"Kindred Judgement: Everybody Dies Except My Friends."

 "Kindred Judgement: Everybody Dies Except My Friends."

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr.MD

There is something about asymmetrical creature destruction that really gets me going.

Sure, this card costs considerably more than your usual Wrath of God-style mass removal spells, but it offers something that makes the additional mana worthwhile: your creatures get to survive while everyone else's board gets sent to the graveyard.

And honestly, isn't that what we all want from a board wipe? To see everyone else's carefully assembled army disappear while our own creatures remain completely untouched?

Kindred Judgement allows you to choose a creature type and protect creatures belonging to that particular tribe from the impending destruction. Dragons, Angels, Demons, or whatever happens to be your preferred collection of oversized monsters. You get to keep your friends while everyone else deals with the consequences.

Speaking of Angels, Ob Nixilis as an Angel somehow looks even more powerful than his usual demonic incarnation. Apparently, a change of profession can do wonders for your appearance!

Of course, there are some drawbacks.

If an opponent happens to be playing the same creature type as you, they get to enjoy the same protection. So if you're running Dragons and your opponent also has a Dragon tribal deck, congratulations! You've just given them a free pass.

And then there are Changelings.

Those things are practically the cockroaches of the creature world. They belong to every tribe, which means they can be particularly annoying when you're trying to eliminate everything that isn't part of your chosen family.

Good luck getting rid of those!

Still, I think Kindred Judgement is a pretty safe bet for anyone looking for a one-sided board wipe. With the sheer variety of creature types available in Magic nowadays, there's a good chance you'll find something that gives your own battlefield a distinct advantage.

After all, why settle for destroying everyone's creatures when you can arrange a selective extinction event?

Kindred Judgement: Everybody dies. Except my friends.

"One Year to Live, A Lifetime to Love: Finding a Reason to Stay."

"One Year to Live, A Lifetime to Love: Finding a Reason to Stay."

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr.MD

I recently finished watching One Year to Live, Buy a Man, a Japanese romantic drama that I decided to give a try. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but by the time I finished watching it, I found myself thinking about something much deeper than the usual romance between two people.

It made me think about another aspect of loneliness in Japan.

The main character is Yui Katakura, a 40-year-old woman who has spent most of her life saving money and living frugally. She has been so focused on securing her financial future that she seems to have forgotten to build a life worth looking forward to. Her existence is orderly, practical, and seemingly devoid of meaningful connections with other people.

Then comes the pivotal event.

Yui undergoes a free cancer screening and receives a diagnosis of advanced uterine cancer.

Now, as a doctor, I found myself watching this scene with a rather different perspective from the average viewer. I was looking at the CT scan, trying to figure out just how far the disease had progressed. The doctor in the movie was attempting to explain the situation to Yui, but she was adamant that if she ever received a cancer diagnosis, she would rather die than undergo treatment.

And somewhere inside my head, my medical instincts were practically screaming at the television.

"YOU CAN HAVE A HYSTERECTOMY! THERE'S RADIOTHERAPY! THERE ARE TREATMENT OPTIONS! YOU DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO DIE!"

Of course, I also realized that if Yui had been listening to my unsolicited medical advice, the movie would probably have ended after fifteen minutes.

But that is beside the point.

The story progresses when Yui meets Sena, a pink-haired host who happens to be experiencing considerable financial difficulties of his own. Their circumstances are very different, but somehow, the two begin to develop feelings for each other.

Long story short, they fall in love.

And I think one of the most interesting aspects of Yui's transformation is that she finally discovers something she has been missing all her life: a reason to live.

For years, she had been saving money, preparing for a future that she never really seemed interested in experiencing. She had accumulated financial security but very little emotional security. She had made provisions for tomorrow without necessarily having someone to share that tomorrow with.

Meeting Sena changes that.

Suddenly, there is someone she cares about. Someone who cares about her. Someone who makes her look forward to another day and gives her something to fight for.

Eventually, Yui decides to pursue medical treatment, the very option she had initially rejected. And she survives.

I found that particularly meaningful.

As a doctor, I naturally appreciate the importance of medical treatment, early diagnosis, and the options available to patients. But this movie reminded me that medicine isn't always just about convincing someone to undergo treatment. Sometimes, we also need to understand what makes someone want to keep living in the first place.

And that brings me to what I think is the real message of this movie.

We all need a purpose.

We need to feel that we matter to someone. That our presence makes a difference. That there is somebody who looks forward to seeing us, somebody who would miss us if we were gone, and somebody with whom we can share the ordinary experiences that make life worthwhile.

We need to feel wanted. We need to feel needed. And perhaps most importantly, we need to have something to look forward to.

Yui spent much of her life preparing financially for a future, only to discover that what she really needed was someone to share it with.

One Year to Live, Buy a Man is a pretty good movie to occupy your time, but I think it offers something more than a simple romantic storyline. It is also a reflection on loneliness, human connection, and the importance of finding meaning in our lives.

I highly recommend it.

Because sometimes, what we need isn't another year of savings, another achievement, or another item checked off our bucket list.

Sometimes, we simply need a reason to wake up tomorrow.

"Star Trek: The Final Frontier That Couldn't Fill a Prerelease."

 "Star Trek: The Final Frontier That Couldn't Fill a Prerelease."

By:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr.MD

I was out with my family last Sunday when I decided to check out the turnout for the Star Trek Prerelease. Since it was already past 1 PM, I assumed there would be quite a number of people trying to secure a slot and participate in the event.

I headed to Neutral Grounds in Vertis North, one of my usual places to play Magic.

The store wasn't exactly empty. It was filled with the familiar faces of Commander players I usually see whenever I visit. However, something was noticeably missing. Nobody seemed to be there for the Star Trek Prerelease. Everyone was busy playing their usual EDH games.

When I spoke with the people manning the store, things became even more disappointing. There were no confirmed attendees, and apparently, not a single Prerelease kit had been sold at that point!

What a sad turn of events, especially considering that Neutral Grounds is one of the better places to experience a Prerelease. If players weren't showing up here, what were the chances that the other local game stores in the area were doing any better?

Now, I have to admit that I had high hopes for this particular Universes Beyond release.

Star Trek is a beloved science-fiction franchise with more than 60 years of history behind it. As a Trekkie, I was genuinely excited when Wizards of the Coast announced the collaboration. Having seen the preview cards, I thought there were quite a few interesting additions that would have made opening a Prerelease kit worthwhile.

Unfortunately, I am beginning to think that this may be one of the more disappointing Universes Beyond experiments.

The problem isn't necessarily Star Trek itself. It is the state of the franchise and the increasingly divided audience that comes with it.

While Star Trek has enjoyed numerous successful television series throughout its history, its more recent offerings have been considerably more divisive. Discovery and Starfleet Academy have generated their share of controversy among longtime fans. Picard, meanwhile, arguably found its strongest footing in its final season, when the beloved Next Generation crew finally reunited.

To be fair, I haven't watched Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks, so I won't pretend to have an opinion about everything Star Trek has produced recently.

But that is precisely where the problem lies.

Even among Star Trek fans, there is considerable disagreement about the direction of the franchise. While seeing iconic characters like Spock and Benjamin Sisko represented in Magic cards is exciting, not everyone is necessarily enthusiastic about Michael Burnham or Georgiou. Personally, I actually like Georgiou, but I also think the writers went a little overboard with the character's larger-than-life portrayal. Even Section 31, arguably one of the most fascinating organizations in the Star Trek universe, lost some of its appeal in the process.

So who exactly was Wizards of the Coast trying to attract?

If the target audience was longtime Star Trek fans, then perhaps the choice of characters and the more recent direction of the franchise weren't enough to generate the excitement they were hoping for. On the other hand, if they were hoping to attract newer audiences who had embraced the more recent series, the apparent lack of Prerelease interest suggests that this audience wasn't enough to fill the seats either.

Of course, one store's experience isn't enough to declare an entire product line a failure. There may be other locations doing considerably better. But what I witnessed at Neutral Grounds was certainly not the kind of enthusiasm I expected from a crossover involving one of science fiction's most recognizable franchises.

There have even been calls from some longtime fans to abandon or effectively disregard the Kelvin timeline, which they believe marked a turning point in the franchise's direction. I wouldn't be surprised if Wizards of the Coast eventually wishes it could quietly send this particular Universes Beyond collaboration into a temporal anomaly as well.

And then there is the inevitable question of what happens to the product after release.

We have already seen several Universes Beyond collaborations, including Aetherdrift's release cycle, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, and now Star Trek. With so many crossover products competing for attention, there is a real possibility that some of these releases will eventually find themselves heavily discounted in the secondary market.

I wouldn't be surprised if Star Trek products become considerably easier to acquire a few months down the road, particularly from sellers looking to move excess inventory through platforms like Amazon.

So what does this mean for Magic?

Perhaps Wizards of the Coast needs to be more careful when selecting the franchises it wants to bring into the game. Having a recognizable name isn't necessarily enough. A successful crossover needs an audience that is not only familiar with the property but genuinely excited about seeing it represented in Magic.

Universes Beyond has opened some wonderful opportunities for the game, but there is also a limit to how many franchises players can be expected to embrace.

And frankly, the novelty of these crossovers may eventually wear off.

As a Trekkie, I genuinely wanted this collaboration to succeed. I wanted to open my Prerelease kit, find a legendary captain or one of my favorite characters, and build a Commander deck around them.

Instead, I found myself looking at an almost entirely Commander-focused crowd at Neutral Grounds, wondering where all the Star Trek fans had gone.

Perhaps the final frontier wasn't space after all.

Perhaps it was finding enough players willing to show up for the Prerelease.

"Ang Boses."

"Ang Boses."

ni:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

May mga bagay talaga di mapapaliwanag. Mga bagay na Kahit ilang taon na ang lumipas ay nakatatak pa din sa isipan.

Ito ay di kathang isip at base sa mga tunay na pangyayari.

Nung kami ay nakatira pa sa Valenzuela sa aming Ancestral house nagising kami dahil sa isang boses.

Ang asawa kong si Hanie ang nakadinig sa boses ng aming Mommy Luzvi na una ay naglakad sa kabilang kuwarto ng aking kapatid , "Jay , Jay," Nang walang sumagot narinig ni Hanie na may naglalakad sa hallway at tumigil sa harap ng kuwarto namin. "June , June." Boses ni Mommy.

Di alam ni Hanie ang gagawin kaya di siya sumagot pero agad agad niya akong ginising. "Mahal , hinahanap yata kayo ni Mommy."

Dahil sa takot na mapagalitan at alas Siyete na ng umaga nagising dali dali akong bumangon at bumaba sa 2nd floor ng aming Bahay kung saan nagluluto na si Nanang ng aalmusalin naming magkakapatid.

"Nang , hinahanap daw kami ni Mommy." Agad kong tanong.

"Hinahanap?"

"Oo , Nang ngayon ngayon lang daw sabi ni Hanie."

"Ay ano ka ba , kanina pang 5am umalis sila Mommy mo."

"Eh sino po yung tumatawag sa amin?"

"Ay ewan ko sa Iyo." Sagot ni Nanang

Pero alam na naming kung sino ang nangagayang ito. Kadalasang lumalabas kapag may bisita kaming bago sa Bahay. Di naming sigurado kung ito ba ay nangwewelcome lang o may ibang pakay.

Ang masasabi ko lang ay pasalamat ako na wala na kami doon.