"3 Things I have seen this week:The Orphans"

"3 Things I have seen this week:The Orphans"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Often times Orphans have been the subject of apathy or extreme pity. No more parents means no one taking care of these children. I often see orphans after war and my heart goes out to them. I know how they feel. Maybe they are looking for care. Or for guidance or understanding or even forgiveness from their parents but in my experience the dead can neither absolve or bless you. This week I saw 3 orphans.

1) Orphan#1 The Innocent.

The youngest feels the pain of losing both parents but cannot express it properly. Only a general feeling of fear and loss. 

The youngest looks on and probably does not worry for the future. There are others that should be worrying about that for her now. And since she has been left behind she is under the care of others. 

2) Orphan#2 The Eldest.

Working by night and by day trying to manage and fix those that have been thrust to him.A heavy responsibility of lives and needs and wants that he never imagined would be his too early. He tries to separate all of the tasks and hopes for the best but there are sleepless nights ahead of him and the people left to him.His heart is filled with worry for the future but he cannot give up despite the circumstances as it would mean that death of his youngest sibling and the loss of his family's legacy. 

3) Orphan#3 The Selfish. 

Things of nothing. Acts like their is money at hand to spend on frivolous things. Always asks what is in it for me before he acts. And if things get different whines like a child. Does not understand the plan. Nods as if he listens to the plan and cries unfairness when he does not get his way. Not understanding the dire situation that his family is facing at the moment. His battle cry. "Give me what is mine." And I will not care for anything else. I do not care about Legacy or family or honor. Cash , that is all I want.

I envy those who could sleep at night without a care in the world , those who's burden is light and those who will never be entrusted to carry something to precious. I pray for these 3 orphans , One to see that there are people who love her. One to see that there is an end to all of this and the other to go to hell and stay there.

"Midweek Magic Jan 2018 #5: Getting Ahead with Urza"

"Midweek Magic Jan 2018 #5: Getting Ahead with Urza"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

In one of those unplanned games I was able to use Urza , Academy Headmaster for the first time against Janry. It was Monogreen Oviya Pashiri , Sage Lifecrafter EDH vs. 5CC Scion of the Ur-dragon. And it was epic. 

It seemed that my dragons were on the losing end of this game as Janry had a Constant Mists in his hand that he would be able to Buyback as long as he sacrificed a land effectively stopping any damage I could muster. I was able to draw a diabolic tutor and I did not have any way of making him discard that lone card in his hand. In desperation , I decided to choose Urza and play him as I had the available mana.

I went to Askurza.com and use his first planeswalker ability for the first time.And then this happened.

Exile a card from an opponents hand. Janry and I were laughing so hard. Of course he could have simply cast the spell and buy it back again but since it was an instant it would resolve and then get exiled anyway. So he cast it to take advantage of the fog effect for one last time.

Who could have predicted that I would be able to get that ability out of all the random ability that Urza has. It was starting off great for the year and I was happy to have been able to use this planeswalker at last!

"Hazmat Suit(Used) - Toxic!"

"Hazmat Suit(Used) - Toxic!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

In the real world we all have to deal with Toxic things , toxic people and toxic places. Not in the world of Magic get ready to deal with something so toxic that the mere touch of the card makes you lose 2 life.

Yup I am talking about the Hazmat suit(used). A 4 mana aura that gives enchanted creature +2/+1 and Menace. I think it causes the enchanted creature to mutate and well no one wants to block a creature coated in the luminescent green goo. I wouldn't want to touch it but of course if you attack with it as it's controller you'd have to tap to attack right? You need to be careful though even planeswalkers  such as ourselves are not immune to it's deadly radiation that a mere touch of skin or nail is enough for you to lose 2 life.

Imagine if you are only down to those 2 life points and you accidentally brush against your own mutant enchanted creature? Lethal!

So use at your own risk. You have been warned. Maybe next time you won't by at that Mad Scientists Garage sale.

"Extremely Slow Zombie:How sloooooooow can you goooooo?"

"Extremely Slow Zombie:How sloooooooow can you goooooo?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It has been a running joke that zombies are so slow. So slow that you could probably run rings around them if the zombie apocalypse ever happens. Nothing represents this more than the Unstable common card Extremely slow zombie.

Sure this guy is a 2 mana 3/3 Fattie but it deals it's damage last. It has last strike which the opposite of Firststrike. The good news is that this guy could survive any smaller creature but if it ever butts heads with a creature of the same size it just dies. Also if a creature has deathtouch it can kill this zombie before it even deals it's damage. That Last strike sure is slow but wait there is even more reasons to complain about how slow this guy is.

There are 4 versions of this card in the common slot(Thanks to my friend Ram who gave me a copy of each from this stash) that depict how slow it goes. Extremely Slow Zombie is so slow that it has to pass all 4 seasons before even finishing a single word. Brains. So how slow can he goooooo?

All 4 seasons long slow.Or as my wife puts it , anong petsa na eh wala pa? Yeah. It takes a lot of patience for this zombie to be able to hit you.

"Doc In , Doc Out Espesyal letter to patients: Decided to Go Home Edition."

"Doc In , Doc Out Espesyal letter to patients: Decided to Go Home Edition."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Dear Di Masyadong minamahal na pasyente,

Alam ko na minsan mahirap ang buhay. Maraming tawag at wala ka nang pahinga. Masama pa ang pakiramdam mo na di nakakatulong sa pagiging effective mo sa floor.Andito ako para tulungan ka. Promise.

Pero please wag kang pupunta sa clinic , dala mo na ang mga gamit mo , mainit ang ulo mo na magsasabing , "Puwede bang magpasent home?!" at tapos eh di ka makikinig sa mga sasabihin ng mga nurses at magiinisist ka na magpakonsulta ng di ka man lang nakukuhanan ng vitals signs.

Madali po akong kausap and kung decided kang umuwi eh papauwiin naman kita.Forever. Yung wala nang balikan. Yung wala ka nang iisiping trabaho kasi wala ka nang babalikan. 

May criteria naman yan na sinusunod. Kung pumasok ka dun eh ok. Kung hindi eh ipapaliwanag naman sa iyo. Pero wag kang magaastang bata na di napagbigyan sa gusto. Magulang din ako. Marunong akong manupil ng mga bata.

O siya. Kausapin mo ako kung decided ka na. Kung di naman. Tutulungan pa din kita.

Minsan Happy , Minsan nakukulitan sa iyo,

Doc June

"The Beginning Of My Magic Path"

"The Beginning Of My Magic Path"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

So this question was posted and I had this as a response.

Several people really, 

"Little did I know that this was the day that I would turn Phyrexian...."

1) Kris Nestor Urian who brought the cards in the middle of a lull in medschool one day and asked to me play. It was in between exams or lectures and Kris started asking me about Magic cards assumming that I know of the game. I had a working knowledge of how it goes but have not really played a game at this point. My first games were in the MCU Gazebos with my friends Kris Urian, Mark Tandayu and Arge Halog. Among the 4 of us only I would be able to play the game at present. It might not be too late to draw them back but I have to the time to find them for that. At the moment I don't. 

2) Cesar Masalunga Jr. who gave me my first set of Goblin Grenades who fueled my need to burn things. When Cesar learned that I was playing Magic , being there at the beginning of all this he gave me tips on what cards to play and he kept on mentioning Queso decks. I have never seen a Queso deck before. This refers to mono red burn decks that have a high number of spells that directly damage players , the most prominent of which is Fireball which actually looks like a flaming ball of Cheese or Cheeseball that is being hurtled at you , hence the name for such decks. On FB Cesar denied any encouragement on his part for the benefit of my wife but in truth he did encourage me to play more goblin decks and eventually to the mono red decks that I was obsessed in making in those days.

"Ganito itsura ni Uncle kapag nagugulpi kami sa magic!"

3) And last but not least is my Uncle Gabay Forlales who would often demonstrate "Fun" decks that turned out to be fun only for the person who was playing the deck and who introduced me to decks like Reanimator and that Cycling/Flashback Bear Mauling deck that made Bear Mauling look cool way before The Revenant. He would often go to the house and gather my brother , Aj and me to check out the latest deck techs. He would often start with , guys tingnan niyo ito... And then we were hooked.

Well that was the original answers I had but then again I had one more person added to the mix as I wrote this.

"Bringing the pain!"

4) My brother Aj was also influential as when I began teaching him Magic he beat the living day lights out of me with a simple beast deck that I did not even imagine could beat the deck that I was running.My brother looked at the decks I was using and just used them more aggressively or in more creative ways than I do. To this day I would often let him use a particular deck that I liked only to watch him beat the crap out of someone with it. It made me want to create more decks and see how those decks work. So in turn my brother also encouraged me to be a better deck builder and player. Our Goblins vs. Elves or Goblins vs. Slivers match up were always so competitive that I had to adapt a more relaxed stance in playing the game to balance things out. These things were important to me as it balanced my brother and me and we connected in the game even if we were fighting over a lot of things in real life.

So to you guys , I thank you. (My wife doesn't as she is complaining that I have way too much cards lying around in the house bwahahahha).

I would love to be able to play with you again and maybe soon. 

"Midweek Magic Jan 2018 #4:Xira Airen...Panira"

"Midweek Magic Jan 2018 #4:Xira Arien...Panira"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

In our first games of the year I decided to try my very own version of the pussy deck. Selesnya Arahbo Vs. Jus's Jund Xira Arien which in my book has a very apt name. Wala namang gagawin yung deck in Xira kundi sumira ng sumira.

Sumira ng lupa.Sumira ng creatures. Sumira ng diskarte. Sumira ng tempo. Xirang Xira ka kay Xira.

Of course I also wanted to give my all in fighting this deck as this will only improve over time. The Jund Mana Ramp Land Destruction deck has a lot of tools and being powered by Jus means that it can work in both 1v1 or multiplayer settings.

I managed to win a couple of games through sheer brutal force since Arahbo and his eminence affected the cats in my employ but there was one particular play that made me scratch my head and that was when Jus casted Decimate. 

I had an artifact. creature.enchantment and land. Had. Sigarda's Aid , an equipment , a pussy cat and a land. Gone. That card has so much value in this particular EDH game. 

Like I said. Xira lang ng Xira.