Magic: The Gathering can be an expensive hobby, which sometimes makes it the target for high-profile thefts. A board game cafe in Guelph, Ontario is suffering from just such a heist after thieves made off with $200,000 in product following a break-in last weekend.
Video surveillance caught two male suspects breaking into the Round Table Board Game Café at 3:45 AM last Saturday morning. The two thieves targeted valuable items, including a $3,000 bottle of scotch whiskey, several electronics, and an extensive Magic: The Gathering collection that the store owners had been collecting for six years.
In addition to the store’s Magic cards, store owner Thomas Gofton had his own personal Magic collection stolen, which he estimated to be worth $15,000.
“Fatigue on the heart in the fact that it took me years to build this,” Gofton told CTV News. “This was built from a community of people. From our Kitchener location and our Guelph location. This is a collection of people that has spent their lives and their time here building this collection with us.”
Guelph Police noted its abnormal to see a theft with such high dollar values in its jurisdiction. “[It’s] a very popular game,” Gofton explained. “Huge stock market like prices, It’s got an ebb and flow to it and high collectability.”
That collectability can sometimes result in sky-high prices for rare and valuable cards. The rarest can even reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Gofton said he plans to host a party this weekend where local gamers can help offset at least part of the cafe’s losses, adding to CTV that he has no plans to replace his personal collection.
Magic Online players who take part in Pauper League events will soon get a few free common cards. Wizards of the Coast said that supply issues with Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate have resulted in a lack of certain commons, so Wizards is waving its magic wand to send out two copies of 38 "key" commons from the set.