Grand Prix Madrid 2017

| Io Hughto

This week we have our last European Grand Prix of 2017 and we have one judge to Welcome to the Fold.

Patrik Surab

  • Name: Patrik Surab
  • Level: Level 2
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Region: Europe – Central
  • Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 2006
  • L1 Certification Date: 2/27/2016
  • Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Merfolk
  • Occupation: Store Manager
  • Random fact about yourself: I was team World Champion in 2010
  • Why did you become a judge?: I tried to be PRO player back in my days after winning of team World Championship in Chiba, Japan 2010. After one year I came to very hard decission. University or Magic…and I have chosen university. During my studies (I am master of Organic Chemistry now) I started to work in local Magic store and through years I became leader of whole community in Slovakia, I started to manage stores in different cities in Slovakia and I still tried to play some “big” events as PPTQs, WMCQs etc. But after some time I realized that helping people fills me up much more and then I talked with my first mentor, Norbert Fule about becoming a judge. And after my studies I realized that I do not want to do Chemistry for living so I am now trying to do full time judging, organizing, selling of MtG product and developing this beautiful “obsession” with magic in my players. 🙂
  • What excites you most about this event?: I really look forward to the atmosphere from different angle. Until now I knew GP only from player’s perspective. I hope that I will meet a lot of new inspirative people that will help me grow.
  • What worries you most about this event?: I am not worried at all. I think I have got a lot of experience from organizing events in Slovakia. We have got events every day and we also do some big conventions for thousands of people where I am team leading my employees.
  • What are you hoping to learn at this event?: It will be my first GP so I just want to learn a lot of new things and gain experience to be better judge/organizer.
  • Who is your mentor?: Norbert Fule, Erik Adame
  • What is the best part about your local Magic community?: I love the way our community works. We are trying to create “”third place”” and I think we are really successful about that. When our players are not at work or home…they are going to us. Most of time to play magic, but also board games or just to gather with friends, order some pizza and have a good time. We are like one big family in Bratislava. 🙂
  • What is your favorite Magic memory?: Definitely winning of team World Championship. It changed my life 🙂