I have been dealing cards on the internet for about 3 years.  I've mostly tried MOTL and eBay, with a strong preference on the latter.  

When dealing on MOTL, you have to realize that you're trading with people.  That means that you have to have what they want, and they have to have what you want, AND be willing to swap for a fair deal.  I found that this process was far too tedious as I'd be getting posts and emails from people trying to get a great deal off me.  I wasn't even that difficult to trade with...  

EBay is much simpler since you can always find a buyer and always find a seller for what you have/want.  You do, however, have to pay a small percentage in selling fees, but it's well worth it in the long run.  So, sell off all your small stuff to people on eBay and build up a balance on PayPal.  When you have enough to buy P9 cards, start shopping!

I think there's no better way to do it than that

I just chuckled at the oxymoron, budget $T4KS.  Although it wouldn't be as clever, you could call it budget $T40S (the $40 solution)...

I think there are two reasons it wins, wins, and wins more.  First, it's a good deck.  Second, more people play it than they play other good decks.  I may be wrong, but I don't think it's winning percentage is so much higher than the other good decks...

I think the fact that you mentioned four cards that build so many decks shows how diverse the metagame is right now.  Restricting these four cards would essentially kill many decks, and, in all honesty, narrow the metagame.



I love that this is dated.  Clever.

I don't think that Promise of Power is a solid card drawer (please correct me if I'm wrong).  It seems to me that the casting cost is prohibitive.  Perhaps you'd do better with Necropotence or Phyrexian Arena...

Do four (six with Promise of Power) creatures feel like enough threats to you?  It seems slim to me.

I like Demonic Consultation better than Vampiric Tutor.  You get the card in your hand now, not next draw.  That's my thought.

Other than that... I don't really know.  Hope that helps give you some insight.

The first thing I noticed was having only 3 Wastelands.  Perhaps that was an oversight, a typing error, you don't own the card, or you don't find many non-basic lands in your area.  But, I think that you should put a 4th Wasteland in the deck anyhow.

Also, as has been mentioned already, I'd seriously consider trying to convert it a bit closer to Sui Black (look at Legend's primer).  Upping the creature count and lowering the land destruction cards would be the first step.  I ran land destruction many years ago and currently run a sui black deck.  I vastly prefer the latter.

In all honesty, everyone has a chance to be dishonest.  I have been ripped off twice on eBay by "reputable" sellers.  One of them had ~130 positives (no negatives) when I paid for the cards (4 Spiritmongers, in their hay-day), and had about 10 negatives a month later.  The other seller had over 200 positives (no negatives) and sold me a Mox Jet for $92... I never saw the card.  Later, that seller got several negatives and then became unregistered.

I think, in general, it's safe to buy from someone who has more than 100 positive feedbacks (and no negatives or neutrals)  who has sold plenty of cards before, but don't be surprised when you get nothing.  They may just be "going out in style".

Generally, don't get tempted to buy a low priced card from someone who is new to eBay... There's a reason it's priced so low: they're a high risk seller.  Buy from people who have over 99.8% positive feedback, and have sold at least several hundred cards, for example: mr.means, femeref enchantress, wasi100, brapsmagic, and emax95 (I don't know these people personally, but I want to give a flavour for who should be considered reputable).

I'd also have to agree with Jacob Orlove about sending back the fake...  If you do, someone else will only be put in the same situation as you.

Sorry to hear your news...

Anyhow, I filed to PayPal for a refund.  I can't remember which links you need to follow, but it's fairly straightforward once you're on the web site.  You need to fill out a little form with the transaction numbers and a description of why you want your money back.  Keep in mind that all of this must be done within 30 days of the money transfer...

Hope you get your money back

I agree that four Bazaars would be a VERY good investment in your situation (and dropping the Pearl to afford them).  I'd be a little hesitant in fear of restriction, though.  Maybe that's being over cautious?

If you do go for 4 Bazaars, you could build Dragon deck or a Madness deck. Both are pretty good choices!

Also, I saw that one or more people think that this is a horrible post.  I have to strongly disagree.  He's simply asking people that know what his best choices are.  Don't you believe that this is a great place to find information?

Damn, I had to learn how to cross stitch in order for my fiance to learn how to play magic.  I spend hours and hours stitching this little bear...  She spent a few hours trying to play against me.  Well, needless to say, I don't cross stitch anymore and she doesn't play Magic.

At least we have enough other things in common

But, yeah, that's a very cool story.

You should also check the THICKNESS of the card.  On a hard surface, lay your Mox beside another card, preferably an Alpha or Beta card that you know is not fake, and run your finger from one card to the next.  You shouldn't feel a ledge (i.e. differing thickness) when moving from one to another.  Try this test with two identical cards (not fakes) just to get a feel for how similar the thickness of the cards are.

A card that is rebacked may not have the piece of plastic between the front and back of the card that originals have.  As someone mentioned above, you won't see the blue line inbetween the layers.

Factors that may change the card thickness are the missing plastic layer, additional adhesive, or others that I can't think of immediately.

I hope your Mox passes this test as well.

I'm Trent Hamilton from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (is that a mouthfull?).  I finished my Engineering Physics degree two years ago; I've been working on a Master's in Physics since then.

I started playing Magic near the beginning of Revised (1994).  My first pack of cards had a Serra Angel and a Vesuvan Doppelganger!  All the cards in that pack were horribly off-centered (towards the upper portion of the card).  I kept those cards for many years but got rid of them during my "non-playing" days...  If any of you guys have the Doppelganger, I'd be interested in buying it (if I saw scans, I'd recognize it).  My first memorable deck was merfolk.  To this day I still haven't updated it, it has all the Fallen Empires 'folk and Pearl Trident to boot.  I don't think that would cut it nowadays.  

I sell cards on eBay regularly (Bo_Diddler) and have made several trades on MOTL (BranJuan).  I very much enjoy the trading and collecting aspect of Magic as I was a sports card collector for many years.  At the peak of my collection I had 8 of the P10, 40 dual lands, 4 Mana Drains, Moats, The Abysses, and plenty of other goodies.  Now I'm down to a Beta Mox Jet and Black Lotus, and a few other cards to make a sui deck (and plenty of left over money from selling).

I'm getting married this summer!  My fiance and I have been dating for 5 years and living together for 3...  We both thought it was about time to "get hitched".  I also have a one year old shih-tzu/poodle named Riley. What a great friend and companion, I don't know what I'd do without him.

I enjoy playing basketball and tennis, working out, wall climbing, playing PS2, watching movies and Star Trek (original and TNG), playing Magic, and sleeping.

I recently found out about Apprentice.  You can find me there under various names (depending on my location):  Trent, Diddler, Bo_Diddle (I think the name got cut off).  Add me to your MSN (tdh503@mail.usask.ca) if you like to play T1 through Apprentice.

If you're in a scrubby T1 metagame, you'll only be disappointed once you spend lots of money.  If other people in your area have P9 and such, I'm sure it'll be a great investement!

GAT is a really good idea for a deck to build; as has been mentioned previously it has most of the components you'll need for any control deck.  I personally think that Moxen and Ancestral are the first things you should get for your deck...

I was fully powered until a few months ago.  The card prices jumped too high for me to keep the cards; I sold them for at least twice as much as I bought them for...  Now I keep a Beta Mox Jet and a Black Lotus for my Sui deck.

Having power makes your deck, well, more powerful.  They have that name for a reason.

Yeah, I like to pimp the deck.  Also, I think that those cards are very tradeable