EMERGENCY - Please Help Me... Cards Stolen Today

[Hi-Val]

I haven't ever so much heard Jacob even raise his voice on the internet, and he is consistently one of the nicest guys that I have ever met. Also, if it weren't for Jacob, TMD would be in worse shape, because after Z left, Jacob took over and kept things going well until TMD was sold to SCG.

[freakish777]

I think if some who I didn't know or recognize came onto TMD and made a thread reading:

EMERGENCY CARDS STOLEN TODAY

That chronicled them losing 2 sets of power + the decks they enjoy playing with and asked for help to keep a look out in case the cards turned up on eBay or in my local store, I would do so.  If they asked for donations immediately, I would actually be skeptical, because the possibility exists that this is some creep with a fake sob story looking for free stuff.  If however, other people who I knew a little better confirmed that "oh hey this person really lost these cards" I would try and help him/her.  I may not be as willing to help out as I am to help out Roland, but I'd definitely want to see the thief come to justice.

Not only is stealing wrong, but stealing someone's hobby is despicable.

I'm willing to help Roland for 3 reasons.  One, GenCon is near and without donations/loans, he wouldn't be able to defend his title (if someone destroyed all the soccer fields in Italy, I'm pretty sure a lot of other countries would offer support to Italian teams to play on their fields until they could repair/rebuild their own).  Two, Roland is a nice guy, and although I haven't been able to introduce myself to him at a tournament, I have seen how he carries himself, and the company he keeps suggests to me that he's a decent man.  Three, when theft happens to someone, even if it isn't "my problem" I have a hard time ignoring it.  If everyone who played Magic were a self-absorbed jack ass (or a thief), no one would want to play this game.  Helping other's (even if you don't have anything to offer other than 5 minutes of your time to look on eBay for the stolen cards) makes the community stronger.

[NULLROD]

@Jacob,

When I was new at vintage, you were the one I turned to first because you had just won with a cool new deck. However, I talked to both you and Smennen on AIM, and both of you immediately blocked me. I was very polite. I don't remember what questions I asked, but I definitely know how to carry myself around people I'd like to get to know. My AIM name is digitalfobulous.

[Jacob Orlove]

Okay, I checked every computer in the house, and none of them have any logs of you messaging me. It's possible that I was on a public computer at the time, but even then you should be on my block list, and you're not. I know it wouldn't have been deleted because I don't delete log files or edit my block list, because I (usually?) only block spambots.

Are you sure you IM'd me? I'm jacob0rlove -- with a zero, not a capital O. If you IM'd jacobOrlove, that's a completely different person, so it's possible that they would have just blocked you without explaining that you had the wrong person?

[Razvan]

I'm going to stand behind Adamsand, not because I want to go against the grain but because he's got a very good point: What if Roland were a noname?

In that case, virtually noone would care. And those who would (such as BigMac), would probably not offer financial assistance to a noname. Does that answer your question? This is not the situation, however. Chang and Orlove ARE name players, and people DO care. Deal with it.

Unless I am misunderstanding... this is the crux of the problem certain people are having, and it's a repeat of what happened 2 years or so ago, with the virtual total lockdown of TMD:

"You are a 2nd class TMD citizen (or 3rd, or 4th), and no one gives a fuck about you, your opinion, or your life. However, when someone 1st class has an issue, then it's first-page material."

Not saying it's generally a problem, but in a thread where you want to promote camraderie, helping out a couple of good people, and a sense of community, it's really the wrong attitude to bring to the table.

Just sayin'.

[jcb193]

Simple- If you know the person (whether virtual or real), you will be more inclined to help them.

TMD- Not a Red Cross for Magic players
TMD- Place for friends to ask for help from fellow friends

Nobody is obligated to help.  I don't intend to help anyone, but I don't begrudge those that do. 

[Bram]

"You are a 2nd class TMD citizen (or 3rd, or 4th), and no one gives a fuck about you, your opinion, or your life. However, when someone 1st class has an issue, then it's first-page material."

Not saying it's generally a problem, but in a thread where you want to promote camraderie, helping out a couple of good people, and a sense of community, it's really the wrong attitude to bring to the table.

That's bullshit. This has nothing to do with the TMD community or class levels - it's about whether you know a person or not (be it in real life or via the media). Noone's interested in people they don't know, and people are all over the problems of ones they do. That's just The Way Things Work (tm). There's no way in hell I would assist aforementioned hypothetical user n00bmastah69 other than by offering my sympathy. Think of it in global terms. If some of the shit that goes on every single day in some African countries would happen to your country or mine, half the world would offer assistance immediately. As it stands, noone gives a damn, because it's Darfur, not Great Britain.

Simple- If you know the person (whether virtual or real), you will be more inclined to help them.

TMD- Not a Red Cross for Magic players
TMD- Place for friends to ask for help from fellow friends

Nobody is obligated to help.  I don't intend to help anyone, but I don't bregrudge those that do.

Thank you. My points exactly.

[orgcandman]

Please don't get me wrong. It's perfectly fine for people to ask for help. It's 100% OK. In fact, people should ask for help. But if someone says "I don't think I'm going to donate to you because of reason X, but I WILL check websites, and local stores, and offer my sympathies" and the response is "Omfg N00B We're a community and anyone who doesn't donate is a douchebag" THAT is where I take offense. People should ask for help.

That being said, my point is it shouldn't be expected that we all help the more prominent members of the community just because they're prominent members.

[Bram]

(...) the response is "Omfg N00B We're a community and anyone who doesn't donate is a douchebag" THAT is where I take offense.

OK, well, then I guess my point is you shouldn't take offense at the stuff people say so much. It's just the way people are. Call me a pessimist, but once you embrace that, a lot of stress will disappear from your life

[LotusHead]

Any word on that Videotape?

Now that I typed that in, I understand that publishing stuff on it might jeopordize stuff, but really.  Was it of ANY use?

On recent rants of giving/not giving to name/no name players, this is a hard discussion for Vintage as the cards in question are worth a LOT more than a foil Jitte.

Locals where I am from have helped me out in the past when I needed it as I am fairly popular with the locals (I have stupid T2 decks alongside broken T1 decks, real or proxy).

When I am down, (cuz some fucker stole my deck: I know who you are! but it was a crap deck, but it was MY crap deck!!! mostly pimped! Pimped Crap Cards!), locals rallied around me to get me the "Crap Foils" from the deck, by actually STEALING them away from the thief in question, TRADING with said person for some of the pricier cards (Foil Shivan Reef that my Brother in Law gave me) and hooking me up with some stuff that I kinda wanted kinda pimped out (Foil Sensei's Divinging Top, Signed Salvagers, that kind of stuff). And I appreciate every and any effort to make my decks look kinda cool.

(Um. the other side of the coin is that I trade them my cool t2 stuff I win in booster drafts like the crappy Rav Block Duals and Hierarchs and other non-Vintage stuff).

If people can/will help out R.Chang, great. TMD is all Family.

If R.Chang was a nobody, then it might be hard to get this level of support.

That being said, I have very little beyond my own meager collection, and may send something in the future (our T1 season is almost over) but I just have what I have, you know?

But R.Chang isn't a nobody.  He had Vintage Pimp stuff, in a deck, that pwned.

Someone upload that Security Cam photage onto YouTube and let us Vintage folks hunt for the criminal!!!

[droper]

I can do little from Spain, but I wish you get your cards back, and the thief gets punished properly.

[Slack]

RE: All this about nobodies not getting support like Roland and Jacob have and Name Players getting overwhelming support.

I am obviously not a name player.  Maybe 4 people on these boards know who I am.

<--- There's my post count.

If I lost my collection (maybe a few hundred dollars?) , I highly doubt that I would recieve anywhere near the support that Roland and Jacob have.  I would probably expect maybe sympathy at the most if I posted about it.  The thing is, this isn't the point.  I didn't chose to go to the benefit tournament and donate because I was hoping to get something out of it.  It's not about my personal gain.  I went because I wanted to do something to aid their loss.  The thing is this is about their loss, not about mine or anyone elses.

Simple- If you know the person (whether virtual or real), you will be more inclined to help them.

TMD- Not a Red Cross for Magic players
TMD- Place for friends to ask for help from fellow friends

This statement describes most of what happened when the incident was reported.

Nobody is obligated to help.  I don't intend to help anyone, but I don't bregrudge those that do. 

This describes the rest of what happened.  Absolutely noone was obligated to help them get the cards back or rebuild their collection.  There should not be a general feeling of animosity towards those that did.

[Changster]

Hey guys,

I just got back from GenCon and finally got a chance to catch up with what was going on in the boards and all.  After reading posts and getting myself up-to-date, I felt it was necessary to mention something.  It did occur to me at one point before posting about my cards getting stolen, that maybe this great community of players could tell me to “f*ck off”, but I trusted my instinct to seek out some support on TMD.  Thankfully, I received an overwhelming amount of support from everyone here. 

It seriously kept me focused and gave me a reason to stay with this game instead of simply paying back Jacob and quitting for good.  Without words of encouragement and support from you all, I would not have been able to stay mentally tough and endure 11 rounds of Magic and take down this year’s Legacy Championships at GenCon.  A tourney report for that will eventually be written if I can remember even half of it. 

The past few days of hanging out, talking with, playing, and competing with Legacy/Vintage players was utterly incredible.  There were so many incredible donations given to me to help Jacob and I out with our losses.  Every time a player came to me with a gift, my spirits were lifted higher than ever before.  The entire 4 days I spent at GenCon, I received many players’ condolences, making me feel stronger to fight and bounce back from all of this. 

I believe that it is more important to let you all know what kind of things I have received thus far from this community in donations than singling out the donations one by one.  My memory of names of people is really strong and you could bet that I would never forget any of you who contributed to help me out.  You guys are incredible.  Thank you so much!

Here’s a list as of August 13th:
$363 Cash/Checks
1 x Mox Jet (Unlimited)
1 x Mox Pearl (Unlimited)
1 x Imperial Seal (Japanese)
4 x Force of Will   
4 x Sinkhole (2 x Alpha, 2 x Beta)
4 x Brainstorm (Foil Mercadian Masques)
1 x Mana Vault (Beta)
1 x Mana Drain (English)
7 x Demonic Tutor (1 x Beta, 1 x FBB, 5 x Revised)
4 x Smokestack
4 x Goblin Welder
4 x Sphere of Resistance
4 x Crucible of Worlds (Foil)
4 x Tangle Wire (1 x Foil)
5 x Sol Ring (1 x Beta, 4 x Revised)
1 x Mana Crypt
1 x Yawgmoth’s Will
2 x Mind Twist
3 x Phyrexian Scuta
1 x Necropotence
1 x Razia, Boros Archangel
1 x Giant Solifuge
1 x Glare of Subdual
1 x Worldgorger Dragon (Japanese)
1 x Promise of Bunrei (Foil)
2 x Armageddon (DCI Foil)
4 x Swords to Plowshares
2 x Mana Vault
1 x Memory Jar
3 x Karn, Silver Golem (1 x Foil)
4 x Dimir Cutpurse
1 x Back to Basics
1 x Counterspell (Arena)
1 x Ancient Tomb
2 x City of Brass (Foil, Italian)
1 x Adarkar Wastes
3 x Brushlands
6 x Sulfurous Springs
6 x Karplusan Forest
1 x Underground Sea
2 x Taiga
8 x Wasteland (4 x DCI Foil, 4 x Japanese)
1 x Jester’s Cap (9th)

You guys are the best!!!

I estimated that my winnings from the Legacy Championships also brought in another $1000 or so.  With your help, I have definitely bounced back hard and I’ve got a solid footing in primarily paying back Jacob for his losses.  Your donations have been extremely generous and I wish to give back to you what you have given me someday. 

GenCon was once again one of the best times of my life and I'm glad I could share it with all of you that showed up there.  Thank you all for everything.

Sincerely,

Roland Chang

ps. 
As for my own investigation, it has currently hit a slight speed bump, since I have one suspect in mind, but no evidence.  To accuse one of stealing my stuff without solid evidence is nothing but slander.  I will keep you all updated about it when or if the police decide to help me. 

[taniquetil]

Has the suspect been revealed by the security tape? That alone should be evidence enough. I'm sorry I have not donated anything to the cause because I don't really have a job or source of income, but I will definitely try to help out in the near future.

[Changster]

For confidentiality reasons, please PM/e-mail me if you have further questions regarding the status of my investigation so I can promptly answer them for you.  Thanks!

-Roland

[orgcandman]

Let me just say, in case I forgot to, this is really terrible. I sincerely hope your cards are recovered, and have been keeping an eye out to see if they've popped up on the internet anywhere.

[DarkMaster_MX]

Hey i just saw this link posted on MTGSalvation by another member thought i'd bring it here:

http://www.magictraders.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/059871.html

looks pretty pimped and high valued, perhaps someone should check into it more, im at work so i dont have the time.

[freakish777]

4x Mana Drain...3 Italian, 1 English. English is Ex-/Vg+, signed and altered by Mark Tedin (death star/tie fighters)

That English Mana Drain sounds like it could be Chang's.  Check out the link provided in the previous post.  Perhaps this guy is either the theif and trying to claim he got the stuff at GenCon, or the theif unloaded a bunch of stuff at GenCon to people who didn't know about this.

[Whatever Works]

4x Mana Drain...3 Italian, 1 English. English is Ex-/Vg+, signed and altered by Mark Tedin (death star/tie fighters)

That English Mana Drain sounds like it could be Chang's.  Check out the link provided in the previous post.  Perhaps this guy is either the theif and trying to claim he got the stuff at GenCon, or the theif unloaded a bunch of stuff at GenCon to people who didn't know about this.

ALOT of the cards match the description of Rolands stuff. However, I know several people who have that design on there drains, and the pacman design on there mana crypts as well.

Kyle L

[Changster]

Just to clarify... I have checked out the link already and I strongly believe that it is not my collection.  I never had a "Deathstar/Tie Fighters" on Mana Drains, but rather my Crucible of Worlds had the Deathstar mod.  Also, my Mana Crypt had a Star Wars Wurm, not PacMan. 

Thanks for alerting me of this post though.  I will closely browse it again and see if there are any other cards that may be mine.  It seems the person has not traded a lot with people online.  If anyone knows him, could you let me know where he lives? 

-Roland

[freakish777]

Hm.... thought we may have had something there on the Magictraders link.

[Tha Gunslinga]

The guy has a few pieces of unlimited power; I kind of doubt it's the thief.

[yespuhyren]

There is a LOW chance IMO that those are his cards.  That list has TONS of random janky shit.  The fact that it has some COMMON...and yes, I said COMMON Tedin alterations means nothing.  tons of people getting Tedin to do Starwars mods on Drains/Sol Rings/Necro etc, and Pacman/Starwars on crypts and the like are nothing special.  If this is the only ties, you are clearly shooting in the dark with that list.  My friend has a crypt like that.  So what?

On another note, best wishes to Roland and Jorlove

[jazzykat]

Celebrity, unkown, or whatever: I will be looking around in ABQ (for what its worth) and will hit up the correct person (Chang/Orlove) if something weird shows up. Good luck guys!
JK

[Razvan]

That's bullshit. This has nothing to do with the TMD community or class levels - it's about whether you know a person or not (be it in real life or via the media). Noone's interested in people they don't know, and people are all over the problems of ones they do. That's just The Way Things Work (tm). There's no way in hell I would assist aforementioned hypothetical user n00bmastah69 other than by offering my sympathy. Think of it in global terms. If some of the shit that goes on every single day in some African countries would happen to your country or mine, half the world would offer assistance immediately. As it stands, noone gives a damn, because it's Darfur, not Great Britain.

Maybe it's because english is terrible, but I think you missed the point of my post.

It's not that I am questionning the fact that no one gives a fuck about n00bmastah69, or most of the people here that are not famous names or anything. I accept that. In a small way, I (and everyone else in the world) am doing that exact same thing, much like you mentionned.

BUT!

The point was that in this thread, a LOT of people offered at least support, if not assistance directly, and in return, they were told (directly or indirectly) that if it happened to THEM, no one would give a fuck, but because it happened to Roland, it's front page news. That is not the best way to present this issue. Keep in mind that a lot of people that don't know him personally, and hell, don't even know he was the champ, would still help out, by donating, or even just raising awareness of the issue in various mediums.

That is all. It's more of a PR issue than anything.

Also, Roland, although we only met once (in Chicago, briefly, I don't think we even introduced each other), I am very happy you did well at Gencon, and that you are on the rebound. It would suck to lose a player such as you. I also apologize for cluttering your thread with a deviation.

[allstarhunk69]

Ive been away from the forums for a long time and was quite sad to see this happen.  HOWEVER I mean...you guys need to grow up- just because someone is selling a Beta Lotus for example...does not mean they are the thief, plenty of people have full playsets of Beta...you dont know every player with Beta power.

It is good that you guys are trying to contribute positively to this catastrophe but I would really caution about making random accusations.  This is especailly true when you consider how large the NYC area is-its a shame this happened and its even worse to realize its most likely going to go unsolved, but because of this fact you cant just accuse every seller of being a thief

[taniquetil]

Anyone have any news at all? I feel this is an important topic which people should remember to pay attention to from time to time.

[stalker]

hey roland im sending out a couple of cards for u . its not much but hopefully it will get u something.

anyway we all in australia no bout this and will look out too for the cards

shane

[i_set_fire]

saw on the list that you had a miscut alpha jet.  saw this http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-MAGIC-MISCUT-ALPHA-MOX-JET-MISPRINT-NM_W0QQitemZ110452571806QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b77c7e9e on ebay the other day.  cant imagine there are too many miscut jets out there.

[Changster]

saw on the list that you had a miscut alpha jet.  saw this http://cgi.ebay.com/MTG-MAGIC-MISCUT-ALPHA-MOX-JET-MISPRINT-NM_W0QQitemZ110452571806QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b77c7e9e on ebay the other day.  cant imagine there are too many miscut jets out there.

Thanks for the heads up i_set_fire, but my Jet had miscuts on the left/right positioning as opposed to top/bottom.  I appreciate the concern and immediacy of those who have contacted me regarding this listing.

Still hoping for that day to come; the cards are surely out there.  I'm not going anywhere.

Best,

-Roland