Grand Prix Phoenix 2018 - Welcome to the Fold

Join us in Welcoming nine new judges to the Fold in sunny Phoenix!

Bronson Dunayevich

Name: Bronson Dunayevich
Level: Level 1
Location: Oceanside, California
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: June 2013
L1 Certification Date: June 10, 2016
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Superfriends
Occupation: Preschool Teacher
Random fact about yourself: My MTG Rival is a little girl in a Nissa Costume
Why did you become a judge?: To learn even more about the game and the community, also to help my LGS
What excites you most about this event?: Getting to Judge a GP
What worries you most about this event?: Getting a Judge call wrong
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: The behind the scenes aspect of a GP
Who are your mentors?: “”The”” Ryan Koenig & Geoffrey Lok
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Finding someone to test me for L2
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Studied and Studied for the Test
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: My friends
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Anytime I play Moat + Humility + Any Planeswalker

James Hockman

Name: James Hockman
Level: Level 1
Location: Peoria, Arizona
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 10/1993
L1 Certification Date: February 6, 2016
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Social Entertainment
Occupation: Asset Protection
Random fact about yourself: I can still remember the day before video games and computers
Why did you become a judge?: Everyone thought I was one, so I figured I might as well
What excites you most about this event?: It is my first working Grand Prix, and I want to see things from the other side
What worries you most about this event?: Being lost and not knowing where and when to be somewhere
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: How things run
Who are your mentors?: All of the Level 2 Judges here in the Greater Phoenix Area
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Time. I don’t have a lot of time to judge due to work. I also want to learn and become a better scorekeeper, but again, time to do so is hard.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I am working on trying to get a better schedule so I can attend more events
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The fact that everyone is so welcoming and you can always turn and ask someone for help.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: I watched an ironman match back in 1994 and saw a Shatterstorm followed by an Armageddon, destroying a total of 7 moxes, 1 lotus, 13 duals and then some.

John Lawson

Name: John Lawson
Level: Level 1
Location: San Diego, California
Region: USA – Southwest

Tyler Lee

Name: Tyler Lee
Level: Level 1
Location: Gilbert, Arizona
Region: USA – Southwest

Sean Nickel

Name: Sean Nickel
Level: Level 1
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: December 2010
L1 Certification Date: December 20, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Eye of the Storm
Random fact about yourself: My favorite musical is Jesus Christ Superstar
Why did you become a judge?: I wanted to be better able to serve my local Magic community and put my knowledge of the rules to good use.
What excites you most about this event?: Last October GP Phoenix was the first GP I’ve attended, and now that I’ve gotten my L1 certification I’m excited to see what the event is like from this side of things.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I’m hoping to learn more about Competitive REL as I’ve mostly just worked FNM and other Normal REL events.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: I cast Eternal Dominion with Knowledge Pool and Hive Mind on the battlefield, so my opponents were restricted by the Epic spell while I was not.

Tyler Simmons

Name: Tyler Simmons
Level: Level 1
Location: Reno, Nevada
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: October 2009
L1 Certification Date: August 12, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: There are too many things I love about magic to list just one thing so I will list a couple. Card: Notorious Throng. Format: Commander. Color Combination: Simic. In general, I love Magic because it brings people together, is good mental exercise, allows you to be as creative as you want to me, and is ever evolving!
Occupation: I work for Patagonia’s distribution center.
Random fact about yourself: I took 3 semesters of Japanese in college and wish to move there in the next 5 years (and hopefully judge there as well!)
Why did you become a judge?: I became a judge because I love teaching people how to play Magic. Becoming a judge has allowed me to dig deeper into the game which I feel has in turn made me a better teacher of the game.
What excites you most about this event?: I think what excites me most about this event and all the GPs I hopefully judge after this is the ability to be around fellow judges and learn from them. I am a visual learner, so getting to see other judges in action will help a lot.
What worries you most about this event?: What worries me the most, and what I imagine is one of the most common judge worries, is giving an incorrect ruling.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Becoming more familiar with the terminology associated with rules violations, the fixes to apply when those violations happen, and be able to implement this knowledge more effectively.
Who are your mentors?: Will Bumgardner
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: I tend to second guess myself a lot even when I am fairly certain I know the correct answer.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Being more confident in myself and not being afraid to use the tools I have available (like MTGFamiliar) to make sure I am giving the correct ruling.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: Despite being a city, our Magic community is not that big. Pretty much everyone knows each other, or if they don’t know the person directly, they know someone who does. It’s nice because the community feels somewhat close knit and people are always willing to help each other out or loan someone cards if they want to try out a deck they have been working on.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Last May I flew back home to North Carolina to visit my family. While I was there I went to a coffee shop to hang out with some friends before we went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. My one friend and I started talking about Magic and this older gentleman that was sitting behind us overheard our conversation. He politely interrupted and asked if we were talking about MtG. After confirming this, he told us that he had a whole bunch of cards in his car (he had these cards on him because he was actually waiting for another college student he had met before at this place that was interested in them) and was trying to get rid of them and wanted to know if we would be interested and taking some of them off his hands. Of course we said yes! He came back with 2 boxes, one that had singles and another that had UNOPENED packs (we’re talking original Mirrodin, Torment, Invasion, Legions, and more)! We went through the singles first and I ended up finding some really good stuff like Aluren, Lotus petals, Show and Tell etc. After going through the singles he said that we could open the unopened packs. I was hesitant, because I know that old packs can be worth a lot of money and he had already been so generous, so before we opened any I told him how much he could potentially sell the unopened packs for. After considering this he said that I could open 5 or so packs. At this time the guy he originally intended the cards for showed up and he too opened some packs. I made the mistake of not looking up which cards where in which set that I was looking for and didn’t pick the Torment pack (as I was looking for a Cabal Coffers at the time). The guy that showed up opened the Torment pack, and of course, there was a Cabal Coffers in it. The guy said he didn’t need it and there wasn’t anything I had already pulled out of the singles that he was interested in, so he just gave me the Cabal Coffers. I was flabbergasted! Never before had anyone been so giving and it really instilled in me how giving someone something that you don’t need, even if it’s worth some money, can really make their day.

Kevin Urasky

Name: Kevin Urasky
Level: Level 1
Location: Laramie, Wyoming
Region: USA – Northwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: June 1996
L1 Certification Date: November 24, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: How it brings a diversity of people together.
Occupation: Retail/politics
Random fact about yourself: I’m, in fact a muffin.
Why did you become a judge?: To help nourish communities of players and make events better for them.
What excites you most about this event?: Getting to network with new people and develop my skills to progress to L2.
What worries you most about this event?: This is a larger event than I have done as a judge; worrying I’m a little out of practice.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: If I truly enjoy the GP experience from the judge side and what weaknesses I can further develop.
Who are your mentors?: Christian Paz and Christian Aguilar
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Lots of overthinking, missing key words on complex cards, and a lack of time to self develop.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Slowing down, making sure I make the correct decision the first time, and being more confident in my rules knowlwdge.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: Friendships made and having localized places where everyone feels welcome.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Mentoring a young new player trying to build a connection to his late brother.

Jake Wachtler

Name: Jake Wachtler
Level: Level 1
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Region: USA – Southwest

James Watson

Name: James Watson
Level: Level 1
Location: Butte, Montana
Region: USA – Northwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 03/2014
L1 Certification Date: November 14, 2015
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Grindy GBx Midrange mirrors
Occupation: Cashier at Rocker Flyin J
Random fact about yourself: I love Heavy Metal
Why did you become a judge?: I wanted to be a part of our local community without having to play, and I wanted to give back to the game that gave a lot to me
What excites you most about this event?: 3 days worth of judging events larger than I ever have judges before
What worries you most about this event?: The same
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Where I’d like to end up in the judge program and whether or not events like this are for me.
Who are your mentors?: Brook Gardner-Durbin
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: The massive area I have to travel in MT
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Dealing with the driving
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The people are super caring
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Top 8’ing my first comp rel event.

Brayden Worrell

Name: Brayden Worrell
Level: Level 1
Location: Huntington Beach, California
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: September 2011
L1 Certification Date: November 23, 2016
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Bouncing decks off each other and seeing my creative process with deckbuilding matching up to others.
Random fact about yourself: I look a fair bit younger than I am; I’m almost 25!
Why did you become a judge?: I became a judge because it seemed like a good way to give back to the community and to do something new that made me proud of myself.
What excites you most about this event?: I’m excited about meeting so many judges and hopefully completing a large amount of requirements for the L2 test.
What worries you most about this event?: I’m worried that I’ll be overwhelmed and my judging will suffer as a result of all of the excitement.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I want to learn how to interact with a large community of judges, both in person and through online connections made with anyone I happen to befriend along the way.
Who are your mentors?: I was mentored by Josh Stansfield and Jeremy Fain.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: I’ve faced dealing with my mistakes and admitting I’m wrong, and realizing that not all rules need to be enforced to the letter; sometimes a gentle approach provides the best solution and makes more people happy.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I’ve tried to work as a floor judge at a number of PPTQs to expose myself to Comp REL and get used to judging at a higher standard than Regular REL.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The Commander players and how everyone is willing to offer ideas on how to improve newer players’ decks and playstyle.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Opening a foil Bloodstained Mire (KTK) and a normal copy in the same pack and gifting the foil to my friend who was moving away.