Vintage (Type 1) tournament for a Beta Mox Ruby
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Entry fee: $15.00
Entry fee gets you 10 proxies, but up to 5 more can be bought for $1.00 each
Prize:  Beta Mox Ruby with minimum 26 people (if less people show, difference can be paid by winner, if more people show, additional prizes will be given out)
Registration starts at 11:30am
Tourney starts at 12:00(noon) PROMPTLY
Format is usual Swiss with cut to Top 4 or 8

at:
Amazing Discoveries
2928 E Broadway Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85716
(520) 320-0338

Hope to see you all there! Please contact mikloss97REMOVETHISTEXT@hotmail.com with any questions!

You're going to have to stop taking shit like that if you want to get laid. Next time some girl is talking about her underwear, tell her not to question you. Then pistol-whip her.

QFT. The role of a judge is to watch from afar -- Not to play. Hands off.

In fact, they probably think you are gay.

While using Google Groups to find Magic posts from 1993, I came across a couple I wanted to share:

http://tinyurl.com/natot

http://tinyurl.com/rmvw3

I do realize that back when the game started, a Black Lotus wasn't anything to get excited about. That said, the posts still make me groan 

Anyone have stories to share? Did you buy seventeen Lotii for a couple hundred bucks? Did you SELL seventeen Lotii for a couple hundred bucks? I've got one for you guys, but I want to hear yours first. 

Tonight I was able to compare all this stuff to other power known to be 100% real - Let me say that I have made a complete ass out of myself. These cards are NOT fake. I completely overreacted to the amount of light passing through them. I was totally convinced I had a bunch of fakes on my hands, but in reality they are exactly the same as the 100% real power.

The moment of realization came when I realized that fake unlimited cards have absolutely zero fibers in them. The amount of light passing through is not the concern, it is whether or not there are fibers in the cardstock.

This episode has been quite a learning process for me, as you can tell from my blogging in this thread. 

I will link you to a very high-res photo. The Jet below the others is the one I think is fake. It just isn't like the others, but I can't really put my finger on what the problem is. I think it's a combination of slightly different cardstock, and too vivid colors. Keep in mind I have examined the front and back of all of these with a microscope, only finding one piece of evidence (the TM on that Jet).

http://cp05.ionhosting.com/~pocketlo/P1000642.JPG

To me, part of the allure and fun of owning power is to know that kids used to play with it back in the day like it was nothing. It's cool to have a card and to be able to say "this was around in 1993".

If someone were to GIVE me a card that was EXACTLY the same as all real cards - EXACTLY the same - but I knew it wasn't real, it would still be ruined for me. The history of a collectible object contributes to what it is.

With that said, I'm pretty damn sure that any dealer would find everything except the second Jet to be fine. If any of them besides that Jet are fake, they are so good that I will never know. The only thing I do know is that they were all in known existence several years ago, which is good enough to me. The very good Unlimited fakes seem to be a very new occurence, showing up only in the past few months.

I am going to acquire a black light, however, and perform that as a final test. If they pass, I think they are home free. (Except the Jet, I think I have enough evidence suggesting it's fake. It just looks funky, and that TM logo is something that separates it from the others.)

By "borders", I mean the black frame around the perimeter of the ink on the card, not the white borders. But as I have said, I have a Stream of Life exhibiting the same variance, so even that doesn't seem to prove anything. I would take pictures, but it requires a microscope.

There is one dealer in town who used to buy and sell a LOT of power on eBay, and he had no problems with these - I could sell them all to him right now if I wanted to.

The questionable Jet is the piece I am most concerned about. It's the one that gave me a bad vibe in the first place, and the only one that had a variation in the TM logo (under the microscope, it is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT COLOR). When I look at the six cards all together, that Jet just doesn't seem right. I can't even explain it, but something in the back of my head says "this thing wasn't around in 1993". None of the other pieces give me this vibe. They give me a warm, fuzzy feeling, but the Jet just seems like a coaster.

This power is for me, in any case, and everything except that Jet is real enough that it doesn't bother me. I think I am going to try to get my money back on the Jet, and keep the rest of it. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has about the same transparency as a duck, and looks the same as a duck under a microscope, I can only conclude one thing.

All my cards are ducks. 

This is one of the greatest threads on TMD - Really. The lesson it teaches is hard to learn, but invaluable once one has learned it.

There have been two recent tournaments in Arizona for a Bazaar. I won the first one with Gifts, beating nearly every tier 1 deck out there at the time. For the second, I was naturally very confident. I plowed through until the third or fourth round, where I got a stone cold beating by Food Chain Goblins. I drew just fine, but I thought I would just do neat things and win instead of actually playing my game. I was a dick to my opponent, who is actually a friend of mine.

I then plowed through straight to top 4, and had to face the FCG player again. This time, I wasn't going to make the same mistake, but it didn't matter anyway. I received the most severe case of mana screw ever (zero mana sources in any games until mulls to 5, then him drawing 2-3 strips & Goblin Vandal). Karma is a bitch. My friend proceeded to split the Bazaar with the other finalist, instead of me splitting it.

I wasted a lot of time moaning about these losses, until I realized I read this thread and realized it was my fault for being a dick and underestimating my opponent. Had I simply played the proper game during the swiss, I would probably have never run into FCG again, thus negating the entire situation.

Respect for one's opponent is not only the right attitude to have, but it will more than likely convert many of those l's to w's.

It looks like you guys have not seen Gabethebabe's pictures: http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/Gabethebabe68/FAKE/

I am going to sum up what I know here:

-All six Moxen pass the bend and water tests just fine.

-The real Jet, the Pearl, and the Ruby are very opaque, and I am sure they are real.

-The other Jet, Sapphire, and Emerald are all MORE transparent than the other three, but not to the extent that Gabe's were. You would not be able to read the text through the back. This seems to suggest a slight difference in manufacturing, rather than a completely different type of paper.

-I know the Sapphire, the Ruby, and the Emerald to all be at least 2 years old, because I saw the EXACT cards back then. I don't think anybody was making these quality fakes two years ago. I do NOT know where the questionable Jet came from, but I will find out from the previous owner.

-The three questionable Moxen have a slightly thicker card border. However, I have an Unlimited Stream of Life with the same thing, and there's no way in hell that the Stream of Life is fake.

I have taken four additional pictures, using a 100w light source (last time, it was only 60w). The questionable Jet is slightly more transparent than the real one, and is exactly the same as the Sapphire and Emerald. However, none of them are as transparent as Gabe's.

Real Jet versus questionable Jet:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000636.jpg

Real Jet versus Sapphire:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000637.jpg

Real Jet versus Emerald:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000638.jpg

Questionable Jet versus Sapphire:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000639.jpg

As you can see, there is a tangible difference in the paper quality of some of these. However, with these 100w pictures, and additional research through the microscope, I think scientifically they are all real. In Gabe's case, it was clear that the fakes were see-through. Mine let more light through, but nothing like Gabe's do. I think it is possible Wizards did not use completely consistent paper, and I will try to do more tests once I obtain more Unlimited cards.

Confusing? Ohhh yeah.

EDIT: All the latest info on this can be found in my next post in the thread. This first post is a necessary background read, but I have since learned new things.

Hi, everyone. 

First of all, I realize we have had several topics regarding counterfeit cards lately. I am making a new thread because 1) I have some new findings to share and 2) I need many additional opinions on the matter so I may take action ASAP. I apologize in advance if I should have simply replied to another topic, but I believe the problem is getting serious enough to warrant more discussion.

Last Saturday, I purchased a set of five Moxen at a local tournament. The Ruby and Pearl are fine; The problems begin with the Jet, Sapphire, and Emerald. I already had a Jet that I know is real, so it is my benchmark, and is the left card in every following picture.

Here is my Jet compared to the second Jet. As you can see, the second Jet is more transparent than mine. It seems very similar to Gabethebabe's Jet comparison: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/Gabethebabe68/FAKE/JetFake_Light.jpg

I am 90% sure that the second Jet is a counterfeit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000631.jpg

Next, are my Jet versus the Ruby, and then versus the Pearl. As I said above, I don't see anything wrong here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000632.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000633.jpg

Here is my Jet versus the Emerald. This is hard for me to say, as the Emerald is MORE transparent, but not as much as the fake Jet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000634.jpg

Finally, here is my Jet versus the Sapphire. Once again, we have some transparency.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/intelli78/P1000635.jpg

Basically, what is boils down to is that the Ruby and Pearl have no problems, while the Jet, Sapphire, and Emerald all have varying degrees of transparency. Like I said, I am pretty sure the Jet is fake. The other two I am not sure about.

Here is where it gets more interesting. I used a 30x microscope to examine various areas of each card. Contradictions galore. Here are some observations I made:

-The edge of the fake Jet is MUCH whiter than any of the other Moxen. HMMMMMMMMM, it looks like it was recently made. This one is definitely firewood.
-The "TM" symbol on the back of the Jet is yellow at 30x. It is pure white on all the others.
-The front border along the top of the three questionable Moxen is about 1.25 times thicker than three real ones. Is this pure coincedence? I don't know. It's not very different, but it is different.
-The middle blue layer exists on all the cards, real or not.

Overall, I have come up with a lot of conflicting evidence. One thing I can say for sure is that the print pattern itself seems to be very consistent between real and fake cards. Whoever is making these things has the printing down perfectly; their paper is the last remaining way to detect a fake, and as you can see from my pictures, is not even a certain method.

So, what do some of you think about my cards? Real or not? At this point, I am saying that the Ruby and Pearl are definitely real, the Emerald is probably real, the Sapphire MAY be real, and the Jet is fake. The Emerald and Sapphire really wouldn't surprised me either way, so I'd like some more opinions.

The whole situation reminds me of 1984. It's real if you think it's real -- And that's what it's coming down to.

Oh - and all of these cards were known to exist at least 2 years ago, so they're not part of a "new" rash of counterfeits.

Hey everyone  ,

Amazing Discoveries is proud to hold a non-sanctioned Type 1 tournament for a Bazaar of Baghdad.

WHERE:
   Amazing Discoveries
   2928 E. Broadway Blvd.
   Tucson, AZ 85716
   (520) 320-0338

WHEN:
   Saturday, August 12.  Registration starts at 4:30pm, tournament begins at 5:00pm.

WHAT:
   10 Proxy Type I tournament for a Bazaar of Baghdad.
   Tournament will be swiss rounds with cut to single-elim. top 4/8, depending on attendance.
   Entry fee is $10.  Minimum 15 people needed for Bazaar.
   If more people show, there will be additional prizes, and if fewer than 15 show up, the winner can opt to pay the difference to receive the Bazaar.

We hope to see many of you from AZ. If anyone has questions, feel free to send me a PM. 

Hey all,

I am going off to college next year, and I will most likely attend George Washington University in DC. I am interested to know if any type of Magic exists within a reasonable distance of the area. So far, I've had no luck locating any (Type I or II), and despite the allure of GWU, it will be a long four years without any Magic. Some of the SCG tournaments are within reach on special occasions, but I'm looking for something a big closer and more regular. Anybody?

I guess politicians don't like to play mtg, who'd have figured.  :lol:

 

Time Vault is possibly the most ridiculous card ever. It doesn't do anything close to what it physically says.

In any case, congrats and thanks for the report. It's cool to see some older archetypes doing well these days.

It seems silly to cheat by loading your deck with excess Leylines. Personally, I would much rather pack a few extra Mana Drains, Smokestacks, or whatever (not that I would  ) than Leylines. I'd say they're better to have in your opening seven.

When did you live in Tucson? I would be surprised if you tried and failed to find Type I, there was quite a lot of it a few years ago.

As for carl: You added it to your collection of super boring tournament reports? 

You do, but you can file a NPB alert and eventually get the money back. In my post, I was obviously refering to what would happen if a jokester used Buy-it-Now. 

If someone actually buys it, he will be charged over $150,000 in seller fees. 

My report for this event may be viewed here.

Today was the day of a completely awesome tournament – No, it had nothing to do with StarCity Games and their pretentious east coast tournament. Hell no. It was all about ManaWerx's Type I tourney for a Bazaar of Baghdad in Phoenix, Arizona. Originally, we (the Tucsonans) had planned to bring 5-6 people, but as it turned out, half our crew was either too busy a) playing World of Warcraft, b) sleeping, or c) getting crunk-juiced to come play Type I. Whatever, guys. Call me when you wake up.

So this morning, only three remained - Miklos with 5C Dragon, John with 5C Welder Stax, and me, Aaron, with Meandeck Gifts. We met at a Waffle House next to I-10, of course a good 30 minutes behind schedule. While I waited for John and Miklos to show up, I ate a pecan waffle. It was secret tech that kept me refueled the rest of the day. It was also tasty.

Eventually my teammates arrived and we embarked on the two hour journey to Phoenix. I have no idea what happened in the car, because the topic of conversation ended up on something really sick. I believe it stemmed from Miklos recalling a medical show he had seen on TV. I'll give you three hints. It's about something that causes bread to rise. But in this case, it's infected. And it's not in bread. Aside from this foray into the weird, the rest of the trip was much better when John realized using cruise control is kind of like a video game. This got us to ManaWerx in short order, 30 minutes before the tournament started.

As it ended up, the turnout was rather sub par, with only 12 players in attendance. That's what you get for living in Arizona. The employee took our money, and checked our decks. I had no problem with this, until I realized the guy was going to be playing in the tournament. Frown. That's not cool.

Round 1 – Steven with 2 Land Belcher

Game 1 involved several early Duresses on his part, some mana, and finally DeCon for Goblin Charbelcher. I had to play catch up due to all my gas being Duressed away, and Charbelcher resolved. However, the DeCon went deep and left him with only 14 cards in his library, while I was at 15 life. Score. After putting me at 1, he scooped. I didn't quite understand why he didn't try to kill me next turn, but I would have bounced the Belcher anyway so it didn't really matter.

The next game was much more lopsided, with me Draining and FoWing everything he played. Eventually a Colossus swung two times to secure the victory.

1-0

Round 2 – John with 5C Stax

This round was very unfortunate, as I had to play my teammate John, but what can you expect in a 12 man tournament? In Game 1, I had two early FoW for a Crucible and something else, however that was the end of my luck. Stax did its thing and I scooped after a Smokestack started wrecking my few remaining lands.

The next game is somewhat fuzzy in my memory, but I know John kept a conditional hand and didn't draw what he wanted. I Drained his stuff and Tinkered up DSC at some point which prompted him to scoop.

Game 3 was without a doubt, the marathon game of the entire tournament. It was incredibly swingy on both sides and drew just about the biggest crowd there could be. Also, we were sitting right next to a window and people outside were watching intently – Like we were in a TV. Finally I was able to fetch Colossus with no counters in hand, fearing a Duplicant from his side, but he didn't draw one. Feeling victorious, I sent him from 19 to 8. Then, he drew Maze of Ith.

Sad face.

I would have kept DSC onboard and waited to fetch up a Pithing Needle to fix the situation, but there was an active Smokestack so I shuffled him back in. At this point there were only about 10 minutes left in the round, and the judge asked me to play faster after a 3 minute turn pondering how to end the game as soon as possible. Somewhere around this time John took a pain from one of his Cities, putting him at 7 while I was at 11, and I Echoing Truthed a Chalice. Time was called on my turn, so I finished, and he took Turn 1. On Turn two, I had four cards in hand, and a lot of mana. I played Lotus, Mana Crypt, Annuled my own Mana Crypt for good measure, then Burning Wished for Tendrils and won the game. Playing a teammate is not a good thing, but this round definitely psyched out a lot of Phoenicians who realized just how much more badass Tucsonans are.

2-0

Round 3 – Chris with Gifts Oath

Chris was the aforementioned employee who had already had a good look through my entire deck before the tournament. That was slightly irritating to me, but whatever. Come and get me! I'VE GOT LANDS!!!! AND A CREATURE!!!!!!!

Game 1 I didn't know what he was playing, so I fetched basics early on. However, a turn 1 Tropical Island followed by a Mystical for Tinker made me realize he must have Gifts Oath. Good. Bring it. He tried to be the beatdown, Tinkering next turn. Sadly for him, I had double counters. After this, his hand was pretty small and I controlled his ass, drawing half my deck and eventually killing him with DSC.

Games 2 and 3 were very sad for me. They both involved turn 1 or 2 Tinkers by him with plenty of countermagic to back it up. I didn't draw any bounce, so I had to accept these losses. Oh well. It happens.

2-1

Round 4 – Miklos with 5C Dragon

Around this time I was pretty pissed, as playing my other remaining teammate was definitely not what I wanted, but a draw was not an option so we shuffled up.

Game 1 was short and brutal, as he didn't get any gas, and I did, ending the game after about 5 minutes with DSC.

Game 2 was looking pretty good for me, but I ended up with one counter in hand at some point. He Animated, I countered, he Necromancied in response. GG.

The final game, I actually drew the cards I sideboarded in, an unusual streak for me. An early Tormod's Crypt and Pithing Needle on Bazaar slowed him down, and I killed him somehow. Sorry Miki.

Final record 3-1, third place or something like that

Top 4 – Mike with TPS

I don't fear TPS, in fact I believe it is quite inferior to Meandeck Gifts. Game 1 he Duressed a bunch, but I Merchant Scrolled for FoW several times, and sculpted my hand while he remained at about 3 cards in hand. His final turn took a long time, and then he Duressed me. I revealed a hand of FoW, FoW, FoW, Mana Drain, Misdirection, Misdirection, Brainstorm. Take that, TPS. He killed my Mana Drain, and then Mind's Desired for 5. If he hit a black source, it would have been game, as I was at 7 life from a bad Mana Crypt, and he had Tendrils in hand. With this in mind, I used all three FoW's to reduce his Mind's Desire to 2, and he drew nothing to save him.

In between this time, some random dude with a “SECURITYâ€? jacket made the wisecrack to my opponent “Are you really gonna lose to the guy with a Pink Floyd shirt?â€?, referencing me. I looked at SECURITY and said “Shut up.â€? And he did. Seriously, what the hell was that about? You are going to give me crap about my shirt... WHEN YOU HAVE A SECURITY JACKET ON?  HELL NO.

Game 2 I remember Misdirecting his Ancestral to me, and then Gifting a million times until DSC beat his head in. Mike was a nice guy though, and a gracious opponent. We had good games.

Finals – Chris, again, with Gifts Oath

First off, the prize was actually variable. The winner could pick the Bazaar, a Library, a foil Sol Ring, or a box of Ravnica (heh). I have a Library, so I wanted the Bazaar, but he wanted the Library. I offered a split to Chris – He thought the Bazaar was worth $110, so I offered him $60 for me to take the Bazaar. He declined. I told him I would sell him my Library for $50 (it's hashed), and take the Bazaar, which he once again declined, but called the offer “tempting�. I think it's a friendly thing, splitting, since everyone wins. Apparently he disagreed, but that's cool, everyone has his own opinion.

I lost the dice roll, as usual, and wished him good luck. He said nothing. He led with a Tundra and passed the turn. He then followed up by passing the turn about 5 more times. Mana screw is a bad thing, I hear. He had a chance to come back later in the game, when he Ancestraled, but I fought the counterwar and Mis-D'd it to me. That was the game. I felt bad for him getting land screwed, but I tried to offer a fair split.

I boarded in some nice E. Plagues, Annuls, Blasts, the works. It was time to claim the Bazaar for all that is holy – Tucson.

Before Game 2, I wished him good luck again. He said nothing. I think it's usually nice to reciprocate, but whatever. The next game, I mulliganed a decent 7 to an awesome 6 with double FoW and Mis-D. He Mysticaled up an early Ancestral, but hung on to it this time. On one of his endsteps, I Gifted, and we both had 2 blue open. He Ancestraled in response. I FoW'ed, he FoW'ed, I Mana Drained, he ReB'ed, then I Misdirected the Ancestral back to me. I then proceeded to draw 3 followed by my own Gifts, which sealed the deal. I kept Gifting and all that jazz, once Draining his Oath into an E. Plague naming Spirits.. Eventually, he hardcasted a DSC. I wished so much right then I had a Mana Drain for comedic value, but instead it resolved. I Rebuilt EOT, then Tendrils'ed him out on my turn. GG. Chris probably refused the split based on how easily he rolled over me during the Swiss, but that wasn't such a good basis. When I said “good games�, he said “It really annoys me when people say that, when they were bad.� Sorry dude, not trying to annoy you. I'm sure we will meet again sometime - Don't hold a grudge. Good games, really.

Anyway, I claimed the Bazaar for lowly Tucson, and Jeff the store owner apologized for the deck-check problem... No prob. Thanks for the tournament.

On the way home, I bought my 2 teammates In & Out Burger (apparently the winner always has to buy), and then we headed home, getting multiple forms of gas and trashtalking Phoenix. Just kidding. Maybe.

This report was probably super boring because it's 3 AM and I am spitting out non-sequitors. Hopefully somebody gets something out of it.

Long live Tucson.

Props
-Our little team for savagely representing, putting John and I in the Top 4, and Miklos at 5th place.
-John, for doing the driving
-John, for beating FCG with Stax
-Miklos, for lending me Mana Drians
-Jeff, the owner of ManaWerx for throwing up the prizes... Thanks, man! You're a badass.
-In & Out Burger, Waffle House for being yummy

Slops
-Random medical TV shows which spark horrible discussion
-My wisdom teeth, for being ripped out earlier this week and causing much pain and swelling. ManaWerx took a snapshot of me with the Bazaar to post on their site (www.manawerx.com) and I'm sure it will look goofy.
-Having a player do the deckcheck... bad... bad...

EDIT:

Here's the decklist I played.

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

1 Darksteel Colossus

1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
1 Fact Or Fiction
4 Force Of Will
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Mana Drain
3 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rebuild
1 Echoing Truth

1 Burning Wish
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Recoup
1 Time Walk
1 Tinker
1 Yawgmoth's Will

5 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Snow-covered Island
1 Tolarian Academy

SB
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pithing Needle
1 Darkblast
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Pyroclasm
3 Annul
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Engineered Plague

Mostly, I was satisfied, but I would make a few changes.
-1 Annul +1 Red Elemental Blast
-1 Tormod's Crypt +1 Eye of Nowhere (turns Burning Wish into a good answer card)

Hey everyone.

I have no idea why someone hasn't posted info on this tourney yet, but here it is. THIS Saturday, the 10th, ManaWerx in Phoenix is having a 10 proxy Type I tournament for a Bazaar of Baghdad. Registration starts at 3pm, and the tourney will get rolling at 4pm. Entry is $10. I encourage anyone in the area to come down. Several of us are coming to represent Tucson, and we will take your Bazaar back to our city unless there is some fierce competition.

Here's the store info:

ManaWerx
3210 W. Bell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85053         
(North side of Bell Road, just East of 33rd Ave)
Please park in the rear of the store...
(602) 548-WERX

See you there!

I don't know any of you well enough to vote on most of these, but Dave Feinstein (dxfiler) has to be the funniest poster by far. 

I'm not debating that it was a good move on the spot, but I contest that it is "sufficient recourse". Wish -> Chain of Vapor is much more elegant and easy to pull off. One cannot expect to pull off the above trick every time.

You revived this thread to say that? Are you joking? Making 3-for-1 trades against Chalice is pretty much a fantastic way to lose the game. 

Bottle Gnomes! 

In any case, I can't really say budget Stax is the deck to play in a powerless environment. Without Moxen and friends, you will be very far behind in permanent count, making your lock pieces ineffective. Also, Ancient Tomb pain adds up incredibly fast. If you want to play artifacts, take a look at a Stacker list which should be much better for steamrolling random decks.

One way to do it is to login to two different AIM accounts under the same Trillian account - The two buddy lists get combined together. Maybe they've fixed this problem in later versions, but I'm not sure. It happened to me a few times. 

Bear in mind you can get some wicked duplication problems this way, which are almost as bad as your entire list getting deleted.

This story was a great read, and I'm proud of everyone who put Magic on hold in order to help out a member of the community. As for Josh, I admire him for returning the deck and I'd like to assume I would be as ethical in the same situation.

Without hijacking the thread, I'd like to contribute a little anecdote from down here in T-Town. Another player, also named Aaron, has shown up almost every week for as long as I have to play Type I. He has bi-polar disorder, and sometimes is an odd guy, but overall is just very nice. A couple weeks ago, he had his binder stolen by some random newbie, and while nothing of great value was lost, it was everything he had. My friend Miklos called up everyone who was at the tournament to see if the binder could be found, and when nobody turned it up, gave Aaron a bunch of good stuff to start a new binder out of his own pocket.

Over the time I've known Miklos, he's done a lot of acts such as this, and it does go to show what great people play Magic. I admire him for being a stand up guy, and the same goes for everyone who helped look for Ray's missing deck. 

I don't know your situation, but Klep is absolutely right. If you're in the path of the storm, you will lose much more than your power.

I don't know why you would ever want to do this. Gifts does not want to be 4cc, because it simply ignores everything that 4cc can not, and then wins in a turn or two. Why would you wish for Balance when you could simply wish for Tendrils and win the game? Maybe other users on here won't agree with me, but in my opinion, splashing white for one card in the sideboard which isn't even necessary for your game plan, is a very weak move.

Also, Library is pretty weak in Meandeck Gifts and not much better in any other version, because it is suited to a much slower game as is Balance. Vamp -> Library against any deck with a strip effect is a nice way to lose the game pretty fast (-2 CA, not to mention -2 life). Did you not face Wastelands in the Workshop capital of the world? If so, you are the man. 

What's your justification for Balance?