"Midweek Magic September 2017 #32:Savage Beating Reflections"

"Midweek Magic September 2017 #32:Savage Beating Reflections"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I have often felt that when I play with my playgroup that each game becomes an Archenemy game regardless of what magic format we actually play. 

We play modern. I become the archenemy.

We play Chaos Multiplayer EDH I still become the archenemy.

I ought to be flattered because I am always considered a threat but there are times when I actually just want to play and not be in the sidelines. Did I cultivate this fear? Did I become a magnet for pain for trying all those weird decks? I might have.

Ram who has been out of action for almost 2 weeks came back and overwhelmed me with Prossh. A dragon combo deck that attacked and damaged with creatures sacrificed to Ashnods Altar. My Kefnet deck almost killed Ram with 15 Commander damage but it was not to be.

Jus who has been the designated police force and oppressive player in Rams absence also gave me a massive beating...of the mind. After cursing me with Fraying Sanity , I knew what came next from his deck with 5 open mana...Traumatize. I had 71 cards in my deck and heck. 1 ended up with one card in my Library during my upkeep. I was running a Narset EDH deck and I attacked with an empty Library. It was a suicide run I know but man that was Traumatizing indeed.

Which leads me here. I think I will be in this archenemy loop even with a weak deck. Time to accept my role then. Good hunting to me next week.

"Old-Growth Dryads:Win or Die trying."

"Old-Growth Dryads:Win or Die trying."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

One look at Old Growth Dryads and they seem like a really really huge liability. They allow each opponent to look for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Not really a good idea in an EDH setting since you are basically accelerating everyone else except yourself.

Imagine if you play this on turn one and opponents already have an advantage. 

If you play it in a limited setting though it might work well for you but it has to be an aggro deck to take advantage of the single green mana and 3/3 fattie stats. 

I was doing the math , on turn 2 if you play another forest you could play 2 more Old Growth Dryads and deal 3 damage with the one you cast on turn one. 

On the next turn assuming that your opponent does not miss a land drop he or she would now have access to 4 mana! 

And the mass removals available? Bontu's last reckoning for black and Sweltering Sun's for Red is now ready to kill your potentially 9 damage Old Growth Dryads. Sigh.Fumigate is available next turn too.

Of course this is a possible scenario , your opponent could stabilize the board and sweep you. It could also be 2 more attacks with 3 3/3 creatures and the game could be finished by turn 4. 

I still like those odds.

"Sharingan Swayed"

"Sharingan Swayed"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Looking at me doesn't help

Saying the words drown me even more

And I say it is just too much 

Just standing here and looking at you

I walk bewildered after you look at me

it's dangerous I know

but like some sort of drug

I come back just really wanting more.

As much as I would want to say no

Nothing has ever kept me in this hold

Your eyes saying something and nothing

Your lips that keep on pouting and moving 

And mesmerized by the poetry of your grace

I stand here afraid.

One day I just might explode 

and just die as your slave.

Shaw 09/05 /2017

"Doc In , Doc Out September 2017#2: "Di po ako Diabetes."

"Doc In , Doc Out September 2017#2: "Di po ako Diabetes."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Me: May iba pa po ba kayong gamot na iniinom? Katulad po ng para sa Diabetes.

Patient: Di po ako Diabetes Doc.

Me:(Ako din po di din ako si Diabetes , sino po ba itong si Diabetes? Di ko po siya 

kilala.) Ok po.

"Midweek Magic September 2017 #31 -Brewers Madness Lucid Period"

"Midweek Magic September 2017 #31  -Brewers Madness Lucid Period"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

For almost two weeks now I have been on a quest , a personal one to restore each of the EDH decks that I gutted in my desire to have competitive Modern decks for our Archenemy games. I took lands and creatures and planeswalkers to end up with 6 decks that give everyone headaches but at this cost. My once 20 EDH decks were reduced to a mere 4 Operational decks.

I promised myself that I would restore them when Phenax despite being gutted of his lands and Mana stones continued to win game after game proving that you could have a strong EDH deck even without the bling.

It takes a lot of brain power to figure all the interactions and availability of card pieces that you have. As well as the long arduous task of looking for them in what seems to me like an endless row of box and binders. From the dresser in the new house , from my car , from under the stairs and from my old room in the Ancestral house.

It involved lugging around 2 heavy bags of cards and sleeving them in my preferred "plastic ng yelo" decks day in and day out whenever I had no paper work or patients.

And in the end of my Brewer's madness I have ended with 32 operational decks.With 9 more decks in different states of completion. I look at the 8 fatpacks in my car and I feel a little proud. At least those 32 are now filled with playable decks that I can enjoy again.

And my promise is to never break them again. Looking forward to all the fine tuning and games. 

Now on to the Brewer's Madness Lucid Period. It won't last very long.

"Sun-Crowned Hunters: Dino Torture for the Win Part 3."

"Sun-Crowned Hunters: Dino Torture for the Win Part 3."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Thank you for reading the last installment of Dino torture for the win. The last 2 articles we looked at spells and pingers but in this last when we finish the list with Lands , Artifacts and Enchantments that can also enrage our favorite dino for the win.

Permanent 1 ping:

Honden of Inifinite Rage  - For 3 mana  , you only need one copy of this Legendary enchantment and off pinging you go every upkeep. It works to keep small creatures off your back even if you don't have the dino already in play.

Land Pingers:

Keldon Megaliths - 1R Hellbent 1 damage

Lands bring the pain too , the Keldon Megaliths just want you to have an empty hand that's all.

Barbarian Ring - R , threshold 1 damage to crit or player. 

How about that , the Keldon Megaliths wants you to have an empty hand and the Barbarian Ring wants you to have those cards in your graveyard for threshold.

I am sure you can have a fun time meeting all these requirements. Burn away.

Artifacts of pain:

Fireforgers puzzleknot - This little common from Kaladesh has an ETB for the ping and 

a second one for 2R activation. 

Rod of Ruin - 4 mana and costing 3 , tap 1 damage. Old school caning is best.

Staff of Nin - 6 Mana and a draw a per upkeep. You tap for 1 damage to target creature or player. The dino won't love it but you'd love it when it gives you the win.

Viridian long bow - The only equipment in this list cost 1 mana and 3 to equip. With this equipped to the Sun-Crowned Hunters it can just keep shooting itself on the foot if you have no other creature to equip it to that is. 

That image of a dino shooting a bow at it's own foot. Let me leave you with that. I like that weird image too. 

Thank you for reading. Keep on prodding that dino. 

"Sun-Crowned Hunters: Dino Torture for the Win Part 2."

"Sun-Crowned Hunters: Dino Torture for the Win Part 2."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

So in part 1 we took a look at the sorceries and instants that work well with Sun-crowned hunters already in play aka prodding the hell out of it.

Now we look at the creatures who love to burn other creatures for whatever reason that suits them but for our purposes it is just to annoy a dino for the win.

For this we limit our creatures to red and those that just deal exactly 1 damage. There are a lot of those who deal 2 or 3 damage but I don't really want the opponent accidentally killing our win condition Dino.

I could just put a Darksteel plate on the dino and just let it go berserk but then again this is looking for an alternate way of winning other than attacking. 

And so here are  our Pingers of choice:

Fireslinger - It burns us too but it burns our dino as well.

Mogg Fanatic - One of my most favorite goblins , it can attack and ping the dino for 3 damage. 

Prodigal pyromancer - 3 mana is a high price but heck , 1 ping to our dino!

Vithian stinger - 3 mana for the pinger and unearth too. It can serve even if it just died too.

Vulshok sorcerer - 3 mana pinger with Haste. I particularly like the haste here.

Spikeshot elder - The goblin is 1 mana ,  Another 3 mana , ping 1. If you have 9 mana that is 9 damage.

Triskelion and Walking Ballista - 1 ping  per 1 counter. 

With all these guys my favorite just has to be one Legend from Kamigawa:

Kumano , Master Yamabushi

pay 1R: 1 damage to target creature or player. Yeah. He is the perfect pinger for the Sun-crowned Hunter. Pay one by one and stop at the third activation at the end of an opponents turn and ping again on your turn for 3 activations. 6 mana is 9 damage.

Yeah! If the dino attacks and connects just once that's a very dead opponent.

I know I said that I would be limiting this to creatures that deal 1 damage but this creature was just to good to pass. Another dino.

Next article we look at other means to annoy our dino to victory.

Keep on prodding. I mean brewing and reading.May the Sun-Crown Hunters be on your side.