This recently came across the interwebs, and I think it’s worth sharing. A Reddit user expressed concerns that his LGS was pocketing the promo cards that Wizards sends out and was reselling them for a profit rather than passing them out to the players as WOTC intends, and it seems he’s not alone.
The simple question is, what can you do?
Simple answer: Report this activity to Wizards. It’s something they take extremely seriously, and you should alert the customer service department. A stern warning from WOTC typically would shut this down, but they will take further action if needed.
I’ve seen local stores do this before. I went to a midnight Game Day at one of them, took a friend’s homebrew deck and battled until 4 a.m. to make Top 8. I finished fifth, and then I find out they’re only awarding half the Top 8 promos “because only four came in.” That is, of course, a complete lie because they literally only come in packets of 8, and I found out later the same thing was happening with buy-a-box promos.
This is incredibly shady behavior, but you are not powerless. Simply bringing it up to the store is a start, and refusing them further business and encouraging others to do the same is understandable, but you also have Wizards on your side. Remember that.
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Corbin Hosler
Corbin Hosler is a journalist living in Norman, Oklahoma (also known as the hotbed of Magic). He started playing in Shadowmoor and chased the Pro Tour dream for a few years, culminating in a Star City Games Legacy Open finals appearance in 2011 before deciding to turn to trading and speculation full-time. He writes weekly at QuietSpeculation.com and biweekly for LegitMTG. He also cohosts Brainstorm Brewery, the only financial podcast on the net. He can best be reached @Chosler88 on Twitter.
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You mean you should tell Wizards instead of reddit? Crazy…
We had a local shop running pre prerelease events for years on a Thursday/Friday before. They got reported and once wizards saw their events were being advertised on fbook etc they got suspended.