May 2010 FNM Card - Cloudpost

I forgot to post the Friday Night Magic foil card for May. May 2010 FNM card is Cloudpost. I already got a copy for this card. A common card printed in Mirrodin block which can produce mana based on the number of Locus lands in play. If played with Vesuva, this land can accelerate mana matching to the speed of the famous Urza lands (Tron). ALthough I was wondering why wizards printed this old card that is not theme defining in extended and legacy formats, I am beginner to wonder if there's a possibility this card may be printed in the Scars of Mirrodin block, coming into stores in October 2010. With the Eldrazi rising and roaming the Worlds of Magic, Cloudpost can help put these titans into play faster! ^_^

Devastating Red version 2 - FNM Performance

The Goblin Bushwhacker - Devastating Summons combo is really devastating to the part of aggro decks likewise with control decks with DOJ's. I have seen many faces frown while putting up this combo during the fourth turn for the win. But being the meat of this deck, I made a few changes from last week's deck and placed a play set of Devastating summons and bushwhacker into the main deck just to have greater chance of drawing them. However, you have to note that you can read your opponents well when playing this deck, as sacrificing your lands early is a suicide reset button given your opponent can survive the turn your summons attack.

Basically, the modified deck finished great with a 3-1 record, admittedly lost by sheer misplay and wrong decision in my part, causing me to risk playing summons when he had a one card-hand, too bad it was negate. Of course, you can all argue that it's a bad move, but I did it to explore the gameplay of the deck and see whether it can manage to come back after a failed devastating summons play. But I noticed that an early failed devastating summons can be very difficult for recovery, but I did manage to recover/cast summons in late game for 3 to 4 lands, just to make sure you still have some lands to cast your burn spells in the next turns. Anyway, the changes are summarized below:


Main deck changes:
-5 mountains
-2 hellspark elemental
-1 burst lightning
+4 Arid mesa
+1 Goblin Bushwhacker
+1 Devastating summons
+2 Staggershock


Sideboard Changes:
-1 pithing needle
-1 Goblin Bushwhacker
-1 Devastating summons
-1 burst lightning
-2 chain reaction
+2 earthquake
+4 unstable footing

Final List of Version 2 Red Deck with Devastating Summons and Goblin Bushwhacker

Lands (23)
4 teetering peaks
4 scalding tarn
4 arid mesa
11 mountains

Creatures (21)
4 ball lightning
2 hellspark elemental
3 hell's thunder
4 goblin guide
4 plated geopede
4 goblin bushwhacker

Sorceries (4)
4 devastating summons

Instants (12)
4 seering blaze
4 lightning bolt
2 burst lightning
2 Staggershock

sideboard (15)
3 manabarbs
2 pithing needle
2 punishing fire
4 earthquake
4 Unstable footing

Key points and observations:
- summons plus bushwhacker is a risk so try to read the opponent's deck carefully. If the deck thrives with removals like path to exile, purge and other spot removals that are cheap to cast, the risk of successful devastating summons can be high. But if your opponents have burn spells, DOJ's, then the combo can hurt them as early as turn 4.

- you can cast 2 summons in turn 4, you can have 4 2/2 creatures while sacrificing 4 lands in turn 4. and just having enough mana to play and kick the goblin to swing for 14 damage!

- unstable footing can kill kor firewalker, IF and only IF, the firewalker is blocking your creature, the spell's effect doesn't make the firewalker's protection ability prevent the damage so the firewalker can be killed. Also, note that you can kill the firewalker by casting pyroclasm/volcanic fallout with unstable footing.

- I think this version is better than the first version since it is easier to handle with additional removal spells and greater chances to cast the combo.

- Staggershock is a great addition since it can kill 2 creatures with rebound ability. or deal 4 damage to the opponent. When dealing damage to the opponent, it is more 'dramatic' to cast it at the end of the turn of your opponent, so that the rebound ability quickly resolves during the start of your upkeep.

After Casting my Votes for Election 2010

I just got home from the voting area. And finally! after waiting for 3 hours, it's all over. Now, I will just have to wait for the results but so far, so good.

The first thing that I noticed from the voting area (school) was that the voter's queue pr the "pila" was INSANELY long! Some people were just joking around to stay calm and alive and not get bored while waiting for their time to vote. There were also times when people from the other lines were fighting because of those people who insert between the lines. Those people that do "singit" is just unforgivable. Imagine some people were as early as 7 o'clock in falling in line but there are just some people who are just selfish enough to not think that other people respect other people's time and fall in line fairly. Of course, we all have our precious time and time is gold, but everybody's equal in times like these because we all equally invest our time to cast our votes. But sadly, some people just can't respect that and that some people may use power and authority to get in the line first. A sad reality that people practice and the simplest form of abuse of power.

Anyway, these things are pretty normal. But what made me sad is that what used to be so many different classrooms as the regular voting precincts are now "clustered" into just 6, yes six!, voting areas. And so people from four to five precincts are now clustered together, with just that fact given, you really have to expect long lines. But here comes the technology! Of course, automation speeds up the process and this, ideally, balances out the clustering of precincts. But it didn't. Maybe it was not because of the PCOS machine, admittedly, there were a few paper jams in my short stay in the voting area, but what I think is that people are also accounted for the long voting lines. As what I have observed, people are very anxious of their votes being rejected and some are even going to voting areas still undecided of who to vote. In my opinion, hell, you should go to the precincts prepared! You could have made a lineup at home given the amount of time you have each day and this is the future of the country we are talking about. So we could have just given 5 minutes to make a lineup ahead of time, think about your candidates, and check for the future of the country. Not to mention saving time, and giving more time for your fellow citizens to vote.

I'm just sad to hear stories of many people going home not casting their votes because the line moved very slowly. I just can't help but wonder, was this really the right time to implement an automated elections?.. Of course, we can all argue by saying, if not now when?.. I know that concern, because I am in the field of Information Technology and I, too, know the need and advantages of automated systems over the manual system. But it's just that too much are on steak in this election. this is the presidential elections! The elections for a great leader to lead our country, and the preparations were not perfect. What if some machines bog down, because there weren't really stress tests done in large scale implementations. A few days ago, there were reports that the machines cannot even read the local candidates, but reasons were said and corrections were made. My point is, in the field of IT engineering, the time that these machines were approved for the bidding process, it should have passed the needed requirement and test specifications. But how come, problems like these were found in a time days before the elections? We are just lucky that the problems were solved in time. I just want to say that, given the great risk of the presidential elections, why was this implementation not applied in an election with a smaller scale, like barangay elections, so when problems arise, the scale of the damage will not be that great and the risk will not be that great.

But again, this was happening. And I just pray and hope that everything will be smooth tonight. I trust the developers of the machines that they have done all the necessary checking and quality control that they can do in their power. Overall, I can say that the implementation was a success (praying hardly, that no problems will arise until all of these are over and the official results are announced). Congratulations to our country for moving forward with technology and embracing the benefits of automation. I just hope that the results will be good for this country that I love so much.

Devastating Red Deck - FNM Evaluation

check out the 2nd version of this deck at Devastating Red version 2.

Hi guys, good to be back in magic: the gathering. I would just like to share the deck that i used for the FNM, which finished 3-1 and ranked 3rd place for the tournament yesterday. I used a modified version for Red Deck Wins that featured Goblin bushwhacker and Devastating Summons. These 2 cards can be deadly on turn 4 as a turn 4 summons plus bushwhacker can create 2 5/4 creatures with haste. Considering the amount of early damage that you can deal with goblin guide, geopede, ball lightning, hellspark elemental and hell's thunder, the devastating summons with haste can most likely finish the job on turn 4. How to pull it off? Simple.

1. Play your 4th land on turn 4.
2. Tap 4 lands and float 4 red mana.
3. use 1 red mana and Cast devastating summons and sacrifice 4 lands to create 4/4 tokens.
4. use 2 floating red mana to cast and kick goblin buswhacker to give +1/+0 and haste to your creatures.
5. You can use the remaining red mana for bolt or burst lightning.
6. Swing!




Anyway, here's the decklist for the red devastating summons with goblin bushwhacker.

Lands (24)
4 teetering peaks
4 scalding tarn
16 mountains

Creatures (22)
4 ball lightning
4 hellspark elemental
3 hell's thunder
4 goblin guide
4 plated geopede
3 goblin bushwhacker

Sorceries (3)
3 devastating summons

Instants (11)
4 seering blaze
4 lightning bolt
3 burst lightning

sideboard (15)
3 manabarbs
3 pithing needle
2 punishing fire
1 devastating summons
1 goblin bushwhacker
1 burst lightning
2 earthquake
2 chain reaction

Runaway Train Lyrics by Soul Asylum

I really like this song. Eventhough it dates back to the 90's, hearing this song in my playlist seems almost like a 100-percent possibility. I just can't deny that at a point in my life, when things were so hard for me, I handled all the burden and became a focal point for the greatest war my life has known. It was so hard to be in between two great forces and you just want to be neutral as much as you can. But being neutral seems like a very impossible thing to do as being neutral makes you absorb all the hatred and pain of all sides of the story. At one point, all I wanted was a ticket for a runaway train.




Runaway Train / Soul Asylum

Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
Promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

CHORUS:
Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Can you help me remember how to smile
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded
Life's mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

Everything seems cut and dry
Day and night, earth and sky
Somehow I just don't believe it

(CHORUS)

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin' at the rain
Little out of touch, little insane
Just easier than dealing with the pain

(CHORUS)

Runaway train never comin' back
Runaway train tearin' up the track
Runaway train burnin' in my veins
Runaway but it always seems the same

Great Night With my Elementary Batchmates

Yesterday was definitely a blast from the past.

At around 2 pm in the afternoon, I was on my way to the house of a friend for our basketball game. But just a few minutes after riding the jeepney, Ate Shenna and Jude rode the same jeep. Sadly, my friends house was already near so I can't stay to chat and had to go down the jeepney already. Then, after my kuya arrived in jikko's house, we took the taxi and went to Evergold to play basketball.

It was fun playing basketball with new faces and some, old faces that I played with during my high school and early college days in inter-school varsity basketball competitions. Some grew bigger and some had mustaches already, and maybe because they were focusing in their careers already, they were not as good as the kids I played with before, no more very quick steps and crossover moves, but the shooting touches are there. But some of them, retained their body types and still got flashy plays. I was really happy to see an elementary friend there. I last saw him when we were still in grade 6, when we had the same school. Surprisingly, he still plays good. Btw, he was a member of the SBP team for our school way back in grade 6, so I was kind of expecting already that he still plays good.

Moving on, I was set to have a small reunion/dinner with my elementary friends at around 7:30 pm last night. But after playing basketball, I went to Gaisano to stroll to kill the time because it was still 6:30. I was shocked because I was able to see a close friend of mine, and a seatmate in my grade 6 days. Sam was still very pretty, of course she is, she was the first runner-up in the recent Mutya ng Dabaw 2010. She was with her boyfriend so I didn't bother to approach her. But it was really great seeing these old friends of mine.

At last, 7:30 came. But my friends were still not around. What did I expect with the "filipino time". hehe. But of course, maybe seeing them again made me go to the place early. At around 8:00, at last they were already there. We ate at Penong's in Illustre street. Jepoy, Rodel, Raymund, Minco, Karla and Al Omar. The last time I saw some of these people were way back in grade 6. So we talked and laughed and made updates on where our other friends are right now. Then after dinner, we headed for desert! hehe We went to Durian Palace in Torres street to eat durian and chat and laughed again. It was really fun. But it was already 10:30 so we had to go home and end the night for we still had to work in the morning and Minco had a 7:00 flight to Manila today. Anyway, it was really great and I hope to see them again soon.