To My Fellow Members of the Vintage Community:

While on their way to play Vintage this past week/end, Tom Daliapes, Brian Rottenberg​, Shawn R. Stroke​ and Mike Sorrentino had their car broken into. The thieves smashed the back window, opened the door, popped the trunk, and stole all of Tom's, Shawn's, Mike's and Brian's bags, which included their clothes and personal effects for the weekend, in addition to containing the vast majority of Tom's Vintage collection. The total loss is staggering, and would round up towards six figures.

All the local area Ohio stores have been contacted, the dealers at the event this past weekend are all aware, local pawn shops were contacted, dumpsters have been searched, the police were contacted, a report was filed, and while we hope that there will be leads that result in a happy ending, this will likely not be the case. We have no smoking gun, and the thieves adjusted the video cameras facing the vehicle away from it, thus shielding both their license plate and their identity. We do not currently know if this was an inside job, and the product of some members of the Magic community looking to take advantage of their peers, or if this was something else, and perhaps just junkies looking for something to sell to get high.

This is easily the worst loss that I have seen in my time in the Vintage community, which is now longer than I care to admit. As a friend, I'm devastated for all four of them, specifically for Tom, who had cards that he has spent the last 15+ years collecting and has been nearly completely wiped out. As a member of the Vintage community, I am hurt at the prospect of losing four regulars who enjoyed the format, supported local stores and tournament organizers, and helped create the active community that we have here on Long Island.

In times of need, the Vintage community rallies together. The sense of community, reflected in our desire to both welcome newcomers to the format, and protect our own, is something that I have always greatly appreciated. I play one format; Vintage. I only play Vintage, in large part because of this. I believe our community to be the best of the Magic communities; I have seen the Vintage community rally to support their own many, many times in the past, and while I hope to never see something like this again, I hope that if something like this should happen again, we should show our mettle in rallying to those who need our support.

This awful loss is something that sent shockwaves through my local community, and it is something that the members of my local community will all work towards helping with. We cannot replace three sets of power, including a fair amount of Beta power, dozens of dual lands, including many FBB duals, more than a dozen Force of Wills, and much, much more, but we can take steps to show these players that when things like this happen, the community will come together and show their support for their own.

I am asking members of the Vintage community who feel so inclined to help contribute towards rebuilding their decks (either with cards they need, or with cards that they can trade towards cards they need). I have personally put more than $300 towards this already, and will be putting more as the month progresses and we see what needs to be done.

If you are interested in making a contribution, no matter how big or small, I can promise you that it would be appreciated. If you are not in the general vicinity of Long Island, and will not be able to attend one of the events that we will run to help them, The Comic Book Depot has agreed to let us use their mailing address for any donations (which should be marked as donations for Tom, Brian, Mike and Shawn). The Comic Book Depot's mailing address is:

The Comic Book Depot
2847 Jerusalem Ave
Wantagh, NY
11793

If you have any questions, or would like to speak directly with Tom, please feel free to reach out to me; I can either help you, or send you in the right direction.

I will be announcing a benefit event with Alan Paperin of The Comic Book Depot at some point in the next week or two, to be held on 11/27 at the store.

I have known the Vintage community to rise to the occasion and help those in need in the past, I hope to see us all do it one more time, on a grand scale, and show these four guys that we stick together, help each other, and are there for each other when we're most needed.

Thank you.

• Nick

This is awful. I mentioned on Facebook, but I will keep an eye out for anything fishy at GP Milwaukee
.

Bleh. Sorry to hear about this.

This is sad to hear. It sounds like the person who did this has probably done it a number of times before given all the extra steps they took during the theft.

God that's awful. I hope they find whoever did this and prosecute to the full extent of the law.

Ugh, this is a terrible world we live in. Tonight my 4-year-old got mugged during Trick-or-Treating, as a lanky teen snuck up from behind and violently snatched her pumpkin tote out of her hands and ran off with all her candy. Worthless overall, but it definitely traumatized her. I'm sorry for their very substantial loss. Can they get some proxy credits in the short term?

I hate to hear about this. Despite it appearing to be a smash & grab from a random car I just dont think it is. Out of all the cars at this site they get this one with all these cards in it? They knew about the cameras, took steps to avoid detection - this was planned and not just a random act of opportunity.

With that said, I've parroted this before - I hope these guys had insurance on their collections. If not, its too late now. I'll pay attention to the full list when it comes out and donate a few cards if I can. I think its awesome that TCBD is helping with this endeavor.

If anybody has any questions about insuring a collection please ask here or message me on facebook (or post in the vintage community on facebook to ask who I am and I'll catch up with you). Ive been in insurance for 18+ years and am a licensed agent. I'm more than happy to share some tips and give some direction on getting collections insured (and just a note, I'm not signed up to sell for ANY carrier that offers specialty insurance like this so I'm not advertising for my own gain. I'll get absolutely nothing out of any recommendations I make. I'm not pimping myself, just offering some honest expertise).

@Khahan said:

If anybody has any questions about insuring a collection please ask here or message me on facebook (or post in the vintage community to ask who I am and I'll catch up with you).

See also: http://themanadrain.com/topic/530/insurance

I'm definitely coming on the 27th now, fuckin thieves can eat shit

Incredibly, it looks as though everything that was stolen may end up coming back to Tom, Mike, Brian and Shawn.

The thieves showed up at The Soldiery in Ohio yesterday, with all the deck boxes and binders thrown in Shawn's duffel bag, which had Shawn's name on it. The employee on hand knew about the missing collections, and called the police. There was an altered Lotus in the collection, which is unique, and will also help cement that this was their stuff. Everything is now sitting in a police evidence locker room right now, but we hope for some kind of resolution to all of this in the next week.

Everyone who donated will be made whole, and the four guys will post a more complete rundown of what went down (in addition to a thank you) in the coming days.

This made my day yesterday, and I hope it's a bright spot in your day as well!

said:

Incredibly, it looks as though everything that was stolen may end up coming back to Tom, Mike, Brian and Shawn.

The thieves showed up at The Soldiery in Ohio yesterday, with all the deck boxes and binders thrown in Shawn's duffel bag, which had Shawn's name on it. The employee on hand knew about the missing collections, and called the police. There was an altered Lotus in the collection, which is unique, and will also help cement that this was their stuff. Everything is now sitting in a police evidence locker room right now, but we hope for some kind of resolution to all of this in the next week.

"That's incredible!"

Very fortunate that the the collections will most likely be returned and that the thieves were dumb enough to do this. I also hope this whole incident doesn't deter players from attending EW 2017, and I'm glad the community was able to rally together so well.

Thats amazing! I'm thrilled to hear that the stuff made it back. I'm curious if the thieves were actually Magic players, or if they were just a bunch of junkies who got lucky, etc.

@rikter said:

Thats amazing! I'm thrilled to hear that the stuff made it back. I'm curious if the thieves were actually Magic players, or if they were just a bunch of junkies who got lucky, etc.

If they were actually Magic players they wouldn't have tried to sell cards at the Soldiery.

Holy shit - this is awesome news. So happy to hear it went down like this.

@rikter said:

Thats amazing! I'm thrilled to hear that the stuff made it back. I'm curious if the thieves were actually Magic players, or if they were just a bunch of junkies who got lucky, etc.

maaaybe they know what magic is, but no way where they vintage players. these collections are basically marked. going in with the binders with names on is extra stupid, but even if they brought only the loose cards in a plastic bag ... I would guess most stores in the bigger area would've identified that after they were told what was roughly stolen. if they had any idea how rare a collection with exactly these cards is, they would've sold it outside of the USA.

when I first read this, I figured the collection was targeted, security cameras turned away etc. didn't sound like some random street robbers got lucky. but if they walk into a store in the area with a bag with a name on ... you can't be that stupid if you knew what you were stealing.

@Kai I'd say your post should be deleted, just because I don't want anyone telling people how to act when they get their hands on Vintage collections. There should be no room for "tips" here.