Youtuber OldSchoolMTG tells how he purchased several cases of Magic: The Gathering March of the Machine cards and was accidentally sold March of the Machine: Aftermath cards, which are not due to be released for a few weeks. He didn’t realize what he had until he opened the boxes, and made videos for his channel unboxing the new product. On April 23, 2023 Pinkerton agents, the private security firm that is infamous for their anti-union activities and historical violent clashes with striking workers, allegedly arrived at his home demanding the cards that he’d mistakenly gotten early. According to OldSchoolMTG, the cases were not marked as “March of the Machine: Aftermath” cards. They only said “March of the Machine”, so neither the seller nor the buyer, OldSchoolMTG, had any idea what was in the cases.

The Pinkerton agents put OldSchoolMTG on the phone with a representative of WotC who seemed apologetic for all of the fuss, but seriously, why send hired agents from a notoriously violent security firm to retrieve the materials? No apology is good enough for this behavior toward a fan who legitimately purchased the items. If it was WotC’s fault, or the seller’s fault is something for WotC to sort out, but it wasn’t OldSchoolMTG’s fault, and intimidation tactics like this towards fans crosses a line. Sure, they offered him some free product to make up for his trouble, but no amount of free cards is worth it, in my opinion. Additionally, in an update from OldSchoolMTG, the Pinkerton agents had come by on Friday, April 21st, when OldSchoolMTG was not home, so they knocked on his neighbors doors, and harrassed the elderly women who lived there seeking information on where to find the Youtuber.

I am appalled and disgusted by all of this. With the Transformers cards they added to Magic:The Gathering I was actually considering getting into the card game, and I was looking forward to the new Dungeons & Dragons edition coming out next year, but considering how they treated OldSchoolMTG, I will NOT be purchasing any of their products, and probably won’t ever again. It would serve them right for consumers across the board to boycott their products, and if their parent company Hasbro supports this kind of action toward fans of their products, then they deserve the same. No company that treats their fans like this deserves our money.

Linked below are OldSchoolMTG’s video about the encounter, as well as Gizmnodo’s article about it.
View and read these and think about how you’d feel if this were you or one of your friends. This is egregious. I encourage everyone who reads this to email Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to let them know how this makes you feel.
You can contact Hasbro Public Relations at HasbroBrandPR@hasbro.com and Wizards of the Coast doesn’t have an email contact available, so here is their Twitter account. You can also try Hasbro’s Consumer Care page or Hasbro’s Twitter, as well.

OldSchoolMTG’s 1st video about the encounter
OldSchoolMTG’s follow up about his neighbors
Gizmodo’s article about the encounter