"Me and My White hairs."

"Me and My White hairs."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I have never bothered to notice such things until they started appearing on me. It was white hairs. As a 42 year old I still should not have anything to worry about. It is all part of aging and yet here I am writing about because I am bothered.

The other week I saw a 2 inch strand of white hair sticking out from the side of my head and I was trying to get it out in front of the bathroom mirror. A guard became curious with what I was doing because I simply could not pluck it and I was annoyed that it was sticking out that way. After 10 minutes or so of being in front of that bathroom mirror I got it out. Only to notice that both sides of my hair had other white hairs. I went out and tried not to look at mirrors for awhile.

It was until my wife noticed the stubble of hair on my chin and remarked." Mahal pati mga buhok mo sa chin may puti na din." Much to my dismay I looked in front of my daughters dresser and noticed that tiny one that was white. I sighed. I noticed  that even one of my nose hairs was white.

I told my wife that my head might be full of the darn things 3 years from now. She tried to assure me that it was ok by saying: Ok lang yan. "Si James Deakin nga daming white hairs."

It made me more distressed. "Di ako si James Deakin and there are other more attractive things to look at that man other than his Tito White hairs. Me on the other hand , I would simply look like me , but with whiter hair which is not really an improvement. My wife laughed. I stayed silent.

"Emry , Lurker of the Loch - The Lady of the Lake - Arms Dealer"

"Emry , Lurker of the Loch - The Lady of the Lake - Arms Dealer"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Since the recent set Throne of Eldrain is full of Arthurian references I was wondering how Wizards of the cost would translate the Lady of the Lake into a Magic card. And as it turns out she is still going to do a lot of Arms dealing in this current set.

For 2 colorless mana and a blue you get a 1/2 creature that will fit in with a lot artifact strategies. However I suggest that you follow the thing that she is showing and that is to bring out a nasty sword to swing at your opponents or any equipment you might need for the win. Like a Grafted exoskeleton( My first choice) for that Infect win or Trailblazers boots for that unblockable Infect creature(assuming it already has infect or is equipped with the aforementioned Grafted Exoskeleton). Or just Swords. A lot of swords to choose from for the strategy of your choice like the recent Sword of Sinew and Steel for those pesky Planeswalkers or Artifacts.

The great thing about Emry is that if you are already playing an artifact strategy of have her as a Commander she costs 1 colorless mana for each artifact you may have on the battlefiled.Normally you have a lot of mana rocks lying around in an EDH game so it is safe to assume that you most likely will be casting her for 1 blue mana most of the time.

When she enters the battlefield she lets you mill 4 cards and normally that is a bad thing but not when you consider her ability that lets you tap her and you choose a target artifact. You may cast it this turn. If that artifact has flash then you can cast it on any turn but normally the timing rules still applies.

I cannot wait to get a copy of Emry , Lurker of the Loch. I might start a new Swords EDH deck. I will have an arms dealer on my side after all.

"The Proposal: An Intro to The Retreat"

"The Proposal: An Intro to The Retreat"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

The drive to the Retreat house was something that Jinyo did not even notice. The sky was dark and threatened rain but for the most part seemed to have held off on her behalf. She swears that she probably could not handle anything else going wrong this day. She needed to be out of the city. Away from everything at least for this difficult time.

"Eyes on the road Jinyo." She scolded herself when her thoughts strayed to other more painful things. Her phone began to ring. It was that cheerful tone that she had put in the day they bought her phone which could only mean that it was her mom. Jinyo stopped her car and accepted the video call. 

"where are you Jinyo?" Her moms obviously aged but pretty face came on. With eyes that seemed to be looking at everything. The same eyes that made Jinyo conscious growing up.

"I am half way toward the Retreat house." She had tried lying to her mother before but she knew she was not good at it and it was better to tell the truth since her mom was like a Detective in the novels she likes. She always gets the answers that she needs.

"Oh. So who broke your heart this time?" They both knew that Jinyo only went to this particular place to get away. To heal. To be where he once was. When Jinyo pursed her lips together her mother knew that it was serious and so no longer pressed her for a name.

"It is good that you are on your way to the Retreat house. You know that it is peak season and we are all understaffed as we are at the other branches...."

"Mom what are you saying?"

"Well I am saying that if you do this one favor for me I can give you the deed to that Retreat house and you can run it as you see fit."

"Really?" It was not like her mom to just give away something so profitable. She did not earn her reputation for doing things easy. "What's the catch?"

"Well. Since I can't send anybody there you'd have to take care of the single guest that booked that place for a month."

"A month?"

"Yes. A month and the place is yours."

"I still don't see the catch Mom."

"You will." Her mom whispered to herself.

"What was that?" Jinyo forgot her pain for just a little but it was slowly creeping back now.

"Jinyo. Treat this guest well. If they have no complaints at the end of their stay then the place is yours. He would have wanted to you to have it anyway."

"Who is it?"

"Someone you might not even know."

"Which means I might know them."

"I didn't say that. Call me when you meet them ok? He will be with this manager.Ciao."

Jinyo did not even have the time to answer back. Her mom already knew her answer. It was comforting to know that she was still at her tricks and here she was thinking that she no longer cared. Jinyo looked at the boxes of books at the back of her car. At least she would have time to read her books in the evenings when she was done.

"Midweek Magic 2019 #28 - The Persistent Wins"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #28 - The Persistent Wins"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It is no secret among my playgroup and friends that I had been trying to make a Persistent Petitioners deck that had consistent outcomes in EDH. I have been trying it for some months now with The Scarab God but it proved to be slow or almost irrelevant when certain pieces were not made available like the Thrumming Stone. 

And so I decided that these guys would be so much better in a 60 card format like Oathbreaker. So I chose Ashiok Dreamrender and just made it a Monoblue deck with Persistent Petitioners almost making 1/3 of the decks. The other 1/3 was lands and then the other spells. 

Ashiok is an oppressive commander in Oathbreaker as he hoses down any tutor effects on your opponents part. 

In one early game I could only play 2 lands and drew my 3rd land 5 turns later. I did however play an early Drowned Secrets that milled an opponent 2 cards whenever you play a Blue Spell. And the deck was full of Blue spells! Mainly Persistent Petitioners! 

And so a little math(Math Ugh!!!!) showed me the target numbers.

7 initial draw. 

1 Card in opponents Draw step

Mill 2 at turn 3. 

In 5 turns it looked like this

7 Initial Draw

5 cards drawn

8 cards milled via Persistent Petitioners coming into play

12 cards on Persistent Petitioners special ability

Making that a total of 32 cards! 

The next two turns my opponent drew 2 more cards and I milled 24 cards with an intact Persistent Petitioners crew of 4.!!

Proving that the Persistent wins no matter how long it takes!

"Destiny"

"Destiny"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

The waves are relentless

They drown me in my sleep

Though I stand here awake

They remind me of my sins

II

And I hear the hollow echoes

of the things that we were

Seeping through the walls

that I thought could protect me.

III

I am tired of this feeling

Of being haunted by your smile

I run away and hide

but it reaches me , it reaches me that smile.

IV

I drown myself in the waves

And hope that sleep carries me

but I am a fool for thinking

that I can escape my Destiny.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 28 , 2019 6:29am

"The Mythic Streak: A Thorny Guy Part 2"

"The Mythic Streak: A Thorny Guy Part 2"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It is now September 25 , 2019 and I keep on wondering if the Mythic streak will finally end tonight. 

So I bought 2 packs. If you consider it. A box of Magic Cards contains 36 boosters and among them might be 4-5 Mythic rarity cards which puts the odds at 13%(ugh Math!!!) when you randomly choose a pack in a box of 36. Almost 1 pack out of 10 packs might have a Mythic in them. So I don't know how things aligned for me to be able to open one every week. All I know is that I am thankful.

It reminds me of that time that I was opening packs upon packs of Battle For Zendikar in my search for the elusive Expedition lands. And I would not end up opening a single exped land or mythic. Damn.

With that horrible thought I started opening my 2 packs knowing full well that the streak could end tonight. My first pack yielded a Marauding Raptor. Very good in that Polyraptor deck I always wanted to do but it was not a mythic. Could this be the end I asked fate?

And then this Thorny Guy came to my rescue one more time. My 2nd Cavalier of Thorns telling fate Not today. The streak continues on it's 5th week. 

"Doc In, Doc Out:History of what?"

"Doc In, Doc Out:History of what?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Me: History of Flee? (tumatakas?) History of Flea? (kuto?)....Ah History of Flu.

#flutragisnamanoo

"Midweek Magic 2019 #27 - Gideon Double-Lariat!!!"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #27 - Gideon Double-Lariat!!!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I had bought the Gideon Spell Book in the hopes that I would be able to use the special cards there to make a Gideon Themed Oathbreaker deck. 

All I was missing was the elusive Gideon Blackblade and time. The pieces of this deck languished in my car trunk for some time till I finally said enough was enough and I would now need to build it. And build it I did.

Filtering through all the White cards that I had available to me. Gideon Blackblade courtesy of my brother from another Mark Abude would be the commander , my signature spell would be End Hostilities. When asked why I preferred the 5 costing spell over the more efficient 4 mana ones like Wrath of God or Day of Judgment. I would simply say that it hits a lot more things like Equipments and Aura's. The real reason was that I could take out my full art WOG and DOJ from my Boros Aurelia deck that I consider as one of my best assault decks. 

This Oathbreaker deck would feature all of the Gideons that I had accumulated through the years and it seemed fitting. Even Kytheon and his irregulars were in here. All that was missing the Pegasus he was riding on when he attacked Nicol Bolas. 

In it's first game I was able to cast Gideon Blackblade along with the Spell Book Gideon Jura. I was able to cast a True Conviction and it was curtains as the Beefcakes attacked for lethal Double Striking action with lifelink in tow! 

Not bad for a first outing right? Making the memory of Gideon proud.

"Sa Kalagitnaan"

"Sa Kalagitnaan"

ni:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Dahan dahang babangon ang mga patay na damdamin

At magtatanong sa kadilimin kung bakit

Ito ba ang naiwang mana , naiwang salita

Na dadalhin sa paglipat sa ilaw sa kabila?

II

Ito ba ang sagot sa matagal na paghintay?

Mabibigo pa din ba sa huling pagninilay?

Sasabihin mo pa ba ang mga nais kong marinig?

Kapatawaran sa nakaraang di na maibabalik.

III

Yakapin mo ako kahit di mo sabihin

Dito lang ako at di na uulitin

Hahayaang maglaho ang lahat ng galit

hanggang sa pagibig ,pagibig na lang ang papalit

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 28 , 2019 6:26am

"The Mythic Streak: The Horror we Deserve"

"The Mythic Streak: The Horror we Deserve"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Yarok , The Desecrated is one of those cards that you really want to build around. And since I have a self-imposed ban on buying a box till 2020 I had contented myself by buying just a couple of packs this rainy Thursday night.

Little did I know of the horror that I would see in the Mythic slot. None other than Yarok itself , whose horrible form filled me with so much abusive interactions in EDH.

I mean you have a creature who is basically the Panharmonicon on a 3/5 Death touch , Life linking stick! So when you have a permanent entering the battlefield that triggers an ability of an ability you control to trigger , it triggers an additional time.

What this means is that each permanent with an enters the battlefield trigger , triggers a 2nd time. If you have Yarok  and Yarok's Fen Lurker enters the battlefield , each opponent will exile a card from their hand and then exile an additional card! Yeah. If you bounce the Fen Lurker a couple of times you might as well cripple your opponents ability to fight by leaving them with an empty hand.

Or how about leaving them with an empty battlefield bereft of any permanents? Here's how you do it.

Create Unlimited Mana with Deadeye Navigator and Peregrine Drake then with Yarok in play keep on casting an Agent of Treachery. Then watch as you keep on bouncing Agent of Treachery and the amount of permanents on the other side of the board keeps dwindlind until you have so much permanents that you will know what to use for.

Sure you can do this combo without Yarok but this makes all of your stealing much faster because the Agent of Treachery triggers twice. bwahahahaha

Dread Presence can be good here too as each Swamp that enters the battlefield allows you to draw cards and lose 1 life twice or deal 2 damage to a permanent twice and net 4 mana in the process. All those 4 toughness creatures are now within reach.

These are just the things on top of my head. There are so much more when you check it out. 

And so my Mythic streak continues on it's 4th week.

"Doc In, Doc Out:Eye to eye"

"Doc In, Doc Out:Eye to eye"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

"That moment when you run into an agent in the corridor and you look into each others eyes and you suddenly see the future."

Agent: "Punta ako sa iyo mamaya Doc ha."(Ubo Ubo).

Me: (It has been foretold!!!)

"Midweek Magic 2019 #26 - Mowu's other surprise"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #26 - Mowu's other surprise"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Mowu as an EDH commander offers very few , if any mass removals spells. There is the occasional spot removal spell like Beast Within (that can hit any target)  and Naturalize ( this one is conditional since it would depend if a creature is an artifact as well). 

Of course this is green so it would rely on a lot of lands rather than spells and the latest of those lands would come from War of the Sparks.

When Adrian was already clogging the battlefield with a lot of tokens and threatened to halt my assault I only had to hope that I would draw my answer to all those token blockers. And  so when I drew from my library that turn I silently held my breathe and drew Blast Zone. I also had enough mana to activate it with zero counters meaning all of the zero counting costs would explode. And the tokens did just that. And my Doggo army advanced!!!

And I heard that song once again , "Macho Doggo , kaya niyo ba to? Kaya niyo ba to?"

"The Transfixion"

"The Transfixion"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

In a moment your pretty face

Flashes on the screen

You flitter like a butterfly

leaving me breathless in your wake

II

The other faces blur

As I notice only your smile

The smile on your lips and those eyes

The smiles that I wish were all mine

III

And all so fast the song ends

leaving me wanting more

The dance mesmerized me 

more than I can or want to ignore.

IV

With each flicker of your hair

I am transfixed on the stage

Holding my breathe and not knowing

Until the last note at last came.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 28 , 2019 6:21am

"The Mythic Streak: A thorny Guy Part 1"

"The Mythic Streak: A thorny Guy Part 1"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was September 11 , 2019. And my streak continues with my first Cavalier of Thorns. I understood that from all of the Cavaliers in the Core set 2020 this guy was the most sought after , apart from the Blue and Black ones. So I whooped it up a bit because his price tag more than doubled the cost of the pack I just bought. I recouped my loss and earned a little. If I were selling that is. And I am not because like I always say I am dragon and Dragons hoard.

I always wanted to talk about how the Cavaliers pushed you into committing into certain colors. The 3 green mana and 2 colorless mana is a clear indication that this should be in a Mono green deck but in EDH where players have access to lands that provide multiple mana and mana fixing artifacts like Chromatic Lantern or even Gilded Lotus , this guy or any of the Cavaliers can be right at home in decks that might need them.

I can see the Cavalier of Thorns working well with Azusa or a great addition to any of various Golgari led EDH decks that I currently have like Jarad or Skullbriar. In the Jarad deck Cavalier of Thorns could deal 5 damage to all of my opponents and still have a great use in it's death since it can allow me to draw another card that I may need on my next turn. One that it placed on top of my library all by itself. Such a Thorny guy!

It is the 3rd week of my Mythic streak. I wonder if it will continue next week?

"Doc In, Doc Out:Duo"

"Doc In, Doc Out:Duo"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Complaint: "Tooththroat"

Me: (Di niya siguro ma-gauge kung ano ang mas masakit kaya silang dalawa na lang o nakalulon siya ng tooth na nasa throat niya ngayon?) Hmmmmm

"Midweek Magic 2019 #25 - Back to My Phyrexian Assaulter ways!"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #25 - Back to My Phyrexian Assaulter ways!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It has been awhile since I poisoned someone. I meant it has been awhile since I put infect counters on someone and watch them slowly succumb to the fear that all Phyrexians invoke in its victims.

There is no greater feeling that knowing when an opponent can simply not oppose what you are going to do because you have overwhelmed them completely and it harkens back to my early days when I was simply a Phyrexian Assaulter rather than the Phyrexian Plaguelord that people acknowledge me for. 

The star was simply the Spine Biter who thanks to a Karametra's acolyte and tons of creatures in play was able to give me enough mana to make it an 18/18 infect creature thanks to the spell thrive.

It ended up with choosing between dying to the 18/18 creature or dying to the other huge creatures. I did tell my opponent however that blocking was futile. I showed him the Spinebiter.

It could assign damage as if it wasn't blocked.Making it a phyrexian version of the Rhox. Scooping up was now in order.

"Free"

"Free"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

For a long time I have been paralyzed

Afraid of looking like a fool

Of saying the wrong words

Of doing the wrong things

II

But tonight I let go of all that

I shed this skin that I am in

I let my crown to the ground

and kiss the dirt to begin

III

I rise to face the cold darkness

naked and unafraid of what might be

I feel the chains unburdening me

And tonight I can truly see.

IV

I take those first steps

towards a future I am still to understand

And another and another

faster and faster to reach where I can.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 18 , 2019 3:33am

"The Mythic Streak:Giving me a Hand"

"The Mythic Streak:Giving me a Hand"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was September 05 , 2019 and during this time I remember that Standard was abuzz with a complicated but very cool deck that saw Kethis ,The Hidden Hand hard at work to have all those Legendary permanents popping back into play after you have exiled 2 legendary cards from your graveyard.

I thought of how cool it would be if I actually had one and I had a Murmuring Bosk languishing somewhere that I imagined is crying from disuse. And so I opened a pack one more time and there he was the elf Advisor himself.

I wondered if I had enough legendary cards to play in the Abzan colors. I would still have to check but it seems that I may have enough. I would not be able to do the Diligent Excavator standard strategy if Kethis would be my commander but I can still put in a lot of Legendary card buy using the Golgari Dredge mechanic that is in his colors. 

Still have to look into but the prospects are good.

"Doc In, Doc Out: Saan po?"

"Doc In, Doc Out: Saan po?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Patient: "Magpapa Fit to Work po ako."

Nurse: "Need po ng Fit to work/ Medical Certificate."

Patient: "Fit to work certificate galing sa Doctor po?"

Me: (Dun sa magtataho! Try mo kumuha dun! Game na!)

"Oko , Thief of Crowns: Exchange Gift"

"Oko , Thief of Crowns: Exchange Gift"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Like I said in a previous blog post, Maloko si Oko and here is why.

At 3 mana , Simic Colors and a colorless you can cast Oko and he starts off with 4 Loyalty counters.

You could up that Loyalty counter to 6 by using his first ability. 

Creating Food! Now just in time for the holidays. A planeswalker who makes Food. I wonder how an artifact called food tastes like anyway. Well there is always ketchup.

Oko's second ability is a +1 that Elkifies a creature your opponents control. I can just see someone playing a Kenrith , High king in an EDH game and Oko turns him back into an Elk/Stag! Oh the flavor! It hurts my eyes! 

Oh and that 3/3 can still hurt you so be very careful who you Elkify ok?

And for his ultimate ability. You exchange a creature or artifact your control in exchange for a target creature your opponents control with power 3 or less. 

It seems like tons of Knights are 3/3. And Even the Queen Linden herself. Hmmmm. Or Basically you could eliminate the threat of that 3/3 Elk you just made by exchanging food for it. Seems fitting doesn't it? Oko works hard doesn't he?

"Midweek Magic 2019 #24 - Macho Doggo debuts!"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #24 - Macho Doggo debuts!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

And so on a suggestion I started to build Mowu , Loyal companion into a Mono Green deck that would quiet the heart that sought for might. And a little bit of Infect. I had started to rummage and while I initially wanted it to just be a deck that would take advantage of all the +1/+1 counters on the creatures that I had. 

Amazingly I had a lot of wonderful pieces that was just lying around. I would never forget one of the first games that Mowu rampaged through. I managed to cast a Bellowing Tanglewurm earlier that allowed Mowu to just crash through defenses.

Add to that the added bonus an equipped Ring of Kalonia and a Blanchwood Armor with 6 Forests in play. My Macho Doggo was a 9/9 that threatened to go bigger with the ring on it. I am not sure where a ring can fit on a doggo but he was sure wearing it. 

With no blockers and a monstrous Mowu threatening to bite his head of my opponent conceded.

And all this time my friend Mark's suggested song was playing in my head.

"Macho Doggo , kaya niyo ba to? Kaya niyo ba to?"

"Ignite"

"Ignite"

by"

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

The circle stares at me from a distance

Making sure I know it is there

It slowly whispers the words that I yearned

Come to me , come to me and burn!

II

And I feel it on my finger tips

this heat that I once knew

In seconds it engulfs me

and through my own ashes I am renewed

III

And I feel the words scream out of me

they come out in a roar

my flesh is no longer holding me

I am ready to explode.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 18 , 2019 3:24am

"The Mythic Streak: The Loose pack."

"The Mythic Streak: The Loose pack."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was August 29 and I opened a pack of Coreset 19. I had asked the Ate in Neutral Grounds Centris to bring out the box of Coreset 19 as the Coreset 20 boxes were already out. As she did so a pack fell out on the glass stand. And I said wouldn't it be fun if I got a planeswalker in this single pack and I would be able to write about it later? So I choose this one pack and proceeded to have dinner in Pho Hoa.

While I waited I cracked the pack open and when I saw the loyalty counter at the bottom I just had to be happy at what I predicted. Staring at me was the Mythic Ajani , Adversary of Tyrants. It was not that expensive but I was happy beyond the monetary value. I never had a copy of this card before and now I had something to write about bwahahahah.

This is my actual first mythic. 

I was thinking of uses for him. I do know that he makes others stronger and with his casting cost he would be perfect for a deck that has early creatures that can be beefed up with this counters. And what deck would that be? Well the one that has a lot of cats in it. Arahbo.

Putting down 1/1's in the beginning that can turn up to be huge. Since Arahbo has a creature based deck that may suffer from a shortage from time to time(when you can't draw into them) this Ajani would be perfect to reanimate Ajani , Pridemates from the graveyard or even a Leonin Arbiter ,to annoy other players who can't search libraries without paying an additional 2 colorless mana. 

The 3 1/1's kitty tokens from this Ajani's emblem is no joke either. I suddenly thought of Divine visitation and how you turn cats to angels as they came into existence. 3 4/4 Angels. Sounds pretty exciting. Time to brew.

"Doc In, Doc Out: The Writing"

"Doc In, Doc Out: The Writing"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Patient: Doc , may pinatak po yung Optha sa mata ko. Dapat daw po magwe-wear off na siya ngayon kaso po hanggang ngayon eh di po ako makapagbasa ng screen ng laptop , sobrang blurred po talaga kaya di ako makapagtake ng calls.

Me:(looking at chart that was filled up by patient) kayo po ba ang nagfill up nitong chart niyo?

Patient:(medyo nakatunog) Yes po.

Me: Ang linaw po ng sulat niyo.

Patient :....

Me: Sige po. Take na kayo ng calls. 4 hours lang naman kasi training pa lang.

Patient:.....

"Garruk , Cursed Huntsman: Guess who's back?"

"Garruk , Cursed Huntsman: Guess who's back?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

"Guess who's back? Back again. Garruks back , Garruks back , Garruks back...."

And yes we are so happy to see him back and free the curse of the Chain Veil. This new planeswalker cost a little less than Garruk , Apex Predator but he combines a lot of the qualities that we want our Cursed Huntsman to have.

He starts off with 5 loyalty counters and you have a choice of using the first ability to create 2 2/2 Black/Green Wolves that have a special ability that seems to be related to the "Food" of Eldrain. When these tokens die you get to put a loyalty counter on each Garruk you control!

Each of them! So these wolves will benefit all the Garruks in your EDH or Oathbreaker deck. That word excited me and I am already brewing what should be a monstrous Golgari colored Oathbreaker based in this guy.

The 2nd ability which is a -3 lets Garruk swing his axe in the direction of an opposing players creature or your own. And again you gain a benefit by drawing a card! Seemed like a blue thing to do but then again you gain knowledge when you kill something right? Like where to hit next time.

And the Ultimate ability is a whopping -6 that gives your creatures that good ol Overrun ability that the original Garruk used to give. The catch however is that you could only increase your counters to 6 if at least one of your wolves die. 

Oh well there are a lot of ways to die. Attacking , Blocking or Sacrificing them makes no difference as Garruk can just create more with his first ability. 

Welcome back Garruk. You are on my wish list once again!

"Midweek Magic 2019 #23 - Macho Doggo Emerges!"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #23 - Macho Doggo Emerges!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I initially wanted to just fill up my Roalesk Simic EDH deck with things that had +1/+1 counters matters cards. And one of those cards was Mowu , Loyal companion. I have played with the deck for awhile now but Mowu had not managed to come up.

So it was on this particular night I was playing against Adrian and I had managed to cast both Courage in Crisis and Stealth Mission on Mowu. Making it a gigantic 10/10 unblockable creature that killed my opponent. Mowu was so impressive that Adrian himself suggested that I could actually make an EDH deck for the uncommon doggie.

And so I did.

"Isang apak...Pangalawa."

"Isang apak...Pangalawa."

Ni:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Pingako minsan na ako ay babalik

Sa pusong may mga binaong galit

At ngayon ngumiti sa unti unting pagbangon

Ng mga salitang matagal nang natulog

II

Itinaas ang tinig sa mundong madilim

At ang tahimik ngayon ay narinig

Mga bagay na akala'y natapos

ay nakitang muli sa himpapawid.

III

Bumilis ang pintig sa bawat kataga

Ang pusong di mapigilan ang pagtibok

Nabuhay namang muli ang diwa

At sa bawat bagay ay muling humamon.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 18 , 2019 3:16am

"The Mythic Streak: Chandra sparks it"

"The Mythic Streak: Chandra sparks it"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was August 22 , when I bought a single pack just to get my Magic Pack fix and I got the planeswalker Chandra , Acolyte of Flame which was a rare card. I even got to tell fellow play group member Jethro in Eton Centris as he was having dinner with friends. This would be the start of something but little did I know that the following week would be the beginning.

This was the start. Though she a rare card. I felt that this was the start. 

I had thought of decks to use my recent acquisition and one stood out to me. It was Omnath , Locus of Rage. I particularly like the Hasty 1/1 Elemental tokens she spews out with her second ability. My opponents could block it and it would die. When I have Omnath out in play those 1/1's turn into 3 damage each. If an opponent can't block them then it translates to 4 points of damage. Hmmmmmm

Another use might be in a Red Oathbreaker deck that could make sure that this Chandra could put counters on Other Chandras. I may have to look into this one as I have accumulated most of the Red planeswalkers over the years and are quite due for this particularly deck.

I find it quite fitting that a red planeswalker started all this. My Mythic weekly streak.

"Doc In , Doc Out: Omega-level Lumpia!"

"Doc In , Doc Out: Omega-level Lumpia!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Patient: Doc masakit po ang panga ko. 

Me: Sige tingnan natin. (Made Patient open his mouth and it seem like there was a deviation to the left) Ano pong ginawa niyo kanina?

Patient: Wala po Doc. Kumain lang po ako ng Lumpia sa canteen nung maramdaman kong sumakit ang panga ko.

ME: Ang tindi ng lumpia natin. Nakakadislocate ng panga!

"3 things I have seen this week - Kpop MV Spotting"

"3 things I have seen this week - Kpop MV Spotting"

by:

The Vole

Well there has been a slew of great Kpop songs this week and some of the have great MV's attached to them. I am glad that I was able to watch a couple or so and here are some of my thoughts on them.

1) Jackson Wang - Bullet to the Heart

The MV consists of Jackson singing inside a solitary cell as he is visited by what seems like a female demon who then begins to torture him by flinging , dragging and annoying the hell out of him. 

While the Demon girl might be a representation of the girl that give him his heartaches and so the state of his mind. I would like to think that this is what happens when you let too much love in.

2) Giant Pink - Forever Young

Giant Pink is always such a treat with that low voice of hers doing all those raps. In this MV where it seems that she is stuck in some loop of a house party and post graduation picture taking there is a particular scene where I found something weird.

In the sink scene where she is seen sitting sideways , her feet dipped on the sink you can clearly see that her hair has highlight streaks of bright orange. Now normally this doesn't seem odd but arranged in this manner tucked in her hair it looked like someone squired cheeze whiz in her undercut hair. And it looks like her entire right side is just dripping with Cheeze Whiz. Nachos not included.

3) Pink Fantasy - Fantasy

I always give rookie girl groups a try to see what they can cook up that will be new for my tastes.In this comeback Pink Fantasy turned a bit darker  , sporting well uh , darker clothes and their bunny member now seems to have a sewed up mouth which made it seem more menacing and creepy.

I think they are trying to creep into the Rock/Anime Horror themes that Dreamcatcher had been doing for about 3 years now. The bunny member seems to be an indication of this or maybe it was just the them they chose for this comeback because it is near Halloween?

In any case I don't know how the Bunny member was chosen.Did they choose a random trainee and said Good news and Bad news time. Good news is you will be able to debut. Bad news is you have to wear this Bunny mask at all times until we win a Billboard awards.

In choosing not being able to debut and being known as the Masked Bunny Member I guess the trainee chose the mask.