Hello everyone!  Our Judge of the Week for this week is Joe Wiesenberg!  He is an L2 from San Diego, California.  He began his judging career in July of 2011 and reached L2 in June of 2012.  Enjoy hearing what he had to say!

(Editor’s note:  Congratulations to Joe, who just passed his L3 exam at GP Sacramento (2014)!  He’s California’s newest L3!)

Why did you become a judge?  David Zimet made me.

Occupation:  Web developer

Favorite card:  Mistmeadow Witch

Least favorite card:  Anything that makes you not want to continue playing a game of Magic

Favorite format:  Draft and Commander

Commander General:  Wort, the Raidmother, Skeleton Ship, Saffi Eriksdotter, Riku of Two Reflections, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Zedruu the Greathearted, Bruna, Light of Alabaster, Aurelia, the Warleader, Melek, Izzet Paragon, Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker, Marath, Will of the Wild, Teysa, Orzhov Scion, Kaervek the Merciless, Sedris, the Traitor King, Jenara, Asura of War

Favorite non-Magic Game:  D&D, 4th edition

Best tournament result:  Aside from being a menace at my local drafts, I was one match win away (6-3) from Day 2’ing the previous GP San Diego (Innistrad sealed), the first and only GP I’ve played in.

Random fact about yourself:  I’m originally from New York, but have lived in California since I was 9 and have only recently been re-discovering this thing the rest of the country calls “weather” as I’ve traveled farther east to work some GPs.

Tell us your favorite judge story.  My favorite judging story is basically all of GP San Jose.  It was my first GP as a judge and my first out-of-area event, and even though the weekend left me exhausted I met a lot of awesome people that I still look forward to seeing at events.

Tell us an embarrassing story that you’re not afraid of everyone knowing.  I may have recently paused a match at a GP to try to stop a player from attacking with a token that just came into play on the same turn.  One I watched him make with his Hammer of Purphoros, which was still out.

How did you get involved in Magic in the first place?  I first started playing when I was much younger, I think because I got a single booster pack as a random gift from a relative.  Not having any idea what to do with the cards, I invented my own game until I managed to find a starter deck.

How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?  I’m a lot more confident in interactions with people and pick up on things I wouldn’t have previously been looking for.  As an example, I was conducting a job interview recently and caught the candidate fudging his experience level with a software framework because I picked up on a discrepancy in how he listed it on his resume, something I never would’ve noticed before without having investigations experience as a judge.

You were nominated because you’re always willing to help the event in whatever way is needed and are a fantastic role model for judges everywhere.  What was a major factor in your judging past that showed you how to be such a great judge?  I’ve had really good role models.  I’ve been fortunate enough to get to work with David Zimet very closely ever since I started judging, Riki Hayashi and Sean Catanese have also been really valuable resources for me, and a lot of what I’ve done that’s helped me be successful is just emulating other successful judges.

What motivates you to continue being a judge?  Other judges.  I wouldn’t have been this interested in the judge program for this long if not for all the awesome people it’s brought me into contact with.

What is one tip you have for other judges?  Pay it forward.  There’s a pretty good chance that you’re where you’re at in the program because at some point, some other judge helped you out, so be on the lookout for the opportunity to do the same.

What’s the best or favorite part about your local Magic community?  How close-knit it is.  It’s kind of amazing what percentage of my close friends are composed of people I’ve met by happening to draft on the same day as them.

What is your favorite non-Magic hobby?  I don’t understand the question.

What is your favorite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?  I enjoyed the aftermath of GP Portland a lot.  There were some excellent restaurants and hanging out with excellent people involved.

What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?  In Innistrad/Dark Ascension draft, there was definitely one match where my opponent and I both forgot about the fateful hour ability of his Gavony Ironwright (+1/+4 to all your other creatures), which should have turned my reasonably favorable alpha strike into a Plague Wind in his favor. He realized this a few turns later, in time for me to cast a Faithless Looting and forget to discard two cards because I was so excited to find my Brimstone Volley, which I could cast with morbid to deal exactsies.

What has been your favorite Magic event that you’ve judged?  GP San Jose (the team sealed one).  This was my first GP as a judge and although the event was a ton of work, I met a ton of awesome people and it cemented my desire to stay involved with the judge program in a more-than-local capacity.

What positive aspects has the Judge Program contributed to your everyday life?  As I’ve already mentioned, it’s made me a lot more comfortable with interactions with people in general, and a lot more effective on both sides of a job interview.  My ability to assess has improved a lot, both people and problems.

If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why?  Gene Wolfe, one of my favorite authors.  His books are all so complex that it would be great to get some time to personally pick his brain and try to find out what’s going on in there.

What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?  If Magic did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it.

What is the strangest card interaction you have seen in a tournament?  Not something I personally saw, but I heard tell of a player who didn’t understand that he should sideboard out Sylvan Library if he was going to board in his Chains of Mephistopheles.  After discarding nearly his entire hand to a Sylvan trigger with both out, he Abrupt Decayed the Library afterward out of frustration, not realizing it’s a “may” trigger.

What is your favorite “after event” story?  After day 1 of GP San Jose, David Zimet, Billy San Juan, and I were trying to find a place that was still serving food around 1:00 AM, which curiously turned out to be a Red Lobster and basically nothing else nearby.  With our brains full of fatigue poisons, we started driving over with Billy at the wheel, David in the passenger seat, and me in the back seat.  Billy was talking with David while making a right turn at a red light, and began making the turn while looking to his left.  A man started walking his dog across the crosswalk at this time, and when I realized Billy didn’t see him, I informed him in what was obviously the most logical way: saying, “Pedestrian and dog” in monotone.  When this didn’t work, I repeated “Pedestrian and dog” more urgently, which worked its life-saving magic.

How do you have fun during events?  Interactions with other judges.  The actual mechanics of working an event can be fun but aren’t compelling enough to have kept me this invested in the Judge Program.

What hobbies do you have outside of Magic?  My hobbies are all gaming-related, whether tabletop games or computer games.

Proudest moment of your Judge life?  At a recent event outside of San Diego, I had one of my local players approach me and ask me if he could request me to be the ruling judge on all of his calls.  I chose to interpret this as a high opinion of me rather than a low opinion of the Judge Program in general.

Two Truths and a Lie:
Two of the following statements about Joe are true, and one is a lie. Guess the lie!

1) I read an average of one book a week.
2) I’ve used the Gettysburg Address in a professional capacity.
3) Earthbound on the SNES is the first RPG I ever played.

Since it has been some time since our previous Two Truths and a Lie, you might want to refresh yourself before moving on to the solution below:

Thank you Joe for all of your hard work, and for taking the time to speak to us!  Please join us again next week for our next Judge of the Week!  Also, if you feel a judge is especially worthy of the honor, please consider nominating them for a future Judge of the Week feature!