DNS Security (Part 1 of 4)

I was going through my daily websites when I came across this headline:

Google warns hundreds of thousands may lose Internet in July:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/25/google-warns-hundreds-thousands-may-lose-internet-in-july/

Well, that certainly caught my attention and warranted closer examination.  At first glance, I thought it may have to do with the running out of IPv4 addresses, of which there are people who can not be reached on the Internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_address_exhaustion

But this article certainly does not indicate that.  Instead, it references a piece of malware which alters DNS such that the Internet appears normal but upon going to certain high-valued sites, notably banks, the user goes to a site which looks like their bank but is not.

This piece of malware isn’t always detected properly by anti-virus and anti-malware programs; so as such; various alphabet soup agencies of the United States government have been trying to get the word out about this.  But this is 2012.  If it isn’t viral on Youtube or some app, no one is going to notice.

So I’m going to go a short series on DNS, what this malware actually does, and most importantly for us botters, what we can do to make certain that this piece does not affect our business.

MTGO Library Bot 4.97 is out

The ML Bot 4.9y has just been released.

It fixes a number on minor bugs and features better and higher quality trade screenshots (you won't notice the jpg artifact when zooming in the screenshots).

Mtgolibrary.com restyled !

Yesterday mtgolibrary.com got a restyle to make it more readable.

Amont the others, the new style features increased font size (from 10px to 12px) and enlarged central columns.

You will also see that the logs are much more readable, that the form elements (such as the login fields or the wikiprice search field) have a more usable design and that the screenshot images are larger and of better quality.

How to draft Avacyn Restored?

Acronym B.R.E.A.D is very useful way to grade cards in limited. Every letter from this acronym symbolize one group of cards. Therefore, B is for Bombs, R is for Removal, E is for Evasion, A is for Advantage,  D is for Dudes. Basing on B.R.E.A.D I have prepared list of commons and uncommons worth drafting in Avacyn Restored. I ignored rares and mythic cards, because these cards are quite easy to evaluate and to point out  the best possible pick.

• White:  Banishing Stroke, Emancipation Angel, Archangel,  Goldnight Redeemer, Nearheath Pilgrim, Seraph of Dawn, Cloudshift, Defang, Righteous Blow, Moonlight Geist
• Blue: Fettergeist, Latch Seeker, Tandem Lookout, Vanishment, Nephalia Smuggler Mist Raven, Gryff Vanguard, Ghostly Flicker, Amass the Components, Scrapskin Drake
• Black: Barter in Blood, Demonic Taskmaster, Evernight Shade, Homicidal Seclusion, Marrow Bats, Blood Artist, Death Wind, Corpse Traders, Searchlight Geist, Soulcage Fiend, Undead Executioner, Ghoulflesh
• Red: Falkenrath Exterminator, Vigilante Justice, Gang of Devils, Thunderous Wrath, Havengul Vampire, Pillar of Flame, Hanweir Lancer, Thunderbolt, Thatcher Revolt, Mad Prophet
• Green: Blessing of Nature, Druid's Familiar, Howlgeist, Triumph of Ferocity, Wolfir Avenger, Trusted Forcemage, Joint Assault, Borderland Ranger, Wandering Wolf, Nightshade Peddler

The best creature and non-creature uncommon card from every color are bolded.
Good luck in drafts!

Intermediate and Advanced settings

If you have been running the bot for some months, you should have grown a good collection with around 3000-4000 rares/mythics. This is very good, yet not the final goal. For a bot to be sustainable, it needs a larger collection, thus it's the time to accelerate and grow more. I prepared some settings: you can download them here (user.data) and here (buyerSetting.data).

After you reach 10'000 rares/mythics, you can then switch to these settings: here (user.data) and here (buyerSetting.data)

 Instructions:
- stop the bot 
- download the files 
- copy the files in the bot folder, overwriting the old ones 
- launch the bot and set again your bot name, mtgo password and mtgolibrary.com password 

 These settings are safe and will work well in the majority of the cases. You can of course play with them and change them at your needs. If you need help or have any question, just ask me at staff@mtgolibrary.com

MTGO Library Bot version 4.96 is out!

The ML Bot version 4.96 is now available for download.

Version 4.96 supports the wishlist buying mode for the AVR set. Also, version 4.96 extends the range of available choices for the "Maximum trading time" and "Maximum inactivity time" (both in the General Tab of the bot UI)

Do you believe in miracles?

Last Sunday took place a Pro Tour tournament in Barcelona in Innistrad Block Constructed format. There were some predictable decklists and some not. One of them is indeed Alexander Hayne decklist. He came up with totally new deck, which was one of a kind. No one else out of hundreds players in this tournament had anything similar to Alexander Hayne. A thrilling run through the Top 8 with victories over all-time great Jon Finkel, Joshua Cho, and Gaudenis Vidugiris secured the title of Pro Tour champion, thereby becoming 40 000 USD richer. When the deck features 16 miracles, anything is possible.

Main Deck

4 Evolving Wilds

13 Island

10 Plains

4 Devastation Tide

1 Dissipate

4 Entreat the Angels

4 Feeling of Dread

4 Temporal Mastery

4 Terminus

4 Think Twice

4 Thought Scour

4 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Sideboard

1 Angel's Mercy

4 Cathedral Sanctifier

3 Dissipate

3 Geist of Saint Traft

2 Midnight Haunting

2 Snapcaster Mage

It is typical control deck, in the early stage of the game it hinders the play to opponent and when we finally gather several lands we cast Entreat the Angels and in most cases we kill the opponent in one attack. I posted this article becasue for us(traders) it is important to observe the recent decklists cause it affect very much on the price fluctuations. Thus, we are able to predict which cards are going to raise or drop in the value.

ML BOT 4.95 is out!

The new version of ML Bot, 4.95, is out now and supports the new set Avacyn Restored (AVR)

Beginner's bot settings

Just got started with ML Bot and want some quick-and-easy settings to bootstrap and grow your collection? I prepared for you the right settings: you can download them here (user.data) and here (buyerSetting.data).

Instructions:
- stop the bot
- download the files
- copy the files in the bot folder, overwriting the old ones
- launch the bot and set again your bot name, mtgo password and mtgolibrary.com password

These settings are safe and will work well in the majority of the cases. You can of course play with them and change them at your needs.

If you need help or have any question, just ask me at staff@mtgolibrary.com

Avacyn Restored - MtGO

The third set from Innistrad block comes to the Magic Online.

Avacyn Restored will be available in the Magic Online Store on Monday, May 21 at 9:00 AM.

Release Events begin after the downtime Wednesday, May 23.

Avacyn Restored becomes legal in ALL constructed formats following the May 16 scheduled downtime. Although it's the third set of the Innistrad block, the Avacyn Restored set will be a large set. This means that Innistrad Block Constructed will be composed of all three sets, but Avacyn Restored will be drafted by itself. Sealed events will use six Avacyn Restored booster packs. All appropriate Daily Events, Scheduled Events, and Queues will have Avacyn Restored added to their prize structures after the scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, May 23.

Good luck!

What about an investment bank

The "idea of today" is a provocation, especially after the huge credit crunch and all the issues connected with the banks.

What if Magic Online had a "Bank", a place where you can deposit your tixs and get a profit at the end of year / at the end of the month? It would operate more or less like a normal Bank (save for it won't borrow money) and would invest in Magic Online or in the real world Magic to get a return.

You could pay everything in Magic Online without having to host the tixs on your account, because the Bank would automatically guarantee for you and eventually transfer the funds.
A kind of "electronic money" in an already virtual world

Customer's care

You have just set up your bot at best, fine tuned the prices and build a ram of workstations to run your 8 bots family at best. Still, you are probably understimating the importance of a good customer care. Luckly this is pretty easy to achieve in Magic Online. 


First of all remember to insert your email address in the welcome messages and in the final confirm messages. If someone has a problem, will most likely contact you. 
Then, daily check your inbox in Magic Online for new messages. The bot closes the inbox automatically, so you have open it manually once a while. 


Then, support your customers at best, and they will return. Someone is angry? Well, that's the scenario I prefer: be extra friendly and helpful with him and he will change his mood and shop at your bot again. Mysteries of the human beings, but this is 100% guarantee. An angry customer is just a customer that need "attention", willing to shop with you again BUT with an issue to be solved

Weekly Card Review (WCR8)

This is a new series of articles where I will review a card from the latest set every week and its influences in constructed Standard, from the top mythic down to common cards that people might be ignoring their full potential. Between each review I will show a example of a deck where that card could fit. Please feel free to add more ideas and discuss the cards on each week!

 Primal Surge

What if?... yes we all though of it. Can we build a deck around Primal Surge and drop the whole deck into the battlefield in one turn and just win? That's what we're going to find out this week. 

Mana Ramping in standard is not the greatest without zen block and sorceries/instants but we can still get it done with Sphere of suns/solemn simulacrum/primeval titan and so on.

With this sorcery going through there are countless ways to win, from ETB (enter the battlefield) trigger creatures such as Massacre wurm, to a horde of creatures including Urabrask the Hidden and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or simply a Laboratory Maniac, a Spellskite and a draw card mechanism on a creature or planeswalker such as jace/garruk to get that precious win!

Be tuned to see what we can make of it on part 2!

Weekly Card Review (WCR7 part2)

This is a new series of articles where I will review a card from the latest set Every week and its influences in constructed Standard, from the top mythic down to common cards that people might be ignoring their full potential. Between each review I will show a example of a deck where that card could fit. Please feel free to add more ideas and discuss the cards on each week!

             Aggro Pod

4 Seachrome Coast 2 Copperline Gorge

4 Razorverge Thicket 2 Island 2 Plains 2 Mountain

7 Forest 1 Gavony Township

4 Birds of Paradise 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim

1 Spellskite 2 Phantasmal Image

1 Strangleroot Geist 1 Suture Priest

2 Viridian Emissary 1 Sylvok Replica

1 Blade Splicer 1 Deceiver Exarch 1 Fiend Hunter 1 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Phyrexian Metamorph

2 Huntmaster of the Fells 1 Stonehorn Dignitary

1 Acidic Slime 1 Archon of justice

1 Geist-Honored Monk 1 Razor Hippogriff

1 Wurmcoil Engine 1 Brutalizer Exarch 1 Sun Titan 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

4 Birthing Pod 1 Venser, the Sojourner 1 Green Sun's Zenith

This was a exciting deck to play with and with a very high win rate, shame that wasn't one of the cheapest...

On our following Review we will guide you through Avacyn's Restored new gems. See you there!