Judges are great. They are, simply put, The Best. I love judges. Throw enough judges at any problem — any problem — and they’ll solve it. Judges are inventive, dedicated, selfless, and perhaps above all, selflessly dedicated. We tend to be willing to jump in at a moment’s notice to tackle the problem, whatever it […]
Category: tournament best practices
Stepping Away From The Table
On any judge call, in the abstract, it’s better to be quicker than longer. Every minute added to a time extension is another minute that might end up delaying the whole tournament, if this match happens to be the last one playing. And more than that — players come to events to game, not to […]
Setting up Melee for Floor Judging
Melee is the current event software du jour. Most large competitive card tournaments at the moment seem to be favoring the platform, so it’s important to know how, as a floor judge, to get it set up. Navigating through all the menus and options to get to the point it’s actually ready to go can […]
Cutting to Top8
So, you got to HJ your first event with multiple judges. Congratulations! That’s quite a feather in the cap. You got your briefing out before the event, took a couple appeals, and guided the event through the Swiss rounds. You even remembered to take some notes so you’re ready to write a review or two […]
On Shadowing
Watching another judge take a call is often referred to as “shadowing.” There’s a lot of slang in judging but this is one of my favorite bits. Like all the best jargon, its meaning is immediately clear when you hear it, even if you’ve never heard the term before. A shadow sticks near the original, […]
Against Courtesy Deckchecks
As time marches ever onward, we’re in a constant state of re-teaching. Old folks retire and take their knowledge with them, and newer faces need to be taught the stuff that established folks can sometimes take for granted. This came to mind recently when I saw a post on that most-cursed of social media sites, […]
Running EOR with MTGMelee
End of Round has always been one of the most important tasks at a Magic event. Players came to the event and paid their entry fee to play Magic, so they’re looking to – gasp – play Magic. When rounds take too long to turn over, players are unhappy, staff get tired, and you might […]