"Midweek Magic 2018 #30: When the Threat is not Bolas"

"Midweek Magic 2018 #30: When the Threat is not Bolas"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have always prided myself in making decks that are strong enough to have an effect on the battlefield and maybe win from time to time. My play groupmates have shown me respect and acknowledged the decks that I make as evidenced by the number of times that I have become the de facto Archenemy when I should not have been.

In the latest and I think would be the last deck that I would make in this vein the Nicol Bolas , The Ravager led deck that I have been developing for several weeks now. When it goes off I win in combos or if not I get eliminated really and rest while the rest of my playgroup mates try and destroy each other for the win.

Normally I don't mind all the team playing around me. I am usually the threat or they really don't want me to develop a board presence to be the threat. 

What I really do not get is when an extra turn is countered for the mere reason that a person should only be the one getting extra turns. What?

All I have on the board are lands and mana rocks. No planeswalkers or creatures.No combo pieces. There is actually no reason to counter an extra turn. An extra turn can only be a threat if you already have enough creatures to cause lethal damage to an opponent or if you need another turn to look for a final combo piece and kill everyone with it.

Yet there it was a Mana leak that cancelled nothing of value. It enraged me to no end since I knew that the guy next to me , Jethro already had a Blasting station out and needs only a creature or two to get off on a pinging massacre or Ram on the end of the table with a Circu  , Dimir Lobotomist and an abusive combo in his hand. And yet it was my extra turn that got cancelled! 

My deck is a threat yes but only if I have the pieces to threaten you with. An extra turn is not a threat. Those guys who already have a piece of their combos out are a threat. 

And of course it is nothing to be proud of if you read the situation all wrong and even shouted it to the entire  group. There were a lot of great plays that night but this was not one of them. Not in the farthest.

I know it is a game and I play it to enjoy it. I just have high expectations of people who I believe are intelligent and don't base their strategies on petty things like "Ako lang dapat may extra turn."

And now that I am able to purge this out of my system. Next time ayusin ang threat assessment.

"To the 2 A-holes...."

To the 2  A-Holes who sat behind me earlier,

I sincerely hoped that you would shut the hell up. It is hard to focus on listening to the lectures when you are discussing a freaking case that is unrelated to the topic.

If you need to discuss this case so badly why the hell don't you step out and do so the whole afternoon? You can do it in the quiet lobby or in the bathroom. Just don't do it behind me.

So help me God I am finding the extreme urge not to stuff down these croissants in front of me down your throats if you keep this "trying to whisper but fail anyway" discussion.

Not so happy with you,
Doc June

Doc in , Doc out: "Doc , Puwede na."

Doc in , Doc out: "Doc , Puwede na."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

While taking a female patients OB history

Me: Nagkababy na po ba kayo Maam? (learning from previous experience)

Patient: Di pa po Doc. Single pa po. Pero puwede na.

(And then she gave me that look.)

Me: (Opens Door much wider)...Sige po , Moving on.  

#innocentquestions

#anobadiakoready

"Estrid The Masked: God Bringer."

"Estrid The Masked: God Bringer."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I took one hard look at the commander that was to be mine this coming August 10 , 2018 and all I could think of was all of the Theros Bestow creatures that I had that were in some box somewhere. I guess now is the time to thank myself for buying all of them on the cheap and getting to Estrid the masked as Commander.

This new planeswalker comes in the colors of Bant and a colorless mana. It comes in with 3 loyalty counters which can easily bumped up to 5 with it's first ability.

And for a dedicated enchantment deck this will be one good advantage. If you have been playing an aura to enchant a land and were able to get Estrid out then you can just go ahead and untap all of those lands. The same goes for creatures that have auras on them. 

So Mana dorks can untap , creatures with wonderful abilities can untap.

And what if you don't have anything with an aura on it? Well Estrid takes care of that too by giving it a Mask. A white Aura that attaches to another target permanent. So now you can actually protect one of your permanents. It can attach to that particular planeswalker that you like so much for example and if your opponents dare damage it you could just sacrifice the Totem Armor Mask and save it.

What intrigues me the most is the Ultimate skill of Estrid which allows you to dump the top 7 cards of your library into your graveyard.(this would be great if you already used a Sensei's divining top or Halimar Depths to see what is on top or maybe use a Courser of Kruphix or Future sight as well. Or maybe use Brainstorm first and put 2 mana costing Enchantments on top of that library).

After the cards fall to the graveyard you can then return all Non-Aura enchantments to the battlefield. The best ones should be the Bestow or God creatures from Theros. All of whom are non-aura enchantment creatures and then if you have Aura cards you could return them to enchant these creatures. I don't know maybe cards like Eldrazi conscription , Daybreak Coronet , Auramancers guise  , something something Godhead and a lot more.

The wonderful thing about this ability is that you could board wipe or even if your opponents beat you to that this will turn out to be a one sided reanimation technique. Much like what Bruna , Sovereigns of New Alara does and the new white Angel that is in the pre con deck of Estrid.

You could Traumatize yourself and then use this ability to maximize all of the Auras and Enchantment creatures.

Now imagine this scenario where Thassa , Karametra , Nylea  . Kruphix  , Ephara and  Heliod. These Gods could all be in your graveyard and they all could comeback with enough color mana count to be creatures! You just need to hope that you also have enough deterrents in play just in case you do not have the haste to attack like Sphere of Safety , Propaganda or Ghostly Prison.

Yup Estrid is shaping up to be the commander that I have always wanted for these enchantment Gods. I can't wait for August 10. 

"Saheeli The gifted: Phyrexian Metallic Victory!"

"Saheeli The gifted: Phyrexian Metallic Victory!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Saheeli has always been a favorite despite her having a limited role in the whole Kaladesh storyline. My hope is that we could still see Dinobots on Kaladesh when we return there someday now that she is friends with fellow planeswalker Huatli.

I never thought I would see her soon but here she is in commander 2018 with a version that is just begging for a Metallic victory.

So for 2 colorless and Izzet colored mana you can cast Saheeli the gifted and she enters with 4 starting loyalty counters which you can start to add +1 to right away.

You could create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact token to protect her or if you do not have enough artifacts into play. 

Of course if you already have a Darksteel Citadel , The Great Furnace , Seat of the Synod , Sol ring and Izzet signet out you could also use her "limited artifact affinity" imbuing skill and cast a spell for 1 less colorless mana. With just those 5 artifacts out you could cast a 5 mana artifact like an Aetherflux Reservoir or Gilded Lotus or Thran Dynamo or Paradox Engine almost the same turn that you cast Saheeli. Or You could cast a Chain Veil for free! 

Saheeli and her last ability is just the piece the resistance here as you can win using a Mechanized production or if you ever want to use her in a grixis deck a Revel in Riches. You just need to have at least 5 treasures or Clues or Servos or Thopters and Saheeli can double them with her last ability.

What I was thinking is something more convoluted but deadly and it goes in conjunction with Brudiclad , Telchor Engineer. So if you managed to plop down a Blightsteel Colossus with a Quicksilver Amulet (which is the dream) and on the first main phase you use Saheeli's Ultimate ability. You now have a token of the BC. On your attack phase  , Brudiclad , Telchor Engineer , creates a 2/1 Myr token and you get to choose one of the tokens you have in play(choose the BC one) and you have 2 BC tokens and 1 regular BC that could attack(assuming you have a Lightning Greaves in play). If they all go unblocked watch as your opponents foam at the mouth from the poison counters. Of course that is the Phyrexian Dream.

Or if you have enough mana your could just do a Rites of Replication on the BC and spread the Phyrexian love around until all is One. Rites of Replication fits in to this deck as well.

I guess this is enough salivating about the possibilities for one day. Hopefully I can buy this card sometime soon.  

"Laboum - Between Us MV reaction: Parts Laboum , Parts Sexy. All hot."

"Laboum - Between Us MV reaction: Parts Laboum , Parts Sexy. All hot."

by:

The Vole

Laboum is back and this time the girls have opted for a more mature and sexy vocal approach. After Yulhee left them for motherhood and winning their first show trophies I wonder what was next for Laboum and then they competed in The Unit where members Yujeong  , Haein and ZN stood out the most in the sexy concepts with the latter joining in the hot girl group Uni.T. 

This new sexy side of Laboum is further shown in this comeback where the company capitalized on that growing image and with good effect. The refined vocals of Soyeon is showcased here as well the more mature look that Laboum is showing. It still feels like Laboum but with less of the cutesy ness that they have shown in the past. 

I wondered if the koreans have forgiven Solbin yet for that faux pas that she did calling a senior so informally. With all the strong fan chants it seems that most have fro given the beautiful Laboum member as well.

My favorite part of Between Us is that rising crescendo of the EDM in the chorus where they sing about touching and the scent spreading all over their bodies. This is also shown in the choreography where they make hand movements of wafting scents and the act of spreading perfume by rubbing their wrists.

The effect is both sexy and effective. I hope that they can win something this come back and I am looking forward to more mature songs from Laboum in the future. 

"About Korean Hate of Pinoys Videos: You find what you seek."

"About Korean Hate of Pinoys Videos: You find what you seek."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Lately there have been several videos being posted on social media about Koreans making fun of filipinos. One was an episode of Dear Counselor where a Korean who had darker skin was nicknamed Philippines growing up.

Another video is about an actress who was making English pronounciations using several nationalities like American and British until one of the hosts asked her to do an impression of A Philippine English teacher. They all laughed at the accent. 

So now you have all this hate and how these things are seemingly representative of how the Koreans view the Filipinos as a race. To be honest even among pinoys we exhibit high levels of bigotry. We say things like Probinsiyano or Yumaman lang. And yes we do make fun of other peoples accents. We make fun of Koreans themselves when they try to speak english when some of our country men struggle with the language as well. Even in the higher echelons of power where you assume that they had more time to practice.

All I am saying is that if you look for hate then you will find it. People need to grow up and not espouse hatred towards another race mainly because some of them said this and that against another race. There are still some Americans who think pinoys climb uptrees but we don't hate them right? Those we identify we boycott but heck we don't boycott their entire race.That seems simply insane.

It bothers me that people who are leaving videos like these on their feeds and saying things like "Ito ang tingin talaga sa iyo ng mga Koreans na gustong gusto mo" seem a bit misinformed or need to understand that every race might find something odd or disparage you in some way. The Koreans for example look down on dark skinned individuals because in their culture these are the peasants who grow darker working in the fields. Di high class kumbaga. Even pinoys have this impression of other dark skinned people. What do we often say about the Bumbays on their motorcycles? Mabaho yang mga yan. 

Let us not be hypocrites and say that we are above all of this judgemental crap. Do not go looking for hate because you will always find it.