Hello, i am in a kind of dilemma, first off i want to start by telling you how it all began
One day when i came home after being gone for only an hour and half, i came home finding myself without magic cards....
My whole place had been flushed, somebody stole everything i had collected for over 8 years of playing magic.
I was lucky enough that i borrowed a friend of mine a deck so i could still keep myself in the game as i love playing magic and i find it hard for me to imagine me not playing.
as people always do when its a robbery i called the police, they filed a case and off course couldn't find much. they told me to just call my insurance company which is something i didnt have so basically it felt like i had lost everything that was actually worth something for me. now i had a lot of friends, players, stores that wanted to help me, friends tried to comfort me, players tried to motivate me and there was one store that was nice enough to let me get cards from my old decks for a discount (i also sold him my FNM card)
Some time passes, and me and other players have been trying to see if we maybe can find the stolen cards on the magic market, i remember getting messages from people when they saw shady profiles
or players that weren't known locally selling high valued cards. i also searched at least once a week through certain websites to see if maybe my collection pops up.... but nothing
Now a year has passed. and there is still this hole in my heart (sorry for sounding melodramatic ), until now.....
I got a message from a store that i know, that's outside town, the store clerk wanted to know what kinda cards i was missing as he has been offered some high powered cards from an unkown in my town. I then give him a short list of what has branded itself in my mind as "i once had that card but..." and then he shows me pictures and there i see them.... my cards... now i know these are mine, no question about it. i then proceed to tell him that those are my cards and he tells me the person seemed desperate to sell them as he offered them for a low price, i then mention one name, and what do you know. it was just the name i mentioned that is trying to sell them. now i am shaking as i am writing this cause i miss thoose cards so bad, as i sacrificied A LOT to get them.
And for the sake of anonymity lets call him "Squee's Minion"
Squee's Minion is an old magic player who has stopped playing, He used to work at the store a couple of years ago until he got fired, he was stealing and owing the store money. now i know this guy in personal cause he has borrowed a lot of money of friends of mine and never payed them back and i am talking big money, he has involved people i love in drugs and put them in debt, he is basically everything i never want to be. a huge liar and i have done a good job keeping myself away from him and his stupidity. now he hasn't been playing at our local store or at any store for that matters in years as he owes a lot of magic players money (Seeing a pattern here?) and i know he hasn't bought any cards cause he is always in some kind of situation where he needs money. and the cards he has from me are judge foils, cards that came out after he stopped working at the store.
I am stuck on what to do. Should i go to the police? Should i confront him? Should i ask somebody for help so i can intimate him to tell me the truth and give me the things back? (i am not that kind of person but i unfortunately have that kind of ability) I know he has shuffled our collections together, but i just want my decks back, the cards i love and even have a recite as i bought some of them on eBay. i can also be really lucky and find my proxies (i made high grade proxies but i think he threw those i am not sure)
The store clerk asked me how i wanted to approach this situation and i told him i would go down to the police tomorrow and talk with somebody and that i could be that they would contact him for more details. but i don't trust the police in returning my cards. but it's the "Right-thing" to do.
Which is why i am here, what would you do? and i don't count Violence as an answer as it will only get me in trouble (Believe me i want to resort to violence considering this guy has been lying to me in my face and told me he is sorry for what happened to my cards but it wont get me anywhere)
In my opinion you need to try and find some sort of proof before you go to the police. They will assist in confronting him, possibly via questioning, however without solid proof the cards are yours, that just tips him off.
However if you can find a way to prove it, possibly the receipts will help, maybe finger prints but I don't the police will care enough to do that, the police are the best route.
Would want to give one more vote in choosing the police. Violence is not the way to go, espescially against someone who has been involved with drugs - as those kinds of people can be dangerous if provoked.
Yeah, and the community + the store has my back on this one. i am just kinda wondering if this has happen before where somebody actually got their stuff back. cause i feel like i read about situations like this before. i remember i had stuff stolen before, and somebody told me that people had been caught trying to sell stolen cards in store before and they got caught by the police. + this guy has been involved with the police before. and our mutual friends knows he is the kinda guy to do this.
I won't tell you what I would do since you already said that you aren't willing to go that route.
It looks like your only real option then is notifying the police. I agree with others that you need to have as much evidence as you can prior to this. It needs to be concrete evidence; not hearsay, but if all else fails, hearsay is better than nothing at all. I will say this though. The police are extremely unlikely to care enough for this method to be successful. I honestly think you should just hire someone like myself to get your cards back for you. But that can open up all kinds of worms in itself if the person is not a professional.
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Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
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A buddy of mine had his car raided earlier this year. We found out the group that got them (I work at the LGS and some sketchy kids were asking if we bought magic cards). They sent the toadies with a bit at a time to us and a friend of ours went to the house of the kid selling them and ended up buying them back. Our store bought a bunch of it back at pennies on the dollar, the perk of them sending the toadies to sell cards, and we ended up being all in at about $250 for all his THOUSANDS of dolars in cards back. Our LGS ate the cost to keep a player and the ones we sent to the house got funded by the guy that lost his cards.
We attempted to involve our police but they realy wanted nothing to do with it even with all the proof we had. Maybe your situation will be more fortuatous but my advice is see if the LGS will by it for you at a super deal and then you pay them what they paid. Its a good way for them to win/keep your loyalty and might be your only chance at getting it back. As an employee of an LGS i really hate the scum that tends to float around the game because they know theres money in it or they used to play when they could swindle the cash.
All the best to you bro
I'm not sure where you're from so I'm not 100% sure how similar my experience will be to yours.
A few months ago I had several hundred dollars worth of cards stolen (mainly fetches). I informed the police and pretty much every store within the south central Ontario region (Toronto-Peterborough-Kingston). That way there would be a police officer (OPP in my case) on the situation and he knew when and where they were stolen from. Store employees would also know if someone tried to sell off a list or part of a pile similar to what i had stolen (its kinda weird to be selling that much at a time IMO).
Basically, they found the little piece of ***** kid who did it. All they could have done to him really was tell him to give the cards back or they'd charge him with being in possession of stolen property as he was in the room when they were stolen and being in possession of the whole list i had stolen. Then the officer on my case also gave the kid a pretty good yelling at to (hopefully) scare him into not ******* up anymore
so TLDR they can probably just tell whoever did it to give the stolen cards back or get charged with being in possession of stolen property. then again it could be different where you are
Thats why i have a dilemma, in that kind of environment he lives in i am the alpha (not something i am proud of i hate that kind of environment but not everybody can grow up in nice places. and i have gained a lot of respect for just being myself being, drug free, having hobbies and staying outta trouble trying to set an example for those around me). I know his cousins, friends, and i even been in relationship with his kids mom before they got together. so getting his address and getting somebody to come with me so i can confront him is no problem. he would also have a huge problem telling where he got those cards from as most of them are worth 80$ or more and he never played once during those times.. I can even just go in grab the cards and say this is payment for the money you owed my friend for 7 years (They have given up on getting the money back so its fine for them). and to be honest if it comes to it i will resort to paying him a visit. cause i don't take kindly to somebody breaking into my house stealing stuff worth over 20.000$.
and to put it this way, if i do something rash the only consequence i will get is a fine that ill be happy to pay
Thats why i have a dilemma, in that kind of environment he lives in i am the alpha (not something i am proud of i hate that kind of environment but not everybody can grow up in nice places. and i have gained a lot of respect for just being myself being, drug free, having hobbies and staying outta trouble trying to set an example for those around me). I know his cousins, friends, and i even been in relationship with his kids mom before they got together. so getting his address and getting somebody to come with me so i can confront him is no problem. he would also have a huge problem telling where he got those cards from as most of them are worth 80$ or more and he never played once during those times.. I can even just go in grab the cards and say this is payment for the money you owed my friend for 7 years (They have given up on getting the money back so its fine for them). and to be honest if it comes to it i will resort to paying him a visit. cause i don't take kindly to somebody breaking into my house stealing stuff worth over 20.000$.
and to put it this way, if i do something rash the only consequence i will get is a fine that ill be happy to pay
Sorry, but the only way I would let someone keep $20,000 worth of my property is if I was a billionaire. Even as a millionaire, that would simply be unacceptable to me. I can't afford that type of loss and no one's likely to do something for you. Sorry, these are just the facts. Stealing Magic cards usually has no consequences outside of what the owner is willing to do.
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Mob justice. Not all players are weak nerds. Get a few people and get your stuff.
If not mob justice I'd gather as much proof as possible and go to the authorities. Get written ststments from the LGS he worked at, and the one he tried to fence the cards through. Thats is the "right" thing too do, but I can be an angry guy when it comes to theft.
I will make somebody call him tomorrow and just tell him they got something they need to give him (money or something) and then just show up and take it from there. i am going to confront him with the i proof, instead of getting mad at the police for not doing anything and then do something rash in anger. its not like anybody cares about him anyway and i think trash like him needs to be removed from the community, they pose a great danger to the community itself, as i have seen him ruin more then one player by simply getting them involved in his daily life.
So i now have a plan or i have several plans.
I have contacted a couple of players in my magic community, one that knows him and several others
The store told me that Squee's minion will send him more pictures later so i will wait. and there is a huge day for our country tomorrow so everybody has a day off.
I will print out every picture he sent to the store, and take with me Two magic players, and a mutual friend that can confirm that something is wrong here. i will threaten him with taking the evidence to the police along with the people i brought with me that can confirm that the cards are mine along with me as i am "giving him a chance to come clean and give me my things back". I know he has kids and i know for a fact that he is scared of police. i will also use my head and try to find a nice policeman that has a good reputation and bring all the evidence i have with me along with people statements although its word against word this guy is known by the police so maybe that will help me. also the fact that the case was reported when it happened. i specially told the police about the judge foils and the significance of having them
(I am not talking about the judge foils at conferences i am talking about the Elesh Norn,Force of will, Show and Tell DCI Judge Cycle)
the best thing that could happen is that he would try to sell proxies that i made. they have my "signature"
I have asked the store to pass along all information he can get, i even asked him if he could pretend that he wanted to buy everything and get as much pictures and a list if possible.
So now i have to have alot of patience until Wednesday when i can go to the police and confront him (i am choosing to do both. hopefully i will never have to resort to plan c)
I will make somebody call him tomorrow and just tell him they got something they need to give him (money or something) and then just show up and take it from there. i am going to confront him with the i proof, instead of getting mad at the police for not doing anything and then do something rash in anger. its not like anybody cares about him anyway and i think trash like him needs to be removed from the community, they pose a great danger to the community itself, as i have seen him ruin more then one player by simply getting them involved in his daily life.
You can at least try to call the police. If you want to skip the police all together, you can even go straight for a lawyer.
If you do something extra-legal, you're setting yourself up for a whole bunch of risk.
Here's what you do, it's gonna take a bit of effort but it's worth it.
Guy who stole your cards is named 'Lucas'
1. Disappear from the card shop for a while.
2. Get in much better shape, take really good care of yourself, clean shaven. Grow your hair out a little, pierce your ears, you know. Get in shape.
3. Start crossdressing. Listen I know it sounds weird, but it really is worth it. I mean if you buy a box of MTG cards once a week, just spend one weeks money on a nice pair of high heels and a cute dress, nail polish, mani/pedi and you're good!
4. Reappear at the card shop, but in full crossdress. Introduce yourself as a girl who loves Magic and then when you see the guy who stole your cards, flirt with him a little.
5. Let him take you out on a few dates, take you to dinner, buy you cards for FNM, that kind of thing. Really get into character with it. Remember it's only acting.
6. DON'T FALL IN LOVE. If you do. Go steps 13B and follow.
7. ...Seriously don't fall in love. I know that first kiss was magical but don't do it! He stole your cards remember?!
8. Start going steady with him, he'll keep buying you cards, hell you can probably invest your money in making yourself look cute and just have him keep buying you cards.
9. Slowly syphon back your collection from him. "Ohmygod you have a Foil Snapcaster?! I love that card, 2/1's are so cute!" Just slowly keep rebuilding your collection from him until you have regained what was stolen.
10. Do you have a majority of his cards? You guys have been going steady for like, 2 months now. Good dates? Time to complete the game.
11. It's time for revenge.
12. The pre-release is coming up! You guys are going to make a real lovey-dovey date out of it. Get a really pretty pair of heels, a cute outfit, maybe even cosplay!
13. This is where you get him. At the event, you see some other guy, this guys a real Card Shark, his Lands are Foil Unhinged and his ladies ride in the front seat of a slick Black BMW with red interior he's named 'Liliana' and what luck, you're cosplaying Liliana! Flirting throughout the night, much to the jealousy of your 'now boyfriend' you..
CRUSH HIS SOUL! He catches you making out with that slick haired Lawyer with such deep pockets that he keeps his Fat Pack boxes in a custom made leatherbound briefcase, monogramed with the MTG Symbols and engraved with his name on the spine.
Lucas is crushed, right in front of the entire shop he calls you out, and you bring up everything about him that you learned while dating. Make sure to make references that his lands are horribly cared for, hell they're cheapo full art Zendikar lands and Rich Laywer guy can REALLY please a woman with his thick and masculine collection of Guru Lands.
You'll have destroyed Lucas' spirit, maybe even emasculated him in front of the cardshop, and maybe even get him to quit Magic.
Congratulations. Vengeance achieved.
13B. Crap.. you fell in love Didn't you?
JEEZ! SIGH. Well here's how you finish it.
You fell in love with the guy that stole your cards! You immediately apologize and then tug Lucas over to give him a passionate kiss that reaffirms your love for one another. That's when you come clean.
He stole your cards, but.. you stole his heart.
He immediately begins crying and hugs and holds you, promising to give you everything you ever wanted. You lean into him, standing on your tiptoes as you feel his powerful arms embrace you as you embrace a life with him. He accepts you as the girl you've become. It's not a big deal for him anyways, it's not like he's got the pick of the litter!
You guys get married, and spend a honeymoon in Paris at a GP, where you realize it's the perfect place to settle down. You open a cardshop with him, Le Petite Delver, adopt 3 children and even though they already have names, you rename them to Finkel, Bob, and Karn. And as you raise your three children to play Magic, owning a card-shop with your husband, you realize that this is worth more than any card collection.. this is your Happy Ever After.
But really, getting the police involved and letting it be known throughout local gaming stores that he's a thief is the best way to go about it. Make it publicly known that he's a thief and he's going to have to deal with the consequences of now being constantly treated like he's getting ready to steal again. Letting all the local store owners know will ruin his reputation, and many places around where I live refuse the business of people who are known thieves.
When talking to the police about it, it might be wise to show them the value of anything particularly valuable, considering that they usually don't take collections of any kind too seriously (unless you collect corvettes) and make it known that you're more upset because of principle, and that the law was broken, even if they don't consider what was stolen to be of significant value.
So i now have a plan or i have several plans.
I have contacted a couple of players in my magic community, one that knows him and several others
The store told me that Squee's minion will send him more pictures later so i will wait. and there is a huge day for our country tomorrow so everybody has a day off
Soooo...Norway or DRC?
I think social and legal boundaries are often too specific to geography for most of the people (including myself) to give advice in this case. Even here in the US regional differences can make for huge differences in how communities police themselves. In the end you and the people you trust in your community are the best judge of what is appropriate in this situation. You may get it right, you may get it wrong, but some MTG player from the US or Lichtenstein will almost never be the right judge of that.
Go to the police and tell them that a store owner has recognized your cards and confirmed that the person trying to sell them isn't you. Have them coordinate a "sting" with the store owner. I mean this in the sense that the store owner will tell this guy to come back at a certain time to buy the cards and the police will be waiting out of sight until the transaction is about to happen. It's the store owner's word against the alleged thief...they should side with you.
If you do this through the proper channels and stay level-headed about it and cooperate fully with the police and everything then you should have no problem.
I cant promote violence in this forums and if you're from the US I WONT promote violence at all, but some people only understand it when its the path of the brat. Seriously. In certain places, I'm pretty sure stealing Magic cards is as risky as stealing drugs.
aaanyways since violence is out of the question, you can go tell the cops, and lose your cards. Or you can go full vengeance, make the LGS your ally, make them call him to sell, bring some friends ( seriously, no violence), lock the doors, confront him and ask him nice and non violently to bring back the cards and whatever he's sold and the money for the reparations at your home OR you'd call the police. Most losers will do anything to avoid the cops. Then, call them anyways, after you get your cards. Those bastards wont learn.
I cant promote violence in this forums and if you're from the US I WONT promote violence at all, but some people only understand it when its the path of the brat. Seriously. In certain places, I'm pretty sure stealing Magic cards is as risky as stealing drugs.
aaanyways since violence is out of the question, you can go tell the cops, and lose your cards. Or you can go full vengeance, make the LGS your ally, make them call him to sell, bring some friends ( seriously, no violence), lock the doors, confront him and ask him nice and non violently to bring back the cards and whatever he's sold and the money for the reparations at your home OR you'd call the police. Most losers will do anything to avoid the cops. Then, call them anyways, after you get your cards. Those bastards wont learn.
This is horrible advice.
Depends on the thief, but in the end its a way that at least has a realistic chance to give you the cards back.
Police usually wont make it as the value is too small and no real hard evidence (unless you have him on video camera or something).
If its a kid, police isnt going to do anything aswell (parents can do the trick, but also depends on the person).
Stuff like this can be resolved in many ways and it allways comes down to "what kind of person is it and what kind of person are you".
Violence "can" work, or make it much worse.
As a advice however, police is fine.
Telling the store owner is just natural and should ALLWAYS be done to make the store a better place (if the store owner doesnt care someone is stealing in his store, well, then its a horrible store and you could go ahead and report them to WotC aswell, as thats a terrible place to be).
If you have a sizeable amount of friends in the store you can allways opt for the confrontation and just make sure you stand up as a community , which again, "can" work, or make it much worse.
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To make sure stealing isnt "natural" allways keep expensive cards to yourself.
Magic cards are expensive and you should keep them close to you. If you carry so many cards around that you cannot do that, you have to cut down. Theres a sizeable amount of people that steal because the situation is just too tempting and they might be short on money , so the greed is overwhelming and a lot of people will just grab the cards , and if done so, its even more difficult to not get in a spiral of lies and self-doubt. To prevent that its also a good idea to have a video camera in a store and tell the people (even if it doesnt do anything against "real" thieves) it will at least prevent some people from stealing as theres allways an extra barrier that they know about.
Someone that steals cards often should just be threated as any other thief and thats allways a job for the police (no matter if they wont care, if it happens more often in the store they cannot ignore it).
I cant promote violence in this forums and if you're from the US I WONT promote violence at all, but some people only understand it when its the path of the brat. Seriously. In certain places, I'm pretty sure stealing Magic cards is as risky as stealing drugs.
aaanyways since violence is out of the question, you can go tell the cops, and lose your cards. Or you can go full vengeance, make the LGS your ally, make them call him to sell, bring some friends ( seriously, no violence), lock the doors, confront him and ask him nice and non violently to bring back the cards and whatever he's sold and the money for the reparations at your home OR you'd call the police. Most losers will do anything to avoid the cops. Then, call them anyways, after you get your cards. Those bastards wont learn.
This is horrible advice.
Depends on the thief, but in the end its a way that at least has a realistic chance to give you the cards back.
Police usually wont make it as the value is too small and no real hard evidence (unless you have him on video camera or something).
If its a kid, police isnt going to do anything aswell (parents can do the trick, but also depends on the person).
Stuff like this can be resolved in many ways and it allways comes down to "what kind of person is it and what kind of person are you".
Violence "can" work, or make it much worse.
As a advice however, police is fine.
Telling the store owner is just natural and should ALLWAYS be done to make the store a better place (if the store owner doesnt care someone is stealing in his store, well, then its a horrible store and you could go ahead and report them to WotC aswell, as thats a terrible place to be).
If you have a sizeable amount of friends in the store you can allways opt for the confrontation and just make sure you stand up as a community , which again, "can" work, or make it much worse.
----
To make sure stealing isnt "natural" allways keep expensive cards to yourself.
Magic cards are expensive and you should keep them close to you. If you carry so many cards around that you cannot do that, you have to cut down. Theres a sizeable amount of people that steal because the situation is just too tempting and they might be short on money , so the greed is overwhelming and a lot of people will just grab the cards , and if done so, its even more difficult to not get in a spiral of lies and self-doubt. To prevent that its also a good idea to have a video camera in a store and tell the people (even if it doesnt do anything against "real" thieves) it will at least prevent some people from stealing as theres allways an extra barrier that they know about.
Someone that steals cards often should just be threated as any other thief and thats allways a job for the police (no matter if they wont care, if it happens more often in the store they cannot ignore it).
The advice is fine if he gets the police involved...but he should not take out some form of vigilante justice, round up some guys, and lock him in the store with the owner until he caves. That has catastrophe written all over it.
Thats why you should always mark some cards (lands) or the sleeves with an UV sharpie to identify them later (or get a custom stamp with you name/address printed and use UV sensitive stamp paint).
If you did that you could tell that to the police, show up with the police at his door and take out a blacklight and ask him how your signature/stamp gets on all his cards...
You should also always keep pictures of your collection to identify them later /show them the police/insurance company.
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One day when i came home after being gone for only an hour and half, i came home finding myself without magic cards....
My whole place had been flushed, somebody stole everything i had collected for over 8 years of playing magic.
I was lucky enough that i borrowed a friend of mine a deck so i could still keep myself in the game as i love playing magic and i find it hard for me to imagine me not playing.
as people always do when its a robbery i called the police, they filed a case and off course couldn't find much. they told me to just call my insurance company which is something i didnt have so basically it felt like i had lost everything that was actually worth something for me. now i had a lot of friends, players, stores that wanted to help me, friends tried to comfort me, players tried to motivate me and there was one store that was nice enough to let me get cards from my old decks for a discount (i also sold him my FNM card)
Some time passes, and me and other players have been trying to see if we maybe can find the stolen cards on the magic market, i remember getting messages from people when they saw shady profiles
or players that weren't known locally selling high valued cards. i also searched at least once a week through certain websites to see if maybe my collection pops up.... but nothing
Now a year has passed. and there is still this hole in my heart (sorry for sounding melodramatic ), until now.....
I got a message from a store that i know, that's outside town, the store clerk wanted to know what kinda cards i was missing as he has been offered some high powered cards from an unkown in my town. I then give him a short list of what has branded itself in my mind as "i once had that card but..." and then he shows me pictures and there i see them.... my cards... now i know these are mine, no question about it. i then proceed to tell him that those are my cards and he tells me the person seemed desperate to sell them as he offered them for a low price, i then mention one name, and what do you know. it was just the name i mentioned that is trying to sell them. now i am shaking as i am writing this cause i miss thoose cards so bad, as i sacrificied A LOT to get them.
And for the sake of anonymity lets call him "Squee's Minion"
Squee's Minion is an old magic player who has stopped playing, He used to work at the store a couple of years ago until he got fired, he was stealing and owing the store money. now i know this guy in personal cause he has borrowed a lot of money of friends of mine and never payed them back and i am talking big money, he has involved people i love in drugs and put them in debt, he is basically everything i never want to be. a huge liar and i have done a good job keeping myself away from him and his stupidity. now he hasn't been playing at our local store or at any store for that matters in years as he owes a lot of magic players money (Seeing a pattern here?) and i know he hasn't bought any cards cause he is always in some kind of situation where he needs money. and the cards he has from me are judge foils, cards that came out after he stopped working at the store.
I am stuck on what to do. Should i go to the police? Should i confront him? Should i ask somebody for help so i can intimate him to tell me the truth and give me the things back? (i am not that kind of person but i unfortunately have that kind of ability) I know he has shuffled our collections together, but i just want my decks back, the cards i love and even have a recite as i bought some of them on eBay. i can also be really lucky and find my proxies (i made high grade proxies but i think he threw those i am not sure)
The store clerk asked me how i wanted to approach this situation and i told him i would go down to the police tomorrow and talk with somebody and that i could be that they would contact him for more details. but i don't trust the police in returning my cards. but it's the "Right-thing" to do.
Which is why i am here, what would you do? and i don't count Violence as an answer as it will only get me in trouble (Believe me i want to resort to violence considering this guy has been lying to me in my face and told me he is sorry for what happened to my cards but it wont get me anywhere)
Please help!
Modern: Jeskai ControlUWR
Commanders:
Liliana, Heretical HealerB
Kaalia of the VastWRB
Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindUR
However if you can find a way to prove it, possibly the receipts will help, maybe finger prints but I don't the police will care enough to do that, the police are the best route.
That and believe in karma my friend. Best of luck
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Modern: Jeskai ControlUWR
Commanders:
Liliana, Heretical HealerB
Kaalia of the VastWRB
Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindUR
It looks like your only real option then is notifying the police. I agree with others that you need to have as much evidence as you can prior to this. It needs to be concrete evidence; not hearsay, but if all else fails, hearsay is better than nothing at all. I will say this though. The police are extremely unlikely to care enough for this method to be successful. I honestly think you should just hire someone like myself to get your cards back for you. But that can open up all kinds of worms in itself if the person is not a professional.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)We attempted to involve our police but they realy wanted nothing to do with it even with all the proof we had. Maybe your situation will be more fortuatous but my advice is see if the LGS will by it for you at a super deal and then you pay them what they paid. Its a good way for them to win/keep your loyalty and might be your only chance at getting it back. As an employee of an LGS i really hate the scum that tends to float around the game because they know theres money in it or they used to play when they could swindle the cash.
All the best to you bro
Standard- Esper Control
Commander- Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Intet, the Dreamer
Jhoira of the Ghitu
A few months ago I had several hundred dollars worth of cards stolen (mainly fetches). I informed the police and pretty much every store within the south central Ontario region (Toronto-Peterborough-Kingston). That way there would be a police officer (OPP in my case) on the situation and he knew when and where they were stolen from. Store employees would also know if someone tried to sell off a list or part of a pile similar to what i had stolen (its kinda weird to be selling that much at a time IMO).
Basically, they found the little piece of ***** kid who did it. All they could have done to him really was tell him to give the cards back or they'd charge him with being in possession of stolen property as he was in the room when they were stolen and being in possession of the whole list i had stolen. Then the officer on my case also gave the kid a pretty good yelling at to (hopefully) scare him into not ******* up anymore
so TLDR they can probably just tell whoever did it to give the stolen cards back or get charged with being in possession of stolen property. then again it could be different where you are
and to put it this way, if i do something rash the only consequence i will get is a fine that ill be happy to pay
Modern: Jeskai ControlUWR
Commanders:
Liliana, Heretical HealerB
Kaalia of the VastWRB
Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindUR
Sorry, but the only way I would let someone keep $20,000 worth of my property is if I was a billionaire. Even as a millionaire, that would simply be unacceptable to me. I can't afford that type of loss and no one's likely to do something for you. Sorry, these are just the facts. Stealing Magic cards usually has no consequences outside of what the owner is willing to do.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)If not mob justice I'd gather as much proof as possible and go to the authorities. Get written ststments from the LGS he worked at, and the one he tried to fence the cards through. Thats is the "right" thing too do, but I can be an angry guy when it comes to theft.
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I will make somebody call him tomorrow and just tell him they got something they need to give him (money or something) and then just show up and take it from there. i am going to confront him with the i proof, instead of getting mad at the police for not doing anything and then do something rash in anger. its not like anybody cares about him anyway and i think trash like him needs to be removed from the community, they pose a great danger to the community itself, as i have seen him ruin more then one player by simply getting them involved in his daily life.
Modern: Jeskai ControlUWR
Commanders:
Liliana, Heretical HealerB
Kaalia of the VastWRB
Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindUR
I have contacted a couple of players in my magic community, one that knows him and several others
The store told me that Squee's minion will send him more pictures later so i will wait. and there is a huge day for our country tomorrow so everybody has a day off.
I will print out every picture he sent to the store, and take with me Two magic players, and a mutual friend that can confirm that something is wrong here. i will threaten him with taking the evidence to the police along with the people i brought with me that can confirm that the cards are mine along with me as i am "giving him a chance to come clean and give me my things back". I know he has kids and i know for a fact that he is scared of police. i will also use my head and try to find a nice policeman that has a good reputation and bring all the evidence i have with me along with people statements although its word against word this guy is known by the police so maybe that will help me. also the fact that the case was reported when it happened. i specially told the police about the judge foils and the significance of having them
(I am not talking about the judge foils at conferences i am talking about the Elesh Norn,Force of will, Show and Tell DCI Judge Cycle)
the best thing that could happen is that he would try to sell proxies that i made. they have my "signature"
I have asked the store to pass along all information he can get, i even asked him if he could pretend that he wanted to buy everything and get as much pictures and a list if possible.
So now i have to have alot of patience until Wednesday when i can go to the police and confront him (i am choosing to do both. hopefully i will never have to resort to plan c)
Modern: Jeskai ControlUWR
Commanders:
Liliana, Heretical HealerB
Kaalia of the VastWRB
Niv-Mizzet, the FiremindUR
You can at least try to call the police. If you want to skip the police all together, you can even go straight for a lawyer.
If you do something extra-legal, you're setting yourself up for a whole bunch of risk.
Guy who stole your cards is named 'Lucas'
1. Disappear from the card shop for a while.
2. Get in much better shape, take really good care of yourself, clean shaven. Grow your hair out a little, pierce your ears, you know. Get in shape.
3. Start crossdressing. Listen I know it sounds weird, but it really is worth it. I mean if you buy a box of MTG cards once a week, just spend one weeks money on a nice pair of high heels and a cute dress, nail polish, mani/pedi and you're good!
4. Reappear at the card shop, but in full crossdress. Introduce yourself as a girl who loves Magic and then when you see the guy who stole your cards, flirt with him a little.
5. Let him take you out on a few dates, take you to dinner, buy you cards for FNM, that kind of thing. Really get into character with it. Remember it's only acting.
6. DON'T FALL IN LOVE. If you do. Go steps 13B and follow.
7. ...Seriously don't fall in love. I know that first kiss was magical but don't do it! He stole your cards remember?!
8. Start going steady with him, he'll keep buying you cards, hell you can probably invest your money in making yourself look cute and just have him keep buying you cards.
9. Slowly syphon back your collection from him. "Ohmygod you have a Foil Snapcaster?! I love that card, 2/1's are so cute!" Just slowly keep rebuilding your collection from him until you have regained what was stolen.
10. Do you have a majority of his cards? You guys have been going steady for like, 2 months now. Good dates? Time to complete the game.
11. It's time for revenge.
12. The pre-release is coming up! You guys are going to make a real lovey-dovey date out of it. Get a really pretty pair of heels, a cute outfit, maybe even cosplay!
13. This is where you get him. At the event, you see some other guy, this guys a real Card Shark, his Lands are Foil Unhinged and his ladies ride in the front seat of a slick Black BMW with red interior he's named 'Liliana' and what luck, you're cosplaying Liliana! Flirting throughout the night, much to the jealousy of your 'now boyfriend' you..
CRUSH HIS SOUL! He catches you making out with that slick haired Lawyer with such deep pockets that he keeps his Fat Pack boxes in a custom made leatherbound briefcase, monogramed with the MTG Symbols and engraved with his name on the spine.
Lucas is crushed, right in front of the entire shop he calls you out, and you bring up everything about him that you learned while dating. Make sure to make references that his lands are horribly cared for, hell they're cheapo full art Zendikar lands and Rich Laywer guy can REALLY please a woman with his thick and masculine collection of Guru Lands.
You'll have destroyed Lucas' spirit, maybe even emasculated him in front of the cardshop, and maybe even get him to quit Magic.
Congratulations. Vengeance achieved.
13B. Crap.. you fell in love Didn't you?
JEEZ! SIGH. Well here's how you finish it.
You fell in love with the guy that stole your cards! You immediately apologize and then tug Lucas over to give him a passionate kiss that reaffirms your love for one another. That's when you come clean.
He stole your cards, but.. you stole his heart.
He immediately begins crying and hugs and holds you, promising to give you everything you ever wanted. You lean into him, standing on your tiptoes as you feel his powerful arms embrace you as you embrace a life with him. He accepts you as the girl you've become. It's not a big deal for him anyways, it's not like he's got the pick of the litter!
You guys get married, and spend a honeymoon in Paris at a GP, where you realize it's the perfect place to settle down. You open a cardshop with him, Le Petite Delver, adopt 3 children and even though they already have names, you rename them to Finkel, Bob, and Karn. And as you raise your three children to play Magic, owning a card-shop with your husband, you realize that this is worth more than any card collection.. this is your Happy Ever After.
The End
But really, getting the police involved and letting it be known throughout local gaming stores that he's a thief is the best way to go about it. Make it publicly known that he's a thief and he's going to have to deal with the consequences of now being constantly treated like he's getting ready to steal again. Letting all the local store owners know will ruin his reputation, and many places around where I live refuse the business of people who are known thieves.
When talking to the police about it, it might be wise to show them the value of anything particularly valuable, considering that they usually don't take collections of any kind too seriously (unless you collect corvettes) and make it known that you're more upset because of principle, and that the law was broken, even if they don't consider what was stolen to be of significant value.
Soooo...Norway or DRC?
I think social and legal boundaries are often too specific to geography for most of the people (including myself) to give advice in this case. Even here in the US regional differences can make for huge differences in how communities police themselves. In the end you and the people you trust in your community are the best judge of what is appropriate in this situation. You may get it right, you may get it wrong, but some MTG player from the US or Lichtenstein will almost never be the right judge of that.
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If you do this through the proper channels and stay level-headed about it and cooperate fully with the police and everything then you should have no problem.
Good luck!
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This is horrible advice.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
Depends on the thief, but in the end its a way that at least has a realistic chance to give you the cards back.
Police usually wont make it as the value is too small and no real hard evidence (unless you have him on video camera or something).
If its a kid, police isnt going to do anything aswell (parents can do the trick, but also depends on the person).
Stuff like this can be resolved in many ways and it allways comes down to "what kind of person is it and what kind of person are you".
Violence "can" work, or make it much worse.
As a advice however, police is fine.
Telling the store owner is just natural and should ALLWAYS be done to make the store a better place (if the store owner doesnt care someone is stealing in his store, well, then its a horrible store and you could go ahead and report them to WotC aswell, as thats a terrible place to be).
If you have a sizeable amount of friends in the store you can allways opt for the confrontation and just make sure you stand up as a community , which again, "can" work, or make it much worse.
----
To make sure stealing isnt "natural" allways keep expensive cards to yourself.
Magic cards are expensive and you should keep them close to you. If you carry so many cards around that you cannot do that, you have to cut down. Theres a sizeable amount of people that steal because the situation is just too tempting and they might be short on money , so the greed is overwhelming and a lot of people will just grab the cards , and if done so, its even more difficult to not get in a spiral of lies and self-doubt. To prevent that its also a good idea to have a video camera in a store and tell the people (even if it doesnt do anything against "real" thieves) it will at least prevent some people from stealing as theres allways an extra barrier that they know about.
Someone that steals cards often should just be threated as any other thief and thats allways a job for the police (no matter if they wont care, if it happens more often in the store they cannot ignore it).
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The advice is fine if he gets the police involved...but he should not take out some form of vigilante justice, round up some guys, and lock him in the store with the owner until he caves. That has catastrophe written all over it.
Signature courtesy of Rivenor and Miraculous Recovery
EDH Altered Cards by Galspanic (Seriously, this guy's awesome.)
My Pauper Cube
Tapped-Out Simulator
My Trade Thread
-Decks-
Commander:
GWR Rith, the Awakener RWG
U Kami of the Crescent Moon U (Flagship Deck)
BW Teysa, Orzhov Scion WB
Under Construction:
UBR Crosis, the Purger RBU
Cube:
WUBRGX Pauper XGRBUW
If you did that you could tell that to the police, show up with the police at his door and take out a blacklight and ask him how your signature/stamp gets on all his cards...
You should also always keep pictures of your collection to identify them later /show them the police/insurance company.