Magic: The Gathering Sent Pinkerton Agents to Retrieve Leaked Cards From YouTuber

Wizards of the Coast sent private detectives, allegedly from the infamous Pinkerton Agency, to retrieve leaked Magic: The Gathering cards from a YouTuber. Earlier this week, the YouTuber "oldschoolmtg" posted a video explaining that private detectives from the Pinkerton Agency arrived to his home over the weekend to retrieve cards from the upcoming "March of the Machines – Aftermath" set, which is due out in a couple of weeks. Previously, "oldschoolmtg" had posted several videos of him opening several packs from the mini-set, which revealed the 50-card set in its entirety. Per the videos, the YouTuber had 22 boxes of product that he had purchased from an acquaintance nearly a month before its official release date. According to "oldschoolmtg," the product was likely mistakenly shipped to his contact due to the set's familiarity with the "March of the Machines" set (which is widely available now) and wound up in his hands because the contact didn't realize that it was unreleased product

 "oldschoolmtg" explained that after posting the videos, private detectives came to his doorstep to retrieve "stolen material." While the YouTuber claimed that the cards he showed off in his videos were legally obtained, he still turned over the product and took down his videos anyways. The Pinkerton detectives allegedly took not only the products, but also the leftover boxes and wrappers. 

Wizards of the Coast confirmed to multiple websites, including Kotaku, that the Pinkertons were indeed "part of their investigation." The Pinkerton Agency is an infamous security agency known for their aggressive and occasionally violent operations against organized labor. The Pinkertons not only have a place in the history books, they were also used as an antagonist in Red Dead Redemption 2. The agency is now part of the Securitas AB corporation, a multinational security company.

According to his video, the Pinkerton agents provided "oldschoolmtg" with the contact information for a Wizards of the Coast representative, who was apparently apologetic about the situation. "He was very apologetic about making my wife cry first thing in the morning by sending these heavy-duty lawmen [to] come collect stuff and talk about stolen products and jail time," the YouTuber stated. "But they don't believe we stole anything — which we didn't. I don't know if they believe anybody really stole anything or if it was just an accident or whatever. But they wanted the product back so they could try and figure out where the hole was so they could plug the hole." Wizards also apparently offered the YouTuber some form of compensation, although it's unclear whether he'll be fully reimbursed for the now confiscated product. 

We should note that this is the second major story surrounding card game supply chain breaches in the past month. ComicBook.com previously reported on the discovery that The Pokemon Company had launched an investigation into the theft of a number of rare Pokemon cards stolen from one of their printing facilities. That occurred in 2021 and also allegedly involved an internal investigation of some kind.