Card theft!

As some of you already know, something bad happened on GenCon. Greatest convention for games in the world had one bad side: there were several thefts of some very valuable cards, decks and collections on it.

As we all looked at Nationals top 8 and hoped to see some of our favorite pros to enter there, some people were busy stealing some of the cards and decks. Problem with those thefts is that they are beginning to look like more organized and more professional. That is the biggest threat, as we all know that there is no security at big events, even on the Worlds? Did you know that it was rumored that in Finals of the 2010 Worlds a Tier 1 deck was stolen?

Prices of old Magic cards are increasing rapidly, so there is going to be more and more thefts if something aren’t to be done. There is a need for security on all big events, because it’s known that even on Legacy tournament with 200 attendees there is a half a mill of dollars worth of cards. That is what lures thieves to seek such events and one should be very careful to watch his stuff all the time.

Well, that isn’t possible. You can’t be focused at your things all the time, especially when you are playing. There were reports that some decks were stolen while playing the game, it was nothing unnatural. People are focused on game, not on their backpacks at that moment.

I can give you some advice on how to protect your stuff and valuables when attending big events: always keep your pack between your legs, closed all the time.

Some people used chains, key chains and even sound alarms. If your collection is worth 30,000-40,000 dollars, nothing is too much for protection. Have a friend who is not attending the tournament watch over your stuff while you are playing, heck; hire one big fatso if you are going to sell cards of a large value.

The stuff stolen on GenCon is worth around 50k; that is a lot of money. One of the guys who lost the deck worth 20k is a student, who lends this deck from a friend. If that happened to me, I just couldn’t find that much money in ten years. It’s very tough situation for all the guys whose decks and collections were stolen, as they are likely never to return to have those cards, so they’ll drop out from play.

I want to stress that theft is a serious crime, and that the fact is it is the same stealing from the bank just as from a local Magic players. Penalty is jailtime and anyone who thought of stealing something should be aware of this.

Another bad thing in stealing is this: you can’t play with the cards you stole. You can sell it to someone else, but what is the point of that? In either case you are sacrificing a lot for something you’d never play. Point of Magic is to play the game, so if you are Magic fans, act like real ones, collect this game through many years of trading and plays. That is the only true way of Magic the Gathering.

Related posts:

1. 9th Anniversary Magic Online Events! It was like a yesterday when I heard that Magic...
2. All the TCGs – part 2 – Pokemon! “I want to be a very best, that no one...