Magic publishers sent Pinkertons to YouTuber’s house over leaked cards

You can also find out more about Magic: The GatheringWizards of the Coast, the publisher of the cards that appeared on YouTube the previous week sent Pinkerton private investigators to collect them. A woman was reportedly scared to tears by the confrontation, which led Pinkerton private investigators to seize nearly twenty boxes of cards. Wizards confirmed to Polygon the incident. While the host denies any illegal activity occurred.

The YouTube channel oldschoolmtg released a clip on the 20th of April showing the unboxing of a collection of boosters from March of the Machine Aftermath — just one of 22 boxes it said were purchased from an acquaintance. So far, little has been said about the collection. It is not due to hit stores before May 12. This video, which was downloaded immediately and then used in reaction videos across the web, has caused a stir.

On April 22, Oldschoolmtg released a second video describing what happened.

“I got up and recorded some videos,” the presenter said in the video. “Right after I got done with the video, dogs started barkin’ because somebody was knocking at the door. I come out and the wife’s answering the door and it was the Pinkertons.”

For our American readers, the name Pinkerton will probably ring a familiar bell. Modern-day Pinkertons descend from the first Pinkerton Detective Agency founded more than 170 year ago in Chicago, Illinois. It has been involved in many historical events. Not least was the time it spent as a paramilitary private force that broke up strikes and dealt with violent situations in the 19th-and early-20th centuries. Pinkerton’s services include security and loss reduction.

Wizards has confirmed that Pinkertons are involved. The presenter at oldschoolmtg described agents as “big heavy-hitter guys” who frightened his wife. They arrived at oldschoolmtg with the contact info for someone from Wizards of the Coast. The presenter then said that after talking with the agents, they decided to remove their original videos.

“He was very apologetic about making my wife cry first thing in the morning by sending these heavy-duty lawmen [to] come collect stuff and talk about stolen products and jail time,” the presenter said in the video. “But they don’t believe we stole anything — which we didn’t. I don’t know if they believe anybody really stole anything or if it was just an accident or whatever. But they wanted to product back so they could try and figure out where the hole was so they could plug the hole.”

“Wizards of the Coast can confirm that yes, this is part of their investigation,” a representative told Polygon.

The presenter in the video goes on to explain what he thinks happened. It’s possible, they say, that someone, somewhere in the distribution chain accidentally mistook March of the MachineProduct for sale March of the Machine Aftermath product.

“Somebody screwed up and sent out the wrong cases to the gentlemen that I bought the boxes off of, because when he sold me the stuff he said he was selling me March of the Machine collector’s boxes — not Following the event. […] He didn’t really even know what Following the event really was, I don’t think.”

Polygon has contacted oldschoolmtg to find out more.

Private investigators are not an entirely new strategy that game publishers use to recover missing or stolen trading cards. Polygon just reported last week on another incident similar to the one from 2021, involving items made by The Pokémon Trading Card GameThe private investigator also helped to retrieve the documents.

In this case, the presenter said that Wizards’ representative seemed to have understood they weren’t at fault. Presenter: They were willing to offer compensation for the card purchase by the YouTuber, perhaps in the form a better replacement product.

“Anybody who has used my footage,” they added, “you’ll probably want to take that down.”

“I no longer have the product,” they said. “The Pinkertons took everything to take back to WotC.” That includes empty boxes and wrappers. “I don’t even have a token to show for my efforts,” he added with a laugh, before noting his channel had recently doubled in viewership.

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