Dumbest Magic: The Gathering Thieves 

This warms my coldened heart. I'm glad there are LGS's like this out there!

That's funny, I actually live in Chattanooga as well and go to CM Games quite a bit. Are you talking about the one at Northgate Mall?

Eyyyy I lost it when the top comment is about my town. Mikey is the best, I haven't been to CM in a while but always have love for Mikey.

@Sam Yessir, they closed the Gunbarrel location a few years back, but I know Mikey is running the Northgate location these days. I moved away from Chattanooga shortly after Oath of the Gatewatch launched and haven’t been back in a while, but I still occasionally call just to chat with Mike. Amazing store, even better people! I can’t lie, I’ve been to about a dozen stores where I live now and not one comes even remotely close to CM Games. I’m thrilled to hear that others feel the same and I hope for nothing but continuing success and happiness for Mikey and CM Games! Thanks for the replies!

That's insane, glad to hear you were able to recover it and get due justice. I'm curious what their exit strategy was going to be there once you got back and your collection was gone. Like, say someone broke in and stole it or just like move out while you were gone? Not a very bright person its seems lol

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Sad he was burglarized but thank goodness they didn’t know what MTG cards are

But then the plot twist, this was a special edition LV bag worth 50k

@@Tacet137 For when you need to flex extra hard on your opponents

made my day :D

WOW, that's a -100 IQ play right there.

what happened? any karma aha

What did you guys do when you found out?

Sounds like a case of drug addiction to me

Jody probably stole more than that

Exactly. A lot of criminals or ultra rich would love to have the original Mona Lisa, purely for the Ego trip or infamy in their circle.

Which is exactly why that will indeed happen once again. Matter of time but believe me it will happen.

that is what drugs do to people

Same with my LGS. A Black Lotus was opened during Zendikar as a Treasure. Owner bought it off of him and now has that Lotus in a Secure Location. It's the Mascot of the Store technically.

My favourite dealer in southern Germany just has a highend longbox for cards valued at 200 or more Euros, and there is some serious power in that box. The box is worth probarbly half a million. He has 5 or 6 employees working on his online single card selling, one of them is the grader, and a LGS, and currently 280K cards listed on Cardmarket. The longbox, containing all the highend-stuff double sleeved in toploaders, for all i know just sits in a shelf in a room only senior employees are supposed to enter. What he does have is 100% loyal and trusted employees, and a shitload of security cameras, obvious and hidden. No safe or vault to my knowledge. MTG tournaments are held just two doors and 5 meters from the valuables. The awesome thing is i have access to a professional grader, he does not slab cards, he grades for sales on Cardmarket and Ebay, and he is ultra strict and extremely knowledgeable. Raw cards remain raw, but he can tell you precisely how different grading companies would grade the card and why, including subgrades. Prices on the singles are rather high, but i know how strict their grading is. Just in the process of picking up an International Edition Black Lotus from them, they listed it as nearmint but i know its pristine except for the tiniest fingernail mark on the back near the lower left corner. Not playable at all, but getting International Edition or Collectors Edition with perfect corners and near-perfect edges is rare. The only thing that annoys me, is that when i tell him "I think i am considering buying this card" he immediately sends it to me, with an invoice. But i always pay and keep the card.

My lgs doesn’t have a black lotus but they do have an alpha time walk and they give it a very similar treatment.

First thing is that you let the potential buyer put all the money on the table or validate the credit card ... then you can go over to show the card.

@@blakemamba2067 A nearby LGS just moved to a different location, and now they do display real highend power cards, like a Beta Time Walk. Its in a large display case, and you need to get past two security cameras to get there, and more cameras film the display case. Its all state of the art. Real-time alerts, live feeds, real-time cloud mirroring, all the fancy stuff.

Thanks for being around since the gameplay days!

we still get gameplay on alt channel! best of both nikachus

I just found this channel a few weeks ago. I’ve watched almost every video and i know absolutely nothing about MTG. That’s when you know you’ve got good content

@@genericandre9159 Thanks!

@@NikachuMTG 1$ each? Alot are worthless :) So just keep it in my collection!

would that mean mean ripping it up haha

@@dylanjohnson6481 And sprinkling the pieces in an actual graveyard

Kinda begs the question: Is there some sort of collector out there rich enough to not just buy that one-of-a-kind Black Lotus? "Rich enough" is not just "can afford it" but also has to be "can afford to NEVER need to sell it". If there is, though: it'd be a terrible kind of cool. Cool that Magic: the Gathering has achieved art and anitquities status; but also terrible that it'd be worth stealing and hiding away forever.

@@javierpatag3609 I pretty sure there are hundreds of MTG players willing to pay ten thousand dollar for an unsellable Black Lotus

@@jianhaogao7608 Its unsellable but also unusable as the signature goes over the text of the card meaning that it would be visible through the sleeve, so your basically looking at purely collector only status, however that is still a large number of people I would say.

As comforting as the idea of rich collectors hoarding valuable art or cards may be, the reality is that stolen items (especially easily-identifiable ones) are a liability for the thieves. Most theft is opportunistic rather than planned, and even in cases like the Black Lotus you'll often find they don't know much about the thing they are stealing... they just know it's "valuable". The sad truth is that being "one of a kind" becomes a problem that's often solved by altering/damaging the card to disguise it to sell (best case scenario)... in the worst case, it's thrown out or destroyed.

He knew exactly what that lotus was. And stole it just to eat it.

Same thought, it was an order, otherwise like nikachu sad, you couldn’t sell it…

That was my thought as well. There were only 2 possibilities in my mind. He either wants it for himself or he sold it off to a high bidder who wants to own this unique card and has no intention of ever showing it to anyone outside of a trusted circle. Dude probably got paid for it or is an obsessed collector. That's the only thing that makes sense.

I thought that as well when the Mona Lisa comparison was brought up as thats what usually happens with mega-high priced art - someone commissions the thieves to get certain items at a art museum, they break in, then give it said person and receive their fee. From the comments, looks like the guy hasnt recovered his double signed Lotus. That really sucks.

@@davidgreenhough1651 goddamn lotus eatets

No and no

@@guttyjip why not and why not?

Yea. Chances are he either destroyed it or hid it hoping the heat would die down at some point.

He simply wipes the signatures away trying to sell it as a regular black lotus only to destroy the card like an idiot. This is my guess. Also he may just have the card framed somewhere for his own pleasure. It's a small world. An art thief who stole 3 mil in art and designer furniture over the years was located only a street away from my Mum's house. All of it just in his garage like a private collection.

Nah. IMO it'll pop up in 20-30 years when he hopes everyones forgotten about it. Might even pop up on a foreign market in 5-10 years.

Underrated comment, I'm no insurance specialist but "if" it was for an insurance scam good luck trying to collect that money.

Yeah especially a card that valuable and rare. It should never leave the display case without some sort of "security" in place.

That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Anyone can walk into a dealership and test drive a brand new car worth 2-3 times the value of black lotus.

@@Ok_toker69 How is it ridiculous? I think your example is short sighted. A new car is expected to be test driven to be sold. It also has a GPS tagged unit to quickly locate it if someone were to steal it. Plus you wouldn't be able to register a stolen vehicle. All of that insurance expects.

@@Ok_toker69 The craziest part is that a brand new car is only worth 2-3 Black Lotuses.

And I'll keep delivering!

Yeah the fact they did not block the door or ask to hold the person's license is their own fault

I have a feeling that someday someone will open an old box that belonged to their great grandad and find it. Because of the time elapsed, they would probably be the legal owner at that point and would be suddenly very rich.

@@bipolarminddroppings That would be funny!

Wouldn't be surprised either way. Most high profile art thefts that usually go "unsolved" is because they can't trace the sale of the work or works because there was already a buyer set up and the heist was essentially commissioned or yeah they destroyed it because it's super rare and would be easy to identify.

@@bipolarminddroppings Nope they wouldn't be the legal owner as far as I know. The rightful owner would still be the store owner or closest living relative. Stealing something then having it for a while doesn't make you the owner of anything.

It really is

Unfortunately the thief apparently has shroud.

could they clean the signatures off?

@@elijahwohlers9945 the ballpoint would be etched into the card. And chris rush’s signature I doubt could be removed without horrifically damaging what’s underneath

And also like, someone turns up with a beta black lotus to sell. “Where did this come from?” And they’ll take a scan and verify it’s not the same card

yeah at this point they're probably more concerned with not getting caught than with getting money off the card bc that's basically impossible now

P

That really sucks.

Invest in a hitman.

@Future Pants You really don't want to murder someone over magic cards. I get that some cards are worth half a million, but killing someone is going to haunt most people for the rest of their lives.

This will be very hard to sell. You'll have to trust the buyer wont randomly squeal on you.

Are they known for buying stolen goods?

@@regirayquaza Yeah, I don't get that either.

@@regirayquaza Miss a few history lessons?

Just as long as you refer to it as an artifact - they'd be happy.

Lucky break! 🍀 honestly though, never leave your valuables unattended. Always take them with you to the washroom or make sure they are under the watch of a trusted friend.

@@NikachuMTG Sadly, it was a case of "I thought I knew everyone in the room" situations. I had a few friends at our table and I didn't even think about theft. I was pretty young and naïve and in PTBO we didn't have a lot of theft. Really, any at all, least not reported. I remember in high school a friend had their binder of cards taken, few slivers and what not. That was about it. We had more Yu-Gi-Oh theft, as the player base was a few years younger with less access to part time jobs and or income.

I believe insurance company would have claim against it.

what a -150 IQ move

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@Future Pants At the time, I was still really getting into magic play wise and (at the time) didn't wanna start something with the regulars and potentially the owners. Now I know better. I definitely know now to start something sooner than later.

Which to give it more context, I bought both of my Lotuses at $750 a piece, so shows the time but still complete dick move by the dude.

At first I was going to cover it because I thought it connected the robbery of Realms Games, but the guy you mentioned robbed Realms of Gaming (which is a totally different store). I scrapped the footage (making this vid a bit shorter than I wanted) but I will address that in another thieves video.

@@NikachuMTG I look forward to it. They hit one of my friends stores on their way through Kansas, and one of my LGS's O.G. location. It was a crazy couple days with all that happening. I do know of one store he didn't go in because the owner had it on camera and he was working late that night, but also he is armed at all times....so it's probably for the best that he didn't go to that location.

I dont do it as often but I'm relegating that content to my Nikachu MTG News channel. Check it out in my channels tab.

I'd buy it 10k no questions asked, no police. The store got the insurance money, and I'd have an affordable collection peice. Win win

I'm almost positive that guy had a private buyer waiting. Even if that buyer can never show the card to anyone outside of a very small circle of trust (if even that), they'd still be willing to fork over big money for it. It's a one of a kind card from an extremely popular game. Collector's jizz over that sort of thing. If he didn't have a private buyer waiting, then he took it for himself and he's the crazed collector who wants to own it, just because it's one of a kind. Not being able to show it to anyone doesn't stop that from happening. It's weird as hell, but then again, people are weird as hell.

you got lucky twice!

Smart move. No one should take more decks than they should.

shhh dont tell the thieves

Ya but wouldn't the red pen signature have some impression? Gold sig easily scraped, anyone buying a 30k+ card is going to finely inspect it though and you'd think the red pen left an impression. Looks like a ballpoint pen

@@slowkugaming4945 , you just put a signature on some other cheap old cards and practice removing it from them first, until you’re ready to remove it nice and properly on the lotus. Sorry, but it’s actually not too difficult to get away with, and a broken lotus is still worth more than 30k.

Thanks! Will do!

I had no idea, that's a neat fact!