"Free"

"Free"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

For a long time I have been paralyzed

Afraid of looking like a fool

Of saying the wrong words

Of doing the wrong things

II

But tonight I let go of all that

I shed this skin that I am in

I let my crown to the ground

and kiss the dirt to begin

III

I rise to face the cold darkness

naked and unafraid of what might be

I feel the chains unburdening me

And tonight I can truly see.

IV

I take those first steps

towards a future I am still to understand

And another and another

faster and faster to reach where I can.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 18 , 2019 3:33am

"The Mythic Streak:Giving me a Hand"

"The Mythic Streak:Giving me a Hand"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was September 05 , 2019 and during this time I remember that Standard was abuzz with a complicated but very cool deck that saw Kethis ,The Hidden Hand hard at work to have all those Legendary permanents popping back into play after you have exiled 2 legendary cards from your graveyard.

I thought of how cool it would be if I actually had one and I had a Murmuring Bosk languishing somewhere that I imagined is crying from disuse. And so I opened a pack one more time and there he was the elf Advisor himself.

I wondered if I had enough legendary cards to play in the Abzan colors. I would still have to check but it seems that I may have enough. I would not be able to do the Diligent Excavator standard strategy if Kethis would be my commander but I can still put in a lot of Legendary card buy using the Golgari Dredge mechanic that is in his colors. 

Still have to look into but the prospects are good.

"Doc In, Doc Out: Saan po?"

"Doc In, Doc Out: Saan po?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Patient: "Magpapa Fit to Work po ako."

Nurse: "Need po ng Fit to work/ Medical Certificate."

Patient: "Fit to work certificate galing sa Doctor po?"

Me: (Dun sa magtataho! Try mo kumuha dun! Game na!)

"Oko , Thief of Crowns: Exchange Gift"

"Oko , Thief of Crowns: Exchange Gift"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Like I said in a previous blog post, Maloko si Oko and here is why.

At 3 mana , Simic Colors and a colorless you can cast Oko and he starts off with 4 Loyalty counters.

You could up that Loyalty counter to 6 by using his first ability. 

Creating Food! Now just in time for the holidays. A planeswalker who makes Food. I wonder how an artifact called food tastes like anyway. Well there is always ketchup.

Oko's second ability is a +1 that Elkifies a creature your opponents control. I can just see someone playing a Kenrith , High king in an EDH game and Oko turns him back into an Elk/Stag! Oh the flavor! It hurts my eyes! 

Oh and that 3/3 can still hurt you so be very careful who you Elkify ok?

And for his ultimate ability. You exchange a creature or artifact your control in exchange for a target creature your opponents control with power 3 or less. 

It seems like tons of Knights are 3/3. And Even the Queen Linden herself. Hmmmm. Or Basically you could eliminate the threat of that 3/3 Elk you just made by exchanging food for it. Seems fitting doesn't it? Oko works hard doesn't he?

"Midweek Magic 2019 #24 - Macho Doggo debuts!"

"Midweek Magic 2019 #24 - Macho Doggo debuts!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

And so on a suggestion I started to build Mowu , Loyal companion into a Mono Green deck that would quiet the heart that sought for might. And a little bit of Infect. I had started to rummage and while I initially wanted it to just be a deck that would take advantage of all the +1/+1 counters on the creatures that I had. 

Amazingly I had a lot of wonderful pieces that was just lying around. I would never forget one of the first games that Mowu rampaged through. I managed to cast a Bellowing Tanglewurm earlier that allowed Mowu to just crash through defenses.

Add to that the added bonus an equipped Ring of Kalonia and a Blanchwood Armor with 6 Forests in play. My Macho Doggo was a 9/9 that threatened to go bigger with the ring on it. I am not sure where a ring can fit on a doggo but he was sure wearing it. 

With no blockers and a monstrous Mowu threatening to bite his head of my opponent conceded.

And all this time my friend Mark's suggested song was playing in my head.

"Macho Doggo , kaya niyo ba to? Kaya niyo ba to?"

"Ignite"

"Ignite"

by"

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

The circle stares at me from a distance

Making sure I know it is there

It slowly whispers the words that I yearned

Come to me , come to me and burn!

II

And I feel it on my finger tips

this heat that I once knew

In seconds it engulfs me

and through my own ashes I am renewed

III

And I feel the words scream out of me

they come out in a roar

my flesh is no longer holding me

I am ready to explode.

Optum. Bldg N. Quezon City. September 18 , 2019 3:24am

"The Mythic Streak: The Loose pack."

"The Mythic Streak: The Loose pack."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was August 29 and I opened a pack of Coreset 19. I had asked the Ate in Neutral Grounds Centris to bring out the box of Coreset 19 as the Coreset 20 boxes were already out. As she did so a pack fell out on the glass stand. And I said wouldn't it be fun if I got a planeswalker in this single pack and I would be able to write about it later? So I choose this one pack and proceeded to have dinner in Pho Hoa.

While I waited I cracked the pack open and when I saw the loyalty counter at the bottom I just had to be happy at what I predicted. Staring at me was the Mythic Ajani , Adversary of Tyrants. It was not that expensive but I was happy beyond the monetary value. I never had a copy of this card before and now I had something to write about bwahahahah.

This is my actual first mythic. 

I was thinking of uses for him. I do know that he makes others stronger and with his casting cost he would be perfect for a deck that has early creatures that can be beefed up with this counters. And what deck would that be? Well the one that has a lot of cats in it. Arahbo.

Putting down 1/1's in the beginning that can turn up to be huge. Since Arahbo has a creature based deck that may suffer from a shortage from time to time(when you can't draw into them) this Ajani would be perfect to reanimate Ajani , Pridemates from the graveyard or even a Leonin Arbiter ,to annoy other players who can't search libraries without paying an additional 2 colorless mana. 

The 3 1/1's kitty tokens from this Ajani's emblem is no joke either. I suddenly thought of Divine visitation and how you turn cats to angels as they came into existence. 3 4/4 Angels. Sounds pretty exciting. Time to brew.