"Midweek Magic #1: Phenax for the win.Finally"

"Midweek Magic #1: Phenax for the win.Finally"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I was happy with my current schedule but there in lies a little monotony when all you ever get to talk to patients are coughs and colds that come and go.

So when Ram asked me if I wanted to play EDH the answer was  just yes. I have been in HP Eton for almost a year now but last night was the first time that I ever got to play EDH here and it was a a fun 1 hour with Phenax and Momir Vig as my Commanders. Vorel was waiting in the wings but time simply did not allow him to take the field but there would be other times now that we have established the times and days that we could play.

Some of the most memorable plays involved having Consuming Aberration , Arcanis and an already Manifested Phenax on the battlefield with a Keening Stone.

"I'm not really to keen on that."

It was milling overkill as I have never experienced before in my life. Though I have made this Blue Black deck into a dedicated miller deck I often find myself winning with Aggro means since Consuming Aberration always becomes huge and I tend to copy my opponents bigger creatures for their effects and power. Last night was different as it was a pure mill win!

With 25 cards already in the graveyard , I tapped Phenax for 7 mills , Arcanis for 4 , making it 36 cards in Ram's Graveyard and then tapping Consuming Aberration for 36 more cards to fall. Then the Keening Stone activation for the Coup de grace.  

Such a wonderful feeling to see something work finally. I guess I live for those moments when the decks actually work regardless of my somewhat kooky builds.

"Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis: Let the group hug begin."

"Group hug tayo, kaibigan"

"Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis: Let the group hug begin."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The group hug.It used to mean just that  , a group of people hugging each other but in Commander parlance Group hug takes on a much different meaning.

This is an effect that benefits everyone or just people you like you who are playing against you at the moment. EDH group hugs could range from a draw for everyone from Jace Beleren's first ability to a dragon token from Death by Dragons with the exclusion of the opponent you are trying to kill.

And the latest grouphug effect comes from a legendary creature/s from the Commander 2016 set who some players are dubbing the Bromance commanders. None other than Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis.  

The first thing that I would like for you to notice are those statues in the upper left corner of the card.Reminiscent of the Titan of Braavos or the Kage statues of Madara and Hashirama in Naruto those are actually the statues that stand at the opening of Meletis in this card.

There have been some discussions that these statues are those of Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis.From their card one can say that it might be them depending on how long they ruled Meletis because normally monuments like that are erected when the rulers die or in some cases some rulers don't get to see their own monuments completion. I really wonder if Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis are the peaceful lovers that are mentioned in Guardian of Meletis. Just look at that buff duo and you could probably gather that they usually give peace to their enemies by giving them a thrust of a sword in the chest. However it seems that with their 2/8 stats they are no longer into the killing business and just defending what they have built and admiring it in that good vantage.

Bant Red or Jeskia Green we still don't have a name for the 4 colored commanders but one thing is for sure Kynaois and Tiro of Meletis will make great political strides for EDH players who have them on the battlefield. They are tough to kill and it is hard to not like a creature that allows you to put a land card from your hand or draw a card if you don't have one in your hand. Expect these guys to hang around as they continue to give you card advantage until you get your strategies in place. And then the group hug can end but until then. "Look what we fought for.Look what we built together.

"Change your perspective on Non-Standard relationships"

"Change your perspective on Non-Standard relationships"

by: 

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

What will happen when a relationship isn't normal or standard? That's the question isn't it? What do I mean by "not standard"?

Well what I mean are relationships that have a girl taller than the boy or males which makes for awkward personal appearance. Of course it isn't as big a problem as how their relationship is , but you just have to sit down and ponder about it sometimes.

It is curious why the male has always been defined or declared as the superior , meaning that they are expected to be bigger or taller than the female. Sure that is how we evolved,but why? It makes you think doesn't it? For example  the female in the relationship is taller than the male. We can automatically assume that they look awkward. Why can't the female be taller than the male? Why can't she be bigger? Does it even play a huge part in the quality of the relationship? It doesn't. Why can't we change our perspective about this? Of all the things  that we have changed this 2016  , we haven't changed what of the "oldest" problems in the world. But that's just it. It isn't a problem. I repeat. It doesn't have to be a problem. We can change our perspective on this matter because it will really embarrass people in the future.

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Editor's Note: 

This article appears unedited as it was texted to me by my first official contributor. Aven is a 10 year old who is beginning to ask questions and may grow up faster than I hoped.

I do not own any of the pictures that appeared on this blog post. Thank you.

"Deepglow Skate: Doubling time"

"Deepglow Skate: Doubling time"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

My vision instantly focused on these few words when this card got spoiled.

Double.Counters.Any number.Target Permanents.

And like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons I steepled my hands and said , "Excellent." There was some maniacal laughter too but I don't really want to get into all that much.

Needless to say I began thinking of the possibilities. And there are tons that could make the Deepglow Skate a win condition. Here are a few of what I thought of on the spot.

Creature Counters

While there is the obvious advantage for Simic creature cards  , Hydra's and Endless One's. Doubling counters is fun and how do you achieve this? Why in comes our favorite soul bounding and paddling expert Deadeye Navigator who would have with this particular fishy friend.

Artifact and Enchantment Counters

Have you ever wanted to win with a Darksteel Reactor but your evil plans are always getting spoiled halfway through? well say hello to my little fishy friend which makes you work for just half of the counters needed to win. Let us do a little math here. Assuming that you have the Reactor, Deadeye Navigator and Deepglow Skate coming into play for the first time.And that your reactor has at least one charge counter on it. The Deepglow Skate makes it two , you bounce it with Deadeye Navigator ,it comes back you have 4 , 8 , 16 , 32 counters. Imagine. 4 activations of Deadeye's ability and you win! Assuming no one ruins your fun of course.So be very careful when you activate.

I kind of wished that Helix Pinnacle didn't have Shroud on it so this could work on this as well but I guess it is happy with the Prophet of Kruphix along side it to give it Tower counters on each opponents End of Turn.

Planeswalker Counters

Impatient with the slow way that Planeswalkers are hitting their Ultimates? You now have another option in the Deepglow Skate to make your superfriends well ah more super. Imagine getting Venser's ability faster or Liliana of the Veil permanent halving ultimate in turn 4(assuming you have 5 mana available which is always a possibility in EDH). Jace can mess with your opponent's library at a much faster rate from drawing to milling and everything in between.Imagine Ugin's Ultimate or Nicol Bolas's Ultimate. 

Now that you have seen some of the possibilities. Steeple your hands and say it with me. "Excellent."

"Reyhan, Last of the Abzan: Skullbriar Loves you"

"Reyhan, Last of the Abzan: Skullbriar Loves you"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Reyhan, Last of the Abzan gave me one of those moments that made me happy. One is that he is in my Golgari colors and would fit Tiny Leaders with my favorite Skullbriar. And I am sure that they would have a happy life together even in EDH.

So Reyhan, Last of the Abzan  is basically a 3/3 creature when it comes into play but he serves a much greater purpose for the +1/+1 counter loving Abzan. When a creature you control dies or is sent to a command zone , if it has one or more +1/+1 counters on it you may put that many +1/+1 counters on target creature.

So a deck that features Skullbriar who gets the counters fast and early works well with Reyhan and if they are both in play and you have a Primordial Hydra or Endless One that dies you could just imagine where those counters would go. On to Skullbriar who does not lose the counters even if he dies. The interaction also gets better with a counter laden Skullbriar who essentially transfers all those on a creature of your choice. Meaning you have something to politically barter with when you are playing multiplayer EDH. This could be done at instant speed by the way if you have a sacrifice outlet. If that isn't scary then just imagine a Glistener elf attacking you and it instantly gets bulkier with a load of +1/+1 counters on it thanks to a sacrificed massive creature.

I expect a lot of dice to be on my side of the battlefield from all the counters that Reyhan, Last of the Abzan will be able to allow. I could just see it now. Commander 2016 is shaping up to be one hell of a set. My wallet is already filing an advance complaint. 

"Saskia the Unyielding : Hitting two birds"

"Saskia the Unyielding : Hitting two birds"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Saskia the Unyielding is one of the new Legendary creatures coming out in Commander 2016 and boy am I excited for this one. The 4 colors that this commander has is notorious for producing tons of tokens especially White and Green. So what makes me excited about this one you ask?

Saskia the Unyielding is the magic version of Julio Valiente with a jungle bolo shooting one bullet through it and killing 2 opponents at the same time. If you don't get the reference (my age is really showing here) goggle Lito Lapid in his physics defying exploits as Julio Valiente and laugh all you want. 

So how does Saskia the Unyielding do this particular trick? When he comes into play you get to choose an opponent. And get this , whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent that same creature deals damage to the chosen opponent.

Picture this for a second. You managed to create 10 million tokens with Presence of Gond and Midnight guard. I know what you are thinking with that many tokens you could just attack all of your opponents and win but that is not the point of the blog hahahaha. So anyway you could split the army attacking 5 million to the opponent on your left and another 5 million to your right. The opponent right in front of you begins to laugh at the lapse in judgement until he or she see's Saskia the Unyielding in play and then is erased from existence by the oncoming 10 million token damage. Ah living the dream.

So now that I am wide awake again what do you think of Saskia the Unyielding? Would you choose him over the other New Commanders? Keep on Brewing. Keep on Playing.

"Selfless Squire: Turning the Tides"

"Selfless Squire: Turning the Tides"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

How many times has this happened to you. You look across the battlefield and you see the horde from the opposing side as your opponent is going all in because they feel that they could win. For a couple of heartbeats you seem to contemplate and act like you are going to scope up you deck in acceptance of the inevitable. And then like a real seasoned Planeswalker you cast Rout or any sorcery Mass Sweeper with Leyline of Anticipation in play to have all those attackers disappear and you prepare for a counter attack. 

Normally the Mass Removal would affect your side of the board too but the card I want to talk about today gives you a chance at a massive counter attack that is rather one sided in your favor. Enter the Selfless Squire and yes it could enter the battlefield any time you could cast an instant because it has flash and if you have 4 mana you could cast her in response to your opponents attack. 

Two things happen. She prevents all the damage that would be dealt to you this turn. And that amount of damage prevented gives the Selfless Squire a gigantic stat boost since she will receive a number of +1/+1 counters for each point of damage prevented. This card is perfect for all your EDH friends who tends to overkill you. Like they know that you only have 20 life points left and they still attack you with 80 points of potential damage in one assault. Selfless Squire ought to teach them a lesson especially if they have not left any blockers. That 80 points of damage they tried sending your way is now consolidated into one creature that could give them a taste of their own medicine.

Selfless Squire would give opponents pause in scenarios where you are the only two remaining players on the battlefield. She reminds me of the time Podrick Payne saved Tyrion Lannister from one of the White Cloaks who was ordered to kill him. Tyrion lost a nose on that one but hopefully Selfless Squire could do more for you on the battlefield more than Podrick did. I have a feeling that she would. 

So what do you think of the Selfless Squire? Would you include her in one of your decks? I would. So keep on brewing and keep playing.