Sorry, it seems like you're not the only seller who has been ripped by these guys.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=84039

No offense intended, but why would anyone in their right mind mail $1,200 worth of cards to someone they don't know very well?!  Especially when that someone lives in another state appx. 1,400 miles away. 

There's really no practical recourse in this instance other than complaining to the Magic community.  The FBI has much much bigger fish to fry.  Maybe you could get one of those daytime TV judge shows to take the case.

Bridgewater, MA

Every Saturday at 1pm

Scholar's
34 Central Square
Bridgewater, MA 02324
(508) 279-1712

Entry fee only $3.00

Prize is store credit

I would definitely like to play. 

What is the format?  I prefer 5X5 roto substituting OBP for Batting Average.
Pitching categories:  Wins, Saves, WHIP, ERA, Strikeouts
Hitting categories:  OBP or Avg, Runs, Home Runs, RBI, Stolen Bases

Does anyone have an approximation on the P3K print run?

crystalkeep.com does not estimate any set after Urza's Legacy.

For comparison, here are the earliest runs (# of cards, in millions) estimated by crystalkeep:

Alpha 2.6
Beta 7.8
Unlimited 40
Arabian 5
Antiquities 15
Legends 35
The Dark 75
---------------------
Revised 500
Fallen Empires 350-375
Ice Age 500
Homelands 220
Alliances 180

I have tested Maxxmatt's 4cc.  The improved mana base is very resilient in the face of non-basic hate.  

I ran 2 EE main and found them to be very useful for removing welders, oaths and moxen.  Platinum Angel and Cranial Extraction did nothing for me in testing, and I cut those cards.  This version of 4cc performs well enough against combo without Plats & CE.

Tinker/Colossus is a great path to victory unless your opponent runs Welder or STP (or both, in 5/3 builds.)

Tog or any other deck running Intuition was a problem matchup.  An early Intuition overwhelmed 4cc.  Intuition is much stronger than Cunning Wish right now.  I have not tested Gifts Ungiven at all.  Therefore, I am unable to comment intelligently on its use.

Cutting red entirely would severely weaken sideboarded games vs. blue-based control as you lose access to REBs.

As Maxxmatt alluded to in earlier posts, the problem with running Duress is that either your turn 1 Underground Sea is vulnerable to strip/waste or you must wait until turn 3 to get 2 blue up for Drain.

Presently 4cc must sacrifice speed for the sake of a stable manabase.  This delay does not allow it to expoit its powerful tools as effectively as one would like.

MaxxMatt:  What is your sideboard plan vs. Control Slaver?  You imply here that CoWs are left in.  Most builds I come up against are stocked with basic lands and Darksteel Citadel.  While CoWs recurring fetches would certainly help with the land race, are they worth keeping post board just for that purpose?

I've found REBs and removal for Welder to be most effective in this matchup.  R&R/Disenchant do not disrupt Control Slaver's strategy enough to justify siding them in.  What would you cut from the main in order to side in your answers?

I'm hypothesizing -2 CoW, -1 Mind Twist, -1 Decree(assuming you run 2) +3 REB +1 F/I  What do you think?

Genesis' ability is a trigger during upkeep.  It is not an activated ability.

Therefore Interdict, Bind and Squelch all do nothing.

Re:  Berserk

Oracle text:
Instant
Play Berserk only before the combat damage step.
Target creature gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power. At end of turn, destroy that creature if it attacked this turn.

I fail to understand how Berserk helps you against opposing creatures.  A good player will not attack in to you with Welder.  If you have to resort to using Berserk against an aggro player's Wurm, you are probably not winning the race.  4cc need only protect one threat to win.  

The most likely scenario where you would use Berserk on an opposing creature is during a stall.  If you stall out, your opponent has the advantage.  Every tier 1 deck in the format, even aggro, features a better draw engine than your build.  You have a grand total of 3 draw cards  (Ancestral,Necro,Twister) one of which gives the control decks a substantial advantage.

Side out Decree for something more useful in this matchup (i.e. Disenchant,BEB,StP)

Keep your Exalted alive.  Counter Price of Progress.

I like them in the mirror and versus Slaver.  Mox Monkey saved my ass big-time against your buddy running Dryad Fish, but that deck was kind of random.

Not totally sold on 2 Gorillas main.  Maybe 1 Gorilla Shaman & 1 Crucible would be a better configuration.  As you said, Gorillas are are bad vs. Fish.  Still a lot of fish in the area.



Mind Twist in the sideboard was excellent.  Two thumbs up.  Way up.  I only wanted it in the mirror match.  All the good Tog players seem to have migrated over to Slaver.  And I have yet to see anyone local running Smmenen Blue.

Props to you for T4.

I piloted 4cc to a top 8 finish and then lost to Jacob.  Here is the deck list:

1 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 City of Brass
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl

4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain

4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Skeletal Scrying

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor

1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Time Walk

2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Balance

2 Gorilla Shaman
3 Exalted Angel

SB:
1 Mind Twist
2 FTK
2 Crucible of Worlds
2 Pyroblast
1 BEB
1 Coffin Purge
1 Gush
1 Vamp
1 StP
2 Rack & Ruin
1 Disenchant

Matchups in Swiss:

Mirror - Draw
Budget 4cc - Win
FCG - Win
Slaver - Loss
WTF/r - Win
Dryad Fish - Win

The use of basic land makes Wasteland/Crucible less threatening.

What about fitting ESG in the mana base to speed up the combo and get around Trinsiphere?

Hi everybody.  The list I used is at the bottom for reference.  



I didn't mind the stalls that much.  Having inevitability and digging a bit for the win condition was not a problem.  I played slowly since it was my first experience with 4cc.

In aggro matchups, particularly madness, I missed the 3rd Angel.  Whenever I was on my heels, dropping an Angel meant I could fuel another Scrying.  I missed the Angel's contribution to my draw engine, not as a win condition.

The deck is very tight.  I would cut Decree for a 3rd Angel.



You are correct.  I should have SB'ed more aggressively to optimize what is already an excellent matchup.  In hindsight -1 Balance,-1 Decree,-1 Mind Twist,-1 Cunning Wish,+1 BEB,+1 STP,+1 Disenchant,+1 Fire/Ice  This configuration maximizes the chance of holding an answer.



Thanks.  Keep up the good writing.



FTKs are EXTREMELY useful against the difficult Madness mathcup.  It often takes out two of their creatures, and it's a sweet tempo swing.



I realize my sideboard choices may be flawed.  The sideboard is one aspect of my game I need to elevate.  I have already posted a revised sideboard against Dragon above.  As for the other relevant matchups, note this is theory based on the particular decks I faced and has not been tested:

U/G/r Madness
-1 Mind Twist,-1 Balance,-3 Cunning Wish,+1 Coffin Purge(pretend I'm running this instead of Fire/Ice),+3 FTK,+1 Vamp

Tog Engine w/ Colossus,Titan,Art. Mutation
-1 Mind Twist,-1 Fire/Ice,-1 Cunning Wish +1 StP,+2 Pyroblast

The deck is very tight.  I viewed Cunning Wish as part of the engine.  It improves the decks consistency, but at the cost of speed.  Perhaps I thought too highly of it.  Aggressive sideboarding, to me, boils down to the question: Is delta P of card X > delta P of 3-4 casting cost Tutor?  In the control matchup Cunning Wish can recur counter and card draw that is removed from the game.  Combo/Aggro calls for more aggressive sideboarding, IMHO.  

The List:

3 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
2 City of Brass
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
4 Brainstorm
3 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
4 Skeletal Scrying
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mind Twist
1 Time Walk
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Fire/Ice
1 Balance
1 Gorilla Shaman
2 Exalted Angel
1 Decree of Justice (cut for Exalted Angel)

Sideboard:
2 Pyroblast (Jaya Ballard 4L, yo)
3 Flametogue Kavu
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Crucible of Worlds
1 Fire/Ice (cut for Coffin Purge)
1 Disenchant
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Gush

I decided the morning of the tournament to run 4cc.
Why?  The deck has a high concentration of broken
cards.  Also, I wanted to play something without
Workshops for a change.

I reread Klep's primer and took away the following key
points:

1.  4-Color Control has two potential game plans, and
which you choose to employ is largely based on the
matchup and your opening hand.
2. Do not ever be afraid to use a City of Brass or
cast a large Scrying.
3. Be very careful when fetching a land, because that
decision will affect you for the rest of the game.
4. …it is a terrible idea to just copy someone's
sideboard with no consideration for your own metagame.

Unfortunately I had no opportunity to playtest.
Earlier attempts in the week fell through.  I had no
idea what the Somers metagame would look like.  I
postulated it would be similar to Salem last month.  While I agree it is terrible to copy someone’s sideboard, I would argue it is even more terrible to make up your own when you have no idea.  Apologies to Zherbus, I used his entire sideboard
except -1 REB, +1 Fire/Ice.  

Round 1:  Brian (Dragon w/ no sideboard)
I won with relative ease.  Both games were similar:  strip the Bazaar, removed the Xantid Swarm, countered animate effects, draw more cards, etc.  Dragon is a great match-up for 4cc.
SB: -1 Balance, +1 BEB  

Round 2:  Seth (Mono Red Burn)
He played beta mountains and a bevy of burn (Bolt,Incinerate,Price of Progress,Chain Lighnting,Chain of Plasma,Thunderbolt)  I got overconfident game 1 and stupidly neglected to counter a Price of Progress for 8.  Even with an Angel absorbing 2 burn spells, he still had enough to burn me out.  It took me a while to kill him game 2.  I sideboarded –2 StP -1 Fire/Ice, +2 Crucible +1 BEB.  I beat him handily game 2 but it took forever as I decimated his mana base before I was able to find a threat.  Game 3 went to time.  I had inevitability, but Mox Monkey could not kill him in the 5 extra turns.  Draw.  Heh.

1-0-1
 

Round 3:  David (2-land belcher)

He fails to get anything going as I waste his Bayou, Plow his Swarm, blow up or counter his artifacts and Twist his hand.  Of course it takes forever to find my win condition, but I have firm control of the board.  I think he had 1 Chromatic Sphere in play.
SB:  -1 Balance –1 Mind Twist +1 Disenchant + 1 Rack & Ruin
I firmly establish control, but once again lack a win condition.  I draw Angel during extra turns but don’t even need to kill him since I won game 1.

2-0-1


Round 4:  Garrett (Suicide W/r)  

Before we begin he announces that he will beat me unless I am playing counters.  His prophecy came true.

3-0-1

Round 5:  Cowboy (Tog Draw Engine w/ Titan, Colossus &
Artifact Mutation)

This was a very interesting match.  Cowboy insisted he in not playing Meandeck Titan.  We both draw and trade cards for a while.  I have StP for his Titan and only lose 1 dual land while he loses 2.  I put out an Angel he can’t get rid of and ride her to victory.  
SB –1 Fire/Ice –2 Cunning Wish +2 Pyroblast +1 StP
Another long game (notice a trend?)  He drops Colossus, and me being a good Magic player promptly top deck an StP on turn 4 beyond time limit.  He Intuitions in response and assures me he has answers.  He finds 2 Drains and a potentially lethal Artifact Mutation.  However all his green sources are tapped.  He only had 2 Volcanics up.  Tough break, man.  

4-0-1

Round 6:  Robert (Control Slaver?)

We ID in to the top 8.  Robert showed me the nice Lotus he won in last year's tournament.

4-0-2


Quarter Finals:  Jesse (G/R/u Madness)

Game 1
I drew the most broken opening hand all day.  In a
flurry of turns I Walk, Ancestral, Waste, Strip, Yawg,
Strip, Walk, Ancestral, or something like that.  This
absurdity proved to be overwhelming for my opponent.

Game 2
SB:  -1 Mind Twist,-2 Cunning Wish,-1 Scrying +1 STP
+3 FTK
What I should have sideboarded: -1 Mind Twist,-1
Balance,-1 Scrying -1 Cunning Wish + 1 STP +3 FTK

Jesse mulliganed to 5, playing first.  As he put it,
"discard one to draw five."  He clearly had the
appropriate mindset to abuse the Bazaar engine.  He
brought in at least two Crucibles from the sideboard
to combat my strip effects.  I really missed the 3rd
Angel in this game.  I countered early threats and a
Crucible, but he got another crucible online.  I get
out an Angel finally.  He double Fiery-Tempered it, and
I held no answer.  Bazaar pumped out the goods too quickly.  I lost.

Game 3
Going first, I keep a one-land hand containing the following:
Volcanic, Sol Ring, 2 Brainstorms, FTK, Angel and FoF.  
My hand was good considering my opponent did not have the capability to disrupt my mana base.  Jesse, of course, mulliganed to 5 again.  
Turn 1 I laid the Volcanic and cast Sol Ring.  My plan was to optimize turn 2 should I draw a land.  In retrospect, I had a 45% chance of a completely busted turn two play.  Failing that, there was a 92% chance one of the top 4 cards would be land/mox/lotus.  I would not have minded turn 2 morphed angel and turn 3 FTK/FoF turn 3.
Turn 2 I do not draw a land.  Ok, fine, brainstorm.  I still do not get a land.  Turn 3, I Brainstorm again and find out the 5th card in my library is also of the non-land variety.  D'oh!
   
As I stumble out of the gate, he revved up double Bazaars with Crucible backup.  It went goes back and forth for a while.  He had both Anger
and Wonder in the bin.  He was tapped out except for
one land with 2 Basking Rootwallas and Arrogant on the
board.  I attacked with FTK and Gorilla Shaman.  He
traded Arrogant for FTK.  I Fired both his 'wallas and
drop Angel.  I swung once with it before he takes it
down with, yup, you guessed it, double Firey Temper.  I maxed out a scrying for 6 taking 7 dmg thanks to
City of Brass.  I draw 3 land, 2 more Scryings and
then finally a Force to go with the FoF still sitting in my hand.  

He plays Mongrel, leaving 1 card in hand.  I elect not
to Force it, so I can use the FoF next turn.  I FoF in
to Force, 2 FTKs, Brainstorm, Land.  He divides
FTK/BS/Land and FTK/Force.  I take FTK/Force and send
his hound packing.  He has 7 Life at this point.  Next
turn he activates Bazaar # 1 and Firey Tempers my FTK.  
 
I take a risk and Force the Temper.  My rationale is
that I could waste both his Bazaars the following turn
swing w/ FTK & Monkey.  Then I would only need another
turn or Fire/Ice.  He would only get 1 Bazaar
activation, and I could hard cast the other Force.
Bazaar #2 yielded some sort of Wurm, and he finished
me with hasty beats.        

Final Thoughts:
 
4cc is a very solid deck.  It pays great dividends to 1) know the top archetypes inside and out (which I did) as well as  2) practicing (which I did not do.)  There are many complex and subtle decisions trees in 4cc.  The raw power of this deck helped me reach the top 8.  Although I played decently, I most certainly did not play mistake-free Magic.  With more experience, I could have progressed even further.

Be mindful of the time.  3 of the 5 Swiss Rounds I actually played went to extra turns.  Definitely ask your opponent if they want to concede when you have a superior position.  Don’t be afraid to bag a game if your chances to win are slim.  Undoubtedly more practice with the deck will increase play speed.
 
Balance -- Don't leave home without it. It saved my ass big-time in 2 games.  Sure, there were times when I didn't want it, but it is the only reset button in the deck.  In other words, I believe the number of games you win because you run Balance exceeds the number of games you win because you run something other than Balance.

Coffin Purge should find it's way in to the sideboard if this metagame trend of Crucibles continues.  Purge provides a tempo-efficient answer to your opponent's Crucible.  As an added bonus, it can conditionally remove Pentavus, Mindslaver Titan or AK.

I am questioning Decree's slot.  I never made of good use of it all day.  Perhaps the 3rd Angel could replace it.

What a great tournament.  It was very well-run.  Everyone there was pretty cool.  Thanks to the all my opponents for the games.

Artifact Mutation is keyed to converted mana cost, so you would only get 8 1/1 tokens.  Still a nice boost.

Be persistent but polite with emails.  Sometimes sellers take forever, especially the less professional ones.

A lot of Magic player are notoriously lazy.  
It's only been a week so you could still be all right.  Is the seller communicating at all?  If they are communicating, that's a very positive sign.  Most rippers won't respond once they take your money.

I ordered a couple Drains last year on ebay.  Low feedback, but good percentage.  The seller was very flaky, but I eventually got the product.  Took 3-4 weeks.

Be mindful that you are limited in the amount of time you have to file a claim.  I think it is capped at 90 days.

I agree that Karn is not needed in TNT.  Without Thirst or Tinker, the Mox munching does not come online soon enough.  Since you are cranking out fatties anyway, there is no need to get cute animating 3/3s.

I am not a fan of splashing a third color in any Workshop deck.  Workshop decks are already plagued by inconsistency, so think about what you are sacrificing when you stretch your mana base too thin.  If you want blue, I suggest ditching the Survivals and building Stacker or BSR.

Razormane is a faster clock than Trike and works under a Null Rod.  Might be worth testing.

I am hoping, despite the unimpressive finish, this report meets approval.   Prior to this tournament the deck placed 9th/44 in Salem and 4th/26 in Nashua.

The metagame:  There were no fewer than 5 Drain Slaver decks, at least 2 Gay/r, at least 2 4cControl, Stax, GAT, and the ever-popular Mono-U Illusions/Donate.  

The tournament took place Sat 7/31.  The 7/10 list I used is at the bottom, for reference.  It is principally based on wuaffiliate's build.

ROUND 1 vs. Mat Richardson (Drain Slaver, of course)

Game 1:  First question he asks, "Do you use TMD?"  We both see 13s on the die roll.  Perhaps this number was a harbinger of things to come for me this afternoon.  He has a Force for my turn 1 play (Trinisphere.)  He proceeds to Mindslaver me very early on turn 2 or turn 3.  I play, or rather, observe the next couple of turns until I am convinced he can perpetuate the lock.

Game 2:  SB -4 Trinipshere,-4 Chalice,-3 Trike,+2 BEB,+3 Rack&Ruin,+3 Crucible,+3 Pyroblast.  He counters my Ancestral then deploys a Welder.  I have a Lotus in the yard, so he can disrupt my board pretty well.  Pentavus comes online.   I don't have R&R.  He untaps and I scoop.

0-1-0

ROUND 2 vs. Scott Limoges (GAT)

Game 1:  GAT is a very good matchup for 7/10.  I get out an early 3Sphere and go to work on his mana base.  He gets some early beats in with Monkey but succumbs to 2 Titans  

Game 2:  SB -3 Trike,+3 Pyroblast.  Looks like I have the game in the bag.  His board is 1 Underground Sea and 1 Island.  My only artifact in play is a 3Sphere.  I weld it out for a Titan to destroy his lands and play a 2nd Welder.  Next turn he makes like Donald Trump and Fires both my Welders.  My bad for overextending.  He drops Tog.  We stall for a while until he draws an answer to Titan and swings for the kill.  Well played, Scott!

Game 3:  I waste several of his lands, then Jar in to Karn.  He fails to draw more land, and the Silver Golem goes the distance.

1-1-0

ROUND 3 vs. Aaron Kerzner (4c Control)

He beats me like a rented mule.  You can read more about it here if you'd like:
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18763

1-2-0

ROUND 4 vs. G ? (B/R 'SuiSligh' with Spark Elementals)

Not much of note here, as this is a deck no one will encounter outside of Cape Cod.  I won the match 2-1.  The kid beat me with Turn 1 Carnophage & Turn 2 Hatred in the second game.  Heh.

2-2-0

ROUND 5 vs. ?

My opponent would rather trade than play, so I win by the 2 sweetest words in the English language.  Still not enough juice for the top 8.  I go home and watch the Red Sox lose as well.

3-2-0    

CONCLUSION

I am sticking with the deck for now.  Thinking about -2 Triskelion +2 Gorilla Shaman.  Along with Big Big Monkey Man (Karn) that would enhance mana denial vs. control.  SB -1 Karn +1 ?.  I also need to playtest the Drain Slaver matchup since everyone and their mother runs it around here.  Any constructive criticism is especially welcome.  Thank you and good afternoon.

Goblin Welder X 4
Sundering Titan X 3
Triskelion X 3
Duplicant X 1
Karn,Silver Golem X 1

Thirst for Knowledge X 4
Ancestral Recall X 1
Fact or Fiction X 1
Memory Jar X 1

Mystical Tutor X 1
Tinker X 1

Trinisphere X 4
Chalice of the Void X 4

SoLoMoxCrypt X 8
Mana Vault X 1
Gilded Lotus X 3
Mishra's Workshop X 4
Volcanic Island X 4
Shivan Reef X 3
Ancient Tomb X 2
Tolarian Academy X 1
Wasteland X 4
Strip Mine X 1

Sideboard
Rack and Ruin X 3
Shattering Pulse X 1
Pyroblast X 3
Blue Elemental Blast X 3
Crucible of Worlds X 3
Duplicant X 1
Karn, Silver Golem X 1