an extra turn is countered for the mere reason that a person should only be the one getting extra turns. What?

All I have on the board are lands and mana rocks. No planeswalkers or creatures.No combo pieces. There is actually no reason to counter an extra turn. An extra turn can only be a threat if you already have enough creatures to cause lethal damage to an opponent or if you need another turn to look for a final combo piece and kill everyone with it.

Yet there it was a Mana leak that cancelled nothing of value. It enraged me to no end since I knew that the guy next to me , Jethro already had a Blasting station out and needs only a creature or two to get off on a pinging massacre or Ram on the end of the table with a Circu  , Dimir Lobotomist and an abusive combo in his hand. And yet it was my extra turn that got cancelled! 

My deck is a threat yes but only if I have the pieces to threaten you with. An extra turn is not a threat. Those guys who already have a piece of their combos out are a threat. 

And of course it is nothing to be proud of if you read the situation all wrong and even shouted it to the entire  group. There were a lot of great plays that night but this was not one of them. Not in the farthest.

I know it is a game and I play it to enjoy it. I just have high expectations of people who I believe are intelligent and don't base their strategies on petty things like "Ako lang dapat may extra turn."

And now that I am able to purge this out of my system. Next time ayusin ang threat assessment.