"Maggie Smith:The Squealing 10 year old"

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"Maggie Smith:The Squealing 10 year old"

by:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

Hello readers! This week's post is about Maggie Smith, the 82 year-old legend and exactly why I like her. I know, I know, why does a 10 year old like me like an elderly and stereotypically boring actress like her? I really don't know. I seem to have a fascination with the elderly. And the weird part is that I find them cute...

I guess I like them because they have much more experience and know how the world works so they give very good advice. Maggie Smith has a very wide variety of movies. Ranging from dramas like Quartet (2012), to fantasy movies like Harry Potter. I first saw her in a Harry Potter movie ( I can't pinpoint which one). After seeing her play the role of Prof. Mcgonagall, I liked her immediately for her sassiness. I'm inspired by tough and sassy elderly women and she was one of them. My parents still don't get why I like her so much. From then on, I was a devoted fan. I squealed every time I saw he face on screen! That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

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Editors Note: Aven and her fascination with the elderly actors and actresses. Only time will tell why.

"Mechanized Production:Thopter/Servo/Clue Stone victory"

"Mechanized Production:Thopter/Servo/Clue Stone victory"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

What if I told you that you could win by merely using Thopters or Servos? You don't even need to attack with them. You just have to sit back.Cast them on the early turns. And then wait for this card to come into your hand. The magic number is 8. If you have artifacts named Servos or Thopters then you win the game.That is according to Mechanized Production. That is it.An easy alternate win. I wanted to end on this note but there are still many uses for Mechanized Production.And my Phrexyian heart/hearts are palpitating with anticipation.

Remember all those times when you made clue stones and your opponent keeps on saying "Get a clue." Well now may not be a good time to joke about them since if you have 8 of those lying around and you happen to have Mechanized Production well. End of story. Clue stones for the win!

In standard we could see a whole slew of already easy to cast Metalwork Colossus popping out every upkeep or just the gearhulks. With the exception of the Cataclysmic gearhulk all of the others would be a fine target for Mechanized Production.Of course you could also use it on a Sundering Titan(preferably a Masterpiece one for swag) in an EDH game and just destroy lands so that opponents could not respond. 

And since this is not a legendary permanent you could enchant a token you produced with a second copy of Mechanized Production and just wait for the robots to pop out , do their ETB effects and wait to have 8 copies of them on the battlefield...or you could pummel someone to death with them if you are that impatient. 

In EDH I see this enchanting a Blightsteel Colossus or a Precursor Golem. 1 11/11 Indestructible creature with Infect is scary , put two of them in play.Well.

And what about the Precursor Golem? You enchant one.On the next upkeep you have 4 Golems. You keep your mana open and see what your opponents do if you are blue. In the upkeep after that you have 6.You wait another turn and then have 8 Golem copies for the win. Sure beats attacking. You just have to survive somehow. And you will.

I hope I get one of these in my fat bundle. Time to dig up so old artifacts to enchant.

"Vocaloids and why I like them.(And some interesting facts too)"

"Vocaloids and why I like them.(And some interesting facts too)"

by:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

If you are part of the anime community, it's impossible that you haven't come across the term Vocaloid yet.

First off, let me explain what Vocaloids are. Vocaloids are programs that you can set to sing or dance for you. The most popular example of a Vocaloid is Hatsune Miku. They all have their own unique voices and tones, of course. I first encountered Vocaloids when a friend of mine who was also into anime at that time showed me his favorite Vocaloid song. I like Vocaloids for their energetic beats and creative lyrics. The first Vocaloid song I ever listened to was Toumei Elegy sang by Ia. 

From then on, I was hooked. According to my extensive research (and fangirling), the best Vocaloid for high notes is Kagamine Rin and the best Vocaloid for low notes is Gakupo. My knowledge of Vocaloids got me to meet a lot of nice people in the anime community in my new school.

A little bit of knowledge about vocaloids

1. Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len are said to be siblings.

2. Hatsune Miku appears to have an obsession with waving leeks in her videos.

3. There are lots of not very known Vocaloids out there. Examples are IA, Kasane Teto, Lily, and Meiko.

4. There is actually a Vocaloid song in our language.

5. There is also an actual human who sounds like a Vocaloid. She goes by the name REOL.

6. Vocaloids can sing in English, Japanese, and even Filipino.

7. Anyone can make a Vocaloid song, as long as you have the capacity for the program.

1* The song is ECHO ft. Gumi Megpoid. It is more of a tribute song to all the Filipino players of Cytus, the rhythmn game. They saw how devoted the Filipino's were in playing the game so they made a song in our language as their way of saying "thank you".

So do you like Vocaloids yet? 

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Editor's Note: We do not own any of the images that are in this blogpost.

"Pia's Revolution: They will return."

"Pia's Revolution: They will return."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Pia's Revolution makes me look forward to Aether Revolt and it is because of this specific scenario: With the 3 mana cost red enchantment in play , you cast an Emerging Elder Deepfiend , sacrificing a Metalwork Colossus that you were able to cast for free because of it's "Selective Affinity". You will then ask your opponent if you would let the Metalwork Colossus back into your hand since it landed on your graveyard. So two things will happen , your opponent could say Yes and the Metalwork Colossus comes back to your hand where you can cast it again for free or they could say no and Pia's Revolution will deal 3 damage to him or her. Opponents with tons of life would rather say No rather than face another 10/10 monster on the battlefield. However their ordeal is not yet over because you can still sacrifice 2 artifacts, like a Prophetic Prism to get the Colossus back. Now , for each of those sacrificed artifacts you need to ask if they will also come back to your hand or it's 3 damage for each. No opponent would allow 9 points of damage(including the 3 earlier) unless they have many more life points to spare.

Now assuming that you 2 Foundry Inspectors in play you could cast your Prophetic Prism for free and draw cards in the process. You could say that I would add this to my existing Metalwork Colossus deck the moment I get it. With this in play any board wipe or artifact destruction would mean you could have the chance to get the destroyed artifact or deal more damage.

A more evil combo would be to sacrifice a Scrap Trawler and it would also get you an artifact in the graveyard and return it to your hand. This seems like a great piece for some sort of engine but I can't put my finger on it.

"Heart of Kiran: Planeswalker Powered things begin."

"Heart of Kiran: Planeswalker Powered things begin."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

At first glance the Heart of Kiran looks like an early attacker. It costs just 2 colorless mana like the Smuggler's Copter and it seems like a desirable addition in Aggro decks since it is a 4/4 Flying ,Vigilance creature when it is crewed but on closer inspection it is really much slower in Standard because of it's 3 Crew cost and there are no 1 drop 3 powered creatures at the moment. It is at least viable on turn 3. Where you could attack with it with a Veteran Motorist , Depala or Foundry Inspector Crewing it or if you have Saheeli Rai in play. Simply remove a planeswalker Loyalty counter from Saheeli and you don't even need to tap a creature to crew it.

It seems that Wizards of the cost R&D would be developing new ways in utilizing planeswalker loyalty counters(PLC) and it won't be long before we start spells cast in this manner or other abilities requiring the PLC as an alternate cost which is exciting since it is another avenue of development for our much beloved game. Planeswalkers actually powering creatures and spells. Exciting times.

Sorry about that I tend to go on tangents when I am excited about something. Back to the Heart of Kiran , being a Legendary artifact-Vehicle it will be limited to 2 or 3 copies in a deck since it would really suck to have two on your opening hand as opposed to having 2 Smuggler's copters in it's place. Having to draw it much later on because of it's scarcity in a deck is good because it would shine better in the mid to late game anyway. Probably after you have a Chandra , Fire of Kaladesh in play to power her father's legacy to aid you for a win.

"Consulate Crackdown:Stop Gap "

"Consulate Crackdown:Stop Gap "

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

With all the artifacts running wild in standard like Smuggler's Copter , Aetherwork's Marvel and Metalwork Colossus , Consulate Crackdown seems like a great solution to all of your metal woes. However will this card be able to help you in time? Consider the fact that Aetherwork's Marvel has the consistent activations occurring on turn 4 , the Smugglers copter aggressively attacking and reducing your life before it comes online or the Metalwork Colossus coming out before you cast it. 5 mana seems like a big cost for an enchantment board sweeper that could possibly be reversed by a Naturalize. 

And of course after a board sweep there is a big possibility that artifact decks can recover or not be affected at all that much. The enchantment only targets artifacts. While it means that the Metalwork Colossus won't come out as fast because of all the non-creature artifacts that might be gone , if a player casts an Elder Deep fiend in response to the Consulate Crackdown you'd still have to contend with an angry Eldrazi Octopus. With Smuggler's copter decks all of these creatures crewing it on the early turns are still on the battlefield and could then attack you. With Atherwork's Marvel you just have to hope that it hasn't Cast an Ulamog first. 

Of course Consulate Crackdown may not be as fast or as effective in Standard but it will be really welcome in EDH. I mean all of those rocks and other menacing artifacts take out in one turn. I have a friend who has an Arcum EDH Deck that might be dreading this particular card already.

"Midweek Magic #7:Eldrazi Dishing Out Pain.Me:Taking it."

"Midweek Magic #7:Eldrazi Dishing Out Pain.Me:Taking it."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

It was a battle of pet decks between Janry Dimaano and me. I soon found out how much of an asshole Eldrazi processors can be when they play around your hopes and dreams.

For the rest of Midweek Magic I will always be talking about my two favorite decks at the moment , my Standard Metalwork Colossus and my Modern Mardu Super friends deck. Both have been underdoing some serious tweaking and I am thankful that I could do this on a weekly basis.Like all experiments the results differ with each variable and in magic there are so many variables.

I am also happy that I can play against decks that I had concepts on but never actually got around to build on. Janry's Eldrazi deck was one such deck , employing a Progenitus Relic to exile things from the graveyard and using counters like Remand and Delay to well take care of things before the Eldrazi land on the battlefield.

I had a Master of Feasts Delayed and Exiled on one turn and on the next one it was my Chandra , Torch of Defiance getting the exile treatment.  And despite having some Suspend Counters there I was hoping that these cards would somehow still manage to enter the battlefield and then Janry wont be able to deal with them but I was so wrong.

He then cast Blight Herder sending my exiled cards into my Graveyard and dashing my hopes of getting them back. And he got a 4/5 monster with 3 colorless 1/1 Eldrazi Scions. Oh and I also forgot to mention that he could hard cast a Kozilek , The Great Distortion? which basically meant that we would have a guessing/permission game that goes something like this.

I am casting Sarkhan , Dragon speaker do you have someting costing 5 mana in your hand? Or I am going to kill you with a Sign in Blood do you have a 2 mana cost spell there somewhere? And sadly the answer to both these questions was Yes. The Eldrazi can be such a pain.