Judging From The Looks Of These Pictures... 2016 in Review

Hello my dear readers, and welcome back to Exile!

Some of my favorite photos, from judging in 2016...

The very first Face To Face Open I ever judged.  These events are an incredible opportunity to improve your rules knowledge and skill level as a judge.

Win a Face To Face Open, take home the shiny hardware.

The awesome staff at that open, whom I was privileged to work with.

The swag I got at GP Detroit, for VIP entry.   The spellskite mat in the background was especially popular.  This was one of five GPs I would attend in 2016, and the only one I would attend as a player :)

GP Detroit 2016 was particularly special, as there was something new at the 3 GPs that weekend which had never been done before... Wizards had surprised the players arriving at those GPs with Innistrad themed escape rooms!  My friend Ed and I waited in line for almost 2 hours, just so we could literally be the first 2 members of the public to be able to enter into Innistrad.   This is a good example of why it's always a great idea to visit any Grand Prixs that you get the opportunity to... you never know what once in a lifetime surprises will await you!  There was a new card announced (spoiled) inside of the escape room, meaning we were literally the first non-event staff to ever see that specific card.    Little things like that make for some awesome Magic memories.

A gift from my good friend Ed, in celebration of my passing my Level 2 judge exam at GP Detroit which I wrote during the Sunday afternoon.  I  may have set a record for taking the longest time ever to write an L2 exam, but that was a deliberate decision by me to take a break during the test and then redo every question a second time, to ensure I made no silly errors due to misreading a question. 

A photograph of my very first time being appealed at a Grand Prix, coincidentally at the first GP I ever worked - GP Toronto 2016.    ...my ruling here was overturned by the Head Judge, for those wondering.   Ask me about it sometime and I will explain why, if you are curious!  

Photos from GP Montreal 2016, including my first time ever getting into a GP Staff photo, and all of the Judge Swag I was given at the end of the weekend.   If you are only interested in judging because you want the fancy swag, trust me - judging will never be worth it to you.  But if you absolutely love spending a weekend working your tail off so that other people can have fun playing the game they enjoy, the bonus souvenirs sure do make a nice treat to take home.

GP Montreal Main Hall

GP Montreal 2016 Staff photo

Judge Swag

The World Magic Cup Qualifier (WMCQ) held at Ryerson University by Face To Face Games.  The winner of this tournament would win a trip to a far off country overseas, in order to represent Canada at an international tournament of 70+ countries!

This is Brad, one of several candidates this year whom I mentored as they tried to become Level 1 judges themselves.  One of the perks of my being a Level 2 judge now is that I am able to certify new L1 candidates, and help our judging community grow.   Brad ended up passing his Level 1 exam at the WMCQ, and has recently been head judging some Grand Prix Trial events at his local store.   Worth mentioning is that all 3 candidates whom I've issued L1 exams to this year have passed, and are now judging in their respective areas.  Yay, judging!!

My first time ever judging in the United States happened this year, when I traveled to Somerset, New Jersey to help judge at a Star City Games Invitational weekend.   These events are huge, and very professionally run by SCG.   Think Grand Prix, with around three quarters of the players, and you're getting pretty close.

Did you know that Star City Games provides judges with their own proprietary blue judge uniforms to wear at their biggest events?   Pictured below is Team Canada @ SCG New Jersey:  

(L-R) James McKay, myself, Chris Lansdell, (honorary Canadian) Rick Salamin, and Seth Black. Notice behind me, the top half of the head of very famous magic judge Riki Hayashi.  His wife is Canadian, so we let him stand in the back.  😝   

This is what the coverage area of a major Star City Games event looks like in person

Staff Photo, GP Providence

A pretty sweet Judge scarf!  Courtesy of GP Providence 2016

I never played any Magic in Providence, but I sure did do a lot of drafting!

End Of The Line

That pretty much sums up most of my favorite highlights from judging in 2016.   Until next time, thanks for joining me again on my Path To Exile.

-JVM

Out Of Order Sequencing - End of 2016 Post

Hello readers, and welcome back to Exile.


Out Of Order Sequencing

Since Christmas is now behind us and we only have a few days left in 2016, I am going to skip ahead to my end of the year post now while the timing feels right.

Let's acknowledge the giant pink elephant in the room right away, shall we?   2016 absolutely sucked.  As far as our beloved celebrities go, 2016 may go down in infamy as the year that claimed so many of our most beloved famous folk.   A list of some of the most notable losses we all suffered this year include:

• David Bowie  (Ziggy Stardust, the Goblin King)
• Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber, Professor Snape)
• Joanie Laurer aka Chyna
• Prince 
• Muhammad Ali

And there were so many, many more.

But despite the terrible year our celebrities were having in 2016, I was able to have an incredibly satisfying year filled with personal growth and several incredible adventures.

In Like a Lamb...

When 2016 began I was still a very green Level 1 Magic Judge, meaning that I had only ever judged a handful of events, mostly small Trial events at my local store while working by myself.  While this was great for the players in my area, it wasn't doing anything to help me learn or improve as a judge since I had no one else there for me to learn anything from.

Luckily for me, I would happen to run into one of the very few judges I had already met, Seth of Hairy T North, at an event that a buddy of mine and I had driven down to play in.  The very short version of the story is that Seth helped me get hired for my first few events in Toronto, and I gained a mountain of invaluable experience working with other more seasoned judges thanks to him.

Those events at Hairy T directly lead to me applying to work even larger events, which in Toronto can only mean one thing - the Face To Face Games Open Series.   These events - I'll call them 'F2F Opens' for short, are absolutely the best opportunity anyone could ask for when they want to become a better Magic Judge.  Suddenly I was working as part of a team, with 6 to 8 other judges, at an event with 150+ players, who were all playing competitive Magic in the Modern format.  The rules knowledge I was expected to have had jumped exponentially, but so had the support available to me, with so many experienced judges also on the floor working with me.  

I spent as much time as I could in 2016 doing as many F2F Opens as possible, learning everything I could and just taking it all in.  Fortunately, with all of the events I worked at both Hairy T and for Face To Face Games, it didn't take long at all for my hard work to pay off.

Welcome to GP Detroit, and Welcome to Level 2

Thanks to the recommendations of no less than 5 (!!!) judges on staff at GP Detroit, I was allowed to write my Level 2 exam with almost no advanced notice to the organizers.   Fortunately I had studied a ton, including some last minute prep work with a good judge friend of mine, 'Jeremy', and I was able to pass on my first attempt.  This was a huge accomplishment for me, and one that would later shape a lot of my year in 2016.

...And Out Like A Lion

Once I reached Level 2, so many exciting new opportunities were open to me.   Face To Face Games would be hosting it's first ever Grand Prix, right here at GP Toronto 2016.   My hard work in their F2F Opens paid off again, and I was finally officially on staff for a Grand Prix.  Working your first GP is a major accomplishment for any judge, and I was thrilled to finally have one under my belt.

Toronto lead to GP Montreal, where I first experienced working a major event in a city i wasn't familiar with.   Montreal led to me applying for Star City Games' New Jersey Invitational weekend, which was another huge milestone for me - judging in another country!  Luckily for me, SCG New Jersey literally led to me being invited to apply to judge GP Providence, which I was accepted to.

For GP Providence, I hit another major milestone.   For my first time ever, I was flying to a major event far away, and getting paid to judge it.   This, my friends, is what is known in life as a game changer.  You have to understand, I live in a small town and I hardly ever travel.  Or at least, that was the way my life had always been.  Before I got serious about judging, there were some years that I wouldn't even bother going into Toronto once in a YEAR.   I was small town for life.  Getting to fly somewhere new for a weekend away from my normal routine was literally a dream come true.  It didn't matter where I was going, I was just thrilled to be going.  I hopped on a plane with (who else?) my judge buddy Seth, and we were off.   We flew from Toronto to Boston, then took a train ride down to Providence, Rhode Island for a weekend of fun with our judge friends as we worked another Grand Prix.  

I managed to squeeze in one last, very crazy personal milestone in 2016, and it happened just a couple weeks ago for GP Milwaukee.   As someone who had never traveled regularly until this year, there was always a lot of things I was nervous (read: petrified) of doing.   One of my biggest fears in life has always been to travel by myself.   I understand that most people reading this simply won't be able to relate to what I'm saying, but as a small town guy I always lived a very routine existence.   I slowly built up a fear to trying new things over years of constantly enjoying a very 'safe' and familiar life.   But when I was accepted to GP Milwaukee, none of the people I had planned to travel with were accepted leaving me in a very unexpected circumstance - I wanted to travel somewhere new, and could afford to fly there, but I had no one to travel with.   

With a little help from reading what other judges were planning to do that weekend, I managed to book my own airfare to Chicago, find an express bus route that would get me from O'Hare to Milwaukee, and booked a hotel at the GP venue.   Then, when the time came to take the trip I jumped in my car and drove myself to Pearson International and hopped on a plane to an international adventure, all on my own.

My Final Thoughts of 2016

So you see, dear reader, I'm not exaggerating when I say that being a Magic Judge helped me to experience a huge amount of personal growth this year.   I look back on 2016 and I see that the man who I am today is a far cry from the person I was when this year began.   

I am far more self confident.  

I am far more knowledgeable on this hobby of mine.
I am eager to embrace being a mentor to others following a similar path.
I am eager to continue my journey of personal growth.
I am eager to continue my journey of becoming the best judge I can.
I am eager to explore more new places.
I am over my fear of flying.
And I am your Level 2 judge.

-JVM

Who Am I?

Welcome dear reader, to Judging From Exile.

Who Am I?

My name is Jason, and I am currently a Level 2 certified Magic Judge living in a small town a couple hours north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  I'm pretty isolated up here, with the closest Magic store being located in the tiny town of Elmvale (read: a population of 2,400 people), that is a solid 25 minute drive from where I live.  The biggest source of excitement in Elmvale would be their yearly "Maple Syrup Festival", which should give you an idea of just how perfectly Canadian this little out-of-the-way location is.

If you are reading this, it is likely that you are already somewhat familiar with the game Magic: The Gathering, a game that has come to not only change my life, but in fact has had profound changes on who I am as a person.   I am looking forward to sharing both my experiences as a (terrible) Magic player and as a (reasonable) Magic Judge with you, so that together we can explore the incredible personal journey that I have been on, one that I am in fact still enjoying to this day.

Where do we go from here?

I've played in 8-man tournaments (the smallest events possible), and judged in Magic Grand Prix with 2000+ players from all corners of the globe.  In this blog I'll be telling some interesting stories about how I got from one end of the spectrum to the other, I will talk in depth about what it took for me to eventually become a judge when there was no one in my area to help me - "the struggle!", I will go over some of the key skills that I feel can help turn an okay judge into a great one, and we will take a look at everything else related to both playing and judging Magic.

I'll even answer some rules questions from time to time 😉

Until next time, thanks for joining me on my Path To Exile.

-JVM