October 2017 Anniversaries

Here are the October 2017 judge anniversaries!

15 years

from Bangkok, Thailand
from Mexico, Mexico
from Kentwood, United States

10 years

from Seattle, Washington, United States
from Khon Kaen, Thailand
from Auckland, New Zealand
from Sunnybank, Brisbane, Australia
from Mexico DF, Mexico
from Alicante, Spain
from Ludwigsburg, Germany
from Aichi-ken Kariya-shi, Japan
from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States
from Shizuoka, Hamamatsu-shi, Japan
from Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
from Alcorcón, Spain
from saint etienne, France
from Morestel, France
from Plymouth, United Kingdom
from Courbevoie, France
from Saint Etienne, France

5 years

from Gulfport, Mississippi, United States
from Santiago, Chile
from San Francisco, California, United States
from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
from Lara, Australia
from Houghton, Michigan, United States
from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
from Halifax, Canada
from Yardley, Pennsylvania, United States
from Halifax, Canada
from Sydney, Canada
from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
from Himeji-shi, Japan
from shanghai, China
from Tartu, Estonia
from Chiba, Japan
from Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
from Ciudad de Mexico , Mexico
from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
from Nanjing, China
from Nanjing, China
from Brisbane, Australia
from Bemidji, Minnesota, United States
from South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
from Leland, North Carolina, United States
from Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States
from Plasencia, Spain
from Wilmington, North Carolina, United States
from Henån, Sweden
from Boston, Massachusetts, United States
from Přerov, Czech Republic
from Mar del Plata, Argentina
from Melbourne, Florida, United States
from Trofa, Portugal
from Roma, Italy
from Coppell, Texas, United States
from Cedar Springs, Michigan, United States
from Temple, Georgia, United States
from London, United Kingdom
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
from Prague, Czech Republic
from Delft, Netherlands
from Astrakhan, Russia
from Astrakhan, Russia
from Kentwood, Michigan, United States
from Greenville, North Carolina, United States
from Greenville, United States
from Denton, Texas, United States
from Lugo, Italy
from Bradenton, Florida, United States
from North Port, Florida, United States
from Nampa, Idaho, United States
from Snellville, Georgia, United States
from Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
from Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
from Plano, Texas, United States
from Plano, Texas, United States
from Ostrava-VÃtkovice, Czech Republic
from Ostrava, Czech Republic
from Medellin, Colombia
from Merced, California, United States
from Ludwigshafen, Germany
from Wald-Michelbach, Germany
from Burtonsville, Maryland, United States
from Piacenza, Italy
from Sparta, Wisconsin, United States
from La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States
from Kofu/Yamanashi, Japan
from Beijing, China
from New Minas, Canada
from Tönisvorst, Germany
from Stanford, California, United States
from Fremont, California, United States
from Mountain View, United States
from Gouda, Netherlands
from Nagano, Japan
from Beijing, China
from Columbus, Ohio, United States
from chesapeake, Virginia, United States
from LARAMIE, Wyoming, United States
from dorval, Canada
from Madera, California, United States
from Gaines Township, Michigan, United States
from providence, Rhode Island, United States
from Stantonsburg, North Carolina, United States
from Wilson, North Carolina, United States
from Grants Pass, Oregon, United States
from Brighton, Massachusetts, United States
from Lyon, France
from montreal, Canada
from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
from Copenhagen, Denmark
from Zaragoza, Spain
from Sevilla, Spain
from Sevilla, Spain
from Tokyo, Adachi-ku, Japan
from Burnaby, Canada
from Paris, France
from Vladivostok, Russia
from Vladivostok, Russia
from Ridgeland, Mississippi, United States
from Panorama City, California, United States
from Pocatello, Idaho, United States
from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States
from San Diego, California, United States
from temecula, California, United States
from Calgary, Canada
from San Francisco, California, United States
from San Juan, Argentina
from Tallahassee , Florida, United States
from Moscow, Russia
from Buenos Aires, Argentina
from Valencia, Venezuela

Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work!

Happy to go to Dairy Queen?

This month we have 2 judges being featured, both for their 10 year anniversaries! Justin Hovdenes and Enrique Manuel Guzmán Mosqueda both have been with the program for a decade. First we have Justin, who had 2 RCs step up to the plate, wanting to express their appreciation:

So, the background story on how Justin became a judge…

Years ago – not sure exactly when, but definitely before Shards block – he played in a Denver PTQ. In one round, he was one of the last matches playing, and during the post-game discussion with his opponent, he said something like “yeah, my only hope was to stall you out”. Obviously, he and I had a chat about his poor choice of words! He wasn’t actually Stalling, it’s just that the strategy of his deck in that matchup was to prolong the games as much as possible, and he didn’t know the significance of that word.

Later, his was the last match, and at the end of turn 5 – with at least 3 judges watching – he said to his opponent “well, we can just roll for the win?” and picked up a die. This time, my chat with him led to him writing a statement, after being DQ’d. He put a lot of effort into writing that statement, and afterwards asked me a number of questions about becoming a judge. I pointed him to various resources, limited though they were at that time, and didn’t expect to hear much more after that.

Some time later, he asked to come be an L0 at another event, and take his test. I happily accepted – esp. knowing how isolated his community was, and what they’d gain if he certified – and we scheduled it. Justin did a fine job at the event, and then took his test. He had prepared, perhaps more so than any other candidate I’d worked with – but only on the rules. He didn’t know that policy would be about a third of his total score! He ended up getting nearly 100% correct in the rules section, and just barely enough right answers on policy, and achieved a passing score.

I believe – but wasn’t involved and can’t easily confirm – that he applied himself to both rules and policy knowledge, and nearly aced his L2 test!

Since that time, the inexperienced player I had to DQ became one of my most valued judges, even driving through South Dakota blizzards to judge at Denver events. He’s continued to apply that dedication all over your region, and I think we can both say that his inauspicious start led to a great judging career!

Justin (aka Hovey) is a good friend of mine, and he is in an unusual position in the judging community. He is very far from other L2 judges. The closest to him is a 3-4 hour drive away. He is the Area Captain for what I call the “Western Dakotas”, the west half of both South and North Dakota. That’s a larger area than the states of Minnesota or Wisconsin, but it’s mostly just isolated communities with long drives between them. He is the only L2 in this area.

It’s really an interesting place to be in, because it means that the only contact someone might have with the judge program at all is Hovey coming in and running their PPTQ. He is responsible for certifying multiple people, training in store-level folks in a couple of stores, and trying to maintain his skills when he is the most public and well-known member of the judge community for a long, long way in every direction.

Hovey does a great job of this, and is even pretty engaged in the region as a whole. For the last two conferences in Sioux Falls he has been involved in investigations workshops, first as an actor, and then writing his own scenarios. Hovey flew out to Minneapolis so he could come to our Leadership Conference this year, and when the conference got snowed out by a blizzard he was one of the primary folks presenting during an impromptu streamed panel session we put on as a replacement. He never complained during this process, just provided great information about store level organized play, compensation for PPTQs that are both small and far away from a judge, and acted as a great ambassador for the judge program, like he always does.

The other half of this is that Hovey is very experienced – he has judged at a huge range of events across the country and around the world, at literally every level. Hovey has judged World Championships, Pro Tours, and Grand Prix, along with 12 player PPTQs. He treats every event like it is important, and really brings a weight of quality judging to a place where you would be surprised to find a judge of his caliber.

I’ve been super pleased to have worked with Hovey for so many years, and I love having a judge and program ambassador I can really rely on in a place where the community really needs someone great like him.

¡Buen trabajo!

Next, Carlos has gathered some thoughts about how Enrique has shaped his region in the past few years:

, L2 from Mexico
Enrique is a judge with a high commitment to excellence. As an example, he helped prepare a seminar about layers for about 4 months, going over scenarios and questions for the attendees that helped both of us learn more about layers.
We were also impressed when he got a high score in El Erudito, a quiz contest designed to help judges become better at rules. Even though he didn’t use tools like Yawgatog, he still scored better than most of us.

, L2 from Mexico
I met Enrique a few years ago and during this time I have realized that he is a very valuable person and an excellent member of the judge program. Since then we have been together in some projects and conferences and it is always a pleasure to work with him because he is responsible, firm, committed and a very charismatic and kind person. These qualities make him an ideal team player.
I think Enrique and I have many things in common and our vision of the judges program is usually very similar. I hope to last as many years as he will in the program and I wish him to continue doing great things with that excellent personality he possesses.

, L3 from Panama
Most people outside of Mexico don’t know Enrique, as he hasn’t traveled to big events yet. However, ever since the Hispanic America North region came to be, I noticed Enrique’s willingness to participate in the community and to try to help out. He’s a mainstay at our conferences, and enjoys presenting seminars. It’s a pleasure for me to congratulate Enrique for all of these years of service and for his increasing participation in our community.

Happy anniversary to all of you! We look forward to many more years of judging from you all.

About Ronald

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

Magic Judges On…

Recent Comments

Meta