"When you see this in the morning..."

"When you see this in the morning..."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

The sight of a gigantic dragon that dwarfs the surrounding city landscape in the morning as I wake up will not really send me into despair. Not even seeing Emrakul the Aeons Torn or The Promised end in the flesh would do that to me. 

Nope. I will feel fine if these creatures make an appearance because if they do then it means that the world I live in has underdone a fundamental change. We have entered into the realm of the fantastical or magical and creatures of this caliber demand fantastical or magical means to eliminate or contain. 

So here are a couple of things that I would do if I saw gigantic dragons outside my window.

1) Go to my Mad scientist type neighbor and ask if I could borrow that rare Ultra pokeball that he has been keeping in his underground lab all this time. I don't see a Mew2 anywhere but that dragon is right there. It helps to tame one don't you think?

2) Contact my buddies at that hidden base off the coast of Mariana's trench and see if they can send over a couple of Jaegers my way. Heck A dragon is not a Kaiju and might have different motivation than them but you need something huge to combat something huge. Unless you plan on being squished in between dragon paws.

3) I will telepathically reach out to a planeswalker buddy of mine. Usually has face paint , dresses hood up and all in blue. You might know him , Jace Beleren who probably has a version I can talk to in the multiverse. I would probably borrow a spare Utopian Vow or an Imprison in the moon spell. Those spells are cheap. I am sure he could spare me one or two.

And these are the three things that I can think of on top of my head. So how would you deal with this dragon? 

"Super-duper death ray: Through and through"

"Super-duper death ray: Through and through"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have never seen trample on an Instant spell before. I guess this card deserves it. And hopefully something of the same thing can come out in a future set. Wizards of the coast has this funny way of experimenting and finding what we like and printing a card like it in standard. Just ask all the other players who were around when Unglued and Unhinged were released. 

For 1 red and 2 generic mana you get to deal 4 damage to a target creature. Normally players want to cast lower costing spells or spells that can also target other players. Burning someone can be fun after all. This card gives you the option of atomizing something from 1-4 toughness creatures but it's advantage is that it has trample and the excess burn can also be used to hit the target creatures controller. So if you just killed a 1/1 you also get to deal 3 damage to that creatures controller. So opponents better have big creatures on their side to shield them.

Otherwise this is going to be a through and through.

"Midweek Magic November 2017 #46:Skullbriar , How to survive you?"

"Midweek Magic November 2017 #46: Skullbriar , How to survive you?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

There is an aspect of Magic that I live for but seldomly get so that in the rare occurrence that it happens it gives me great satisfaction. And this is  the phenomenon I like to call as an "Ikot Puwet moment" or in English getting someones panty in a bunch although I don't think the last statement is appropriate as I normally assume that none of my male playgroup mates wear that article of clothing. As far as I know. 

So anyway in a recent game (11/24/2017) I decided to run another set of Commanders for our EDH games and in the middle I pulled off my last commander of the night. My all time favorite Skullbriar. I was going against Jus with his Ur-Dragon deck and Janry's Muzio artifact deck.

I can feel their frustrations mounting as Skullbriar attacked and grew larger and larger. With the help of a Corpsejack Menace and later a Necropolis Regent my favorite graveyard Elemental reached 23/23 in power and was sure to end someone in my next turn.

To make matters worse I have already attached a Whispersilk cloak on it. And this made my opponents even more desperate and so as always I became the archenemy yet again in an EDH game with just 3 players. 

The panic button was hit when Jus was able to destroy my Whispersilk cloak with a Rain of thorns and then a sweep from Janry with a Devastation Tide. Disaster and imminent loss was averted but I still had the pieces to win in hand but was eliminated by Dragons that were already set up.

I was groggy from taking medications and I must admit that when Skullbriar grew to those proportions I was awakened just a bit. And the looks on my opponents as they kept on trying to come up with a solution. Yup. Magic really has it's moments.

"Doc In , Doc Out Espesyal Letter to Patients:Exotic Sakit Edition"

"Doc In , Doc Out Espesyal Letter to Patients:Exotic Sakit Edition"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Dear Patients,

Mga di masyadong minamahal , gusto ko lang pong liwanagin na ang mga sumusunod na salita ay di mo makikita sa mga medical text book at di mo ginagamit sa pagsabi sa akin na dapat kung idiagnose sa iyong sakit:

#Napasma

#Nabinat

#Nausog

#Nanuno

#Nabati

#Nilalagnat sa loob

#Nilalagnat laki

#Naduwende

#Namatanda

#Namamahay

#Nadaanan ng masamang hangin

Ngayon isipin mong mabuti kung ako ang magsusulat ng mga ito bilang findings o final diagnosis ng sakit mo , pustahan di ka matutuwa kaya pakiusap po ng maayos sa inyo wag po ito ang sabihin niyong dahilan kung kayo ang nagaabsent o nalelate ng pasok.Uulitin ko po na sila po ay di sakit at di pinapangalingan ng sakit ng tao.

Ok.Sige.Balik trabaho na ulit. Nauusog ako sa mga sinasabi mo sa akin eh. Lawayan kita diyan.

Di masyadong nagmamahal,

Doc June

"Cafe Blues"

"Cafe Blues"

by:

 Aven R. De leon/ Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I 

Sitting here with nothing to do

Sitting here missing you

And here I am wondering 

If my phone will ring

II

Yet silent it stays

I feel out of place

And actually kind of hungry

thinking of turkey

III

Maybe you might be there

It would only be fair

I'm crazy , you're insane

Can't get you out of my brain

Like a needle in a pile of hay

There are so many things I wish I could say

but maybe not today.

11/15/2017 Coffee Project , QC 11;03am

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Editors Note:

This is the 1st poem in a series of 4 where my daughter Aven and I collaborated on making poems while we hung out. Quite a fun bonding experience with the right person and Aven in her young age has shown how bright and creative she is when crafting words out of thin air. I wonder where she got that from?

"Storm the Vault: Artificers rejoice!"

"Storm the Vault: Artificers rejoice!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Admiral Beckett Brass , Memnarch and Tezzeret all looked at this card and all nodded their approval. I am running a pirate EDH deck that has Mechanized Production and Revel in Riches as it's win conditions so I am running all kinds of excited faces as I write this. 

This Izzet colored Legendary enchantment allows an aggressive deck like Pirates to get even more treasures on to the battlefield. It gives them incentive to attack  , get more plunder and if at the beginning of your end step  you have 5 or more artifacts , transform Storm of the Vault. 

We just came from a very artifact heavy plane in Kaladesh and it is quite easy to get 5 artifacts in play in EDH. Mana rocks account for a lot of those as well as the Pirates we will be playing along side this enchantment. The thing is Storm of the Vault is versatile enough to be included in other artifact centric decks but it surely will shine in a Grixis colored deck. 

So what happens when Storm the vault transforms?  It turns into the Vault of Catlacan. A legendary land that can give you colorless mana or Blue mana for each artifact you control. For those of you who have been in magic long enough this is Metal worker on a stick or Tolarian Academy 2.0! Just think of all those thing you can cast with all that blue mana and all the things that Memnarch could steal on your behalf. Sorry for drooling but I really could imagine my opponent conceding as I begin to Capsize all of their permanents and just pay buyback. And if there was something I would really want to enchant from freed from the Reel it would be this card so that I could have infinite blue mana. Maybe so I could have an opponent psychic drain or consume spirit or Blue sun Zenith them to oblivion.

Yup. Storm the Vault is now on my wish list and hopefully I can get one in my PR Kit. It would be a nice birthday gift. Let's see. Hehehehe

"Hydradoodle: Let's roll a 20."

"Hydradoodle: Let's roll a 20."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

As a Simic player I have always been fascinated with Hydras. In real life I am a biologist that was once interested in genetic experimentation. Of course I would probably not have the funding or specimens to create a hydradoodle but I might get the card and enjoy it's benefits. More for attacking and less for cuddling I suppose. I am allergic to fur.

The Hydradoodle is 2 green mana and X and X. So you basically you pay 2 mana to roll a die. That is actually not bad for 4 mana when you consider it. The hydra hound comes into play with +1/+1 counters on it equal to the results of all your die rolls. I mean even with just one die roll you could probably get a gigantic 20/20 creature! Or you could just get a 1/1 creature that is just disappointing. This creature also has trample and Reach. Good abilities to have but what I like about it is that your opponents would be at the edge of their seats praying to unknown gods for you to get a bad die roll.

Heck Hydradoodle might increase their faith in their deities or lessen it depending on your die roll and that makes it worth it.

I imagine that several rolls would yell bigger counters for you. If you roll a die 20 perfectly for 3 turns you get a whopping 60/60 critter that you can fling or attack with! Always remember to have Krark's other thumb to increase your chances of getting better results.

I hope I get a hydradoodle.That name just rolls off the tongue. Haha.