sandcoffin

Death

2008-07-23T11:28:00.002+08:00

Just like anything else, death comes and goes unnoticed. A week or so ago, one of my grandma's brothers died. It was weird hearing it, it seemed just like yesterday we were all gathered in my great grandma's house all smiling and laughing, oh yeah she recently passed away too, can't really ask for more than 100+ years. Anyway, its times like these that make you feel the reality of death. Death, it hits you in the face like.. well nothing can hit you in the face as hard as death i guess.

Back when I was younger, not that I'm hella old now, I always thought that I would be ready for death no matter when it came. But as I grow up more, I guess I really don't know anymore. Recently I read two passages about it, and it makes you wonder.. if you could choose how to die, how would you want it? I guess if it were me it'd definitely be protecting my most important person, I wouldn't mind dying for that, or just saving someone, or fighting for a cause. Dying with honor is my greatest dream I guess. I mean what else could a man ask for in his life? But I guess the greatest wish of any dying person would be that he would be remembered, that he had been able to touch people's lives, that people would keep him alive in their hearts, never letting his existence fade away. I remember, at one point, I was thinking.. maybe if I planned to die someday, I'd do it that everyone was mad at me, that they would forget me, like I never existed. I always thought that was the best scenario for death, no one would cry, be affected. One of the few things that make people regret dying is the sorrow it causes the people who care for him isn't it? But of course thinking about it more carefully now, that thought wouldn't make sense

I guess when I die, I wish to be buried on a hill top, or somewhere overlooking a view of a sunset. a dramatic grand view of the setting sun on a simple gravestone. I guess that'd be perfect. Anyway as my philosophy professor always said, man has to die a beautiful death. NEVER ever let death dictate how you go, plan your death and make it a beautiful ending. I wouldn't want to die of old age, or to die of some random sickness and of course of an accident. I guess I would just really want to go in my own way.

Anyway this is just my take on death.

some stuff messing with my head

2007-05-11T01:50:00.000+08:00

There are a lot of things in my head lately. Most of them just there because of the stuff I've been reading, the others things that I brought down on myself. Sometimes I just stop and wonder why people are they way they are and why don't they ever change? Also stuff like how come I'm like this and why the hell aren't I changing?

Well all I can say is that things never change, well at least some things... there are things that we think are gone but are really just there sleeping, waiting for the right time or in fact it may well be the wrong time for it to come out. Also there are somethings we have no control over... things that just can't be directed to the right path. I know this is all crazy, probably some left over ideas I have after reading Civil War (one hell of a great comic book series, kudos to Marvel for that one).

Well I guess these are just random abstract thoughts running amok in my head right now, running and making a mess of things, filling my mind with useless thoughts filling it up, nearly to the brim and maybe even almost overflowing... this probably doesn't make any sense at all, oh well look at the time, its almost 2 o'clock in the morning and here I am writing crappy ideas popping out of my head just because I read that comic book.

Anyway I'm sorry for anyone who bears with me and reads this crap, I guess I have succeeded in wasting hmm about 5 minutes of your time I guess. Thanks to anyone who drops by anyway.

the counter arguement

2007-04-12T23:51:00.000+08:00

the rebutle to the x and y thing, you see my friend an occurence of an X in terms of causality necessarily corresponds to an effect Y. This IS what causality is all about if not and if one X can have multiple occuring Y's and one Y can have multiple X's causing it then what is the difference of this scenario from an independently occuring X and an independently occuring Y happening after X? could it be said that this is indeed causality? This is exactly what it means when I say everything happens by chance.

Causality part 2

2007-03-15T23:08:00.000+08:00

@ osi : the thesis is this, everything happens by chance. Now as for the definition of causality, the principle of causality is the occurrence of a definite effect given a definite cause, meaning there is always an effect given a cause. Now to address your arguments, to consider something as the cause of something the thoughts must be necessarily connected meaning smoke is necessarily where fire is and vise versa. But clearly there are occurrences of fire without smoke. So how are they necessarily connected when one can do without the other? As for your cupboard opening with light flooding in, how in the world is opening a cupboard connected with the light flowing in? If your actually arguing that every cause has an effect of a sort isn't that saying there really is no principle of causality? If anything is possible given a cause then there is only chance that governs these occurrences? You see, the ideas you gave might be true, but aren't always true. Even data of scientists are proven wrong from time to time, have you ever heard of the space shuttles exploding just 13 seconds up the air? and didn't the scientists say that the shuttle was perfectly safe? Why do scientific theories take 300 years of proving before it becomes a law when people are so sure? so in the end isn't causality just a habit of the mind trying to connect various causes to the most common effects they have? clicking the post button will post your comment? please, aren't there occurrences where it fucks up and fails to post? nothing is certain, the idea of causality can only take us as far, but it can never tells us absolute certainty. think about it again, because the causality you say you know is the very reason why we say there isn't causality.

Humian Skepticism, the bane of our existence

2007-03-12T22:24:00.000+08:00

First of all I am creating this post not to harm beliefs but rather to show you an entirely new way of looking at things...
David Hume the philosopher behind this is known for his uncanny consistency with his arguments.
He came to a point that he has become so consistent that we, as people trying to live our lives, could not and can never accept his philosophy, why, you might ask? Well let me give you a little sample of his skepticism, lets start off with a story:

There was this nerd, a super genius nerdy type that was the type who always got 4.0's or straight A's, but being the genius he was, he had this idiotic habit of waiting for exactly 8 o'clock before stepping into the school no matter what time he got there. Now one Monday, at exactly 8 o'clock, he stepped into the school feeling good and refreshed as he always does when doing this, when suddenly exactly 3 seconds after he heard a loud screech and a red car parked near the school gate. He at first paid no heed to such an occurrence thinking it must have been just a coincidence. The next day as he stepped into the school at exactly 8 o'clock feeling good, a red car just screeched and parked near the gate once again, and as he checked the time it was once again exactly 3 seconds after he stepped in. Being the genius he was, he started taking notice of this event. Mysteriously, the exact same thing happened both on Wednesday and Thursday as well this convinced him to consult a friend about it, having only one friend though, he told him of the event and come Friday both he and the friend waited near the gate and at exactly 8 o'clock exactly 3 seconds after he stepped in, the red car once again screeched and parked at the same exact space. Now the question is that Is the nerd causing the red car to stop and park? of course we know that this is an impossibility as the idea of stepping into school and a red car parking are totally different and have no grounds of being a cause and effect argument...

but then what if I then told you that this occurrence is exactly the same as these ideas? namely the following:
cause effect
smoke fire
jumping down a building death
dropping a piece of chalk breakage
universe God

impossible isn't it? well according to David Hume, the ideas we get are simply secondary perceptions that occur in our minds, the first thoughts are what he calls impressions, now for an idea be valid and to have meaning according to Hume, it must be supported by a corresponding impression, these impressions are things which we perceive here in the real world which we later form into ideas. Stop here, think for a second, think about anything that is real and you will see that we do have impressions of where these things were based on. Now here comes the main problem, the Principle of Causality, the very principle responsible for our everyday living and existence does not have a corresponding impression which shows it to us! You see for David Hume, there are 3 things as to where we base our thoughts on causality, these are contiguity (ideas that come next to each other.. e.g. I live in apartment B. Oh! He lives between apartments A and C) , priority in time (Before and After occurrences of the event) and Constant Conjunction (the ideas are joint together). These are all satisfied by the Principle of Causality. But then if thats the case where's the problem you ask? well you see Hume was not convinced by these 3 evidences, he was searching for a fourth factor this was the thought of necessary connection. Now this may sound a bit confusing... they are necessarily connected are they not? well this might be what most people would think, but think about it. When we see smoke there just might be fire isn't it? There is also a chance for there not to be a fire! when someone jumps down a building we think that there will be death, but there is a chance that the person will live and will only suffer a couple of injuries.. even if the event has happened around a million times, the next time could always have a chance of having a different outcome, this therefore shows us that no one cause and one effect can be considered necessarily correct!! But taking it a step further, we come to a conclusion that nothing is certain, that nothing can assure us of anything... this means studying hard won't guarantee an A or a passing mark, as well as breathing can necessarily be connected to living... so then the question becomes what do we live for now?

Please by all means post arguments or comments on this post, the more counter arguments and examples you give the better!

7th in legacy not a bad day considering i slept at 3 am

2006-09-17T09:26:00.000+08:00

2 straight top 8 appearances although this last one didn't require me to go into the playoffs which was an upset since i could've really used the prerel pass. Anyway, i played gobvantage and it was pretty much a blind play since i have no practive with gobs and i have totally no experience playing with these little green men. anyway heres the decklist:

Gobvantage:

Artifacts: 4
4 Aether Vial

Creatures: 29
4 goblin lackey
4 goblin piledriver
4 goblin warchief
4 goblin ringleader
4 mogg fanatic
3 gem-palm incinerator
3 goblin matron
2 siege-gang commander
1 sharp shooter

spells: 6
3 lightning bolt
3 pyrokinesis

lands: 21
4 wasteland
3 bloodstained mire
4 wooded foothills
8 mountain
2 plateau

sideboard:
3 umezawa's jitte
3 pyrostatic pillar
3 disenchant
2 kami of ancient law
2 tormod's crypt
1 scrabbling claws
1 phyrexian furnace

1st round vs Patrick Taleser Mono Blue Winter Orb Lock
game 1:
i play a turn one aether vial, then he counters with force of will and then plays a land then passes the turn, i play a lakey and he doesnt counter thus paving way for my gobli horde.
win
game 2:
i play a first turn lackey he didn't counter gg
win

2nd round vs Joseph Rudio Mono Black jitte deck wins
game 1:
first turn lacky followed by siege-gang followed by warchief n piledriver... gg
win
game 2:
i gem-palmed all his critters he was killed by a piledriver a warchief and a ringleader.
win

3rd round vs Mondu Quiambao CAL
game 1:
I'm one turn away from dealing lethal damage, he top decks a solitary confinement complete with life from the loam backup gg
loss
game 2:
I get him down to 2 but i over committed my goblins and a devastating dreams shooed them all away. He then played 2 roars of the wurm sending me into a world of hurt.
loss

4th round vs Chrysler Chee Salvagers Game
game 1:
i dont get to play much gobs, he rips very early with dark ritual living wish lion's eye diamond, he already has the chromatic sphere in play gg.
loss
game 2:
my gobin hoard was running wild until the 2 gamekeepers found their merry ways to the graveyard and out came a platinum angel and a darksteel colossus i wasn't afraid since mine was a horde and all i had to topdeck was a gem-palm incinerator or a pyrokinesis but for 2 turns it was all fetchlands... gg
loss

5th round vs JT Porter vials affinity w/ berserk
game 1:
i play 1st turn lackey with matching warhief backup and ringleader refills. gg
win
game 2:
he plays alot of early stuff including having a 4/4 ravager, i casted disenchant on the ravager and proceeded the beatdown i was lucky enough that he didn't draw much critters.
win

6th round vs Manuel Parangao Gobvantage splash green
game 1:
a mirror match up, on the first game we both started with an aether vial but as the game proceeded my deck was kind enough to give me enough goblin power to win, and he had a for the win attack moment but then his two piledriers were hit by a split pyrokinesis. hehe gg
win
game 2:
I boarded in the wrong things, i died very quickly.
loss
game 3:
we were both having problems and were both running out of green men to play. i was luck to have top decked a ring leader leading the way into a full goblin assault.
win

final standings: 4-2

anyway a note to self... when playing a tourney the next day get early sleep and plan ahead on what to play hehe i was lucky i chose this over solidarity.

acknowledgement:
thanks to osmond for giving me the vials (but i forgot to get the stps...)
to arvin ang for also playing in the events even if he was playing standard.
to franz lim for moral support and help in the sideboard decisions.
to God for everything.

hehe thats it for know, tune in next time!! hopefully another top 8 report!! thanks for reading. GO TEAM MF!!!!!!!!!

Almost died last night...

2006-09-13T21:23:00.000+08:00

Last night was a scary night, well i was in a bad thinking mood and i stayed up late to watch some anime to lift my spirits. All was well but then at around 11 i thought of sleeping when cooking master boy got me hooked and i stayed awake up until 2 o'clock. And thank God i did, at around two o'clock i smelt something burning, it was the smell of burning plastic and it made me a bit panicky, so i started looking for the source, turns out is the little light my brother decided to kee open beside his bed it had short circuited and it was burning through the plastic casing, after that i opened the door and opened the fan to drive the foul smell away, i couldn't sleep well too cause i was really wondering what would've happened to us if i was already asleep that time. One thing's for sure, no entries will ever be posted here again and well i'd probably be sleeping forever... kinda makes me wonder what it would be like to die... but whew that was a close call....

big breaks near the end of the break, happenings in the new term. (one hell of a long post)

2006-09-12T20:13:00.000+08:00

its been a long time since i've posted anything in this blog. Apparently I've been too lazy to report my last few tournaments since they weren't too good. Recently however, i ranked 5th in a 24k standard tournament, the highest i've ranked so far. I was 1st after the swiss rounds but not everything can go according to plan now can it?

Now I'll get to the details including the decklist later, although i may not remember alot of my match ups but i'll try. Anyway as for the start of the new term, its been pretty good, the profs seem ok except for the returning Dr. Severino Diesto and his OMG-WATS-DAT-SHINY-THING-HEAD he's got. I really really hate that guy damn old gay math prof, although not everyone in the list of profs we got came out the same as who should've been, we're pretty thankful cause most has turned up better than they should be. So far I think i'm gonna have a good term, have to get those grades up to make up for last term. Anyway it also seems that TH classes are gonna rock, and no I'm not talking about our gay flip2 prof's yayanigin natin ang mundo statement (cause thats not something to consider). My TH classes start with the gay prof, he's hella gay but he's not a bad prof since he will be dishing out laughs. Next I've got INTRODB under my belt, we were supposed to have sir Oliver Malabanan but had Mr. Charles Ramos instead this guy is great and he really seems to know what he's talking about, I dont see how i would lose interest in what he's teaching. Last but not the least i've got sir Galo for relstwo, im in the class with franz, fish n tay and well its not bad, only this guy might be a real stiff when it comes to attendance but he seems like the type who can hold your interest for an hour and 30 min so i'm fine with that. And that about sums it up. MWF however pretty much sucks, well not really sucks but its just not as good as TH seems to be anyway I'll leave that for later.

Well talking about the last weekend I had before the term break ended, the last two days really rocked. First off saturday that was the day I ranked 5th in a tourney and not only that, it was the stag party of my cousin's husband to be and well lets just say drinking beer and eating and going to a club was pretty much the story there. It was my first time in a club so the experience was good to me. Now nuf said about that lets get on with the tourney report.

9-9-06 Standard Constructed 24k - Robinsons Galleria

the deck i played as i named it on the deck list is Whie Control but it should have been named as MF Snow white and the 7 dwarves for a more comical approach. hehe anyway heres the deck list:
Artifacts : 3
3 umezawa's jitte

Creatures : 25
4 kami of false hope
4 martyr of sands
4 phyrexian ironfoot (although an artifact i consider creatures as creatures so there)
3 paladin en-vec
3 yosei, the morning star
3 adarkar valkyrie
2 eight-and-a-half tails
2 kami of ancient law

Spells : 11
4 wrath of god
3 proclamation of rebirth
2 faiths fetters
2 shining shoal

Lands : 22
4 scrying sheets
2 ghost quarter
16 snow-covered plains

Sideboard:
1 hokori, dust drinker
1 boseiju
3 samurai of the pale curtain
3 jotun grunt
2 sacred ground
2 ivory mask
3 pithing needle

now this deck was made the night before the tournament, i had a sudden change of mind and lost interest in playing vore. Hence the reason why the sideboard sucks, i mean it IT SUCKS.

anyway i wasnt able to write down the decks my opponents played and i only got a few of their names but here goes anyway.

round 1 vs Jefferson Dacasin Zoo variant
match 1
i beat him down with paladin en-vec and phyrexian ironfoot
win
match 2
he got me down to 5 with random beats, after a well timed wrath of god, i beat him down with yosei and company.

round 2 vs Nick Serafica *i think he's playing 8 stone rain as the deck i saw was a sea stompy spin off.
match 1
I had a very bad draw, the game ended with me having nothing on board
loss
match 2
i gained alot of life with martyr of sands from the beginning and i beat him down with a jitte equipped creature. Jitte Deck Wins
win
match 3
he was down to 8 and i had 17 life, after a lng stand still he see's what forecast proclamation and martyr of sands can do he scoops and hands me the win.
win

round 3 vs Ranier Santiago Sizzettron
match 1
played 2 martyr of sands, gained a grand total of 24 life points, beat him with a paladin with jitte.
Win
match 2
i got beat after he played a keiga and a SSS, dealing 11 damage per turn was just too much.
Loss
match 3
i played a kami and a marytr and proceeded with eraly beating, a jitte came afterwards and thats where it ended.

round 4 vs Marcel Zafra *i cant remember
all i know was that i lost the 1st match and won the next two. I really cant remember what i fought...

i ID'd the next two rounds *ID = intentional draw
record after swiss rounds 4-0-2

top8 first round vs Solar Flare * i wasn't able to get the name
match 1
i had an early up 24 life advantage thanks to the martyr. the game dragged on to his favor especially after a few rounds when he had a yosei, kokusho and an angel of despair in play. iafter an attack i was down to 3 life and had a jitte with 2 counters on board. on the draw i top decked a wrath of god and after gaining 4 life i proceeded to cast the wrath. leaving me with 2 life and him with 24. after a few turns of standstill i got the upperhand and beat him with a valkyrie with a jitte and had the proclamation maytr combo to boot.
win
match 2
this was very one sided as i was completely manhandled due to the amount of zombifies he drew.
loss
match 3
now i lost this round due to a misplay and i really regret it. I had a valkyrie and an eight and a half tails and when he casted wrath i did not tap the valkyrie to keep the eight and a half tails leaving me dead. damn

anyway final standing : 5th

Acknowledgement:
To fish for playing along side me, having a team mate playing in the same tourney can lift your spirits and ofcourse for bringing me there and to metrowalk after.
To mau for telling me the proclamation of rebirth combo with martyr of sands and kami of false hope. You really should be playing thanks dude!
To osi for the other deck components especially the snow covered ones. No im not pointing out the snow covered player thing its just that the sheets and the valkyrie really sealed the deck.
To God for everything.
To my hat for keeping me focused.

anyway that does it for now. until the next tourney! tnx for reading.

OMGWTFHORSEYBIRD 9th

2006-07-30T23:42:00.000+08:00

Holy shit for the 2nd time, this time i was playing in a group of 162 people. All for the glory of trying to qualify for the nationals this coming August 19-20. I don't know how many people will end up reading this tourney report but hey i might as well.

Legend:
Beach house
*see previous post

Fungus Fire
basically this deck is R/G/W and has quite a good mana acceleration plan, it kills pretty fast using godo, the bandit lord and fetching an umezawa's jitte or a tatsumasa. It also packs alot of life gain spells such as lighting helixes and loxodon heirarchs.

U/G/W aggro
*see previous post, this was the same kid, the one who played Grand Arbiter Agustine VI

Sizzetron
This deck basically plays control, it uses the urza lands for great mana production and uses big beatdown creatures like Simic, Sky Swallower and spells like Demon Fire for the kill.

RG beats
Basically traditional RG beats, burning tree shaman, dryad sophisticates, moldervine cloaks and the likes.

Azorious Control Aggro
this deck was very unique i never really saw what it had in the main board but posst board this deck packs azorious guildmages and keigas. it also has a number of counters.

White Weenie
Isamaru, Savannah lions, Glorious Anthems, Devouring light and the likes.

Selesnya/ enduring Ideal
This deck struck me weird, having Heirarchs and Yosei's for beats and uses an Enduring ideal side combo.

Now for my deck
HeartbeatSSS

Mainboard is same as it was in the previous post*

SideBoard
3 Carven Caryatid
2 Simic Sky Swallower
3 Giant Solifuge
1 Crime / Punishment
1 Boomerang
4 Vinelasher Kudzu
1 Meloku, The Clouded Mirror

Round 1 vs Brian Lim BeachHouse
Game 1
i get a god draw, turn 5 rips heartbeat combo, Maga for the win.
Win
Game 2
I side in the manplan, and have an early giant solifuge that beat him to 12, then he was able to recover with loxodon heirarchs, but i was able to counter that playing 2 Simic Sky Swallowers which gave me the edge i needed to beat him down.
Win
Current Standing: 1-0-0

Round 2 vs Von Carriga Fungus Fire
Game 1
He gets to have godo with a jitte swinging at me once, leaving me with 10 life, then i rip the combo, maga for the win.
Win
Game 2
he drops down 2 heirarchs and a helix having him at 31 life, and beats me down, was not able to draw any accel.
Loss
Game 3
he gets me to mulligan to 5, and i dont get my combo pieces, he was again able to drop down those heirarchs leaving me with nothing but death.
Loss
Current Standing: 1-1-0

Round 3 vs Brian Uy U/G/W aggro
Game 1
He gets to 32 life with 6 jitte counters. I rip Maga for hell.
Win
Game 2
This I lost due to a miscalculation of moves.
Loss
Game 3
No time left for this game to happen.
Draw
Current Standing: 1-1-1

Round 4 vs Emerson Noblefranca Sizzettron
Game 1
I ripped after he tapped out casting a Simic, Sky Swallower. again Maga For the Win.
Win
Game 2
I played the man plan, and had an early Kudzu, It went all the way after I countered his Repeal with muddle the Mixture. the Kidzu was i think 7/7 and beat him to death.
Win
Current Standing: 2-1-1

Round 5 vs Neil Egalla R/G beats
Game 1
I went down to six, luckily this guy did not have faith in Burn Spells. I ripped the combo on him. Maga FTW.
Win
Game 2
I lost to an early beating by burning tree Shamans and family.
Loss
Game 3
He again dropped me to 6 life, I was able to play my combo with the cards I had at my hand and won then.
Win
Current Standing: 3-1-1

Round 6 vs Benjamin Tagayuna Azorious Aggro Control
Game 1
We played a stalling game me thinking he had counters the whole time. I dropped the combo on him with us both having 20 life. He didnt have counters giving me the Maga win.
Win
Game 2
I played a half baked manplan. He played an azorious guildmage, then out tapped for a keiga after I played vinelasher kudzu twice coz of remands and had it condemned. Then played a Giant Solifuge to which he dealt with with keiga. Unfortunately the turn he played keiga down and was at 16 life, I ripped my combo. Maga FTW.
Win
Current Standing: 4-1-1

Round 7 vs Jonathan Samaniego White Weenie
Game 1
he attacked me with a hand of honor twice, first alone then the second time with jitte. giving him 2 jitte counters. I ripped the combo then and left his 24 life cold. Maga for the win.
Win
Game 2
he had a god draw even after drawing one less. he casted an Isamaru followed by 2 Savannah Lions and then a glorious anthem killing me in a matter of 4 turns.
Loss
Game 3
I had switched to a half baked manplan, and was able to play a Simic Sky Swallower for the beat down. I did play a well timed Savage twister dealing with his little 2/2 friends.
Win
Current Standing 5-1-1

Round 8 vs Lorenz Cortezo Selesnya/ Enduring Ideal
*I accidentaly spat in his face before the round, like a drop of saliva hit him in the face. Probably ticked him off especially when I gloriously declined his offer to just give him the match haha FAT CHANCE!!*
Game 1
He was up 3 when I ripped the combo on him. Maga was able to do the trick just fine.
Win
Game 2
He had 2 heirarchs getting him upto 28 life. It was a tough one. and when I pulled the maga in he was left with 6 life, he was however able to confiscate the damned thing and I lost to a 22/22 monster of a maga.
Loss
Game 3
He was at 28 and I simply ripped the combo at him, he wasnt able to respond and I get to win this one.
Win
Current Standing: 6-1-1

OverAll: I played a good tournament and won alot. I ended up at 9th out of 162 players. I guess my ratings are going up but still not to qualilfy despite being so damned close to doing so crushes me. Oh yeah I promised myself one thing here. Before rounds 7 and 8 I prayed and said I definitely will stop being an atheist if I win both rounds so i guess I will have to live up to that. Atheist no more. But hell that dude up there has a way of getting to me, getting me at 9th damn it. He really is a pretty shrewd guy. Anyway that was another edition of Heartbeatsss at the qualifiers. Thanks for reading =)

rats...

2006-07-27T23:17:00.001+08:00

just a while ago i had a mouse in my room, and yeah i still freakin do, its weird, you know some times i think mice have ghastly powers, its weird when they just disappear on you. I know i have good eyesight and little movements really catch my eye, but for some reason when its a mouse you see it climb but you dont see it go to another position. just a little while ago, i saw the mouse climb up the red metal table i had in front of the tv, when i got near it to see where exactly it is it went poof on me, and its not koko krunch this tym. what the hell is with these mice anyway? how do they do that? do mice have somesort of special technique in moving so fast that it goes without being seen? and i don't know if u guys have noticed how no one talks bad about mice? well at least here in the phil, they believe these mice, when you talk badly of them, they will fill your clothes with holes. i mean wtf man!? and they are really very convinced about this too. I told my mom and maids i didnt believe that crap and they were laughing at me, they said that i'd believe when my clothes get holes... i mean what the hell is that about? mice have this special grudge filled brains that one bad statement about them they run amok chewing ur clothes? man! no wonder men have a bad history with mice, with beliefs like that, who could blame the mice for having such a bad image! well mice are kinda smart though too, the damned thing just sniffed at the sticky paper and avoided it completely!!! it seems like they knew what the hell it was!! hmm pretty sneaky, and now it resides at the back of my tv!!! And so that ends my blog entry.

crushed...

2006-07-23T21:24:00.000+08:00

This one is the highest i've ever placed in a standard tournament, I know I should be happy but I'm not, on the contrary I'm crushed... I fell 2 places short on getting to the top 8 and the chance for a national qualifier invite... but before I give my report, here's a brief background on the decks I faced and on how my deck works... nyway here goes

Legend:

BeachHouse
B/W/G

This deck basically uses green for mana accel and the black/white colors for the control, it uses a number of beat down creatures like loxodon heirarch, kokusho and yosei. yosei being the main control component as well, spells like castigate and wrath of god is used to control the board while increasing the mana base to set up for the kokusho kill.

ZOO

W/G/R

This deck is pure aggro. it uses alot of low casting cost creatures to give the enemy an early beating while packing alot of burn spells that finish the job when the creatures have been dealt whith. It also packs multiple spells with life gain effects such as lightning helix, umezawa's jitte and loxodon heirarchs.

U/G/W aggro

This is a rogue deck. this was a deck a kid was playing, apparently its a self built simic deck which uses fast simic beatdown creatures such as trygon predators and uses elvish pipers to plop down a hopefully early simic sky swallower. the thing about this deck was he packed those wretched Grand Arbiter Agustine VI instead of void slimes in his main deck. This causes disruption but not enough to really lock down the enemy, anyway thats about it for this one.

B/W/G aggro

Almost the same as the 1st one only this one does not use yosei and friends, or I just never saw them, this deck plops early threats and uses that damned okina gang shinobi to rape the opponent's hand, it uses birds of paradise for accel instead of spells and is really a more aggressive version of beach house, this deck does not play the waiting game. its more of a modern day rock.

U/G aggro

This deck is intruiging, it is built like the fish decks in vintage, it uses counters and the ninja of deep hours to tackle the enemy while drawing cards. I really didn't get to see much of this deck so can't say much about it.

U/R/G aggro

This deck is a mixture. It uses low casting cost creatures like zoo, but has counters and less cheese. It wins with umezawa's jitte and with the efforts of untargetable and/or unblockable
it kills pretty well.

And for my deck:

Heartbeat combo:
colors: U/G/r/b

here's a complete decklist, if you know magic you can get a few ideas from this decklist on how it plays if not i will be writing a brief explanation on how it works so just skip to that if this isn't familiar to you

Main deck:
Artifacts:
4 sensei's divining top

Creatures:
4 drift of phantasm
4 sakura tribe elder
1 maga, traitor to mortals

Enchantments:
4 heartbeat of spring

Instants
4 muddle the mixture
4 remand
4 early harvest

Sorceries:
1 weird harvest
1 invoke the firemind
4 kodama's reach
1 savage twister
1 recollect

Lands:
10 Island
10 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Swamp

Sideboard: (the manplan) *as I will be calling it from here on after
2 meloku the clouded mirror
2 keiga, the tide star
1 umezawa's jitte
3 giant solifuge
4 vinelasher kudzu
2 savage twister
1 boomerang

how it works:
Basically we get to 6 or more mana, six being the minimum number of lands needed to rip the combo. Cast heartbeat of spring which double mana production, use transmute to get weirdharvest, (muddle the mixture is the card transmuted) then untap using early harvest, cast weird harvest grab the drifts of phantasm and transmute to more heartbeats and more earlyharvests and maga ftw. For the man plan just beat his ass with fatties, or in kudzu's case a would be fatty.

so now with the tourney report:

round 1 vs Carlo Barcellano BeachHouse
Game1: he casted a phyrexian arena, and started on the card advantage, unfortunately for him i was able to rip with 6 mana.maga FTW.
win
Game2: this time he was having a bad draw, he casted 2 phyrexian arenas and was simply waiting for the combo. Unfortunately this time I went with the man plan and my giant solifuges finished him up with a solid 8 damage down the gut.
win
current standing: 1-0

round2 vs Rexel Tenorio Zoo
Game1: he played an early jitte and a kami of ancient law which spelled trouble for me, i had enuf lands to rip but thought the kami had to go first, this was a misplay as i was down to 8 life when I savage twistered the hell out of the kami, he casted a char and a helix during my end of turn and casted a confident solifuge to finish me off.
loss
Game2:I had a bad draw and couldn't get any mana acceleration on the board, he had a god draw and beat me to pulp, very one sided match.
loss
current standing: 1-1

round3 vs Brian Uy UGW rogue aggro
Game1: This was the kid I was talking about, he played a trygon predaetor early and had a Grand Arbiter on the next turn i waited for 8 mana and ripped the combo on him, even if my spells were mostly 4cc now I was able to pull it off.
win
Game2: He sided in some voidslimes, which really spelled trouble, lucky for me he had to mulligan to 5 or so I think, he had mana problems and while I had 8 he had only 4, his misplay was when he out tapped for an arbiter, I again was able to pull of the combo feeding one fat maga all of his 22 life points.
win
current standing: 2-1

round4 vs Alfrie Romanes BWG aggro
Game1: This match was on from the beginning, he casted a birds of paradise and and later raped my hand with okina gang shinobi it was a one sided match from there.
loss
Game2: I sided in my man plan. he was beat up by my 8/8 vinelasher kudzu. It was my turn to go aggro.
win
Game 3: This has got to be my worst win ever. I had him almost dead, with a vinelasher kudzu inplay with matching jitte, he couldnt get anything out, and when he does it usually got killed by the jitte, after a while I thought I could combo my way out, yeah this time it was a hybrid. As I did however, I realized I didn't have the weird harvest in the deck and I screwed myself an assured win, fortunately tho, he casted a heirarch and a stomping sumthing, during his turn using all of his nine mana forgetting heartbeat was already inplay. I had to refuse to give him the liberty to rewind his actions costing him 9 life points wasted to mana burn. I then swung my kudzu the next turn he double blocks it and both of his critter die, as well as my kudzu. next turn i top deck a solifuge giving me the win.
win
current standing: 3-1

round5 vs Anthony Galano U/G aggro
Game1: He pays 4 life to the duals, he out taps in one time casting a creature, I had 6 mana, combo ripped. Maga for the win again.
win
Game2: he had a few early creatures and so did I. I switched to man plan and had 2 kudzus inplay in no time and were beating him up. He did little to combat the two kudzus.
win
current standing: 4-1

round6 vs Jerome Santos Zoo
Game1: I ripped my combo hoping to topdeck a muddle the mixture or a weird harvest but to no avail. I lost due to the lack of card advantage and due to that misplay, I was beat up by his creatures.
loss
Game2: He was down to 14 life, I ripped the combo, him being over enthusiastic casted two helixes, i sent one back in his hand and allowed the other one to resolve taking him back to 17 life. I ripped and casted maga for the win.
win
Game3: I had the combo pieces in my hand, but he had the early damage advantage, he had me at 3 life when i attempted to rip the combo, unfortunately for me however just as i was about to cast weird harvest, he responds with a char, with me having no counters at hand i lose...
loss
current standing: 4-2

round7 vs Jayson Ramos U/R/G aggro
Game1: He had early creatures on board, a kird ape, a dryad sofisticate and an isamaru if i'm not mistaken, after getting me to 8 life, I rip on the next turn, casting a huge invoke the firemind to win me the game.
win
Game2: He sided in alot of counters for me, unfortunately the man plan was yet again in action. after having a 4/4 vinelasher kudzu and a keiga in play his lifetotal gets dropped to with his jitte having only 2 counters and him only having a kird ape and 3 lands on board to go along with it. He doesn't equip the jitte which really surprises me, and just passes the turn, on my turn I attack with the keiga and the kudzu, he blocks the kudzu and uses a jitte counter to drop my keiga down to 4 power and casted a char using a shivan reef dropping his lifetotal to 4 i counter the char with muddle the mixture and keiga wins the game.
win
current standing: 5-2

Now there was a 30 minute or so break while i was constantly shaking being in 14th place at the time hoping just hoping to be able to get into the top8. unfortunately however i end up at 10th. anyway that was a long tourney report. hope u guys enjoyed reading it. I will be playing at yet another qualifiers tournament and I do plan to really qualify next time. thanks for reading.

Mike Ongkeco's last tourney, a sad day for vintage... tourney report

2006-06-25T21:00:00.000+08:00

It was one hell of a ride, vintage players flocked the tourney scene for the last tournament at Mike's place. I came into the tournament expecting an oath and fish filled meta.. I was wrong, DEAD WRONG. I started looking at what cards i brought that i could use as sideboards and i found out i had nothing ready for the most dominant red deck running rampant on the scene, FCG!!! After months of playing and not seeing the deck win in the tourney I face a meta FLOODED with FCGs. Anyway lets start the report.

Round 1
Victor Corpuz - FCG(foodchain goblins)

Match 1:
turn one tropical island done, he played a mountain done, then i played brainstorm eot, (i drew crap, crap and oh look! crap) he played a piledriver on turn two and started swinging then on.. this was not a good match up

result:L

Match 2:
He activated foodchain and the cycle began, but that was after i beat him to six with a flying rootwalla. Unfortunately, my moment's peace lasted only 2 turns, and i drew nothing to stop the onslaught.

result: L

Round 2
Lauren de Jesus (my cousin)- gifts belcher

Match 1:
let me put it this way, Mox sapphire, Mox emerald, Black Lotus and *drum roll.... tinker, COLOSSUS. (see that period? yep PERIOD)

result: L

Match 2:
played an early trygon predator with esg. swung to kill the mox sapphire, proceeded to beat down with a basking rootwalla

result: W

Match 3:
turn one he played a fetch land and said done. I played a tropical island, eot he sac'd the fetch, i stifled it and after removing one and paying a life to FOW i followed up the stifle with a well played daze. (this was him playing from a mul to 5 hand) i quickly played a waterfront bouncer followed up by a wild mongrel and continued the beatdown.

result: W

Round 3
John Aries Dominguez - Fish (WGU with slivers as base)
(not sure kung tama un name and un spelling ng name)

Match 1:
i played the usual UG madness plays, countered a few spells and had jitte on a creature, (we flew with wonder YAY!)

result: W

Match 2:
first turn basking rootwalla and then played aquamoeba and then jitte and then... after a few turns of attacking, (slivers couldnt match up to them).

result: W

Round 4:
Mondu Quiambao - FCG (again and this IS MONDU)

Match 1:
turn one lotus, mountain, foodchain, me turn 1, bounced foodchain, next turn he played a recruiter with me drawing crap the next turn, foodchain goes off, i die instantly.

result: L

Match 2:
played wiled mongrel, played jitte, Wild Mongrel + Jitte = ? (Naulol na aso)

result: W

Match 3:
i played mongrel again with jitte, but this time he had foodchain in play, i tried to play him with a 3rd turn chill, but then a well timed emerald charm ended my dreams of winning, after a blink of an eye, i was facing a horde of gobs after another blink, i was dead.

result: L

Round 5:
Ryan Payabyab-Landstill (fully powered na landstill parin... BADUY!!)

Match 1:
got beaten up an early tinker colossus need i say more?

result: L

Match 2:
mongrel, aquamoeba, rootwalla aggro! yehey!!!

result: W

match 3:
got locked by crucible strip mine after a long tym of waiting with standstilll, when it ended i had nothing on my side of the board, with me being down to one, I proceeded to rfg an esg producing one green as the phase ended, HARAKIRI, apparently isnt any better than getting killed by the other guy, the fact is ur still dead.

result: L

final standings 18th, 2W-3L

haay next vintage will be the time for budget stacks!!

*while I can still breathe, I will keep trying... after all its al a learning experience, falling down is alright, just don't get up empty handed.

VINTAGE FOREVER!!

a new resolve

2006-05-29T15:14:00.000+08:00

haaay after 2 days of acting like a fool... i've come to realize what needs to be done... i've been a fool one hell of a fool... anyway my thoughts seem to have been clouded by the endless thinking and listening to mp3s... now... i've come to a descision, i have no reason to be sad, or to be bothered by it well not by the way it was stopped.. from now on i'm ok

patience too has its limits.. take it any further and its cowardice...

2006-05-27T22:55:00.000+08:00

wow... this statement hit me... i guess i am a coward... patience... I've always thought that having an unlimited amount of patience was something that was ideal and that no one had it because it was almost impossible to attain... but i guess when an impatient person like me becomes this patient I was simply fooling myself into thinking that.. and that I was simply running away.. afraid of the outcome of my actions.. afraid of everything...

The heart may freeze or it can burn

The pain will ease if I can learn

There is no future

There is no past

I live this moment

As my last

There's only us

There's only this

Forget regret

Or life is yours to miss

No other road

No other way

No day but today

~RENT

another one that hit me... but i guess life isn't gonna get easier... nor is it getting less complicated... to learn from past faults... its my only way out... I do have to keep one thing clear in my mind... I have no regrets... I don't regret having what little time I spent with her... ofcourse I guess if only I knew.. then I would have done things differently.. but every moment is treasured and life must go on... and although sadness has taken root... and love has yet again strayed me into another lonely road... I must walk on... just live on... until I can get back.. and live it out again...

When someone smiles... there are usually 2 types... one is that its a genuine smile that just embraces you with its warmth... the other is a cold and painfull smile... one that just leaves you cold... but theres always the third one... where it may seem genuine... but its just a way to hide it all...

its funny... how a smile affects those seeing it... how it can be misleading and cold yet to others hopeful and warm....

its funny... how when everything settles.. you can't help but smile and laugh... when inside you cry and suffer....

its funny... how blissful madness seems to be... how it seems to be the best way out but in truth its just getting into it more...

its funny.... how I laugh when I am really crying inside...

patience too has its limits.. take it any further and its cowardice...

One in me

2006-05-27T09:27:00.000+08:00

I just cant stop the pain
that your beside me, yet so far away
I'm holdin on to these lies that even that one day you'll be my prize
It's like wishin on the star that i know will never be mine
i cry and cry whenever that star isn't there to shine
so now i tell my heart before i lose my mind that i dont have you baby..

hey im here for you
and you just dont seem to care
but im here to stay and forever baby
and i'd be here in your arms
hopin that someday you'll see me
find the one in me

how i wish that you know (what I keep inside)
even just a bit of me i can show
coz i'm dreamin' of you everynight
hoping that someday you'll be by my side
and now its killin' me this fantasy's been blowin up my head
and i just wanna wake up
but here i fall there back again
so i might as well believe that your the only one for me yeah...

and i just cant get out you out of my head
i'd build the hurt all over again
coz i know you wont be mine
but keep it up this time
that your the only one for me
pap parara pa.. pap parara pa.....

just open your heart
will you ever see the love the love in me

when your chest feels light with a piercing feeling twisting through it...

2006-05-26T20:17:00.000+08:00

Its been a long time coming... I guess I have somehow prepared myself for this... I guess thats why I feel the way i feel now... right now... no heaven can compare to the ease this brings my heavy chest... yet no hell can ever compare to the twisting pain that's stabbing me through the heart... what went wrong and what didn't go right is still in question... the only good thing is that no doors have been closed and no windows have been barred... I once wrote a story... one about a gardener and his angel.. I guess that story has come back to haunt me once more. I am the gardener and I've tried with all my might to plant a rose with an angel... i guess it did bud.. but it never bloomed... now its just there planted and frozen... devoid of all the beauty and color it could have had... winter that has never come in my garden before and even though i have lost a rose once... never has it snowed here.. it feels cold... and the bud that I have panted with an angel has frozen. Life isn't what it is... and it isn't what its supposed to be...

alot of things have happend and I guess I'm just not ready and neither is she... this is I guess what we're supposed to be... I guess this is when cowards pull the trigger... this is when man is weakest and closest to madness... I have been here before... but never have I fallen into it... madness taunts me.... darkness calls me... sadness embraces me... pain is bursting from within me... yet oddly and painfully a smile must grace my face.... and happiness has to cover me up...

This is me.... this is how i feel... a huge weight lifted from my chest.. while a piercing pain replaces it... this pain, a dagger through the heart... piercing and twisting... as blood gushes out to meet tears from my smiling face...

after a long tym....

2006-05-18T22:23:00.000+08:00

after a long tym of not posting anything... here i am again... this time the reason for this is for my usual ranting spree... let me put it down quite simply... i just had an argument with my rents... those guys just cant get simple things... there i was in their room trying to get some stuff and was gonna do stuff for dad when my mom asked me sumthing and when i answered back she didn't like the tone and boom she was shouting... i mean HOW THE HELL IS IT POCBLE FOR A NORMAL HUMAN BEING TO ANSWER A QUESTION WITHOUT A TONE??? so that was the first encounter.. i lefft the room and made my merry way back to my room... aftr a while i went back to get a charger for the cell and to ask my dad if i could borrow his cel since he had 3 and i just needed one for the night when HE screamed at me!!!! I MEAN WHAT THE HELL??? he asked me why i answered that way... I WASN'T ANSWERING IN ANY OTHER WAY THAN NORMAL!!!! HOW does one who needs sumthing say that he needs that something??? don't we usually put a tone in it??? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM!!!!!!????!?!?! haaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy i just hate it... goddammit and i have to deal with it tom too... i have to go to the office to get a check for my enrollment damn.. nyway that was a good rant...

one of my worst idle days....

2006-04-27T00:33:00.000+08:00

i woke up this morning with oe hell of a head ache, i don't know why but the head ache wouldn't let me sleep, apparently it wouldn't go away either. anyway that was how the day started, it looked pretty good since i didn't have to go to the office, but things got worse the head ache became too much that i had to take a ponstan fast relief to get me through the day. (its the same ponstan that helped me get through those games of dota) i'm thankfu for it it made me forget about the head ache for a couple of good hours.. too bad though since around 10 onwards my head was aching again... i think its settling down but damn.. why the hell won't it go away?? anyway its 12:36 now and i'm officially in a whole new day.. my head still hurts a bit and i really can't sleep... damn i guess thats why i'm writting this..

anyway the past week was pretty good, except for the prerelease.. i lost... to a girl.. i guess wearing the "from this angle you suck" shirt does not work when i'm against girls. after all its the 2nd tym this has happend to me.. anyway it was a bad thing but i'm pretty determined now ad i think i'm gonna be a bit more competitive come this sunday. haay team mf rules!!

ps. special cogratulations to arvin ang for beating JT in the prerelease tourney!!! kudos to you dude!!!

well thats it for this update... damn head still aching...

my laptop just died AGAIN!!!!

2006-04-12T11:18:00.000+08:00

haaay after almost a year of bugs, reformating and a whole lot of other stuff... my laptop has just apparently died... IT WON'T EVEN TURN ON ANYMORE!!!!!!! so i was reformatting the damned thing then prrrfffffttttt........... it died it just died.... i guess it over heated, well who could blame it??? the fan hadn't been working for a while now and well it always stops turning after the first 30 min of usage.. so there i think im gonna give them a runfor their money for this one.. anyway i'm here at my dad's office typing away at my bro's desknote, haaay it sux not to have a laptop... but i guess it sucks more to have a lemon dammit!!! factory defect!!!!! NEO sux!!!!!

one of my better days... OH YEAH!!!!

2006-04-10T20:27:00.000+08:00

As the day started, I woke up to find myself running late on a 10 o'clock appointment with my engltwo partner, i woke up and said to myself... anmath1 course card today... and i'm not feeling particularly lucky... so i went on with the day, and when i finally arrived at dlsu at around 10:40, i printed the final paper and went on to meet my partner, we passed the paper and proceeded to look for people. (yeah yeah I proceeded to look for let =P) anyway we met robert, lorraine, joan on the way so we decided to have lunch (at around this time we were lucky enough to have bumped into let) and proceeded to the usual tambay-sa-south-gate-can't-decide-where-to-eat routine after 15-30 min or so we decided to eat at wendy's YAY!! so we went there and i ate the weirdest combo ever... rice with spaghetti with a burger?!?! that ain't right... apparently the person over the counter wasn't smart enough to tell us that a honey barbeque chicken was a burger... and so we ordered extra rice for joan since that was what she was eating... and so finally it was 1:30 pm anmath course cards were up... and at around 2-3 our prof conviniently met us outside the math dep... my heart was racing... we went into the room... and i saw my finals and OMFG 49!!! I needed a 57!!! (at this point heart stopped racing and i sank lower than a snake's belly button) and then... after a long wait since she still had to cater to her intsta101 students (did i get that right? the course code..) anyway she finally turned to us anmath peoples and lo' and behold!!! 1.0 yeah... thats right 1.0 ONE POINT ZERO!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wahahahaha it was definitely one of my better days!!!! and then just as we were about to leave.. we spent two hours on a bench and chatted the afternoon away :D yep one of my better days... YEAH!!!!

The last freakin` hurdle...

2006-04-07T20:50:00.000+08:00

well tomorrow is the last day of the third term!! weeee after that its a month of summer. as weird as it may be, i dont think i like having a summer this year... after all 1 month is a very long time.. and i guess i'm just the type that misses people alot. hehe yeah alot of you guys get it already... anyway here i am at my desk typing away at a post that isnt really relevant when i should be studying anmath hehe i guess this is all normal for me anyway. haaay i got a 3.5 on INTRODS too, course cards came out early, i am a bit disappointed though i wanted a 4.0 on that sbjct hehe but i guess for not studying for the finals and mostly emptying my shotgun on that test and getting a 3.5 to boot aint all that bad! hehe well i guess thats enough for now, got to get back to RO... i mean anmath... damn RO is killing me hehehe

OBJECTP aftermath...

2006-04-05T19:57:00.000+08:00

just finished taking the OBJECTP finals, I need at least a 60 to pass at least i think, it wasn't that bad but i'm not saying it was a complete success too. I guess i can just hope that i did well enough hehe. Nyway i spent the whole friggin after noon asleep hehe you can never have enough sleep. :D hehe INTRODS test tom.. i don't think i'd be studying anytime soon.... hehe off to play ball now, hehe gotta waste all the energy i got from sleeping hahaha.

Balls bouncin' but nothings happening...

2006-04-04T23:10:00.000+08:00

1st post in my blog woot! haha its been quite a while though since I made this blog. Sand Coffin hmmm Naruto madness... hehe. Anyway its been quite the year, a whole school year's almost over.. I've got a final exam on OBJECTP tomorrow and here I am.. scribbling BS on my blog haaayyy... College has been quite a ride, frankly life is really tougher and a whole lot more complicated.. anyway proxy tournament rule!! made it to second place due to a really bad match up with a grimlong combo! Marcel... turn 2, turn 3 combos... its not right haha nyway had a fun time playing although my finals paper didn't come out right because of it head ached after the tourney. haha well thats it for the 1st post gotta get back on OBJECTP gotta pass....