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.
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.
Didn't I see a foil Karakas being shown here on MTG salvation, where everyone thought it was a judge promo?
What if that Karakas is actually something that's in FTV?
It really didn't look anything like the foiling for the FTV sets.
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.
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
There's this thing called an homage...
It really didn't look anything like the foiling for the FTV sets.