Dark Inquisitor B
Human Wizard 1/1
When Dark Inquisitor enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. Exile that card.
When Dark inquisitor leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to its owner's hand.
A 1-mana Tidehollow Sculler in (subjectively) better tribes that can't hit creatures. I've been wanting a variant of this (1 mana discard human) for a long time. I absolutely love Thalia and Dark Confidant as well Death and Taxes style decks. I feel like some relevant disruption on a human creature would go a long way for the archetype.
I'm honestly not sure if putting this kind of ability on a 1-mana creature is too much, but it dies to literally everything. Hell, you sneeze and it dies. It's obviously good vs combo decks, but I don't think it's OP vs anything creature-based (aggro or midrange). It's obviously pushed, though.
Wow that's super weird. Green Lake Games is actually one of my LGSs -- in fact I frequently play modern there on sunday! They don't seem like the type to scam, their prices are pretty high but they also give generous amounts of store credit for winning so I'm fine with that.
They may not seem like the type to scam, but they most definitely are. I can't speak for their physical store, but I recommend people stay away from them online at all costs. Look into it for yourself and check out some of their recent feedback / reviews.
I did this in the hopes that it will get stickied as a warning for others to avoid this store. I've emailed a mod about it and hope they get back to me.
Hello, everyone.
I don't have a high post count as I tend to lurk a lot, but something happened to me recently that prompted me to start this thread.
I want to write about my experience with Green Lake Games.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from Green Lake Games on eBay, under their username "bgl_games." I placed two orders, one in June and one in July.
When Magic Origins was released, I received "tracking numbers" for my packages from Green Lake Games. I waited a couple of weeks for the packages to arrive, and when they didn't, I checked out the "tracking numbers."
These tracking numbers were basically just packaging slips that had been created. The USPS website even stated that they were no indication that the packages had been sent, nor were they indicative of the sending date. Basically, they meant nothing. You can create these numbers without actually sending any packages, which is what Green Lake Games did. There was no information beyond that.
I messaged Green Lake Games to inquire, and received a message saying they were busy and would get back to me the following week. Unsurprisingly, they didn't.
I messaged a further three times and received no replies, so I tried emailing them through their company website, and on Facebook. There were no replies. In the final message I stated that my patience was wearing thin and that I would take action if I didn't hear back from them.
There was no reply.
Finally, I wrote a negative review on eBay for the one transaction I could still access (the first transaction was made too long ago). I also tried applying for a refund, but was told by eBay that too much time has elapsed since the purchase. I wrote a longer message to eBay about this, and have yet to hear back from them.
I wrote a negative review on the Green Lake games Facebook page, and when I tried to make a wall post, I discovered that they had blocked my Facebook account. There were still no messages.
Now, to me it seems that they deliberately exploited the "pre-order" time and the "tracking number" system to manipulate people into waiting longer than the allotted time in which buyers can request a refund from eBay.
Their eBay account has since ceased doing business (there are no items listed). There are HUNDREDS of pieces of negative feedback that have been posted in the past couple of months. This means that they scammed hundreds of people in the same way.
I started looking into it, and found some Reddit threads in which people have had similar experiences.
I'll sum up a bit of the story here.
Green Lake Games (the storefront, Amazon, and TCGPlayer.com name) is known as Bucephalus Games (the company and TCGPlayer.com name) and is also known as bgl_games (on Ebay, probably stands for Bucephalus Games Limited or LLC).
They had two storefronts on TCGPlayer.com before both store fronts were closed (the Reddit user whose post I'm referencing suggests they were kicked off TCGPlayer, presumably for failing to send out cards after they sold them).
There are a number of other threads about their terrible business practices, not to mention the negative reviews on Yelp, Foursquare, and their Facebook page. It's also worth noting that the vast majority of users who posted negative reviews on eBay stopped there. If they had posted reviews anywhere else, Yelp, Foursquare, and the Green Lake Games Facebook page would all have hundreds of negative reviews from people who bought cards only to have nothing show up, and no communication from Green Lake Games.
I'm creating this thread for a couple of reasons:
First, to let people know to avoid Green Lake Games at all costs.
Second, to allow any readers who have had similar experiences a place to post and encourage them to share their story here.
I encourage anyone reading to look into Green Lake Games and the Reddit threads.
Hopefully as a community, we can prevent Green Lake Games from scamming any more people.
I wanted to post about a recent experience I had with Green Lake Games.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from their eBay store (bgl_games).
They provided fake tracking information and didn't send the cards. They also ignored all my emails, and blocked me from their Facebook page when I tried to post there to ask them about it.
Looking at their eBay feedback from the last month, there are hundreds of people who have been similarly scammed.
There are also Reddit threads about this issue with Green Lake Games.
I also posted in the thread about sellers who don't honor pre-orders if the cards spike in value. I'm also planning to make a separate thread for the Green Lake Games store. I encourage anyone who has recently been scammed by this company to make it known.
Don't do business with this store; they don't deserve your support or money.
I wanted to post about a recent experience I had with Green Lake Games.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from their eBay store (bgl_games).
They provided fake tracking information and didn't send the cards. They also ignored all my emails, and blocked me from their Facebook page when I tried to post there to ask them about it.
Looking at their eBay feedback from the last month, there are hundreds of people who have been similarly scammed.
There are also Reddit threads about this issue with Green Lake Games.
What do people think of this list from a recent daily event, listed on mtg top 8?
Looks like its goal is to shut down burn and ascendancy combo, and it looks like its trying to do it much faster than our lists with blade splicer & 3-4 4 drops. Canonist over Eidolon probably to get it out faster. The 4 Serra Avengers are interesting since so many people on here don't like them. I wondering it was to keep the deck at a high number of 2 drops, or because they didn't have access to another card?
It looks to me like the Serra Avengers are there because they play well with the two swords (obviously). I think the reasoning goes like this: Cutting the Resto Angels makes Blade Splicers less effective, so I can see changing those slots. Without Resto Angels or Blade Splicers, the list is missing 'fat' beaters. It looks like that's where the swords come in. Serra Avenger is a great creature to run along with them...I think the fact that it's a 2 drop is an added bonus but not necessarily the reason behind the choice?
Militant seems fairly decent vs Treasure Cruise actually, slows them down some.
I think you're right about it being tuned to beat the Ascendancy deck, most evident in the 4 Revokers. I'm not sure if I like it that much, though. I can see playing it in a very saturated meta but it looks weaker overall imo. I'd need to test it to draw any conclusions. It looks faster but less resilient to me. I already hate getting blown out by Electrolyze, and the UR delver decks are running Forked Bolt now.
So I finally got a chance to play this deck again. Tiny event, 4 rounds. Played the same MD, mono white. List is earlier in the thread. Switched out a couple of SB cards for 2 Eidolon of Rhetoric for the new Ascendancy deck.
Didn't see any Treasure Cruise, which was surprising. I'm tempted to switch out 8 1/2 Tails for a Jotun Grunt / Spirit of the Labyrinth MD though.
Only game loss was in the finals (we ID'd anyway).
Props:
Flipping Akroma vs BW tokens.
t1 Vial -> t2 Thalia with Judge's Familiar in hand vs Ascendancy (Thalia still mvp).
Slops:
Pulling jank rares, then watching the guy I ID'd with pull a Korean foil Polluted Delta. He's a great guy though, definitely happy for him.
Can't comment much about playing vs Treasure Cruise but I have a feeling that card will get the banhammer pretty soon. The GW builds have access to Gaddock Teeg, which I would definitely be including in my SB if I played green.
Raid is just too obvious and even once you have 2x 3/4 flyers on turn 5 what's to say your opponent doesn't just have better or have a board wipe ready to fire?
Scion is a bad comparison. It doesn't have evasion, is 6/6 in total stats, with no other built-in abilities. Plus, two 1/1 token is far worse than a 3/4.
The Roc is 6/8 total stats, with evasion and a relevant third ability.
If your opponent has the board wipe, they have the board wipe. You can say that about literally any creature. This actually forces a board wipe without (potentially) overextending too much, which seems pretty decent to me. And it can't be 1-for-1'd with removal.
Even if raid is obvious, decks that will play this should be able to trigger it reliably.
Not saying this card is amazing, but it's solid value and I think it will see play.
I know the timing restriction on raid is a pain...
But, the upside compared to Archangel of Thune and Baneslayer, is that when it is killed it leaves behind a 3/4 flier. A big part of the reason I thought it might be worth testing is that it cannot be 1-for-1'd with removal.
I also don't like the Sword of X and Y in this deck.
Anyway, as a 4-drop, this kind of effect would be great but at 5...it's probably terrible but I thought it might be worth testing.
Quote from Sheepz » »
I'm still hoping to one day get an additional blink enabler creature though.
So, 5 mana is a LOT for this deck... BUT I just saw this in the spoiler section and thought it may be worth testing somewhere as a singleton. It generates immediate value, and sets up a 2-for-1. The way 'raid' is worded, you don't have to cast it to trigger -so you can blink it in your second main phase for more tokens. It could be terrible, but I thought it may be worth bringing up. I was thinking about it mainly for the BGx matchup, to increase threat density and set up for the attrition game. With Vial, Mindcensor, and Resto Angel putting creatures in EOT it's not out of the question to be able to trigger the raid when you hit 5 land.
I think I am going to just be a bit more straight forward at Thursday's Modern Tournament. I'm going to run something that is just really consistent in what it does: mana disruption, tax and beating down using large tempo swings. Then the sideboard is just going to be full of complete hosers.
I'd drop to 2 familiars, because while it's good, it's not a great topdeck.
Quote from Havrekjex » »
I think that maindeck looks very good. I agree with Draco on the Familiars, but that's about it. I prefer two, three can be okay, but four is too many.
I just wanted to point out that the value of Judge's Familiar increases when you have 4 Thalia in the main (most Death and Taxes Builds run 3). It's a great tempo play vs any of the control or combo decks.
I ran 4 Judge's Familiar in my mono white list and they were amazing for me, although there was a ton of Scapeshift, Twin, and UWr control in the meta. I would happily run 3 though. I really just wanted to point out the merits of them when you are maxing out Thalia.
I agree about the 4th Tec Edge though, personal preference.
The list looks streamlined. Try it out and let us know how it goes.
Dark Inquisitor B
Human Wizard 1/1
When Dark Inquisitor enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand and you choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. Exile that card.
When Dark inquisitor leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to its owner's hand.
A 1-mana Tidehollow Sculler in (subjectively) better tribes that can't hit creatures. I've been wanting a variant of this (1 mana discard human) for a long time. I absolutely love Thalia and Dark Confidant as well Death and Taxes style decks. I feel like some relevant disruption on a human creature would go a long way for the archetype.
I'm honestly not sure if putting this kind of ability on a 1-mana creature is too much, but it dies to literally everything. Hell, you sneeze and it dies. It's obviously good vs combo decks, but I don't think it's OP vs anything creature-based (aggro or midrange). It's obviously pushed, though.
Thoughts?
Crusade Bear
WW
First Strike
Other white creatures you control get +1/+1
2/2
They may not seem like the type to scam, but they most definitely are. I can't speak for their physical store, but I recommend people stay away from them online at all costs. Look into it for yourself and check out some of their recent feedback / reviews.
I compiled some information and made a separate thread about Green Lake Games here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/market-street/market-street-cafe/store-discussion/632368-green-lake-games-scam-discussion-thread
I did this in the hopes that it will get stickied as a warning for others to avoid this store. I've emailed a mod about it and hope they get back to me.
I don't have a high post count as I tend to lurk a lot, but something happened to me recently that prompted me to start this thread.
I want to write about my experience with Green Lake Games.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from Green Lake Games on eBay, under their username "bgl_games." I placed two orders, one in June and one in July.
When Magic Origins was released, I received "tracking numbers" for my packages from Green Lake Games. I waited a couple of weeks for the packages to arrive, and when they didn't, I checked out the "tracking numbers."
These tracking numbers were basically just packaging slips that had been created. The USPS website even stated that they were no indication that the packages had been sent, nor were they indicative of the sending date. Basically, they meant nothing. You can create these numbers without actually sending any packages, which is what Green Lake Games did. There was no information beyond that.
I messaged Green Lake Games to inquire, and received a message saying they were busy and would get back to me the following week. Unsurprisingly, they didn't.
I messaged a further three times and received no replies, so I tried emailing them through their company website, and on Facebook. There were no replies. In the final message I stated that my patience was wearing thin and that I would take action if I didn't hear back from them.
There was no reply.
Finally, I wrote a negative review on eBay for the one transaction I could still access (the first transaction was made too long ago). I also tried applying for a refund, but was told by eBay that too much time has elapsed since the purchase. I wrote a longer message to eBay about this, and have yet to hear back from them.
I wrote a negative review on the Green Lake games Facebook page, and when I tried to make a wall post, I discovered that they had blocked my Facebook account. There were still no messages.
Now, to me it seems that they deliberately exploited the "pre-order" time and the "tracking number" system to manipulate people into waiting longer than the allotted time in which buyers can request a refund from eBay.
Their eBay account has since ceased doing business (there are no items listed). There are HUNDREDS of pieces of negative feedback that have been posted in the past couple of months. This means that they scammed hundreds of people in the same way.
I started looking into it, and found some Reddit threads in which people have had similar experiences.
I'll sum up a bit of the story here.
Green Lake Games (the storefront, Amazon, and TCGPlayer.com name) is known as Bucephalus Games (the company and TCGPlayer.com name) and is also known as bgl_games (on Ebay, probably stands for Bucephalus Games Limited or LLC).
They had two storefronts on TCGPlayer.com before both store fronts were closed (the Reddit user whose post I'm referencing suggests they were kicked off TCGPlayer, presumably for failing to send out cards after they sold them).
You can see these store fronts here: (as Green Lake Games, kicked off in December 2012):
http://store.tcgplayer.com/sellerfeedback/745290da
and here (as Bucephalus Games, kicked off in May 2014):
http://store.tcgplayer.com/sellerfeedback/035a5d11
Their now-dead Ebay feedback area is here (as BGL_Games, the storefront has had all items removed from it recently):
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=bgl_games&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true&rt=nc
Look at the overwhelming amount of negative feedback from buyers in recent months.
You can see their Amazon feedback here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&orderID=&protocol=current&seller=A1DPE16SEWBL1W&sshmPath=
According to Amazon, their feedback within the past 30 days has been 38% negative, 8% neutral, and only 54% positive. Again, there is an overwhelming amount of negative feedback.
There are a number of other threads about their terrible business practices, not to mention the negative reviews on Yelp, Foursquare, and their Facebook page. It's also worth noting that the vast majority of users who posted negative reviews on eBay stopped there. If they had posted reviews anywhere else, Yelp, Foursquare, and the Green Lake Games Facebook page would all have hundreds of negative reviews from people who bought cards only to have nothing show up, and no communication from Green Lake Games.
I'm creating this thread for a couple of reasons:
First, to let people know to avoid Green Lake Games at all costs.
Second, to allow any readers who have had similar experiences a place to post and encourage them to share their story here.
I encourage anyone reading to look into Green Lake Games and the Reddit threads.
Hopefully as a community, we can prevent Green Lake Games from scamming any more people.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from their eBay store (bgl_games).
They provided fake tracking information and didn't send the cards. They also ignored all my emails, and blocked me from their Facebook page when I tried to post there to ask them about it.
Looking at their eBay feedback from the last month, there are hundreds of people who have been similarly scammed.
There are also Reddit threads about this issue with Green Lake Games.
I also posted in the thread about sellers who don't honor pre-orders if the cards spike in value. I'm also planning to make a separate thread for the Green Lake Games store. I encourage anyone who has recently been scammed by this company to make it known.
Don't do business with this store; they don't deserve your support or money.
I pre-ordered some cards from Magic Origins from their eBay store (bgl_games).
They provided fake tracking information and didn't send the cards. They also ignored all my emails, and blocked me from their Facebook page when I tried to post there to ask them about it.
Looking at their eBay feedback from the last month, there are hundreds of people who have been similarly scammed.
There are also Reddit threads about this issue with Green Lake Games.
I won't go into detail here because I'm going to make a new thread about it, but wanted to post the information here.
(EDIT: I have since created the thread. You can see it here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/market-street/market-street-cafe/store-discussion/632368-green-lake-games-scam-discussion-thread)
Don't do business with this store; they don't deserve your support or money.
It looks to me like the Serra Avengers are there because they play well with the two swords (obviously). I think the reasoning goes like this: Cutting the Resto Angels makes Blade Splicers less effective, so I can see changing those slots. Without Resto Angels or Blade Splicers, the list is missing 'fat' beaters. It looks like that's where the swords come in. Serra Avenger is a great creature to run along with them...I think the fact that it's a 2 drop is an added bonus but not necessarily the reason behind the choice?
Militant seems fairly decent vs Treasure Cruise actually, slows them down some.
I think you're right about it being tuned to beat the Ascendancy deck, most evident in the 4 Revokers. I'm not sure if I like it that much, though. I can see playing it in a very saturated meta but it looks weaker overall imo. I'd need to test it to draw any conclusions. It looks faster but less resilient to me. I already hate getting blown out by Electrolyze, and the UR delver decks are running Forked Bolt now.
Also, I much prefer Eidolon over Cannonist.
Didn't see any Treasure Cruise, which was surprising. I'm tempted to switch out 8 1/2 Tails for a Jotun Grunt / Spirit of the Labyrinth MD though.
Only game loss was in the finals (we ID'd anyway).
Props:
Flipping Akroma vs BW tokens.
t1 Vial -> t2 Thalia with Judge's Familiar in hand vs Ascendancy (Thalia still mvp).
Slops:
Pulling jank rares, then watching the guy I ID'd with pull a Korean foil Polluted Delta. He's a great guy though, definitely happy for him.
Can't comment much about playing vs Treasure Cruise but I have a feeling that card will get the banhammer pretty soon. The GW builds have access to Gaddock Teeg, which I would definitely be including in my SB if I played green.
Scion is a bad comparison. It doesn't have evasion, is 6/6 in total stats, with no other built-in abilities. Plus, two 1/1 token is far worse than a 3/4.
The Roc is 6/8 total stats, with evasion and a relevant third ability.
If your opponent has the board wipe, they have the board wipe. You can say that about literally any creature. This actually forces a board wipe without (potentially) overextending too much, which seems pretty decent to me. And it can't be 1-for-1'd with removal.
Even if raid is obvious, decks that will play this should be able to trigger it reliably.
Not saying this card is amazing, but it's solid value and I think it will see play.
But, the upside compared to Archangel of Thune and Baneslayer, is that when it is killed it leaves behind a 3/4 flier. A big part of the reason I thought it might be worth testing is that it cannot be 1-for-1'd with removal.
I also don't like the Sword of X and Y in this deck.
Anyway, as a 4-drop, this kind of effect would be great but at 5...it's probably terrible but I thought it might be worth testing.
So much this.
I just wanted to point out that the value of Judge's Familiar increases when you have 4 Thalia in the main (most Death and Taxes Builds run 3). It's a great tempo play vs any of the control or combo decks.
I ran 4 Judge's Familiar in my mono white list and they were amazing for me, although there was a ton of Scapeshift, Twin, and UWr control in the meta. I would happily run 3 though. I really just wanted to point out the merits of them when you are maxing out Thalia.
I agree about the 4th Tec Edge though, personal preference.
The list looks streamlined. Try it out and let us know how it goes.