Hi, my name is Michiel Van den Bussche and I am a L2 Judge from Sinaai, Belgium. This story has a lot of history to it, and I considered it worth telling. Given the fact that you are reading this, you probably consider it worthy of some of your time. I want to tell you all about my experiences with the Exemplar Program. I would like to stress that this is all my personal opinion, and completely written from my point of view.
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Hi everyone!

The latest window to submit new Exemplar recognitions recently closed, but while we wait for them to go public, we would like to put the spotlights on a couple of nominations from the previous batch. We handpicked some of them to show the many different things Magic Judges can do for the Judge Program, and asked the recipients to give us a short explanation on their side of the story! What happened? Why did it happen? How did it happen? Did it even happen at all? Only one way to find out, and that is to read on!

For our first entry we bring you a recognition made by Riccardo Mangano for Anniek van der Peijl, who was a Level 2 Judge at that time, but has since then added a Level to that number:

This is what Riccardo had to say:

Your article on ODEs was very helpful when I was on the ODE team at GP London. I read it while preparing for the event, and I believe it not only improved my performance a lot, but it also helped me learn much more during that day than I usually would, providing a “theoretical” context for the way things worked in practice and how they could be improved. All of this made it so that, while initially I was unexcited about not being on the main event, I really enjoyed working on ODEs, and I’m now really looking forward to my next opportunity to work in that role.

In order to get some more insight, we asked Anniek about her thoughts on what the recognition was about:

On demand events are a very specific thing. They only happen at GPs (in the way that I was talking about in the article at least), and even then only a small portion of the Judges who are there will be on the on-demand team.

It’s something I had collected a lot of experience and enthusiasm about, but it was hard to share because the audience for this information is quite limited and I don’t know who those people will be for future GPs. That’s why I decided to write an article, so the info would be out there for whoever might be looking for it at some point.

I have gotten feedback about it from Judges all over the world whom I never would have reached otherwise, which is amazing to me.

I’m also very happy that Riccardo became more enthusiastic about on demand events as a result. Thanks Riccardo!

We chose this recognition because it shows the importance of spreading your experience so other Judges can learn from it. Being a master at a certain task is one thing, but being able to teach that skill to other people, and certainly in a way that reaches as many aspiring Judges as this one, more than deserves a shout-out from us! If you’re interested in reading the article for yourself, you can find it here!

Our next entry comes from John Brian McCarthy, who had the following feedback for Level 1 Judge Quinten van de Vrie:

Your responses to players confused about the “combat?” shortcut on Reddit were really helpful (https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgJudge/comments/55d0ar/move_to_combat_and_vehicles/). You explained it clearly, explained why policy works the way it does, and didn’t resort to trying to help them find the “Magic words” to get around it. Thanks for your contributions!

Quinten was kind enough to give us some very insightful follow-up on this recognition:

Sometime around the release of Kaladesh I was browsing Reddit and came across a question on vehicles and the combat shortcut. I had recently read up on the interaction so I knew what the answer was. I typed out my response and added the relevant quote from the MTR. And, just in case anyone came looking for a policy explanation, I linked the article I had read as recommended reading. I stuck around for some follow-up questions and many other Judges added their expertise on the matter.

I did not think anything special had happened there. Answering questions on the internet is one of the ways in which I have familiarised myself with the rules of Magic. It is something that I started doing before I certified as a Judge and it is something that I continue doing. It has forced me to look things up and learn. And it has informed me of what types of questions people have. Knowing those questions allows me to prepare better answers for my local community, as they have many of the same questions. I believe it has helped me become a better Judge.

Last December when the exemplar nominations were posted I was excited to read up on all the cool things my friends from the BeNeLux had done. After reading loads of cool messages I spotted my own name in the list. I was excited, but even more than that, I was really surprised. I had not gotten to Judge all that often. I certainly did not recall having anything exciting happen at my events that had allowed me to demonstrate exemplary behaviour. When I read the author of the recommendation I had received I was completely stumped as I have never met John Brian McCarthy. When I got to the message of the exemplar nomination I had received I was reminded of this Reddit post I had long forgotten about.

I never set out to be an exemplary Judge. I was just killing time on the internet and saw an opportunity to be helpful. I have since learned that being a Judge is about more than the things we do in stores and at events. Taking some time and being helpful improves the community. As it turns out you can do that anywhere.

And that last paragraph hits the spot on why we chose this recognition for a spotlight position! There are many ways to improve and help the community, and in these ages of digital connection, there are no limits on who you can reach.

For our third spotlight, we have a recognition given to L1 Judge Michiel Valcke, by our very own Michiel Van den Bussche (through the medium of Niels Viaene):

I Judged a GPT at your local store. You gave me a review afterwards that was very eloquent and well written. You managed to highlight some of my strong points and also analyze some of my weaknesses spot on. The feedback you gave me was helpful and consisted of stuff I could apply at my next event. It’s not easy to play in an event and at the same time monitor a fellow Judge with such a high level of detail.

From Niels: I want to echo this, writing reviews as a playing Judge is something that is hard to do, yet gives insight in ways a judging Judge could not and I feel it is done not enough and not well enough.

Michiel Valcke had this to add:

When I received the recognition from Michiel and Niels I was very surprised. It had been over a year since that event took place, and I didn’t think of what I did as worthy of a recognition.

As a matter of fact I am more or less a recluse in the BeNeLux Judge world. I became a Judge at my local game-store to help them organise their events and to be an official go-to person for the local players, both new and experienced.

Outside of that you will rarely find me judging an event or attend a Judge conference.

My first concern lies with the local community. I have always felt that one of the greatest difficulties for a community of players to overcome, is the unknown factor. An unknown venue, an unknown Judge, an unknown opponent, etc. can be the barrier that makes a community fold into itself.

To prevent this from happening I invited a lot of other Judges to come Judge at the local shop, and to make their acquaintance with the local players I know so well.

You cannot do this without also offering feedback to the person you have invited. As communities can get closed and the BeNeLux Judge Community is just as much of a community I want to return this opportunity for reflection.

The review I have given to Michiel, and to other Judges, are based on the feedback from the players and my own perception.

It is easy to think that we can’t or aren’t contributing to our communities (for example: because of our limited interaction with other Judges), but even as a “judging recluse” I feel that on a lower and more personal level, I can use these opportunities for the betterment of the communities and the people around me.

I wish to thank Michiel and Niels once more for reminding me this is indeed a valuable thing to do.

For our next recognition we go to another intra-BeNeLux choice, this time from Emilien Wild to Antoine Oria:

Thank you for the Judge Classes you run with Steeve Lhomme in Liège. This has been a problematic area for some time and, so far, our efforts to develop the Judge program there have been fruitless. So seeing you full of energy and enthusiasm in order to tackle this challenge as soon as you were certified is heartwarming.

We asked Antoine for some deeper information on this project, and he presented us with the following:

I’m very proud and surprised for getting this Exemplar Recognition, and it’s a great motivation for me to give even more time to Judge Projects.

It’s really important for Steeve and myself to be able to build a strong Judge community, by increasing the amount of Judges, but also their levels.

Liège was an empty region for many years and restoring a Judge community there is a priority mission for us and Thibault Clause (our Area Captain).

A lot of players were interested in becoming a Judge, but they were afraid of the test and they were not sure of their knowledge.

We both followed the Judge Classes in Namur and we proposed to our Area Captain to start them in Liège too.

We have great tools for other Judges interested in motivating their community, and to give more opportunities for their L0’s to become Level 1 at http://wiki.magicjudges.org/en/index.php/Judge_Classes, and the best way to handle this is by having 2 teachers for 4 students.

As an extra on the side, by giving these classes, we as teachers also learn and grow as a Judge.

It’s not easy to grow a community in a previously barren landscape, and many Area Captains will be able to concur that a huge amount of effort is needed to try and sow the seeds of a healthy Judge populace. It is through hard work from people like Antoine that said communities grow, and that is certainly something to commemorate!

Last, but not least we have the author of the last recognition, Emilien Wild, now on the receiving end of a recognition by Jack Doyle:

Emilien, at GP Lille’s ODEs on Sunday, you had a chair for ODE runners near the printer. This solved many problems — it gave tired Judges a rest after a long weekend, it ensured that there was always someone ready and responsible for the next bracket, and it allowed Judges to share their experiences with me, the scorekeeper. Because of this simple trick, Sunday ODEs were super smooth, and I had some really interesting conversations with Judges I would not have otherwise personally interacted with. To top it all off, you were supportive of the lead without being obstructive or taking over, and I think that’s a skill very lacking in today’s leaders. Keep up the great work, Emilien.

Of course we also asked Emilien for his input:

The idea was that the lead was less experienced than me in that position, so I was looking for small things I could suggest to improve his system, without overtaking it, so he could be fully in charge. It was more about making the execution smoother than suggesting changes of plan.
Often, systems could be improved easily by adding some physical component to them, making them easier to understand. Plus, having a line is easier to maintain if you provide an incentive to stay in line. Chairs are good incentive to tired Judges, and a line of runners makes sure that no event is left waiting.
Good logistics make the human nature work for you.

As a Judge with a bit more experience than average, you can often be put in situations where it is hard to keep yourself from trying to take over. We thought this recognition showed that not only is it possible, those seemingly small additions can also have a huge influence on the experience for the people involved!

With that said, we’ve reached the end of this post, but don’t despair, because a new wave of Exemplar Recognitions is coming up soon! We’re already looking forward to read about all your exemplary behaviours and highlight some of our favourites.

See you soon,

The BeNeLux Blog Team