Gareth was nominated by Mark Young, who says, “He is a Level 2 who is also very active on Facebook, Judge Forums and the like. He is always willing to answer questions and help out where he can in helping others grow. He has been a great help to me and is my current mentor towards L2.”
Gareth is a Level 2 judge from the United Kingdom. Here are a few facts and stories that he shared with us after being selected for Judge of the Week. I really enjoyed his story about the English Judge Conference.
Occupation: Power Design Engineer
Favourite card: Questing Phelddagrif
Least favourite card: If I had to choose one: Stasis, that card made for boring games.
Favourite format: Modern
Commander/General: Zedruu, the Greathearted, I like to sit around not doing a lot.
Favourite non-Magic Game: Warhammer 40,000.
Best tournament result: 5-2-1 at a PTQ, losing my last round for top 8.
Random fact about yourself: I’m a big music lover and my favourite bands at the moment are Rise Against and Yellowcard.
Tell us your favourite judge story.
During the last Great British Nationals weekend I head judges a 2HG side event. Before the event we were expecting a 20ish teams we ended up with 59 teams meaning the event required more space and product than anticipated and I only just avoided not having a nervous breakdown thanks to the wonderful judge team and PE lead working that day, this Nationals was also my first large event but I’ve never looked back from it. The event ran over slightly but towards the end of the day after a long time of walking around Rich Hagon’s game show started to allow a little bit of an unwind before going into the last few rounds.
What’s the best part about your local Magic community?
Its closeness and the camaraderie that comes with it. I’ve seen people come in after having a bad day play FNM with friends have a laugh and joke then leave at the end of the night happier and more positive attitude. Also one of the local players makes very tasty cupcakes for some of the events.
How did you get involved in Magic to begin with?
The people who I played Warhammer with left one shop and moved to a newly opened one, while the shop was still in its start up phase, making gaming tables and the such, people started to play Magic as it required less time and space. I played my first real tournament for the Invasion Prerelease and was hooked.
What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
The English judge conference last year one of the speakers wanted to show the connections between the community, during this judges were required to pass around a roll of twine saying things they had done with someone else in the room and then pass the twine to them holding onto part. By the end of it each judge had been passed the twine once and the room ended up looking like a giant spiders web, was very eye opening and very funny.
Favourite hobby (other than Magic)
I like to collect and play Warhammer: fantasy and Warhammer 40,000. I have a dwarf army in fantasy based on the idea of the Dwarfs being from Cornwall and Chaos Space Marines in 40k.
What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?
I’d have a lot more time and likely spend it playing board games with my friends.
Two Truths and a Lie
- I obtained a Tae-Kwon-Do black belt at age 12
- I play bass guitar
- I played rugby at a county level