"Hollow One: Hollow there!"

"Hollow One: Hollow there!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr, MD

With every set there are some people who look at a card and ask themselves, "How fast can I actually get this creature out to the battlefield?" Hollow One who is a 4/4 at 5 colorless mana cost is the creature in Hour of Devastation that makes me want to  ask this question.

Normally you want to hold off hope on any 5 mana CMC creatures but you can actually cheat this card into play for an alternative cost. It costs 2 colorless mana less to cast for any card you cycled or discard this turn. And out of the corner of my vision the 4 sets of Putrid Imps that I have horded when Graveborn came out suddenly raised little hands and volunteered themselves for the job.

On turn 1 you could go ahead and cast the Putrid Imp for one mana, Discard 3 cards and get a Hollow One into play.The ideal scenario is for you to have 1 land  1 Putrid Imp ,any 3 cards to discard and at best 2 Hollow Ones at hand. So think about it for a moment. At the cost of your entire hand and any sort of response you now have 2 4/4 creatures on turn one. A massive 8 damage swing per turn if your opponent cannot take care of them.

In standard or modern I see the Hollow Ones being cast at the end of a 3 cycling cycle(yeah there I said it , cycling cycle), card drawing turn. There are still cards from Inistrad like the Olivia's Dragoon or the Noose Constrictor who lets you discard cards on turn two and you could also take advantage of the Hollow One here.It just depends on which colors you want to mix it with.

Excited yet? I know I am. Time to horde something that goes with my Little Putrid Imps hehehehe

"The Scarab God: Zombies rejoice!"

"The Scarab God: Zombies rejoice!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

The world of Amonkhet had 8 gods and Nicol Bolas took 3 of them as his own minions. These 3 grixis color aligned gods have now emerged on the plane and the one that got me the most excited was the Dimir colored Scarab God. 

This legendary creature is the commander that Zombie EDH decks have been waiting for a long time  and would now probably replace the now reigning Gisa and Geralf in this department or in the case of my friend Mark worth making another EDH entirely.

Just take a look at that long line at the very beginning and tell me that this was not made for EDH games. That long line alone will win you games. So at the beginning of your upkeep 2 things happen depending on how many zombies you have in the battlefield. 

1) Each opponent loses X life. Each opponent! So you have 40 zombies. That normally just spells the end for everyone around the table.

2) You scry X. Not enough zombies in play? Well you can dig them up from your every library.

And The Scarab God doesn't even need to attack. He just needs to survive for a couple of turns as you keep on pouring zombies unto the battlefield from cards like Army of the Damned or Grave Titan.  

The reasons for playing this 5/5 God might just as well end there but it also has an activated cost that makes you want to play it even more. For 4 mana , 2 colorless and Dimir Colors you can exile a creature from a graveyard( any graveyard including your opponents!) You create a 4/4 Black zombie creature token of that thing you exiled and you get all of it's benefits. Enter the battlefield effects from Titans or Primordials or Gearhulks even stat boosters from opponents if you copy a zombie lord from an opposing player or Mikaeus for example. 

By using this ability you have eliminated a possible reanimation target or even trigger it in response to a creature being targeted by a reanimation spell. Yup Eternalizing an opposing players creature has never been sweeter.

So what happens when an opponent decides that he or she would deny you of a Scarab God win and wipes the board clean? Well the Scarab God just comes back to your hand at the beginning of the next end step. It may not have indestructibility as the other 5 mono colored gods but it more than makes up for it by potentially coming back to your hand to be utilized again. 

So are you excited about the Scarab God? I know I am. 

"The Locust God : Ang Locust Locust!"

"The Locust God : Ang Locust Locust!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

In the game of magic there are some who fall in love with certain types of game play and normally stick with the concept until they get tired and try something new. In Team Virulence  for example I specialized in Infect decks. We always had someone who was aggro or control or a little bit of both but one stood out because his decks would always do one thing. Draw. Draw massive amounts of cards that would either flood his hand or cause him to win a lot of games. 

The moment I saw The Locust God I instantly remembered Nolan who said that his main goal in life is to draw the most number of cards. Now he has a win condition.Let us take a look at the Izzet aligned god and see how strong it really is.

For 6 mana , you get a 4/4 flying legendary creature that says, "Whenever you draw a card , create a 1/1 blue/red Insect creature token with flying and haste."

You draw a card. Create a 1/1 flyer with haste! Standard players already want to pair this with Pull from tomorrow for X number of flying critters. Add the amount of cycling cards in the current standard and you have a lot of those locust babies on the battlefield. Locust talaga. Di siya weak. Malocust siya. I can't wait to get this in my PR kit and just go on punning away while I play. Gino . Team Virulence's chef and pun maker would be proud of me.

If Pull from Tomorrow is bad I imagine other worse things to pair with this God in EDH. Imagine The Locust God in play with a Consecrated Sphinx. Assuming that you have 4 opponents and you draw 2 cards for each that they draw then potentially you could have 8 1/1 Insects when your turn comes around.Make that  a solid 9 1/1 Insects on your own draw step. Then there are the other EDH staples like Rhystic study that let's you draw a card if an opponent does not pay an extra colorless mana for each spell they cast.

Then there are the Enters the battlefield cards that let's you draw a card. Primespeaker Zegana and Deadeye Navigator soul bonded with each other could make you enough tokens to win the game. Just keep on bouncing the Primespeaker. Even an Elvish Visionary can get you a 1/1 token. Assuming you really want to play 4 colors hehehheeh.

Skullclamp just begs to be used in anything that involves The Locust God. On your first draw of the turn you already get a 1/1 token that can then be equipped on the clamp ,it dies ,  you proceed to draw two cards and assuming that you have enough mana can go on until you have enough attackers to finish off an opponent or two. One thing I would really love pull off with this interaction is to have an Impact Tremors in play as well. Just keep on having Insects come in and just keep on pinging each opponent until they have no life. Sick.

One combo that gets an upgrade is the Niv-Mizzet , The Firemind - Curiosity/Ophidian Eye combo that lets you draw and ping an opponent to death. Normally you would restrain your draw and pinging to stave off dying via library death but with all the 1/1 Insect tokens you can be sure not let your other opponents feel left out from the damage dealing.They won't love you or the Locust God for it but hey what are good friends for right?

Oh and just in case you don't have a spell to draw a card , the Locust God has an ability to let you draw and discard a card for 4 mana. I love these built in things.

While the Locust God seems like it is a lot weaker than the other Gods(you can Electrify it for 4 damage after all). It also shares the same ability as the others since it will just go back to your hand when it dies on the next end of turn. 

Resilient and full of buggy goodness.

"Nicol Bolas , God-Pharaoh: The Big Boss is back"

"Nicol Bolas , God-Pharaoh: The Big Boss is back"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Nicol Bolas has finally shown himself and with Hour of Devastation only a few weeks away Wizards of the coast has been whipping up a frenzy like no other..And this new set seems to want to end in that frenzy leading up to Ixilan.

I wanted to talk about the New Nicol Bolas Planeswalker card that would hit us. At a mana cost of 4 colorless mana and Grixis colors the God-Pharaoh will demand his own dedicated deck because let us not kid ourselves by saying that he is easy to cast like Ugin or Karn. Needless to say I see people playing with Nicol Bolas if not in Standard but in EDH or Archenemy decks. I know because I already have plans to include him in my Sultai Red planeswalker deck where he will join the Sleeker version of himself.

With a starting loyalty counter of 7  , Nicol Bolas, God Pharaoh can instantly affect the battlefield as he enters. This new Bolas has 4 abilities that befit his new status. And oh boy is he just dishing out a whole bucket full of hurt.  

His first ability(+2) makes a target opponent exile the top card of his or her library until they reveal a non-land card and until the end of turn you may cast this revealed card without paying for it's mana cost.

With his mana cost , the God Pharaoh will be appearing late in the game where you can probably finish off an opponent with this first skill. It is a Mind funeral after all and when there are less spells to exile there are increased chances of ending a player there and then. Or you might find yourself getting a really good card like a mass removal. Chances are though you would be Mind Funeraling someone to a Library death before you can kill them with a creature. 

His second ability(+1) affects all opponents facing you which makes them exile 2 cards from their hands. EDH players would rejoice as they disrupt late game shenanigans and probably remove any threats for an all out attack.Archenemy players would welcome this in their decks as well.(I would)

His 3rd ability(-4) is a massive slap to the face of a player or creature. There are only a few creatures to survive a 7 damage blow. And if a player has been taking incremental damage this 7 damage swing could mean the end as well. Way to go. Bolas Chop! Or Bolas Uppercut! However you imagine him swinging those massive claws.

The God-Pharaoh's Ultimate ability (-12) gives you Final Judgement of sorts for all non-land permanents your opponents control. All of them. Planeswalkers , Enchantments , Artifacts and Creatures all gone in a flash. While still having lands makes a comeback possible. Nicol Bolas and his minions will take those odds. So much for all the set up if you let this dragon get his ultimate.

I am excited to have this card in my ever growing planeswalker collection and he really has a place for my archenemy deck so I am hoping to open this in my first packs in the PR week. So what do you think of the God-Pharaoh? A bit strong? A bit watered down?

"Samut The Tested: Attack and Fetch me my Cohorts."

"Samut The Tested: Attack and Fetch me my Cohorts."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Dissenters be dissenting and Samut be attacking. Yeah. RG is all about the aggro and this new planeswalker can make an early attacker swinging twice or getting the creatures you need for that all out attack. 

In my mind Samut the tested has no other place but a very aggressive deck. One that features a lot creatures that can attack quickly or big creatures that survive clashing with others. Red and Green have her covered in this regard as there are a whole slew of creatures that fit this description.

At 4 mana it would be easy to cast her in the 3 or 4th turn depending on the amount of creatures that you already have on the battlefield. It would be of no good for you if you are able to cast her but have nothing to receive the benefit of her first ability which is a (+1) ability. While you don't really need a target for it you might want to have one since you should be on the offensive with her on your side of the board.

The 2nd ability of Samut is a spot removal effect which you should only use if you already have enough creatures amassed for a massive attack that could end your opponent or basically deal a great ton of damage. Otherwise you should just keep on piling the Loyalty counters on Samut for her Ultimate ability.

Samut's ultimate ability (-7) allows you to look for up to 2 Creatures or 2 Planeswalkers and then put them directly on the battlefield! This is the part of the card that has got me a bit foaming in the mouth as I would love to plop down very big creatures with Annihilator or just have a lot of those planeswalkers. Samut will also fit nicely in my Sultai Red Planeswalker deck so I place her high on my list of cards to acquire.  I see Rhonas and Hazoret being fetched out in Standard or maybe Rhonas and Ulamog? The last pair seems particularly nasty. 

I might build an aggressive deck around her but for my purposes I would rather have her calling Nicol Bolas , Vraska or Garruk , Apex Predator unto the field. Samut the Tested might well be another target of hate in my play groups EDH or Archenemy games when the time comes. 

"Bontu's Last Reckoning:All in the timing"

"Bontu's Last Reckoning:All in the timing"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

When you have a card that let's you destroy everything on the battlefield it will always get compared  to another card that does the same thing. In this case Bontu's Last Reckoning and Damnation will be on the same comparison sheet. Those who have enough copies of Damnation (or wish to have enough copies) see the 4 mana Sorcery as a better version of the two despite the added 1 mana cost. Sadly Damnation only exists in Modern while Bontu's Last Reckoning will help a lot in Standard for a couple of years.

Bontu's Last Reckoning can be used in Standard and would currently be the best Mass removal spell because of it's low 3 mana cost. A lot of players will auto include this but you should still be careful when you use it since it does have one nasty draw back. You won't be able to untap your lands on your next turn. A turn that would leave you like a sitting duck ready for slaughter if you are not careful. Yes you can wipe out all of the early aggressors like Energy decks but still end up dead due to two things. Vehicles and Gods(I am looking at you Hasty Hazoret). 

With the abundance of vehicles out there who can be crewed after a sweep by a creature who just landed on the battlefield and Gods who can survive mass removal due to their indestructibility and attack after their particular demands have been met you really need to get the timing right. Haste creatures can also be a problem or even Embalmed and Eternalized creatures since there are a lot players who would just let this sorcery resolve and get their zombies next turn. 

I am all for this card but in current standard it needs graveyard clearing support otherwise things that you have already taken cared off would take a big chunk of your life total later on. 4/4 Eternalized creatures are no joke even if you can Fatal push them into submission. Best to have 4 copies even if the draw back is a bit steep. 

"Loona/Jinsoul - Singing in the rain MV reaction:Jinsoul the Fish "

"Loona/Jinsoul - Singing in the rain MV reaction:Jinsoul the Fish "

by:

The Vole

Singing in the rain continues Loona's path into the sexy side and with the reveal of Singer/Rapper Jinsoul almost with the same stage as Kim Lip with the exception that she is resonating on the color Blue. Even if this color seems to have a cooling effect it certainly has a different effect especially when you start watching her dance.

Jinsoul starts the MV in a dark area with a wide arc of light illuminating her as she carries a bag of fish with her. She starts running and you instantly know that that fish is a gonner. It might explain why she is later seen in a fish shop , she might be trying to replace the dead fish because she might get into trouble. But that is just a theory.

This trap beat filled dance track features the slim waisted , blond Jinsoul as she dances her heart out and has several images where she is symbolized as a fish. Like the one where she sits inside an aquarium as she sings and that awesome floating shot where she is like a Blue fish floating in the air.

Singing in the rain continues to keep my interest and I wonder about who Loona will reveal next to complete this subunit as they normally come in threes. Kim Lip and Jinsoul also has an audio track called Love Letter where they bought mesh well musically.  For now Jinsoul the fish certainly has kept me looking out for what Loona will be like when they are finally complete.