"7103"

"7103"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

 7103. Almost the same number as the Island of our Archipelago. Sadly the consistent increase in the last couple of days might signal more suffering for the general population. The Government is saying no to Lockdowns or Stricter Measure or Reverting to the dreaded ECQ but with them going on about it in phases might be too late. Again.

7103. And this number could have been higher because 5 Government accredited Laboratories were not able to submit their reports for the day. The 11k per day case rate from OCTA at the end of this month seems like a sure reality at this point.

7103. And everyone is still saying that COVID19 does not exist. DOH even putting a 97.3 % Infographic declaring that this is the percentage of people with Mild or Asymptomatic patients. This will surely contribute to more confusion. This number means nothing. It may be mild or even not show any symptoms but all of them are infective. And while most of the population can handle the virus , with enough infections this will reach the part of our population who could not.

I am hating this number. I will hate the higher numbers on Monday. I can just feel it.

"The Fingers"

 "The Fingers"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

We all point our fingers

At that group and at that

Look at how they do this

Look at how they do that

II

Don't you understand?

Says the rich , says the poor

One is going hungry

And one is simply bored

III

Don't you understand?

Asks the Doctors to the patients

Why risk the life of others?

And they answer because we go on living

IV

Ah Yes we must go on

Tired of the prison we are in

We must move forward

And so we point on.

The Gatehouse Loft, Valenzuela City. March 18 , 2020. 11:09pm

"Vega The Watcher: Filling up your hand"

 "Vega The Watcher: Filling up your hand"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I enjoy playing cantrips , Magic cards that when you play them basically replaces themselves. Normally when you cast a spell that would be it. You can only utilize the spell once. However with Vega the Watcher as your commander all your spells can potentially be a cantrip unless you have cast it from your hand. 

So Vega is a 2/2 Bird Spirit for 3 mana that says:

"Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, draw a card."

Now because it came from Kaldheim the obvious mechanic to go with this is Foretell. However there are so many mechanics throughout Magic history that let's you play cards other than your hand. Flashback for example let's you play cards from your graveyard , the same goes for Suspend that let's you play cards from exile. This also applies to Commanders who hang out in the Command zone.

What I am excited to talk about is a combo that exists and normally gives you infinite. So what does Vega add into the mix? Well if you are going to play Bant Colors you can also potentially draw out your entire deck. 

The Combo I am talking about it the Food Chain - Misthollow Griffin. With the Food Chain in play , cast the Misthollow Griffin. Remove it from the game via Food Chain and you will have mana +1 of the Mana Value of the card that was exiled. In this case you already have 5 mana in your pool. Now all you need to do is cast Misthollow Griffin from exile for 4 mana. If you already have Vega in play , since Misthollow Griffin was cast from exile and definetly not your hand you can draw a card! 

Repeat the cycle to pile on more mana and until you draw your much needed cards and well take it from there. Wooooh. I a going to enjoy this one.

"The Girl at the Disinfection Table: A lesson in Apathy"

"The Girl at the Disinfection Table: A lesson in Apathy"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

 It was another night , another duty following routine at the entrance on the company where all employees would go to the Disinfection area and then proceed to the front desk to sign their health declarations or scan their QR codes to be allowed to enter the company premises.

On this night I was minding my own business spraying alcohol at my laptop bag and kit bag. In front of my a girl took the alcohol bottle at the adjoining table , sprayed her hands but forgot to disinfect  her backpack and the pouch bag at her side. She would have gotten inside the building if I did not call out to her to disinfect her things.

Our county currently is undergoing the longest lock down of these Pandemic days , we have 4000 positive cases per day and our statisticians are telling us that we might have 11,000 cases per day at the end of March. And this scene that unfolded before me is just a slice of how people despite the constant reminders still do not know how to keep minimum health standards. This is a country where local mayors are asking the police to help enforce these things in public.

When ordering food in the cafeteria you would suddenly find yourself shoulder to shoulder with a person who still thinks Social Distancing is something other people should do. And the reason they do this is so they can point and order food. Sigh

When you walk down the street you still see people not wearing masks properly. Their noses showing or their masks to the sides. Face shields are worn on their foreheads which negates their purpose. They should start calling them forehead shields. That is all they cover for some people anyway.

People point to the fact that we are opening the economy and that there are lesser restrictions now as the reason for the sudden spike but I at least can see for myself that the real reason for this are people who merely comply but not really understand why they need to do certain things as part of a social contract.

I saw it in this girl who despite seeing what needs to be done foregoes it and would probably get surprised that she got Covid19 down the line.

 

"5 Frames and a Page"

"5 Frames and a Page"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

When the lockdowns started in Manila last year one of the things that I noticed was that I did not post anything on My Story, a feature on Facebook that allows users to post more content that is only available for 24 hours. I did not see the need for this until I realized that aside from the usual promotions and build up of an online presence it can be used to lighten one's day. 

The Lockdowns were not good mentally. People felt more alone as some were forced into isolation or some would have to deal with their whole family constantly in one place without enough space for privacy except through their phone screens. 

I think it was a month into the lockdown or Enhanced Community Quarantine as it was called in the Philippines that I decided posting quotes from my favorite  author Sir Terry Pratchett. At first because it was funny then as time went on it was to honor the man whose beautiful words and thought provoking humor inspired me to write. 

The quotes would be followed by a series of photos that I would love to visit in the future. My physical body maybe bound by 4 walls but my mind was free to roam where ever it wanted to. I posted Beaches , Castles , Nice Houses and Japanese sites. 

I found that in a day I would have shared a quote of my favorite author and shared places that people could focus on rather than what they were experiencing at the moment. Sure as a Doctor I could post Covid19 stats or how the economy is failing or how the myriad mistakes that happened in handling this whole pandemic had led to our archipelago being the country with the most number of cases in Asia( not counting China). People were already bombarded with those. People might not want to know about them. People had to focus on things that could heal their minds. 

And so I posted. At first someone asked me why I liked posting about beaches so much and I answered that I don't really but the images mean that I can be in that place at least for a second and not in the place where I am now. I am fascinated by Castles though , both Western and Japanese and those are places that I want to visit as well. 

As time  went on I thought that I would be inspired to write more but it was like time was running and I was stuck in place. I started posting pictures of interesting places in the hopes that it would also spark me to start writing again but it was not really easy and there are times that the things I wrote felt forced and unnatural. 

So it was at 6am every day I would ready my quote , load the pictures that I wanted and also post something Magic:The Gathering related on a Facebook page that I created and maintained. I might not have wrote anything else but I felt that I was making a difference to someone somewhere. Maybe they saw the quote and laughed or thought about it. They might have seen the pictures and wanted to be there too. Read about the card I wrote about and wanted to play with that. These thoughts helped me mentally throughout the lockdown and I was hoping that they helped the  people who saw what I shared. 5 frames and Page at a time.

"A Harsh Truth"

"A Harsh Truth"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

 There is a steady rise in cases this March and hospitals are again filling up with patients from the dreaded virus. Despite the vaccine roll out happening at the same time a lot of people are getting complacent and foregoing social distancing , mask wearing or even hand washing.

It is no wonder that this country has the most number of confirmed cases in Asia. And like always people would never look at themselves but blame everything else except themselves. Here we are almost 5 days to the lockdowns anniversary and there is always that fear that we would have to undergo that again because of this possible second wave or because of the new mutations that have been sprouting up left and right. 

People are tired and I understand that. The strain of surviving , the burden of finances , the inability to move forward with anything. Frozen in a bubble that is still there and playing catch with all the time lost. People are fed up with restrictions but the restrictions are there for the better. People just no longer see it. 

"The Clarity of Fire"

 "The Clarity of Fire"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

I grow tired

Waiting for the flames

So I take my first step

And become embraced by the fires

II

And for a moment

All that was pure emerges

No longer hurting

No longer remembering

III

Just that moment

A clarity long withheld

There finally revealed

Among the dancing flames

Optum Bldg.N , UP Ayala Technohub , Quezon City City Jan 25 , 2021. 11:58 pm

"Bramble Sovereign:I missed one."

 "Bramble Sovereign :I missed one."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I was watching one of those box openings on Alpha Investments and Rudy was just talking about how Battlebond is one of those sets that people miss out on. I thought that I had all the important cards in that set especially after hitting Doubling Season , Greater Good and the Kenrith Twins but I am glad that I was surprised to miss one and that is the Bramble Sovereign that turned out to be the first mythic rare of that box. 

A 4 mana costing 4/4 Dryad that has both combo and political potential. So it has an ability that reads , Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield, you may pay 1 and Green mana. If you do, that creature's controller creates a token that's a copy of that creature.

I found this intriguing because it basically just copies a creature that came into play at such a discounted cost. So I picture that this will be great with ETB effects like a Mulldrifter for example. You can evoke it and then pay 2 mana to draw a total of 4 cards. An Archeomancer allows you to return 2 Instants or Sorceries. A Nekrataal kills two creatures. A Trinket mage searches for 2 artifacts.

The best part is that you can leverage this ability by asking your opponent that you want to form an alliance with by asking , "Do you want to double that?"

And I mean this is also a 4/4 so it might be part of that final line up you could have in the end to defeat the last remaining opponent. Maybe this an a whole number of tokens as well

"3 things that I excited me from Kaldheim"

"3 things that I excited me from Kaldheim"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

By now all the gloom and doom regarding the expected value of Kaldheim is all over the internet and I must admit that after all the things that Wotc has been throwing at magic players and collectors there has to be some point where nothing would feel special at all and just cause these things to drop in prices.

I don't want to dwell on those things however. I just want to talk about things about excited me about Kaldheim in the first place.

1) Orvar , The All Form

Man the comborific things that Orvar has presented. The Potential to just copy a permanent and get another one of it in play. I mean that whole Ghostly Flicker , Archeomancer and Peregrine Drake combo is insande but with more of these guys coming in again and again at instant speed? Game over.

2) Tergrid , God of Fright

Now referred to as God of Salt because of the abusive things she can potentially do. I mean an opponent discards a permanent card it ends up on your side of the battlefield ,an opponent sacrifices a non-token permanent this ends up on your side of the field too.

With an abundance of cards that can make opponents discard or sacrifice things you can easily see why Tergrid is a magnet for hate right off the bat. But all strategies are not really assured until tested in battlefield conditions so I am reserving my judgement until I actually beat someone with her. The potential and there though.

3) Fynn and Vorinclex.

While it is not a secret that I am a Phyrexian by nature and therefore the thing that excites me the most about Kaldheim is the one that deals directly with the Compleation of other worlds. Fynn has death touch creatures giving 2 poison counters on opponents that they damage and Vorinclex doubles those counters. 

There is an existing Super Jerks decklist for Vorinclex that I find exciting as well and will probably attempt at building it once I acquire the elusive Praetor in Kaldheim.

So forget about EV. There are still enough things to make you excited about this set.

"The Pretender"

 "The Pretender"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

I sat there listening

Pretending I had the answers

And you kept pouring your heart

When I have never really found mine

II

And I spew out the words

that people always take to heart

but they sounded hollow

and they echoed a little in my mind

III

That I am here unexposed

adored and unencumbered

living my life and judging

All for the sake of helping

The Gatehouse Loft , Valenzuela City Jan 21 , 2021. 1:34am

"The Creepiness of 11 minutes"

 "The Creepiness of 11 minutes"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have a routine that I follow when I go to work. I set up my Waze to maximize my drive and I put on a curated playlist to listen to. I have a playlist that consists of 5 songs and one of those songs happen to be 11 minutes by Yungblood and Halsey as the last one in queue.

Nothing really out of the ordinary when I first tried this playlist. I like the songs , I was humming to them , thinking of what I would write , what emails I would be answering and so on. In that drive from Valenzuela to QC I will pass by the intersection of Congressional and Mindanao Avenue. While waiting for the light to turn green the last song 11 minutes came on and I was amused to see that as Halsey sang the chorus "I'm 11 minutes away" my Waze also displayed that I was also 11 minutes away from my destination. Since the light was still red I managed to get a screen shot of this. I believed it was cool but had no further thought on the matter. I arrived at the clinic with no incident.

Since I rotate playlists it was awhile since I went back to that 11 minutes one until I did the following week and I remembered and thought that it would it be cool if I stopped at the same corner and this song would come on again? True enough it did. I was also 11 minutes away from my destination according to Waze.

Nothing concerning right? Until I played the same playlist , stopping at the same intersection 3 more times with the same thing happening. After that I stopped playing the playlist all together. The reason? In the Music video for the song Halsey was singing 11 minutes away and not being reached anymore because well , she was in a horrific car crash that killed her or at least in the MV. Well that is enough creepiness for me. On to the other playlists without car crashes in their MV's.

This is the Actual screenshot.

"The Hall of Doors"

 "The Hall of Doors"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

I opened a door and some more

and I kept opening and more

Till I turned to see and there

Even some more!

II

This hall that I ignored

Kept on closing the paths

And I play catchup

by opening them back up

III

Like waves they crash

but seep up on high 

Till I am drowning 

and reaching high up

IV

But the doors close

And I gasp for that sight

And with that hope

A little despair.

The Gatehouse Loft , Valenzuela City Jan 21 , 2021. 1:34am

"A life Lesson from Uncle Istvan"

 "A life Lesson from Uncle Istvan"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I first met Uncle Istvan when I was in med school and starting out with my a couple of my friends what would end up to be a life consuming hobby.

Uncle Istvan is a tough guy. He reminds of one of those Uncle's that let you hit them in the arm or in the abs just to prove how tough they really are.

They say things like,

"Wala akong Maramdaman"

"Mahina , lakasan mo pa."

"Yun lang? Chicken."

And I used to be in so much awe that Uncle Istvan would take zero damage from creatures and during that phase of my magic learning the main damage really did come from creatures so Uncle Istvan could just stand there killing 1/1 goblins or stopping 7/7 Baloths without trample. Literally a stone in the middle of the road that causes other creatures to stumble. During those times my thought would be if Uncle Istvan lands on the field it will be all over.

Of course I had to snap out of it and figure things out for myself and this is what I realized there is more than one way to remove a creature. Uncle Istvan does not have shroud or hexproof. He can laugh at all the damage being thrown his way but a simple Unsummon can make him go away. It was that easy.

In real life I also have some Uncles who are toughies. They can also easily be unsummoned by their wives regardless of how tough they are though. Thanks Uncle Istvan for the life lesson.