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.
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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.
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