EMERGENCY - Please Help Me... Cards Stolen Today

[Changster]

Dear Vintage and Magic Communities,

I, Roland Chang, come to you today not to ask for your pity, but rather your help.  My White Rook Case of 8 deck boxes was stolen today at Neutral Ground in New York City.  Inside those boxes contained most importantly my fully Beta Powered/Foiled Stax deck, Grim Long minus Power, Slaver minus Power, another set of my teammate’s Beta Power and other very valuable cards.  These cards may exceed a total of 15,000-20,000 dollars in cards.  I am completely devastated by the events that took place around 2:30pm earlier today…

At approximately 2:25 pm, I met with a person I know by the name of Ici Li, to meet and test decks.  After I got there and sat, I had taken out my trade binder as well as Rook Case of decks to set up for the testing session.  Ici wanted to check out my binder for cards he could possibly purchase from me, so I handed my binder over to him.  While he did that, I took out the 3 deck boxes of Stax, Grim Long, and Slaver out from my Rook Case. 

After doing so, I mentioned to him I was going to leave briefly to grab a drink.  I asked him if he needed a drink, but he declined, so I went to pick up a drink for myself at the main register about 25-30 feet away from the table we sat at.  From the main register, I could not see my cards because of the drink refrigerators stood blocking my view.  I waited for about 2 minutes in line to purchase my drink, then I saw Ici walking up to the other side of the counter to ask for a pen. 

Assuming my cards were unprotected, I rushed back to the table with drink in hand only to find my Rook Case missing and my binder still there.  Ici had gotten up to ask for a pen, so he could write down what cards he wanted from me.  Before he left the table, he said to a couple of players at the same table to guard over the cards for a second.  They complied and somehow when both of us returned, my Rook Case had completely vanished. 

I looked for about an hour around the store and asking people to open their bags before leaving shocked, in disbelief, and enraged.  “How could this have happened to me?” I asked.  Within a time frame of 2 or less minutes, while I was up at the register to purchase my drink, my cards had been stolen right off the table.

Upon leaving Neutral Ground, I had called many people I know and trust and alerted everyone I knew in the area regarding my stolen property.  Within the boxes included Jacob Orlove’s (my teammate) Power he was lending out for another teammate at the upcoming Gencon.  Now his Power and mine are missing. 

I have played this game for well over 10 years and have not once dealt with theft from my collection until today.  I strongly believe that the malicious person(s) involved in this want to cash out my cards either through e-bay, local card shops, or some online dealing.  My decks contained very unique cards with particular alterations, signatures, and versions.

If any of you have information on the cards listed below, please let me know through IM, PM, or e-mail ASAP.  A hefty reward will be given out to the people who help me get my cards back.  I would greatly appreciate any help I receive from anyone in the following weeks/months/years regarding the stolen items.           

Here is the list:

First and Foremost… Jacob’s List of Cards:
Underground Sea (revised)
4 Force of Will (2 english, 1 portuguese, 1 french)
1 Tinker (normal)
1 Yagwmoth's Bargain (japanese, signed)
1 Memory Jar (normal)
1 Mana Vault (korean bb)
1 Mana Crypt (english bb)
1 Lotus Petal (japanese, signed in gold along the side)
1 Lion's Eye Diamond (normal)
1 Vampiric Tutor (french)
5 Moxes (all bb, emerald and ruby def. beta, the rest could be alpha, sapphire in great condition)
1 Black Lotus (bb)
1 Ancestral Recall (bb, beta, signed, has "The Book" written on it, AND an art alteration showing a book. Unique)
1 Time Walk (bb, pretty bad condition)
1 Timetwister (unlimited)

My Main Cards in that box:
4 x Mishra's Workshop (nm-mint)
1 x Time Walk (unlimited, nm)
1 x Black Lotus (beta, good)
1 x Ancestral Recall (beta, good, signed in black marker by Mark Poole)
1 x Mox Emerald (beta, good)
1 x Mox Jet (alpha, miscut to one side, mint)
1 x Mox Pearl (alpha, played cond.)
1 x Mox Ruby (beta, played cond.)
1 x Mox Sapphire (beta, good, signed in black marker by Mark Poole)
1 x Crucible of Worlds (Foil, altered art of Deathstar, signed by Ron Spencer)
1 x Mana Crypt (English, bb, altered art of golden Wurm from Star Wars chasing Mill. Falcon, signed)
1 x Mana Vault (Alpha, nm, altered art of Rubix Cube, signed)
1 x Imperial Seal (Japanese)
1 x Sol Ring (Beta, nm, altered art of LOTR Eye of Sauron in metallic blue marker, signed)
2 x Crucible of Worlds (Foil, Japanese)
1 x Sunderin Titan (Foil, Japanese)
1 x Tinker (Foil, Japanese)
1 x Memory Jar (Foil, Japanese)
1 x Triskelion (Foil, Japanese)
1 x Trinisphere (Foil, Japanese)
4 x Smokestack (Japanese)
4 x Duress (Foil, Japanese)
4 x Tanglewire (Foil, 3 Japanese, 1 Chinese)
4 x Polluted Delta (Foil)
3 x Grim Tutor
3 x Demonic Tutor (Beta, condition varied, one signed and played cond.)
4 x Sinkhole (1 alpha, 3 beta)
8 x Wasteland (Foil)

That was most of it that was most valuable, but the list goes on… 

I have lost not only my cards, but cards of my teammate as well.  Today’s double blow has seriously made me reconsider playing this game again.  I have lost a great deal and only hope to find the perpetrators in time.  With your help, that may/may not happen, but I thank you all in advance for any help.

Your Vintage Champ,

Roland Chang

FYI:  A police report has been filed and I will be looking over security video footage from the building tomorrow.

[Klep]

This may or may not have occured to you, but report it to the police.

[Machinus]

World Champ,

I'm sorry to hear about this incident. I'm sure the Vintage community will do everything it can to assist you. I hope you recover your cards soon.

- Chris

[ErkBek]

World Champ,

I'm sorry to hear about this incident. I'm sure the Vintage community will do everything it can to assist you. I hope you recover your cards soon.

- Chris

That's exactly how I think everyone feels. I'll be on the lookout for your and Orlove's cards.

-Eric

[Roxas]

I'm sorry to hear about this as well; I can't even begin to imagine how you're feeling about this right now.  We should probably make all of the major stores in New England and elsewhere (perhaps even all the online shops) aware of this, as well as keep an eye on Ebay. 

[M.Solymossy]

All of waterbury knows, as does Aaron Jarvis from Troll and Toad.

[Kowal]

I was informed at Waterbury with the rest of the folks during top four play--  It was devastating for the players in that event and for everybody else within earshot.  Maintaining my game face has never been so difficult.

I hope this is resolved quickly and effortlessly.  While I also hope the person who lifted your stuff turns it in and finds himself remaining anonymous, I unfortunately find it more likely that legal action will have to commence.  To that end, I can only hope who is responsible is caught and your cards are returned.

[LotusHead]

FYI:  A police report has been filed and I will be looking over security video footage from the building tomorrow.

That would be SWEET if the Video Footage yeilds anything productive.

[freakish777]

Keep faithful watch over eBay and CardShark.  If I were a thief, I wouldn't necessarily try and cash the cards out immediately (especially not on eBay) hoping for things to blow over and the victim to forget/move on.  Also, how much do you know about the person Ici Li?  If you're not too familiar with him, it sounds like a set up to me (meet him to test decks, he changes to "let's trade" after your Deck box is out to distract you, you leave, he needs an excuse for you to not come after him, so he makes sure to be walking to get a pen when you can see him so you don't think it was him).  I know this may sound a little far fetched, but he was the last person to be seen with your cards.  Also, I think most well meaning players/traders would overlook the "insult" of being accused of stealing $15,000 - $20,000 of cards, if it were to clear their own name of stealing the cards and help with the investigation and return of them.

I wish you the best in getting Orlove's and your cards back with speed.

[NULLROD]

This is Ici.

Look in the other thread. I IM'ed Roland at about 1:00 pm today, and we told me that it would be cool with him to meet at NG at 2:00. I said that I was down, and we met up an hour later.

I am a student at Columbia University. I am a Neutral Ground regular. During the school years, I used to play at the Friday T1 sanctioned tournies. People at Neutral Ground know me: Elias (Sonata of the Cathedral), Josh Meckes, Jostin Rodriguez, Vincent Pau, Erik Wilkinson, and a slew of other Neutral Ground people. I frequent Neutral Ground very often with my friends that I have met there, and Roland is no exception. Ever since I met Roland online about a year ago in a random MWS game, I maintained a close friendship with him. Him and I have met in person on many occasions, even once with Josh and his friend James. We have had dinner together, played cards together in real life, and on MWS on a regular basis. I consider myself a good friend of Roland's. In fact, I hold the highest respect for Roland and Rich Shay in the vintage community.

When Roland went to get a drink, I did not see the white rook case or the deck boxes because I thought he took them with him. The whole point of me sitting down to look at his binder was so I could purchase vintage staples from him. There were three other people sitting at our table, and none of us saw anything unusual. After about 2 minutes, I went to the front desk to grab a pen so I could write down everything I wanted to buy from Roland. When I got back, I sat back down, and started writing down what I wanted. It was only until Roland got back until he realized that the white box wasn't with me, and I realized it wasn't with him.

I was not only with Roland for the entire duration of this time period, but I offered him my help after the incident occurred. For the 20th time, my bag, in addition to his bag, and about 20 other people's bags were checked. Tomorrow, I will get in contact with Neutral Ground staff to review the tapes with Roland. I have already called the building personnel along with NG staff many times today, and I will keep in touch with them tomorrow as well.

This incident has left me with nothing but the deepest confusion about what happened, and my sympathies for Roland. Roland is probably the nicest guy I've met along with Rich Shay, and this incident needs to be resolved.

[freakish777]

I understand all this.  As I said, I believe that any well intentioned player/trader/collector would be able to look past any insult of being accused (by the community or by Roland himself) if it helped get Roland's cards back.  I'm sure that if Roland gets his cards back, you and him will be able to laugh about any doubt in his or the community's mind about any possible involvement on your part.  Additionally I hadn't read the other thread when I made my post, and so the only thing I saw was: I met with someone named Ici Li to test.  Not, I met with my close friend Ici Li to test.  If my closest friends accused me a stealing something valuable to them because I was the last person to be seen with it, yes I would be hurt.  But they are my closest friends, and I would do everything in my power to help them get it back.

EDIT: Roland, I would also post this at every message board you have an account at, and also sign up for accounts at well known message boards (Starcity Games, Wizards, MtgNews, etc) whether they are Vintage, Limited, or Standard related.  The more people that are made known of this, the more eyes you will have looking for your cards.  A simple, this is my name, and an e-mail address, here is a link to the coverage of my accomplishment as Vintage World Champ, here is my situation, please e-mail me if you have any info or see any of the unique cards I mentioned, there is a reward available for information leading to the return of my cards.

[The Atog Lord]

Wow.

Hearing this during the semifinals at Waterbury cast a shadow over the event; it seemed as though the entire mood of the room went from festive to depressed. We were all amazed and saddened to hear about it. Roland and Jacob are two of the nicest and most respectable members of this community.

Of course, I extend my sympathies and my wishes that the matter is resolved positively and swiftly. Further, if I can be of any help whatsoever in borrowing cards for Gen Con, please do not hesitate to ask.

[Dozer]

Roland, Jacob --
I really hope you get your cards back. It's unlikely they'll make it to Europe, but if I see any being sold or hear about it, I will notify you. The cards are pretty recognizable, so the overall chances to find them is there.

From the main register, I could not see my cards because of the drink refrigerators stood blocking my view.

That's exactly why I always take my cards with me whereever I go. I have never left my P9 deck in control of somebody else, even in the care of a friend, at a public event. That way, I maintain full control of it, and also if something happens to it, it's entirely my fault and nobody else has to feel bad. Granted, I don't carry as much power and pimp as Roland did here, so it's pretty easy to pick it up every time. But I feel far to uncomfortable when I don't have immediate access to my powered deck to enjoy the time. Even half a minute away from it makes me feel real itchy. Overly protective? Maybe, but as Roland's sad case shows, it seems to be necessary.

Again, sorry to you two. I hope for you and us all that you find the cards, the thief and he gets the appropriate punishment.

[ashiXIII]

I'm just curious; have all of the major dealers been notified of this? It seems they should be to help in tracking down the cards.

[M.Solymossy]

I know when I called TK, I told him to tell  Jeff, but he left waterbury... But I'm assuming people @ waterbury can tell him.  I also informed troll and toad, and Im assuming my post on SCG alerted them.

[BigMac]

I will keep a look out on events i go to. This totally blows. I feel with you and hope that the security tapes give any insight on the low person that did this.

[Whatever Works]

This is horrible news. It is sad to see cards stolen, but this many and of this value seems almost unthinkable! You have the advantage of camera's that hopfully will reveal results, and the sale of your cards will be difficult on any of the major stores and or ebay. The fact that the cards are original helps ALOT.

I would definetly try to become informed about ALL of the online sale sites (not just ebay), and look for the sale of your stuff there as well. Yahoo, and about a billion other sites. Also inform all the major card selling sites to be wary of people selling power to them in the near future such as troll & toad, coolstuffinc.com, scg.com etc. And aware the major card dealers as well.

I really hope you find your stuff, but if things dont turn out please contact me before the vintage championships and I will do my best to help you put together a fully powered deck for gencon (I dont have 2 sets of power but can easily lend a few spare pieces and probably workshops almost every stax card I got an extra 4 of etc.), and I am sure other people who know that this was a 1 time unfortunate situation will gladly do the same for you & Jacob.

Again this is awful and I hope you find the cards,

Kyle L.

[White_Ghost]

I posted a thread up on the source, although I don't think anyone there is in the NYC area.  Everyone is keeping an eye on ebay, MOTL and the like

[Dzy]

And at magic-league.com

[Changster]

Dear Eternal Community,

I thank you for your kind words of encouragement and support.  At this time, because of your posts, I have decided to stay with this game 100% even though I may have lost a substantial amount of my collection.  I plan on defending my title as Vintage World Champ at the upcoming GenCon.  Plenty of kind and generous people have posted that they would let me borrow cards to play in that tournament.  I am deeply touched and grateful to be apart of this awesome community of good willed players.  I will not post a list of needed cards at least for another 2/3 days.

I will have in my possession the surveillance video tape from Neutral Ground later today.  Because I have to work my 9-5 job in NYC, my time to investigate on my own is rather limited, but information I find out will be posted to keep everyone updated on my situation. 

Yesterday after work, I had prepared “Lost” signs to post at Neutral Ground and I put up 4 explicit signs in highly visible locations across the store.  I also offered a reward of “Two Beta pieces of Power 9 or $1000 in cash” no questions asked, and anonymity would be respected if I receive information leading up to the recovery of those stolen cards. 

If the person(s) who took my cards are reading this, know this… I will not press charges against you.  Please return my cards and I will give you the reward in exchange.  Those cards are essentially marked cards in any market, be it online or stores in the area.  My collection took me well over 10 years of smart trading to collect and now it has been swiped from me.  All I ask is at the very least return Jacob’s cards to me and I can swallow the loss of the other cards.  If you do so, I will keep my word and provide the reward.

I believe I have covered all of the bases, but now all we can do is wait.  Eventually something may turn up and I hope that the situation can be resolved very soon.  Please do not point fingers at anyone on or offline.  Accusations only stall the process of returning my cards.  If anyone has information they would like to share directly with me, feel free to e-mail me at rkjchang@yahoo.com . 

Before I get back to normal life at the office, I wanted to thank everyone who has either posted kind words of concern.  It’s not everyday that someone loses this much money in one sitting.  I am trying to recover from this incident, learn and grow as a person from it.  For my teammates, friends, family, and this community to be there for me in my darkest hour means the world to me.  With or without my cards, I will remain apart of this community regardless of the outcome.

Sincerely,

Roland Chang

(fixed coding -Hi-Val)

[DarkMaster_MX]

Hey, this is DarkMaster_MX Marketplace Council Member from the Wizards community boards.  This news was brought to us by another user from the boards and I felt that it would require the attention of the Wizards boards to prevent any sales or trades concerning you and your friends cards.  I'll leave up a sticky post with the specific list of cards missing so all members may see it and know to report anything suspicious.  Also myself and the rest of our council will keep a close eye on the boards and report anything thats out of the ordinary.

*edit* has a report been filed to ebay to watch out for the sale of these cards?

Good luck in your investigations,

~DarkMaster_MX
Wizards Marketplace Council

[DoubleDrain]

Holy Shit that sucks BALLS Roland. Very sorry to hear about your loss.

Colorado will keep it's eyes open for you...

[Vegeta2711]

Best of luck in recovering everything and obv. let me know if you need anything.

[NULLROD]

Hello, guys. This is Ici.

I had a lengthy conversation with both Roland Chang and Josh Meckes today discussing the details over what happened on Sunday. Although Josh wasn't there on Sunday, he was very patient with me and Roland telling the accounts, and made suggestions and asked a lot of questions.

However, apparently, Roland views me as an acquaintance, and not a friend. I understand that Roland wants to get his cards back, however, I do not appreciate the tone of the questions that Roland was asking me today. I have tried to be very patient with him because I know that I would want others to be patient with me if I had my cards stolen, but at the same time I think we should try to pursue other leads and track down the real thief. It is frustrating and somewhat ridiculous that Roland still thinks I may have stolen his cards. After all, my bags were searched, just like everyone else’s who was at Neutral Ground. I will do whatever it takes to clear my name, but threats and intimidation aren’t going to accomplish anything.

Roland, I want to work together with you to get your cards back, but quite frankly I am a little bit fed up with how things went today. Call me when you want to get together at the police station, or if you want help pursuing suspects other than myself.

Thanks,
Ici Li

This is the kind of thing you should be using the PM function for.
-Kowal[/color]

[M.Solymossy]

I hope the video shows the thief.

[Kowal]

Hello, guys. This is Ici.

I had a lengthy conversation with both Roland Chang and Josh Meckes today discussing the details over what happened on Sunday. Although Josh wasn't there on Sunday, he was very patient with me and Roland telling the accounts, and made suggestions and asked a lot of questions.

However, apparently, Roland views me as an acquaintance, and not a friend. I understand that Roland wants to get his cards back, however, I do not appreciate the tone of the questions that Roland was asking me today. I have tried to be very patient with him because I know that I would want others to be patient with me if I had my cards stolen, but at the same time I think we should try to pursue other leads and track down the real thief. It is frustrating and somewhat ridiculous that Roland still thinks I may have stolen his cards. After all, my bags were searched, just like everyone else’s who was at Neutral Ground. I will do whatever it takes to clear my name, but threats and intimidation aren’t going to accomplish anything.

Roland, I want to work together with you to get your cards back, but quite frankly I am a little bit fed up with how things went today. Call me when you want to get together at the police station, or if you want help pursuing suspects other than myself.

Thanks,
Ici Li

Ici, let me explain a few things to you, since you appear to be a little slow to come to the same conclusions that, undoubtedly, most of us have already come to.

1)  If Roland left $20,000 worth of cards in your care, even for just a moment, he obviously considers you trustworthy and therefore a friend.  This is especially true considering that a large portion of that value were cards that don't even belong to him, and judging my Roland's character this is clearly very important to him.

2)  In spite of the above, you betrayed his trust and left his belongings unattended.  I understand that's a difficult conclusion for you to deal with, but the proper method of handling it isn't to bitch on TMD or at Roland about how you feel you've been shafted.  The fact is, you were trusted to keep an eye on those cards, and in the tiny span of time Roland wasn't there, you managed to screw it up.  The very least you could do is be 100% supportive, rather than whine about being considered a suspect.  As a matter of fact, I'm more than a little disgusted that I've heard nothing from you about trying to replace Roland's cards, since it's pretty clearly something that would have been avoided if you'd decided his belongings were more important than your desire to borrow or buy them.

Roland is far too nice a guy to say this sort of thing explicitly, but I feel no such aversion from bringing it up.  You screwed up--  Try your very best to make up for it or suffer the consequences.

[Lunar]

umm...this is not meant to make anybody look bad or whatever...

I dont know the store in question outside of hearing about it and magic in the same sentance for years...but has anybody (ie the police) questioned or searched the shop and the shops inventory??? Seems like a store employee might have a good opportunity and lots of hiding places. Most theft in stores in the US from what ive heard in working retail, comes from people working at the shop. I dunno, just a though I suppose.

Just an idea that popped into my head reading this...sorry if it has already been mentioned and I missed it, heh.

Oh and btw its been double posted in both the Vintage and Trade forums on MTGSalvation.com...

the whole thing totally sucks man...ive never met Roland, but Jacob was a totally nice guy when I got to sit down and play some cards with him when he was back West here. Anyways, best of luck to you guys!!!

[NULLROD]

@kowal

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

Ici Li, was infact banned from Neutral Ground at one point. I confirmed this with Corey Braiterman several times. I also remember Ici trying to return to Neutral Ground at one point, and Corey kicked him out.

Just wanted to point out those factual errors.

[NULLROD]

Josh made the same mistake you did. I was never banned from Neutral Ground, and their documented records in their computer systems won't lie.

You're welcome to check the Neutral Ground banned list records, and you won't find my name in there at all.