How Addicted is the Iloilo Peeps to Magic: The Gathering

While at work at around 4 o’clock in the morning(I’m in night shift) in front of the PC, a question suddenly came up on my mind. I was just wondering because we were always having tournaments every Saturdays and also doing some fun playtest whenever we have time to go to the Tambayan (shop) and almost seeing Magic cards everyday. I wonder how that influence and affect the other things that we do with our lives. How addicted is my fellow Iloilo players (including myself) and other fans of the game to Magic? I came up with a survey for that question and here are their (and also mine) responses:

Our Tambayan where we held our weekly tournaments.

JayR: I shuffle other playing cards just like shuffling Magic decks. I also play Magic anywhere possible whenever I have vacant time and mostly spend time viewing the cards, decks, strategies, etc online.

Franz: I’m not addicted to Magic: the Gathering. I start my day by “Untapping” myself, go to the bathroom for the “Upkeep” from the night’s sleep. Then I “Draw” water to wash my face. After which, I prepare for the “1st Main Phase” cooked by my lovely mother. Preparing for the “combat Phase” with the rest of the world. Then return home for the “2nd Main Phase”. “Clean Up Step”, and get ready for sleep. “DONE”

John Paul: My characters in online games were named after Magic cards.

Gian: I think about Magic almost in my daily activities. A good example is gorgeous girls named after Angel cards in MTG.

JL: I’m a unifocal type of person. When I play Magic, I focused on that. The same thing goes with the other activities.

Jonathan: I’m not that addicted to the game. When doing other stuff, I think about new deck strategies, especially thinking about new tech for control (lifegain) decks. When I see cute and beautiful gals, I refer to them from the Angels of MTG.

Joseph: I can say that I’m an addict to Magic because I make deck lists during class hours. Hehe…

Mark: I’ve been playing Magic: the Gathering since grade 6 and up until now, I’m fond of it… Now that I am no longer a student, surely I will have the time to further enhance, if I may, my magic skills. Especially now that I can see that more and more players are getting hooked to the game, my passion for magic is stronger than ever. Keep it up guys… cool site by the way… Only in ILOILO…

Mao: My signs of being a Magic addict: Pag naglalaro ako ng pusoy/chess/any game aside from magic with friends, nagsasabi ako ng “done” sabay knock sa table pag tapos na yung turn ko; Napapaginipan ko yung mga future cards ng magic; Na a-arouse ako kapag nakita ko si Serra at Reya (^^); Nakikita ko yung mukha ni Mark Ian Alloso sa “ding2x”..lolz… (WhenI play other card games and chess with friends, I always say “done” with knocking the table after my turn; I dream about what cards to get when buying packs; I get aroused when I see Serra or Reya; and I see Mark’s face on the wall… Just kidding..)

Rei: I’m not yet an MTG addict because I just started playing not too long ago when 10th edition was released. But I seem to like the game very much. As a matter of fact, I already bought many basic lands and 4 mind bends already. I plan to make a deck that uses mind bends to change the color of my opponents’ Teferi’s moat. I hope that my deck would become competitive. If it would, I’m quite sure I’d be an MTG addict in no time. I strive to be like my idol Marco “the Don Juan” Gonzalez.

My early signs of being an MTG addict: 1. Buying many cards (basic lands, mind bend, quickchange, moonlace) 2. Playing against resident champions (Marco “the Don Juan” Gonzalez) 3. Observing great players during a tournament, learning from the best (Marco “the Don Juan” Gonzalez). 4. Reading the rule book almost everyday.

Oliver: Magic is already part of my life, and I am so addicted to it. When I was still in High School we used to skip our classes just to play Magic, how lame! I recall naming my college teachers to some of the Magic Legends and Invasion’s Legendary Dragons depending on how terrifying they are in the classroom. During those days, me and my friends used to have some vocabulary using Magic cards, e.g. Wild Mongrel = Ugly looking, Terror = the fearsome teacher, Angel name like Reya, Serra = Nice and hotty chick in the campus, etc etc… Sometimes as we organized a group study, instead of studying we created decklists and discussed strategies. Lolz… =)

And finally,

Me: I’m that addicted to the game that I ended up calling people code names named after Magic cards. Here are some of the examples:

“Wild Mongrel” – This term refers to not-so-beautiful chatmates or textmates that we will about to eyeball at the mall or any other place. These term is widely used especially when we discovered that our chat or textmate is not what we expected to see. Example, “Ayuga, wild mongrel man to pre, lakats ta ah…” (Oh sh*t, that’s a wild mongrel. Run!!!)

“Timbermare” – I refer this term to our favorite Red Horse Beer due to the “kick” effect after drinking several bottles of it. It is also referred to very beautiful, sexy and flawless women that, in reality, are men. Hahaha…

Legendary Dragon names – We were using these card names as codenames for our “Terror” teachers and professors when we were in college. (Terror was a general term for them. Lol.) A good example is Rorix Bladewing that was referred to Engr. Magbanua, our professor in Mechanics. Other names where Darigaaz, and Crosis. Our other terror professors were also given non-Dragon names like Ichorid, Ixidor (for our prof in Electronics) and Psychatog.

And many more to mention. Hehe…

Another example of me being a fanatic to Magic is that I have all my casual t-shirts printed with designs of Magic products (logos, expansion names, symbols, etc). One last thing to mention of me getting addicted is having this survey and writing this article. Lol…

So there you have it. The results of the survey showed how weird our addiction is and how Magic has influenced our lives here in Iloilo. I guess this has also happened to you, my fellow Magic fans. Lol… Until next time.