Magic publishers sent Pinkerton agents to a YouTuber’s house to retrieve leaked cards
When Magic: The Gathering cards that appeared on YouTube last week, publisher Wizards of the Coast sent private detectives from Pinkerton to retrieve them. The resulting confrontation reportedly scared one woman to tears and resulted in the confiscation of nearly two dozen boxes of cards by private investigators. Wizards confirmed the incident to Polygon. Meanwhile, the presenter denies that anything illegal has happened.
Sometime on April 20, YouTube channel old school mtg has published a video showing the opening of a box of booster packs for collectors of March of the Machine: The Aftermath – just one of 22 boxes he said was bought from an acquaintance. Little has been revealed about the set so far, which is not expected to arrive in stores until May 12. As a result, the video was quickly downloaded and used as fuel for reaction videos on the Internet.
Later, on April 22, oldschoolmtg another video explain what had happened.
“I got up and shot some videos,” the host said in the video. “Right after I finished the video, dogs started barking because someone knocked on the door. I come out and the woman opens the door and it was the Pinkertons.
The name Pinkerton should ring a bell with our American readers. Today’s Pinkertons are descended from the original Pinkerton Detective Agency, which was founded more than 170 years ago in Chicago, Illinois. The company has played a role in significant historical events, not least its stint as a violent, strike-breaking private paramilitary force in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pinkerton, now a subsidiary of Paragon Systemscurrently counts security and loss prevention as one of its many services.
Wizards confirmed to Polygon that the Pinkertons were involved in the incident. The oldschoolmtg host described cops as “big heavy-hitter boys” who scared his wife. The Pinkertons arrived with contact details for someone at Wizards of the Coast and after speaking to them, the host said they had made the decision to remove their original videos.
“He was very apologetic for making my wife cry first thing in the morning by sending these tough cops. [to] come collect stuff and talk about stolen products and imprisonment,” 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 someone actually stole something or if it was just an accident or whatever. But they wanted product back so they could try to figure out where the gap was so they could close the gap.
“Wizards of the Coast can confirm this is part of their investigation,” a representative told Polygon.
In the video, the host proceeds to extrapolate what they believe happened in this situation. It’s possible, they say, that someone somewhere in the distribution chain made a mistake March of the Machine product for March of the Machine: The Aftermath Product.
“Someone messed up and sent the wrong boxes to the gentlemen I bought the boxes from because when he sold me the stuff he said he sold me March of the Machine collection boxes – not Aftermath. […] In fact, he didn’t even know what Aftermath was real, I don’t think.”
Polygon has contacted oldschoolmtg for more information.
Enlisting private investigators to recover stolen or missing trading cards isn’t a particularly new or novel strategy for game publishers. Last week, Polygon reported on another similar incident dating back to 2021 involving products from The Pokémon trading card gamewhich were also recovered with the help of a private investigator.
In this case, the host said in the video that the person they were talking to seemed to understand from Wizards that they were not at fault. They were even keen to compensate the YouTuber for purchasing the cards, possibly in the form of a more suitable replacement product, the host said.
“Anyone who has used my footage,” they added, “probably wants that removed.”
“I no longer have the product,” they said. “The Pinkertons took everything to bring back to WotC.” This also applies to empty boxes and wrappers. “I don’t even have proof of my efforts,” he added with a laugh, before noting that his channel had recently doubled in viewership.