"Flood of Tears: Mostly Others Tears..."

"Flood of Tears: Mostly Others Tears..."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD 

Flood of Tears is just the kind of card that one would look for if you want to spread a little misery among your EDH play groupmates while maintaining an edge over them. 

This 6 mana sorcery forces everyone to bounce all their non-land permanents to their hands and that in itself foils a lot of end game plans for some. And to add insult to injury while everyone suddenly finds all their hands full you have a chance to plop down a non-land permanent. Only if you were able to return 4 non-token permanents to your hands. And you get to ask yourself the question what is it that I want to put on the battlefield the most?

So you choose this card. 

And then that is about the time that you need to excuse yourself from the game to gloat but mainly to not be beaten up by the players who can't play any of their cards at the moment.Yeah. You'd be tearing up with joy with this most evil plot. Make sure not to tear up when no one wants to play with you in the next few weeks. 

"Mu Yanling , Sky Dancer: Island Victory!"

"Mu Yanling , Sky Dancer: Island Victory!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I took one long good look at Mu Yanling and all I could think about was my Team Virulence team mate Nolan as he was finally able to activate her Ultimate ability. That devilish smile spreading across his face as he now looked at his Islands as card drawing machines. That has always been his dream. To draw cards and to maximize how he can do it. With Mu Yanling he can now abuse his Islands. Seemed like a weird thing to say but if you knew Nolan he loves his Islands way too much.

Mu Yanling is that latest planeswalker to represent Blue , now that we have all been a little bit saturated with all the Jace's floating around in the multiverse. She costs 3 mana and at the same cost as the original Jace Beleren.

Coming in with 2 Loyalty counters , I find her a bit squishy and in a set that sees the reprinted Shock there should be some concern for this. Although I believe she can activate her first ability and get that loyalty counter to 2 before she dies from the dreaded instant. And what does that do? Well it weakens an early creature on the board  with a -2/0 and it grounds it by making it lose flying(if it had it) until you can stabilize a bit.

Her 2nd ability which gives you a 4/4 Blue Elemental  Bird  token with flying. Since it is a -3 it means that she has to survive her first activation. Another thing to note is that since Chandra has an Elementals matter theme , it would be interesting if there is a Temur deck of Elementals that will come out with this planeswalker as well. Hmmmm

Her ultimate ability though should be the main consideration to put her in a mono blue deck. It would take 4 turns to possibly activate it and get the emblem and what would be a great way of winning with all these Island Card Drawers? Well with another Blue Planeswalker in Jace , Wielder of Mysteries who acts like the planeswalker version of Laboratory Maniac.

In my mind that Lab Maniac is my friend Nolan. Laughing all the way as he draws and wins.

"Atemsis , All Seeing: Death by Knowledge"

"Atemsis , All Seeing: Death by Knowledge"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD 

Atemsis is the kind of card that you want to build around. I can see it now.It saw me seeing it. It saw me building something. Then it got disappointed that I did not build it at all and moved on to that Slivers deck I never got to doing because I got the First Sliver in my Modern Horizons box...Anyway.

This Sphinx is a 4/5 flyer costing 3 colorless and 3 blue mana. It has the ability to let you filter your hands by drawing 2 cards and discarding a card for a blue mana and 2 mana of any color.

And when it deals damage to an opponent you get to check your hand  , reveal it and if you have cards with at least 6 different converted mana costs that opponent who just got damaged loses the game.

The flavor of this card is that with all the knowledge that it will let you accumulate you will be able to see all possible futures and determine the best possible outcome for victory. 

It seems to me that someone was watching a certain Marvel movie where a certain Sorcerer Supreme looked into 14 millions plus futures to see the lone chance of winning.

So Atemsis , Sees all that you are planning and it will be able to stop them all. Except for a well timed spot removal like Go for the Throat for example.

Well now that I got that out of my system Atemsis is one of those needed Sphinx Commanders and could keep Unesh company as my friend Ram said.

When playing Atemsis it is great if you have a Spellbook or Reliquary Tower so that you can always have more than a full hand in case you are just drawing lands and not getting those different mana costs in.

If you have the Peregrine Drake + Deadeye Navigator you can sink all of that unli mana into a Mystic Archeologist to keep drawing 2 cards! Or use the new Spectral Sailor for those end of turn or sudden shenanigans. And if you have the different CMC that you need...Attack!!! 

Atemsis should draw enough attention when it is on the battlefield even if it is not your commander. You just have to give a little more respect to a card that can let you win in one swing. If John Wick can kill someone with a book. Atemsis can surely kill you with just knowledge.

"Drowning"

"Drowning"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

I am drowning in your waves

even though you are miles away

I choke at the thought of your smile

and I yearn for it anyway

II

I know my reality

may never mingle with yours

We are too far in the circles

to ever orbit with any force

III

So I drown myself to this droning beat

and feel these energies in me

I think of that smile somehow

close my eyes and I am slowly fading.

Optum  , Quezon City. April 9 , 2019. 2:47am

Plunderers Dance Ball

"Plunderers Dance Ball"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

After they have been convicted and sent to jail and freed.You have a pair of plunderers who are bombarding you with campaign jingles every minute it seems. The election is almost here and it is a safe bet that these two might still be winning on recall alone. No amount of arguing can help it.One is a good boy and one is good looking while dancing to your hearts. Yeah.

They are asking you if they can still your hard earned tax money again and come Monday a vast majority will be saying yes. Why yes take away our money. Yey. Not.

(Insert Budots Jingle here.)

"No Love for Ghost?"

"No Love for Ghost?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

After the battle of Winterfell Jon instructs his friend Tormund Giant's Bane to bring Ghost with him as he returns to Castle Black up north. Jon did not go near the Dire wolf. Did not say anything. Did not pet the Direwolves head or say good boy after everything that they have been through.

People are upset about this but they fail to see how choked up Jon Sno is upon seeing the Dire Wolves state. A long gash on it's body and a missing right ear too.

People fail to hear his words. "South is not a place for a Dire wolf" which is his way of saying that he knows how Ghost have been through and he no longer want him to suffer for there is sure to be more battles down south. It is not that he did does not love or appreciate the Direwolf. It is just that he has his own way of saying it. Sure it could have been less abstract. A hug or a word like good boy Ghost could have been less subtle but he has his way of expressing things.

People are upset because they did not see what they wanted to see.Only it was already there. Just now in the way that they want it to be.

"Midweek Magic 2019 #16 - Chai Times battles #1 - The Boros Build up"

"Yeba lang ng Yeba"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #16 - Chai Times battles #1 - The Boros Build up"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

As much as I want it be a weekly thing conflicting schedules really in the way but this week Mark and Mau were able to play in Cha time and among the games that we played that night my most favorite was when I was able to use Aurelia the War leader once again.

I was up against Darigaaz the reborn for Mark and Wort , Brood mother for Mau. A turn 3 Legion War boss became all the difference as both of my opponents were not able to come up with a good defence and I was creating Goblins every attack step. The succeeding ones were getting a permanent +1/+1 because of the Legion War bosses Mentor mechanic. 

Things became progressively worse when I was able to play an Odric , Master Tactician in which case I can now choose which creatures block or not.

"Odric Paulate...Ghost Employee not included."

And the worst part was when Aurelia herself came into play. About this time I was creating 2 1/1 Goblins per turn that were Mentored and Unblockable. I was able to reduce Marks life down to 7 and on a second attack Mau's life down to 5.

Mark then cast a Doom Cloud for 7 on this. It was a good thing that I had Aurelia already out and 7 other creatures to sacrifice. Mau even helped by targeting Mark with a Perilous Myr for 2 damage. My Boros Angel then swooped in on my turn for it's first attack and then on the 2nd attack finished off Mau as well. Talk about Bloodthirsty.

And that was my last successful game of the night and the only game of the Boros Legion. It did not spell fun to win that easy but it felt a little good on the inside that the concepts worked.