Deck Stolen/Missing from Gencon!

[Jacob Orlove]

- No reported thefts of note concerning type 1 power thankfully!

Phil Schmitt, moxlotus, lost his Pitch Long deck. He accidently left it at the table he played at in the 5th round of the Friday evening Vintage event (I believe it was the Prelims). He had just lost and droped from the event so he didn't realize the deck was gone until hours later. It turns out that the man sitting next to him, turned in his deck to the judges table....only to go missing......The judges aknowledge recieving the deck however. Phil's $4000 deck was either stolen or lost by the judges.

First of all, my deepest sympathies to Phil. I know how awful this can be.

Can we get a description of what to watch for on ebay/craigslist/etc etc? As long as people are looking for some stolen cards, we might as well look for *all* stolen cards.

Also, can we get a mailing address to send cards to? I have some stuff I'd like to send.

[CrashTest]

This is definitely horrible - hopefully the deck will turn up, we can only hope it was misplaced and not stolen.


     All that we know is that it is a Pitch Long deck, so I'll be on the look out for cards from that particular deck - although if the deck is stolen, I doubt the culprit would be dense enough to try and sell the cards online right away.
         

[ErkBek]

Here's the list that I believe Phil was running. All the cards were non-foil and English to my knowledge

Land 12
4 Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
3 Usea (Revised)
1 Swamp (unglued)
1 Island (unglued)
1 Academy

Accel 19
1 Sol Ring (Revised)
1 Mox Ruby (UL)
1 Mox Sapphire (UL)
1 Mox Pearl (UL)
1 Mox Emerald (UL)
1 Mox Jet (UL) *******
1 Black Lotus (UL)
1 Mana Crypt (BB enlgish)
1 Petal
1 Vault
4 Dark Rit
4 Cabal Rit

Protection 7
4 FoW
2 MisD
1 Chain of Vapor

Business 23
4 BS
3 Grim Tutor
1 VT
1 MT
1 DT
1 Iseal (may be asian)
1 Ancestral (UL)
1 Tinker
1 Jar
1 Windfall
1 Twister (UL and bad condition)
1 Desire
1 Bargain
1 Necro
1 Will
2 Tendrils
1 Time Walk (UL)

SB
2 Hurkyl's (asian BB)
1 Rebuild
1 Pentavus ********
1 Massacre
2 Dark Confidant
4 Wretched Anurid (with terrible altered art)
3 Stifle
1 ????

*** The Mox Jet was very unique. It was Corey Canfield's Mox Jet from  SCG Richmond #2. It has a smiley face drawn on it with a black sharpie. It also says SCG Richmond 3rd place on it written in black sharpie as well. It is in great condition as well.

**** The foil Pentavus was modified to the “The Bus.”

Please contact anybody on Team GWS if you have any info. I'm unsure what Phil's address is, but it will be posted shortly.

[ErkBek]

If I remember correctly, the Tolarian Academy had a silver heart and a telephone drawn on it.  They took up a good portion of the card so it should be easily identifiable.

I'm not sure if Phil ran this or if Endress did.

Endress is the one that <3 phone.

[Changster]

@ Phil - I was notified of your loss and your situation through your teammates and I'm very sorry to hear about it.  I would like to help you out through donations of cards once I finish paying Jacob back for his losses.  Please let me know if I can do anything else for you in the meantime.  Hopefully your cards will turn up soon or at the very least get reimbursed by WotC for the loss.

-Roland

[dogleg969]

Phil's Twister was severly creased.

The Time Walk has some distinct curved white wear marks on the back.

This is all stuff Endress told me, I have not actually seen these cards. 

As bad as it sounds, this would be a lot easier to take if no one had turned the deck in.  The fact that it was given to the judges booth and then went missing is absurd.

[Smmenen]

I was very sorry to hear about this.  My advice is to pursue this case with severe and swift legal action.  At the least, consult an attorney in person.

Stephen

[Moxlotus]

The Mox Jet had a smiley face on it and signed "4th place SCG #2"

The Twister has a huge crease down the middle due to a lack of gloss in the middle of the card.

The Ancestral is modified with an alien space ship and signed by Mark Poole '05

The Time Walk is the biggest piece of shit on the planet, having gone through a washing machine.  It is really really wavy and the bottom corner is severely creased.

The Emerald is signed by the artist which is significant since I don't see many signed moxen.

EDIT:  Tolarian academy is badly modified to "Broken Academy" that "taps to win the game"  The flavor text is "What was the DCI thinking? --R&D passing the blame"


I completely acknowledge it was my fault for losing the deck in the first place. There's just no way around that and I accept it.  I lost round 3 in the Prelims when I had the win in hand, but fucked it up.  I lost round 4 to a mistake too.  By round 5 I was on total tilt and managed to lose 2 games when I had turn 1 necro due to a mistake each turn.  I was full on tilt.  I somehow managed to grab my dice, playmat, notebook, and pen and leave my deck.  This round ended at about 11.  I didn't realize it was missing until about 3 when Endress and I immediately went back to the hall and asked the judge table if anybody had turned it in.  They said they didn't have one.  Fuckin Lou told me Socrates turned in a deck and I remembered sitting by him during the last round I played.  When I get stressed out I fall asleep so at about 5 I went to bed and woke up at 8 to find Socrates.  Luckily, I found him about 5 minutes after I got to the hall in the morning

Socrates is a saint for turning in the deck.  Seriously.  He is the man.  The worst part is knowing that he turned it into the judges and it still couldn't be found.  Major props to Josh Rayden and Rashaad for taking a genuine interest in finding it, compared to the other judges who seemed to not give a shit (although it might not be the case).  I must thank Steve for helping me with legal options which I am considering, but more than likely will just let it go.

Vintage doesn't exist in the midwest for about another six months.  During that time is when I will decide whether or not to return to playing the game.  I can't imagine myself not following the results at least and I won't give up my job typing for SCG.  In the meantime I will have time to reflect upon my situation and my life.  

I have accepted my loss and will just move on.  I realized that I had gone through the 5 stages (denial, anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance) in less than 12 hours.  That is when I realized it was not the worst day of my life.  The worst day of my life was when I had a huge fight with my girlfriend and I was upset for a whole week.  I was over this in under a day.  It was an emotional roller coaster going from losing it, to finding the person who found it, to the judges booth losing (or unfortunately, possibly "losing" it).  As I type this and my dog is drooling on my foot I am 100% positive I would be infinitely more pissed if someone stole my dog.  I appreciate everything everyone did for me and the sympathy I find here.  I thank you all.  However, I will ask everyone to feel no pity for me.  I have and always will continue to live through life with the rigged individualism philosophy.  I fucked up and will be fine.  Instead, I would rather it be for my girlfriend.  Or rather, soon to be fiance.  My nobody knows this yet, but I bought her engagement ring a week before GenCon and my power was going to pay for a honeymoon and part of the wedding.  If anything got stolen, it was stolen from her.  I never once felt pissed because I wanted my power--Stephanie has made many sacrifices in our relationship and I wanted to show that I would sacrifice my favorite hobby to give her a great honeymoon and wedding.  My parents will be more than willing to help me financially, I'm going to be about $300,000 in debt to them after dental school and buying the family dental practice.  I just wanted the pride of knowing I could pay for something myself.  I'm rambling.  Whatever.  If there's anything I've learned in life is that things always find a way to work out fine if you are a good person and you try your best.  Shit just isn't worth mulling over.  It happened and I can't reverse time.  There is just simply no other option than to move on.  It's similar to that stupid song that's on the radio constantly now.  Sitting around and feeling sorry for myself accomplishes nothing, and if anything only makes it worse.  Stephanie and my recent acceptance into Dental School are way more important than some cardboard.

The Vintage community is so great that even after my loss my gencon was not total hell.  I met some amazing people from Italy, Australia, and Japan.  I had good times playing and am focusing on my accomplishments of the convention.  I managed to combo Stax out for 20 life through 3 lock pieces with exactly enough storm and mana and ended the turn at 1 life when I started it at 2.  I also totally Jedi-mind tricked the current Legacy Champion into trading his Wild Mongrel with my Nantuko Shade.  I got to kill 3 people with WRETCHED ANURID in Vintage.  I still laughed.  I still joked.  I still had fun times.  My deepest thanks to all.

I ask that anyone who would send cards still send them to Roland since he lost a shitload more than I did.  However, if my deck turns up...

Philip Schmitt
220 N 4th St.
Fulton, IL  61252

[jcb193]

That is when I realized it was not the worst day of my life.    

Stephanie has made many sacrifices in our relationship and I wanted to show that I would sacrifice my favorite hobby to give her a great honeymoon and wedding. 

Stephanie and my recent acceptance into Dental School are way more important than some cardboard.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.  I can completely sympathize, and though your loss is great, your attitude is phenomenal.  I wish you the best of luck. 

[M.Solymossy]

Phil my heart TOTALLY sank when you told me @ Gencon about the engagement ring.  I would have been upset to the 10th power of infinity if that was me.   This just shows how good of a person you are, and I hope that even if you stop playing the game, you continue to post on both these boards and the team boards.  I personally hope you find it in yourself to continue to play, because you sir, are a great person to be around.

[orgcandman]

Instead, I would rather it be for my girlfriend.  Or rather, soon to be fiance.  My nobody knows this yet, but I bought her engagement ring a week before GenCon and my power was going to pay for a honeymoon and part of the wedding.  If anything got stolen, it was stolen from her.  I never once felt pissed because I wanted my power--Stephanie has made many sacrifices in our relationship and I wanted to show that I would sacrifice my favorite hobby to give her a great honeymoon and wedding.

I 100% empathyze with this. I'm getting married in a month and a half. I've been planning on selling my power and stuff to pay for the honeymoon. If someone had taken them from me, I'd probably be insanely upset that my fiance and I couldn't go on our honeymoon. Especially since something I care so much about was impacted by something that's not terribly important in the big picture (read: wife and life with her were totally screwed over by magic cards).

It really sucks that you're in this position man. Hope the theif / theives return your cards.

[BigMac]

I sympathise completely as i am getting married in about one and a half month as well. Luckily for me i do not have to sell anything and still be able to get my honey the nicest honneymoon she can ever think of. She still does not know where we are going so that is going to be the big surprise.

Hope ye still are able to get the honneymoon you intended and all i gotta to that is:
Go for it.

[Tyrell]

I actually lost my deck after the sunday tourney and it was turned in, I would like to thank that person from the bottom of my heart. On to something much more relevant to this discussion after running around frantically trying to find my deck. I went up to the judges stand and asked if any decks had been found the first guy told me no immediately but this other guy over heard me and said that yes there had been. He asked me to list the cards and I did and then he asked me to list the cards in my sideboard and I did then he gave me my deck back and told me to be more careful. I don't know if you asked the same guy as I did but maybe you should check with who ever was running the event and see if something similar didn't happen to you. Sorry if you have already checked with the TO. I am deeply sorry for your loss and hope something turns up.

[White_Ghost]

Mox, you are a better man than I.  I admire you for the way you have handled this very tough situation.  I wish you nothing but the best of luck in finding your power, and I hope you stay in the game.

Best of luck to you
-Will

[vroman]

your welcome to join my ongoing jihad on thieves.

[Diaonic]

I was always wondering what happened to my jet. I'm glad it got into the hands of a good person who appreciates it.

If you ever get it back. Please consider me a potential buyer. I had to sell all my cards for career reasons and I really wish I hadn't

Good luck man.

[defector]

I am so sorry to hear this, this is just awful, I hope you get it back.
tom

[Jacob Orlove]

http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=29719.0

I don't know why this wasn't closed before, but it is now.