WotC & Seattle Seahawks linebacker Cassius Marsh - Early Christmas

[Lemnear]

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Cassius Marsh had his Magic collection stolen earlier this week, so we delivered him a care package of Magic product. Some product came from our warehouse, but a lot was donated from the personal collections of coworkers who wanted to help. While it can't replace what was lost, hopefully it can lessen the sting.

In addition to the care package we gave to Cassius, we will also be donating a gift of equivalent retail value to a Seattle-based children’s charity.

We also got to chat about Magic (Cassius' favorite deck is Legacy Elves!) and about how wonderfully supportive our community is. Happy pack cracking, Cassius!

Picture (https://m.facebook.com/MagicTheGathering/photos/a.215689245306.266597.201120755306/10157636171440307/?type=3)

I just love how WotC sends a CARE pack to a professional athlete and (likely) millionaire, while cutting format support, player rewards and charges 30$ for Eternal Masters Drafts.

They truely have their priorities straight.

[Dice_Box]

They truely have their priorities straight.Like it or not, they are a business. For the record Wizards has a great track record of helping people out when they hit rough patches or need something for whatever reason. I have seen them:

Help a guy whos house burnt down
Help a guy who lost everything in a hurricane
Send rewards to people who have returned lost items
Send "Care packages" to teachers who wish to use MTG as a teaching tool.

If you asked me, yea, they have their priorities straight. Make money when they can, but help when it matters. Is this guy in question strapped for cash? No. But the message is solid. "If you need us, we will be consistently willing to help." That's a good moto, a good priority to have.

[CabalTherapy]

What a joke.

[Mr Miagi]

What are you people bitching about? :eyebrow: Show some class and character (no, not the one you are showing now please..). Even though WOTC may have its faults and downsides, taking care of people who lost or were stolen from is definetly their very bright spot. Regardless of who he is, or how rich somebody is, having somthing substantial stolen sets you back not only financially but also emotionally. So it's not just receiving something back of equal financial value or total replacement, but that feeling that community/WOTC cares makes you glad to be part of this game/communicaty. And that is in my eyes the ultimate message of these sort of actions (even if they are at its core and to the large extent bussines based).

On a sidenote, to all the haters, I know everday is stressfull and sometimes sad, but please try to keep pH at around 7 and you sodium levels low.

[Whitefaces]

Agree with Dice and Mr Miagi. Don't focus on the financial side of this, the care pack is likely just new products that he could get anyway. It's the message that's important.

[Ace/Homebrew]

What are you people bitching about? :eyebrow:
The Germans are just salty that WotC helped out an American Football player. They'd be singing WotC's praises if a care package had been sent to Hans-Jörg Butt.

[Manipulato]

The Germans are just salty that WotC helped out an American Football player. They'd be singing WotC's praises if a care package had been sent to Hans-Jörg Butt.

Hans-Jörg Butt!?! WTF LOL :laugh: Not even me know this dude and I´m 120% german :tongue: If you want to compare a german goalkeeper with your football guy than please Manuel Neuer or Oliver Kahn

[CabalTherapy]

The Germans are just salty that WotC helped out an American Football player. They'd be singing WotC's praises if a care package had been sent to Hans-Jörg Butt.

You are making the mistake to relate nationalities to an argument. (There you go, sth like this:) Classic US style I would say. You get a +1 mentioning Butt though; little surpise here but that's all.


Hans-Jörg Butt!?! WTF LOL :laugh: Not even me know this dude and I´m 120% german :tongue: If you want to compare a german Goalkeeper than please Manuel Neuer or Oliver Kahn :laugh:

Quite famous back then.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Classic US style I would say.
No Kettle, YOU'RE black!


You get a +1 mentioning Butt
Don't give me too much credit. I just searched Google for 'German Football Players' and picked the funniest sounding name. :tongue:

[Ebonclaw]

It should also be noted that several WotC employees sent things from their personal stock. And WoTC also donated an equal amount to a children's charity.
As much as people love to bash WotC for a lot of things, I can't really bash them for this one. They have a track record of helping out players in need.

[iatee]

If there's anything unjust about this, it's how easy it is for Wizards to scoop up this kinda good publicity / advertise that macho athletes play MtG. This probably cost them like $200 and will be the best $200 they spend on advertising all year.

If you want free stuff, become a celebrity. 'Wizards sends Abrupt Decay care package to guy who complains about Miracles a lot' doesn't make headlines.

[Di]

This is just brilliant marketing and such an easy publicity win. Care package sent to high profile person that seems to break barriers and stereotypes about Magic. Can easily influence others who wouldn't normally play to get into the game. Anyone who thinks this is a lame act clearly doesn't know what they are talking about. Whatever he received isn't making up for losing Legacy decks, it's the message behind this.

And as a lifelong diehard Seahawks fan, this gave me feels. Hell maybe he even has an account on here.

[Ebonclaw]

He did have Legacy Elves and Goblins stolen from him, so who knows, maybe.

Some dude on Twitter told him he needed to stop being so invested in kids games and do "adult things" and Cassius fired right back at him and defended his love of the game. That was cool of him.
Regardless of how much money you have to replace your collection, it's never going to be quite the same, there's a lot of stories associated with how you got some of those cards and how long you might have owned them.

I played back in the mid 90's, and before I moved away, prophecy came out and I bought a bunch of it. At some point my collection kind of...vanished. Not sure if it got stolen, misplaced, or what, but I moved to an area where there wasn't any MTG at all and forgot about it for a long time. I moved out, moved away, got married, started a career, lots of life stuff and got back into the game around original Mirrodin. About 3 years ago, my dad found the remnants of a prophecy booster pack in a nightstand or something that was left at my parent's house and told me he found some of my old Magic cards and did I want him to send them to me? I said yes, not knowing the quantity or anything, and he sent me the remains of one of those Prophecy boosters that had been jammed somewhere, minus the rare which I'm sure I pulled.
It had a Rhystic Study in it. It was slightly warped, but otherwise in decent shape, and I threw it into an EDH deck. I've since gotten a foil one to match the rest of the deck, and moved the original to a trade binder. It's silly, but it's the absolute last card I have from my original playing days back in middle/high school and no other Rhystic Study will ever replace that one.

Anyway, getting your stuff stolen, even if you can afford to buy it back sucks. And unlike a piece of technology, there's more to certain cards than just their monetary/play value. I think WotC sent him two EMA boxes along with whatever individual WoTC employees chose to send from their personal collections and donated an equal amount to a children's charity. It wasn't anything super crazy but it was a nice gesture and I can't fault WoTC for this. Given that Cassius is a Seattle player, and WotC is a Seattle company....this kind of makes sense for them to do anyway, especially with Cassius publicly defending his love of the game.

[iatee]

Some dude on Twitter told him he needed to stop being so invested in kids games and do "adult things" and Cassius fired right back at him and defended his love of the game. That was cool of him.

He also pointed out that *he plays a game for a living*. Easy to forget that chasing a ball around isn't any more or less childish than playing with cards that have pictures of dragons on them.

[Ace/Homebrew]

Easy to forget that chasing a ball around isn't any more or less childish than playing with cards that have pictures of dragons on them.
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_litp6mrPRc1qg0j32.jpg
Hans-Jörg Butt approves of this message.

[H]

The audacity of them to attempt to engage in positive PR. Who the hell do they think they are? :mad:

:rolleyes:


Hans-Jörg Butt approves of this message.

And also this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYYdF0zcuSI)

[Fox]

This is all an elaborate plan to gain Seahawk's stadium as a GP venue :cool:

[Richard Cheese]

Hans-Jörg Butt!?! WTF LOL :laugh: Not even me know this dude and I´m 120% german :tongue: If you want to compare a german goalkeeper with your football guy than please Manuel Neuer or Oliver Kahn

It's not fair to compare to Neuer because everyone knows WotC already gave him his own card:
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/be/103.jpg

[Quasim0ff]

Wizards ALSO donated for childrens charity, the same amount they helped Marsh out with.

[Philipp2293]

Hans-Jörg Butt!?! WTF LOL :laugh: Not even me know this dude and I´m 120% german :tongue:

This is one of the most disturbing things I've seen on the internet. How old are you?

[Lemnear]

Why I am not surprised that you throw in nationality into a topic completely unrelated these days.

Its just interresting that WotC cares a damn if thousands of $ get stolen at their GP venues all the time from Average Joe because there is no Security, but make a social media buzz in that case.

Its like if Ferrari gifts Kanye West a new car just because one of his other cars got stolen and thinks its good PR in the face of you and me.

For me they are a bunch of...

http://mediadb.kicker.de/news/1000/1020/1100/4000/artikel/819182/kuntz800-1421397828.jpg

[Ace/Homebrew]

Why I am not surprised that you throw in nationality into a topic completely unrelated these days.
I didn't realize calling Germans 'Germans' was an insult! That just happened to be a commonality between you and CabalTherapy that no one else in the thread to that point shared.
If you don't want people to call you a German, don't share that info on the internet. :eyebrow:


Anyways, I found out what Hans has been up to since he stopped playing soccer/football:

http://images.guff.com/gallery/image/funny-shop-name-3
According to the internet, they have the best buns around.

[conboy31]

I just love how WotC sends a CARE pack to a professional athlete and (likely) millionaire, while cutting format support, player rewards and charges 30$ for Eternal Masters Drafts.

They truely have their priorities straight.

I understand the sentiment, but giving out an extra few hundred dollars to a couple people at 1 tournament would have an infinitesimal impact compared to the publicity they've gotten from this donation.

[Lemnear]

I didn't realize calling Germans 'Germans' was an insult! That just happened to be a commonality between you and CabalTherapy that no one else in the thread to that point shared.

And what kind of relevance does it have were we live? Its funny enough that you asume I am german simply based on the location as if people don't move. Guess such stuff is en vogue in the US.


I understand the sentiment, but giving out an extra few hundred dollars to a couple people at 1 tournament would have an infinitesimal impact compared to the publicity they've gotten from this donation.

You want to tell me that handing out gifts to the GP players who got stuff stolen would have caused less of a positive echo in the community than sponsoring a pro athlete?

What actually is their targeted audience for PR? The millions of active players are surely not as all we read is "theft at GPs", "Players rewards stopped", etc in regards to WotC. They do PR now for ... NFL fans?

[Ace/Homebrew]

Its funny enough that you asume I am german simply based on the location as if people don't move.
You got me! Let me correct the offensive statement for you.

The Berliners are just salty that WotC helped out an American Football player.

You'll have to forgive me for assuming you are German. I'm still recovering from the shock of our presidential election and in my brain haze I drew a ridiculous conclusion.


You want to tell me that handing out gifts to the GP players who got stuff stolen would have caused less of a positive echo in the community than sponsoring a pro athlete?

What actually is their targeted audience for PR? The millions of active players are surely not as all we read is "theft at GPs", "Players rewards stopped", etc in regards to WotC. They do PR now for ... NFL fans?

What was your point in starting this thread? Is this just another opportunity to shit on WotC?
What action could they have taken upon learning of Cassius' misfortune that wouldn't have ended up with you bitching incessantly? That's a serious question. I'd seriously like to know what WotC should have done that would have satisfied you so I can share it with their PR people.

[conboy31]

You want to tell me that handing out gifts to the GP players who got stuff stolen would have caused less of a positive echo in the community than sponsoring a pro athlete?

What actually is their targeted audience for PR? The millions of active players are surely not as all we read is "theft at GPs", "Players rewards stopped", etc in regards to WotC. They do PR now for ... NFL fans?

There is obviously nothing anyone can say that can change your mind. It seems like you lack perspective; this is a single incident of good will and you are trying to distort 2k in product which probably cost WoTC like $200 dollars and turn this situation into a dumpster fire of priorities.

[say no to scurvy]

While following politics, this was mentioned on fivethirtyeight.com. This was very cheap advertising by WotC and I don't get the butthurt. Well, I do but I don't.

[Manipulato]

This is one of the most disturbing things I've seen on the internet. How old are you?

Wow your easy to disturb. I'm 29 by the way.

[Ebonclaw]

If every person that had something stolen at a GP had their stuff replaced left and right by WoTC, then I'd say a whole ton of people will start having their stuff "stolen" all the time. It's pretty much a given that Cassius has zero motivation to make a false claim on twitter about this.
My guess is that some WoTC employee is probably a Seahawks fan since both both are based in Seattle, found the tweet, and went to his boss and said "hey, you wanna help out a fellow Seattle resident who happens to play magic AND pro football?"

I should also like to direct you to the thread on reddit discussing this where Wizards responded-

"We can't help if we don't hear about it. If you know a fan in need make sure we hear about it."
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/5cau9h/wizards_donates_2k_worth_of_product_to_seahawks/d9vkjt8/

Granted, I don't think WoTC is going to go replace decks for everyone who's ever experienced a loss, nor do I think they should be expected to by any means.

Having said that-
I agree that security continues to be a concern when attending a GP. I don't think this is on WoTC exclusively to provide security, but I do think they should partner with whoever is running the show (SCG or Pasttimes or whoever) and the venue to come up with better security than what's currently present. Not sure how much good this would do given that many thefts don't even get noticed till someone's walking out the venue with someone else's deck stashed in their bag and you can't just search people at will, but it at least might help with parking lot breakins.

Look, I'm miffed about a lot of things WotC has done and I hate to see the lack of support Legacy is being given- but the message is that there are a lot of things WotC deserves some criticism for, I just don't think this is one of them.

[hymnyou]

Also note wotc donated to charity to match and I'm sure this guy will be matching what wotc donates. Nobody is really losing here by wotc's response. I think it's refreshing to show a person who plays the game that breaks the brainless stereotype of who plays magic. I co-sign all this guy's responses to being called a nerd, playing a child's game etc. He's loud and proud and I salute that. I really don't understand what the tears in here are about. As mentioned earlier wotc has helped out others who are not athletes/millionaires- not a big deal.

[Cartesian]

I don't get it. Why did they donate money to children in this case? I mean, I get that they are children, and that children's charity is a good thing. There is no arguing with that. But what do the children have to do with this person getting his Magic cards stolen? And why equal value?

[iatee]

They did it to preempt this exact discussion.

[hymnyou]

And to do a nice thing- and it's a write-off. Have you ever worked for a company that makes donations? I get it you guys are righteous magical geniuses but this situation isn't over complicated really- this is how large businesses work. Take it as a good deed or join greenpeace and prove your superiority of kindness.

If you want to translate to legacy eternal support, maybe your time is better served by getting off pointless forums like this and promoting some eternal events.

[Mr Miagi]

I'm sure if Casisus would see this thread (or someone will link it to him) he would eb ashamed to be part of mtg community, especially legacy... can you all just .. wise up..??

[Soldier of Fortune]

I don't get it. Why did they donate money to children in this case? I mean, I get that they are children, and that children's charity is a good thing. There is no arguing with that. But what do the children have to do with this person getting his Magic cards stolen? And why equal value?

The Seattle Seahawks have a great relationship with the Seattle Children's Hospital. All of their players volunteer time and money there on a regular basis. I had heard that he would play with kids at the hospital with his cards. So that's kinda the main reason.

[GenghisTom]

I loved this story. Marsh is a beast player for the hawks and I was shocked to learn he plays magic (not to mention I've never seen him in the Seattle Legacy circuit).

As for Wizards, sounds great. I don't see anything to complain about here.
Anyway, I hope we crush the Patriots this Sunday.




P.S. Marsh - if you're reading this, I got a sick cube in case you ever wanna draft.

[Lemnear]

You got me! Let me correct the offensive statement for you.

The Berliners are just salty that WotC helped out an American Football player.

You'll have to forgive me for assuming you are German. I'm still recovering from the shock of our presidential election and in my brain haze I drew a ridiculous conclusion.

You still seem to miss the point.


What was your point in starting this thread? Is this just another opportunity to shit on WotC?

Nonsense. I just ask why WotC isn't doing promotion for their current players, but keeps cutting it down or why they dont do straight up charity for .. say .. children in hospitals which are seriously ill, have to stay there and could use some distraction in the form of such game. Both would be good PR for the company too.


what action could they have taken upon learning of Cassius' misfortune that wouldn't have ended up with you bitching incessantly?

It has nothing to do with him. Absolutely nothing. I am sad because of what happened to him. With that being said, there are countless similar and worse incidents publically known which WotC ignored even if its straight up at their events and a result of their lazy security standards. Its close to an insult to all the normal people who got their stuff stolen, that WotC starts and ends their whiteknighting as a result of theft with a celebrity. I get that this is supposed to draw publicity for low budget, but the signal for the community isn't a good one, at least in my opinion and in regards to their cutted overall support for the average player.


That's a serious question. I'd seriously like to know what WotC should have done that would have satisfied you so I can share it with their PR people.

Don't take your traditional customers for granted and only do PR outside of your usual audience Circle. Don't be Hillary Clinton.


There is obviously nothing anyone can say that can change your mind. It seems like you lack perspective; this is a single incident of good will and you are trying to distort 2k in product which probably cost WoTC like $200 dollars and turn this situation into a dumpster fire of priorities.

Yeah, its a SINGLE INCIDENT and favor of a pro athlete, while giving a shit for their other players by ignoring similar incidents, cutting support, promotion, etc ALL THE TIME.

Would you praise Ferrari for their "awesome charity event" if they gift Kanye West a new car?

[Ace/Homebrew]

It has nothing to do with him.
So the thread YOU titled WotC & Seattle Seahawks linebacker Cassius Marsh - Early Christmas which included a link to a story about Cassius has nothing to do with him? Nice troll brah, truly master class.

Have fun being bitter over a charitable act of WotC. You're miserable to interact with.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Ck6LQcv4sOg/THXVeLvU7CI/AAAAAAAAZT4/NoE-_QDappo/s1600/Hans-Joerg+Butt+2.jpg

[conboy31]

Yeah, its a SINGLE INCIDENT and favor of a pro athlete, while giving a shit for their other players by ignoring similar incidents, cutting support, promotion, etc ALL THE TIME.

Would you praise Ferrari for their "awesome charity event" if they gift Kanye West a new car?

I'm not praising Wotc, rather I don't think what they did merits taking a shit on them.

[Dice_Box]

I am honestly not sure what purpose this thread is serving. I also don't see it going anywhere noble from here. Going to close it up, I think it's for the best.