Here are the December 2013 judge anniversaries.
15 Years
None
10 Year Anniversaries
Saverio MagriMike Noss
5 Year Anniversaries
Emilien Wild, Belgium
Kreon Tseroulis, Greece
David Clavel Iborra, Spain
Daniel Villamizar, Massachusetts, United States
Gregory Reelitz, Connecticut, United States
Luca Clemente, Caserta, Italy
Jacob Faturechi, California, United States
Christopher Crooks, Florida, United States
Congratulations to all of your, and thank you for your hard work!
This month our featured judges are Mike Noss from New Jersey, and Christopher “CJ” Crooks from Florida.
Level 2 judge Nicola DiPasquale had this to say about Mike:
Awesome enough for several regions!
“Mike has been around for a number of years now, and has always been a staple on the New Jersey/Philadelphia judge circuit. It started out back in the Gray Matter days working regional pre-releases and then moving onto PTQs. Nowadays, from floor judging, to HJing, to scorekeeping, Mike has done it all many times (he is probably one of the best scorekeepers in the Philly area). More recently, he has been making a much larger impact. He keeps in touch with most of the judges in the area (a good number of which he certified!). He keeps our illustrious RC, Dan Stephens, up to date with the on-goings in the Philly area, despite his official address being in NJ. One recent example of his hard work, Mike did a spectacular job as judge manager for the Eternal Weekend held here in Philly (despite our attempts to run him ragged). Mike is the type of guy who always has a smile on his face and a high five ready for you, no matter how late in the day. It is this attitude that is a huge positive for any event he happens to be on.”
Regional coordinator Justin Turner wrote about CJ:
We get to blame this guy for Turner
“Christopher (CJ) Crooks is the guy that made me become a judge. Way back when there were hardly any judges in Florida, we were PTQ/FNM grinders together and he started studying for this “rules test”. He would ask me sample questions which I would totally get wrong and then he would explain the answers to me. We made a gentleman’s wager and there was my motivation to study and pass my L1! Since those dark days, CJ has been a fixture of improved education efforts in the state of Florida. He helped pioneer and in fact still runs a judge class in a local store and has been recognized by peers numerous times for his work ethic. CJ is truly focused on the people that are part of the event, players, judges and TOs. He’s very empathetic and kind. CJ also has a keen eye for improvement and I greatly enjoy his feedback on myself and other members of any judge staff he is on, he has great critical thinking skills along with solid skills at delivering feedback that people need to hear. CJ is a great judge and I’m happy to have him in the region. He also recently received his L3 recommendations, so I hope to see him in the L3 ranks early next year!”
For December, we have another Level 3 anniversary. In 2008, Mitsunori Makino certified for Level 3 at Worlds in Memphis, Tennessee. Several judges wanted to offer their congratulations to him.
The engine of Japanese Magic
First, Kenji Suzuki, Level 3 and former Regional Coordinator for Japan, offered these thoughts:
“You are one of senior Level Three in Japanese community and you were always the engine of Japanese Magic. Congratulation on your 5 years anniversary!
When I was working on certifying for Level Two and Level Three, you already had lots of experiences at big tournaments, such as GPs and even PTs. Your experience as a pioneer has helped us very much. I could not become Level 3 without your effort.
Because of my personal reason, you took over Regional Coordinator role. I want say thank you for accepting this role. RC is really hard job, especially in Japan, but I know you can do this very well. I’m still active as Level Three, so I can help you at any time. I’m happy if we can make the Japanese community better with you!”
A trio of Level 2 judges also provided their thoughts; Nakajima Tomoya said:
“I think it is true that “time flies”, when I found out it was 5 years ago when Makino became Level Three.
It was not 5 years of nothing special. It was 5 years of great activity in Japan and international tournaments. Moreover he has worked as Regional Coordinator and still pretty active judge in the tournament scene itself. This impressed me very much.
I expect him to continue his great work, and be one of the world-famous judges.”
Yoshitoki Sakai offers these words:
“Congratulations on being Level 3 for 5 years.
I still remember the day when we met for the first time because my first tournament was at your tournament, which was almost 10 years ago! You held drafts and keep running tournaments every weekend even when very few people entered.
That’s why I kept playing Magic until today. Definitely I wouldn’t continue playing MTG without you!!
And now you are very helpful for my judging as you have taught me so much about judging!!
You’ve always been a leader to me both as a player and as a judge. Though I can’t describe everything I think in here, but I really want to say thank you for everything!
I wish that you will become Lv4 very soon!!!”
Yuusuke Miwa concludes with this:
“You were the leader of premiere event in Hokkaido area, and now you are the leader of whole Japanese community!
Please have fun, and continue working for Magic community, with broad horizons.”