Welcome to a new year of Magic Judge Monthly! We’ve had a lot of concerning news, and there’s statements on background checks. Please check out the statements on them in two sections below!
That said, we have some cool new announcements, with 3 new GPHJs, an updated Judge Code of Conduct, and lots of great articles and community. Don’t forget to check out the new Judge Tokens project, featured as our Sugar on Top!
PC statement on Background checks:
The Program Coordinators have some important information regarding the recent program adaptation of adding background checks.
RC Selection
Justin Turner has stepped down in the North American Southeast region. A new face joins the RC ranks!
The PCs announce the status of the Judge Program
Plenty of updates from the Program Coordinators in their Blog. Learn how to obtain a Rules Lawyer promotional card or what the focus is for 2018, including Judge Level restructuring or removal!
https://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/32728/
Judge Exams up on Apps
They’re up! Practice exams and Level advancement exams are on Judgeapps! Take a practice and if you see anything incorrect or have an issue with a question, there is a tag in the answer key to alert the proper people so it will be fixed.
Judge code of Conduct
A few updates have been made at the start of this year to the Judge Code of Conduct. If you’d like to see the changes, there is a handy “Revision History” section near the bottom in the Policy Section.
PCs talk about new GP HJs
New Judges enter the GP Head Judge role. Some of the current staff with expiring certifications have renewed. To see who is new and who opted back in, check out the blog post here.
Judge Articles and Blog Posts from January 2018
- Travel guides: PT Bilbao 2018, GP London 2018, GP Houston 2018, GP Toronto 2018, 2017 Travel Guides – Summary
- 5 Min magic
- 2HG release notes: Two-Headed Giant Release Notes, Rivals of Ixalan 2HG Hidden Gems
- Translations of MJM
- Judge Conferences: Storytelling 3: The Journey
- Feedback loop: Honk the Horn, Asking for Appreciation, Things You May Want to Know About Reviews (Before You Write Your Next Review), The 2018 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Showdown!, Spring(ish) Break!
- Battlefield forge: GP Santa Clara Tournament Report – Customer Service
- JudgeCast: JudgeCast #191 – Rivals of Ixalan Release Notes, JudgeCast #192 – Rivals of Ixalan Policy Updates and Background Checks
More judge blogs can be found at the Judge Blog Portal.
In case you would like to discuss an article, visit our Judge forum. Don’t forget to regularly check our Judge blog.
Do you need a quick rules or policy answer? Ask a Magic Judge!
Judge Anniversaries
Congratulations to all of our January “Birthdays”, featuring Simon Ahrens and Alex de Bruijne!!
Judge of the Week January 2018
241: 2017 End of the year feature, part 2
242: David Larrea Baeza, Level 2 from Granollers, Spain
243: Kali Rainwater, Level 2 from the US Midatlantic Region
244: Exemplar Wave 11, Part 1
245:Nathaniel Graham, Level 2 from Columbia, Missouri
Welcome to the Fold
A big welcome to the following judges who judged their first Grand Prix!
GP Santa Clara
GP Indianapolis
GP Houston
GP London
Questions asked in the Month of January and an [O]fficial answer, just for you!
1. Is a player required to tell the opponent he has the City’s Blessing?Approved by Scott Marshall
Approved by Nathan Long
Cards: Bishop of Binding, Heart of Kiran
Approved by Scott Marshall
Approved by Scott Marshall
Approved by Scott Marshall
Judge Code of Conduct Update
The Magic Judge Code has recently been updated to underscore and clarify the Judge Program’s priorities regarding entrusting judges and safe environments.
Rivals of Ixalan Tournament Docs
Updates are now available on Ascend, life totals, silver borders and more!
PC Announcements Travel Blog
The second chapter of the PCs’ Travel Blog is now out. You can read about the 2018 Program Coordinators selection, the main areas of the Judge Program and exams in JudgeApps along with other headlines.
Time Distortion: Opinion on Background Checks
L3 David Hibbs shares his views on the PCs’ recent statement about Background Checks.
Find out which Judge Conferences, Grand Prix and SCG Opens have available worldwide staffing positions! You still have some time to apply for GP Dallas-Fort Worth, GP Beijing, GP Birmingham and GP Toronto (not the February one!).
Check out the Grand Prix Solicitations and Select Staffs for more details on individual tournaments and to know if there are some last minute solicitations you can apply to!
Public Projects such as Flash Feedback Tokens, Travel Guides, GP Friday Judge Class, Rules Comic and the Learning Sphere are looking for awesome judges who can help! If you wish to get more out of your Judging experience and give back to the community, sign up for something that interests you!
Also, the new Judge Tokens are out and they surely look sweet! Pre-order yours today and help the judges get more feedback, while giving something extremely cool to players!
Sugar on Top
Tan Zie Aun created these awesome tokens for the Judge Token project!