Getting ready to revive this dumb blog

</p><p>Get ready for code.</p><p>

Fear: it motivates

Kaya gumagaling ang mga naglalaro sa berdugo room ng Blueskies.

Namamatay ang mga nagkakalat.

How Sir Neil loves Valenzuela/Caloocan

I found it interesting how Sir Neil seemed piqued when I talked about Western Valenzuela in terms of cell site names and GPS coordinates. To him it must have seemed impersonal. He grew up there, you see. He knows the people and the places and the culture. It would be strange for me too if I grew up in the perpetually flooded streets of Coloong and some kid started referring to it as BISIGVALZ1, telling you to turn the car left and right in search of some invisible signal.

My favorite Globe driver got nostalgic and teary eyed when he talked about his childhood. He said that when the tide was high brackish water would flood the streets of Coloong, and he would wade home from school waist deep in it.

He pointed out that some homes were situated lower than road-level while others were above it. He further explained that families with money pay to have their dwellings elevated so the water drains out of them. Poor families have the water drain into their houses from the streets. The families that make really good progress in society move away, and others come in replacing them.

It's sad. Hopefully as the Philippines grows older and richer we can let the sea take this place back for itself.


BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
June 28, 2008 12:44 pm

Lessons from Limited

January 19 was the Morningtide prerelease, a tournament I had no intention of participating in. I went to Galleria with a mindset to sell cards. Having quit playing standard, I had no idea what cards were in Morningtide. Suddenly, Marty offered to sponsor me. Sure, I said.

I dislike Lorwyn block. The primary reason for this is the tribal theme. The decks pretty much make themselves. Someone can just say "I want an elf deck." then slap together all the Lorwyn block elves, maybe splash a Futuresight Thornweald Archer, throw in some broken disruption cards, and he'll have a decent elf deck. The player can be a total newbie, and the synergy will still be there because the synergy is built into the tribal cards.

This was the lesson I learned during the Lorwyn prerelease (I went 1-1-2) where I followed my maxim of "Creature kill > Bombs > Evasion creatures > Efficient creatures; Do not be afraid to go tricolor." and turned out a mediocre performance.

This time I would go tribal.

I sorted my cards and started reading each and every one. It took a while. Remember, prior to prerelease I had no idea what the Morningtide cards did. I surveyed my cards and Lo! Behold, I had a Leaf-Crowned Elder.

Broken. If you have the guys to back him up.

Lorwyn monsters like their brothers and sisters, and sometimes they form gangs and take over the drug business in New York City. Unfortunately, the Elder was no Frank Lucas, and had only one or two siblings to be broken with. I counted the tribal in my cards, and by far the most numerous class was "Rogue."

So I gathered all my Rogue cards together, and whittled them down until only the 23 best ones remained. Among them was this guy:

ZOMGWTFBBQ

This card is so broken... it's not even funny. Add a prowl 1B creature with "Whenever a Rogue you control attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +2/+1", three whole Latchkey Faeries, and a truckload of changelings (with deathtouch) and you have a pretty good deck. The prowl mechanic was easy to pull off because of the 1 cc 1/1 fear goblin.

I present to you my (transcribed from memory) UB Sealed Rogues:

Creatures (17)

1 Oona's Blackguard
1 Stinkdrinker Bandit
1 Final-Sting Faerie
1 Nightshade Schemers
2 Prickly Boggart
3 Moonglove Changeling

1 Fencer Clique
1 Slithermuse
2 Grimoire Thief (yes, two!)
1 Mothdust Changeling
3 Latchkey Faerie

Other spells (6)

1 Pack's Disdain
2 Warren Weirding

1 Distant Melody
2 Disperse

Lands (17)

9 Island
8 Swamp

First Match (GRB Treefolk)

Game 1: I get some early 1/1's going and beat with weenies. I draw both Warren Weirdings and watch in satisfaction as he disappointedly sacrifices his lone creature twice. Mid-game he gets a Winnower Patrol that quickly grows and grows, but by this time I have Latchkey Faerie and Fencer Clique out, and get lethal damage in the air.

Game 2: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he manages to power out two Winnower Patrols with the treefolk bannerret. One of them grows to 6/5 at one point and I quickly die.

Game 3: I draw both Warren Weirdings again, but he gets two Winnower Patrols out again and quickly beats me down to single-digit life. Late in the game I am forced to chump block a horde with Nightshade Schemers and Fencer Clique. I block the 1/3 with Clique of instead of the 2/3 and go down to 1 life but keep the Clique alive (no mana to return to library). I wait for Shard Volley to kill me but he just passes the turn. On my turn I topdeck Slithermuse, evoke it, and draw SIX cards. It was ridiculous. I attack and play three blockers for next turn. He shakes his head and concedes; I was lethal on my next turn.

Record: 1-0

Second Match (RG Warriors)

Game 1: I don't clearly remember what happened in this game, but at one point he shard volleyed a Grimoire thief when he was at 3 land and did not play a land for the rest of the game. I wonder why he was so afraid of the Thief.

Game 2: I mull to 6, then later have 6 islands in play with no swamps and a black hand. My only blue spell was Fencer Clique, and even recursion could not keep me alive for long.

Game 3: At one point I prowled three Latchkey Faeries one after the other. I did not even take 1 point of damage in this game.

Record: 2-0


Third match (BW Kithkin)

Game 1: He gets a Bitterblossom out early to chump block my guys. Mid-game Kithkin Zephyrnaut keeps dressing up like a Serra Angel and I quickly die.

Game 2: I mulligan down to five and again have only islands with a completely black hand. Kithkin Zephyrnaut murders me.

This guy was the most annoying opponent of the day. He kept using powerpuff girl dolls as Bitterblossom tokens. He would later beat Anjoy at last Friday's FNM, hahaha.

Fourth match (BGR Treefolk + Warriors)

Game 1: I quickly discover that this guy also runs Winnower Patrol and that he also grows them pretty fast. Luckily I get a large number of Faeries in play and use their Disdain to kill the Patrol. We stay locked for a while but I soon topdeck Oona's Blackguard and Stinkdrinker Bandit one after the other, meaning my rogues are now utterly broken. I soon beat him down.

Game 2: I prowl out Stinkdrinker Bandit on turn two but he Released the Ants on him. It was funny, when he tapped two mana I just shouted "RE-lease! THE Ants!", and turned a few heads. It didn't matter though as I dropped Oona's Blackguard the next turn and started prowling out Latchkey Faeries. At one point he got a Pyroclast Consul into play, threatening death for all my 1 or 2 toughness guys (which means ALL my guys). I play Warren Weirding, and he sacrifices the Consul instead of Fendeep Summoner. Hmm... I guess he had no other elementals in his deck. I know for a fact that he had some other shamans. Strange. Misplay. I win in the air again.

Record: 3-1

All in all, it was a gratifying prerelease tournament. I finished 16th in Flight E, which I'm pretty proud of. Marty got a voucher for three free booster packs, and I got a free Grimoire Thief for my trouble.

What did I learn? Evasion is godly. I also learned that the Rogues class is broken in standard (a lesson the world learned together with me). I also confirmed the lesson I learned during Lorwyn prerelease when Kinsbale Skirmisher beat me down while Nath's Elite sat dead in my hand: in sealed, unlike in draft, run plenty of efficient creatures. Finally, Lorwyn is a tribal block, and the strongest sealed decks are tribal decks.

And now, my social concern for the week: Wizards, give us room for creativity once more please.


BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
February 8, 2008 12:49 am

Shoot me.

Never mind.


BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
January 28, 2008

Mas Tao Sila.

This Ateneo immersion thing really does what it's supposed to do. I'll come away from CRADLE having learned that no, you really can't tell what a person is like by how he looks.

I also learned that there are people in this world and in this country who steal because they have no choice. Not stealing means that your "wife" will die from the seven abortion pills she was made to take. Not stealing means you can't go home to your family. Not stealing means your best friend dies of a gunshot wound.

I also learned that Sir Z's talk of social injustice is not just hot air. The children I met were victims more than anything.

I also realized that I was a real ass for saying that if the Philippines had winter it would solve all our problems by eradicating the poor and homeless.

I know that if I read these things before I would discard them as soon as I read them. Reading about these people never made a difference for me because I never cared. On the rare occasions where I tried to think as if I were in their situation, I did realize that I'd probably do the same thing, but then I would just tell myself that I'm not in their situation and move on. If my past self were to read this blog entry, he would call me a fool.



It's not as if I've changed much. I've just seen more things and listened to more stories. Thes are real stories that haven't been through the media I distrust. They were alsoe told by children.
The oldest was 19 and the youngest 16, but when the discussion was serious they thought and spoke with maturity and depth I can only achieve with effort. The sentence "Mas tao sila." said by Cels during the reflection rang so true to me that it shocked me how much sympathy I felt. "Mas tao sila." is true. During the Group Dynamics I sat there listening while they talked about life "sa loob" and their families and loved ones "sa labas". They sang songs about desperation and forgiveness and friendship and love. They talked about the different treatments of the rich and poor. If we started discussing Final Fantasy XII maybe I could have said something. However, we were talking about real life so I could only ask questions and nod.

"Mas tao sila." is something I would vehemently oppose before immersion. I've lived longer than them. I have experiences too. I've been to school. I think a lot. After immersion I realize that I've never been desperate. I've had a job but I've never had to work. When I talk about school I use the word "survive" incorrectly. I have a good family. I have a good girlfriend. In the past I've used these things to differentiate myself from the juvenile delinquents I read about in the news as much as possible. Now these things in contrast with the kids' stories make their experiences even more vivid. Mas tao nga sila.

The apathy is melted now, but I don't know how long it will last. Right now I'm reflecting on how "going back to daily life" means very different things for these kids and myself. They go back to their cell and worry about their cases. I will again slowly kill myself with fast food and late nights playing computer games.

Changing something is very hard for someone who doesn't need change. Changing society seems too hard, and changing oneself never lasts. What a predicament. Maybe I have to content myself with the awareness that I've gained after all this. These kids were so grown up I couldn't help but grow up a little bit myself. I find myself caring a little bit more and thinking a little bit more. My priorities have shifted a little bit. Undoubtedly the other Ateneans experienced the same. Little by little is the way to go, I guess. Gradually changing people might one day change the world. I cringe as I type these words, but they're getting typed. And in a new way I'm...


BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
January 13, 11:40 pm

The Talk of the Peasantry

To make amends for owning Runas' deck so badly, I have modified this card of his former favorite creature, Mr. Masipag, Mr. Clean. This is also a good opportunity for clarification. Four uncommon cards are allowed in a peasant deck according to our format together with one rare. Only standard-legal cards are allowed and card rarities depend on their current (i.e. standard) rarities. Spark elemental, for example, is uncommon because it is uncommon in Tenth, even if it was common in Fifth Dawn. Timeshifted cards take their rarities from their last printed rarity. Suq'ata Lancer, for example, is common because it was common in Visions.

"Pano yung Chromatic Star?" Chromatic Star was common in Time Spiral then Uncommon in Tenth Edition, both sets standard-legal. I don't know if there is another case like this, but it makes sense to assign to Chromatic Star its rarity on its latest printing, which is uncommon.

Moving on to other things, may dayaan na nga sa Faura, ngayon may nakawan pa. WTF.


BLOGGING FOR WHAT'S RIGHT!
December 15, 2007 9:41 pm