I know the previous thread on this got locked, but this seems relevant so I'm making a new thread.
Brian Byrd has a new facebook page for alters and a new ebay account - Gamers Gear, Inc. He claims he is trying to contact people who's cards he took for alters - who knows how true that is, but I figured I would at least alert the community.
Here is the story he gave me:
At the time of the event, I was living with my girlfriend, and her mother kicked her and I out because she got pregnant. She and her mother were fighting, and we were forced to the streets. We were homeless with no car, no money, and no home, ultimately meaning no Internet to contact people. After a while, people started saying that we stole their cards, because they hadn't heard from us. We were still homeless at this point, and by the time we'd heard about this situation, we had no way of informing anyone that we still had the cards. Then other people, people whom I had never ever had any dealing with started saying things like, "Oh, he has my Moxes, and my Black Lotus," while the most high valued cards that I had taken on were a set of dual lands. Once we were back on our feet we returned what cards we could... meaning to the people that we could find. I'm now working it out with the guy whose dual lands I had, as well as anyone else who contacts me.
Tuff story to swallow but good that people are getting cards back.
Dude could have painted in any coffee shop and contacted people at the library. Job and money right there.
Greetings all,
My name is Brian Byrd. Have you ever been homeless before? Please allow me to inform you... Magic: The Gathering is the last thing on your mind when looking for a safe place to sleep, and not knowing where the next meal would be coming from. As far as the cards, and painting them in a coffee shop. They got left behind when we were kicked the street with only the clothes on our backs.
Now I am just trying to clear my name and rep, so that I can play, trade, and alter the card "GAME" that we all like and love... in peace.
I am wondering about this sentence:
"Once we were back on our feet we returned what cards we could... meaning to the people that we could find."
If the cards where commissions originally then how could you not find the people later? Also, it seems that there were people who claimed to have commissioned moxen from you that then saw it on ebay (under rainyalterations) and that you scammed people out of money on ebay under the name commandzonealters?
As someone who has been homeless. Painting mtg cards that you don't have on you is the last thing on your mind when you haven't eaten in days and can't find a dry place to sleep. My public library requires that you pay $10 and get a library card to use their computers. So it's not like he is saying a dragon set them all on fire. Hope all this gets sorted out.
This seems like a major cop out. If you were in danger of being homeless, why did you take on thousands of dollars worth of cards to alter as a semi-attached vendor to an SCG Open?
Additionally, up to about two days ago, you were claiming on your FB profile after you got kicked out of numerous magic groups that it was a case of mistaken identity. (Which apparently, it wasn't, given that the status is now deleted.)
This was after an SCG staff member confirmed it was you. So unless there was another Brian Byrd with the exact same wife who also altered magic cards, up until two days ago, you were trying to pretend that this wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible.
It really stops being a "game" when you accept responsibility for other people's property and proceed to shirk/disappear with thousands of dollars.
It's also really hard for me to be sympathetic to your homeless story when you posted a want list on a facebook forum totaling over 1000$ in judge foils + premium cards in the last week. Yes fortunes change, but going from "not knowing where your next meal is coming from" to being able to buy a G of cards is a pretty interesting jump and makes me wonder how serious your issue actually was.
This seems like a major cop out. If you were in danger of being homeless, why did you take on thousands of dollars worth of cards to alter as a semi-attached vendor to an SCG Open?
Additionally, up to about two days ago, you were claiming on your FB profile after you got kicked out of numerous magic groups that it was a case of mistaken identity. (Which apparently, it wasn't, given that the status is now deleted.)
This was after an SCG staff member confirmed it was you. So unless there was another Brian Byrd with the exact same wife who also altered magic cards, up until two days ago, you were trying to pretend that this wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible.
It really stops being a "game" when you accept responsibility for other people's property and proceed to shirk/disappear with thousands of dollars.
It's also really hard for me to be sympathetic to your homeless story when you posted a want list on a facebook forum totaling over 1000$ in judge foils + premium cards in the last week. Yes fortunes change, but going from "not knowing where your next meal is coming from" to being able to buy a G of cards is a pretty interesting jump and makes me wonder how serious your issue actually was.
As part of the conversation I quoted in the OP he confirmed he is the same Brian Byrd as the old thread and SCG announcement.
This seems like a major cop out. If you were in danger of being homeless, why did you take on thousands of dollars worth of cards to alter as a semi-attached vendor to an SCG Open?
Additionally, up to about two days ago, you were claiming on your FB profile after you got kicked out of numerous magic groups that it was a case of mistaken identity. (Which apparently, it wasn't, given that the status is now deleted.)
This was after an SCG staff member confirmed it was you. So unless there was another Brian Byrd with the exact same wife who also altered magic cards, up until two days ago, you were trying to pretend that this wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible.
It really stops being a "game" when you accept responsibility for other people's property and proceed to shirk/disappear with thousands of dollars.
It's also really hard for me to be sympathetic to your homeless story when you posted a want list on a facebook forum totaling over 1000$ in judge foils + premium cards in the last week. Yes fortunes change, but going from "not knowing where your next meal is coming from" to being able to buy a G of cards is a pretty interesting jump and makes me wonder how serious your issue actually was.
First off I wasn't "trying" to buy MTG cards, I was wanting to trade for them. Secondly, the issues you're referring to happen almost two years ago. I'm not here to be crucified or have petty internet fight with someone who doesn't know the facts. I'm here to find the people whose cards I have and who had commissions through me so that I can return them. So, please, tell me, what is your involvement in this besides being a spectator? If you had a commission through me, great, message me privately and we'll sort out the details. Otherwise, I would much appreciate it if you kept your snide comments to yourself, since you can't even get the facts straight.
It would seem the facts are fairly straight:
1) You took cards belonging to other people promising a service, and accepted payment.
2) You disappeared with those cards with no effort made to contact anyone. The SCG people had to clean up after you on this very forum, since it's their name that was getting dragged through the mud also.
3) Now all this time later you claim to be attempting to return other people's belongings. That anything has actually been returned has not been confirmed.
4) You appear to have been trying to pretend that the person who did these things wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible, despite multiple confirmations.
5) You haven't responded to multiple claims of people who commissioned moxen from you that then saw it on ebay on one of your accounts and that you took money from others on ebay under another account and did not provide either the goods or services promised. In plain talk, you stole from people.
6) You are being defensive with people pointing out the fairly plain flaws in your account.
I think that's an accurate summary up to this point. Here's a piece of advice or two. Stop talking, and follow through. Get people their property and money back before you make another post defending yourself, because despite the emotional appeal around homelessness, what you've done is indefensible. You stole from people. Stop trying to dress it up as anything reasonable, and own it. I worked at a homeless shelter for five years, and it's people like you that are the reason people won't give people that are really down on their luck a chance. Just stop talking and get people their stuff back, then work on restoring your reputation, because until you've made those people whole, your reputation as it stands now is well deserved.
I'm here to find the people whose cards I have and who had commissions through me so that I can return them.
I am genuinely curious why it is so hard to contact the folks that commissioned you to alter their cards. I would think that you had some kind of way to communicate with them and return the finished product before things went down-hill for you, so what is keeping you using that?
Brian Byrd has a new facebook page for alters and a new ebay account - Gamers Gear, Inc. He claims he is trying to contact people who's cards he took for alters - who knows how true that is, but I figured I would at least alert the community.
Here is the story he gave me:
At the time of the event, I was living with my girlfriend, and her mother kicked her and I out because she got pregnant. She and her mother were fighting, and we were forced to the streets. We were homeless with no car, no money, and no home, ultimately meaning no Internet to contact people. After a while, people started saying that we stole their cards, because they hadn't heard from us. We were still homeless at this point, and by the time we'd heard about this situation, we had no way of informing anyone that we still had the cards. Then other people, people whom I had never ever had any dealing with started saying things like, "Oh, he has my Moxes, and my Black Lotus," while the most high valued cards that I had taken on were a set of dual lands. Once we were back on our feet we returned what cards we could... meaning to the people that we could find. I'm now working it out with the guy whose dual lands I had, as well as anyone else who contacts me.
Here is the old thread for reference:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8648144
If the story's false, then oh well.
City Library.
Tuff story to swallow but good that people are getting cards back.
Dude could have painted in any coffee shop and contacted people at the library. Job and money right there.
Greetings all,
My name is Brian Byrd. Have you ever been homeless before? Please allow me to inform you... Magic: The Gathering is the last thing on your mind when looking for a safe place to sleep, and not knowing where the next meal would be coming from. As far as the cards, and painting them in a coffee shop. They got left behind when we were kicked the street with only the clothes on our backs.
Now I am just trying to clear my name and rep, so that I can play, trade, and alter the card "GAME" that we all like and love... in peace.
"Once we were back on our feet we returned what cards we could... meaning to the people that we could find."
If the cards where commissions originally then how could you not find the people later? Also, it seems that there were people who claimed to have commissioned moxen from you that then saw it on ebay (under rainyalterations) and that you scammed people out of money on ebay under the name commandzonealters?
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
Additionally, up to about two days ago, you were claiming on your FB profile after you got kicked out of numerous magic groups that it was a case of mistaken identity. (Which apparently, it wasn't, given that the status is now deleted.)
This was after an SCG staff member confirmed it was you. So unless there was another Brian Byrd with the exact same wife who also altered magic cards, up until two days ago, you were trying to pretend that this wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible.
It really stops being a "game" when you accept responsibility for other people's property and proceed to shirk/disappear with thousands of dollars.
It's also really hard for me to be sympathetic to your homeless story when you posted a want list on a facebook forum totaling over 1000$ in judge foils + premium cards in the last week. Yes fortunes change, but going from "not knowing where your next meal is coming from" to being able to buy a G of cards is a pretty interesting jump and makes me wonder how serious your issue actually was.
Legacy Decks:
Legendary Maverick GW
As part of the conversation I quoted in the OP he confirmed he is the same Brian Byrd as the old thread and SCG announcement.
First off I wasn't "trying" to buy MTG cards, I was wanting to trade for them. Secondly, the issues you're referring to happen almost two years ago. I'm not here to be crucified or have petty internet fight with someone who doesn't know the facts. I'm here to find the people whose cards I have and who had commissions through me so that I can return them. So, please, tell me, what is your involvement in this besides being a spectator? If you had a commission through me, great, message me privately and we'll sort out the details. Otherwise, I would much appreciate it if you kept your snide comments to yourself, since you can't even get the facts straight.
1) You took cards belonging to other people promising a service, and accepted payment.
2) You disappeared with those cards with no effort made to contact anyone. The SCG people had to clean up after you on this very forum, since it's their name that was getting dragged through the mud also.
3) Now all this time later you claim to be attempting to return other people's belongings. That anything has actually been returned has not been confirmed.
4) You appear to have been trying to pretend that the person who did these things wasn't you, and that you weren't responsible, despite multiple confirmations.
5) You haven't responded to multiple claims of people who commissioned moxen from you that then saw it on ebay on one of your accounts and that you took money from others on ebay under another account and did not provide either the goods or services promised. In plain talk, you stole from people.
6) You are being defensive with people pointing out the fairly plain flaws in your account.
I think that's an accurate summary up to this point. Here's a piece of advice or two. Stop talking, and follow through. Get people their property and money back before you make another post defending yourself, because despite the emotional appeal around homelessness, what you've done is indefensible. You stole from people. Stop trying to dress it up as anything reasonable, and own it. I worked at a homeless shelter for five years, and it's people like you that are the reason people won't give people that are really down on their luck a chance. Just stop talking and get people their stuff back, then work on restoring your reputation, because until you've made those people whole, your reputation as it stands now is well deserved.
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
[GTC] Gatecrash Patch for MWS (249/249)