Grand Prix Columbus 2018 - Welcome to the Fold

This weekend in Columbus we have five new judge to Welcome to the Fold!

Holly Barra

Name: Holly Barra
Level: Level 1
Location: Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
Region: USA – Great Lakes
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: October 2010
L1 Certification Date: August 28, 2015
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The Judges!
Occupation: Onsite Service Specialist (Scanning)
Random fact about yourself: Currently playing in an online tabletop game. I play a human fire mage named Bryn.
Why did you become a judge?: I wanted to be more involved in the community.
What excites you most about this event?: This will be my first time judging and being at a GP!
What worries you most about this event?: Imposter syndrome mostly. I know that I have an amazing team to fall back on if I have any issues. I need to remind myself that it’s ok to ask for help and that it’s not a sign of being a bad judge.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I’m hope to learn what it is like to work at a GP 🙂
Who are your mentors?: David Fleig
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Again, I feel like a lot of it is imposter syndrome and a lack of self-confidence.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I am trying to judge more, bigger events to gain confidence and meet more judges.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: I feel like I’m welcomed in it and, for the most part, people respect me as a player, as a judge, and as a person. (there are always bad apples, but the majority is pretty good 🙂 )
What is your favorite Magic memory?: There are so many! Probably in commander playing Maelstrom Wanderer. I cast Wanderer and cascaded into Knowledge Exploitation. I picked the green player, found a Primal Surge, and put all but maybe the last 10 cards in my library onto the battlefield. Then resolved a ton of ETBs and effects, resolved the second cascade trigger, and ran over everyone at the table. Good times!

Pete Howland

Name: Pete Howland
Level: Level 1
Location: Angola, Indiana, United States of America
Region: USA – Great Lakes

Christopher Schmitz

Name: Christopher Schmitz
Level: Level 2
Location: Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States of America
Region: USA – North
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 2007
L1 Certification Date: September 17, 2016
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: I love to come up with new deck ideas. The whole process of deciding what cards to use and testing to see if it works is so much fun. Using the limitations of the format helps as an exercise in creativity.
Occupation: Customer Service Manager
Random fact about yourself: I hold a black belt for martial arts.
Why did you become a judge?: I became a judge to help out my lgs. Some of my friends were starting a small team for competitive play and I wanted to help, but I’m not a very competitive player. There wasn’t a judge in my town, or even within 50 miles that I was aware of so I decided to try to become one.
‌
Now I am able to help not only my store but many of the stores in the area run events so players in the area have events to play in. My personal way to help out and grow the magic community in my area.
What excites you most about this event?: There will be judges from all over the world to meet with and learn from.
What worries you most about this event?: The sheer size of it. I am a bit introverted and working with so many people makes me anxious.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I’m hoping to learn to be more comfortable in at large events like this.
Who are your mentors?: Kevin Wellins who tested me for L1 and was an invaluable resource for L2.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: The biggest challenge was head judging my first PPTQ. Up until then I had always worked with at least one other judge for competitive events and going solo was nerve wracking.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I reviewed a lot before the event and whenever I was nervous I would just talk to one of my friends at the event for moral support.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: Everyone is supportive of everyone else. Many of the more exexperienced players will explain rules to newer players and even offer deck building advice.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Judging my first prerelease and helping brand new players understand the rules.

Steve Whitcher

Name: Steve Whitcher
Level: Level 1
Location: Silvis, Illinois, United States of America
Region: USA – Central
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 1995, 2004, and again in 2016
L1 Certification Date: April 29, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Multiplayer Formats/sets – EDH, Conspiracy, Un-Sets
Occupation: IT Systems Engineer
Random fact about yourself: I first picked up magic while in Japan as an exchange student.
Why did you become a judge?: I love the game and the people, but I don’t want to be a competitive tournament grinder. Being a judge is a way for me to stay highly involved in the game and community. It allows me to participate in and help develop the local community, and also to be a part of big events in a non-competitive way.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: My biggest challenge as a judge is one that has also affected me in other areas of life over the years — self confidence. At the same time, the past year as a magic judge has helped me realize how important it is to appear confident. I’ve still got a long way to go, but my experience as a judge has already helped me to develop that confidence to a degree that I would otherwise not have thought possible.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: It’s so hard to name just one. The best part about magic is spending time with friends. I have fond memories of first learning Magic from other exchange students from around the world. 10 years later, I picked up the game again and spent countless nights around the kitchen table and at FNM with friends and family. And now, here I am again, loving being a part of the game and the community in a whole new way. I don’t think it gets much better than this.

Hank Wiest

Name: Hank Wiest
Level: Level 2
Location: Erie, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Region: USA – Northeast
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: Sometime around Dissension? Didn’t know what I was doing until Innistrad, though.
L1 Certification Date: February 9, 2015
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: I like my Living End deck. I’m in process of making it all German foil. It’s gotten to the point that I show up and people go “”Oh, Living End guy is here””.
Occupation: Officially, quality control technician, but factotum is a more accurate description.
Random fact about yourself: I used to be really good at climbing trees.
Why did you become a judge?: My area was in a judge void, and I felt I was capable of filling it. While I didn’t originally plan to go for L2, the nearest L2s were about 2 hours away, and I eventually thought it would be good to have one local.
What excites you most about this event?: I’m pumped to work with awesome people!
What worries you most about this event?: I keep worrying I’ll make a huge mistake due to nerves. I have a bad habit of overthinking what could go wrong.
Who are your mentors?: I’ve had a few, but the one who has been most helpful is without a doubt Joe Steet. He certified me for L2, and has been invaluable in helping me navigate the role.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Becoming Area Rep for Western PA has presented me with the challenge of trying to manage a multitude of stores and judges while trying to cultivate a new group of L1s and L2s.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I’ve been gathering data about my area, trying to get a reading on interest in advancement, and am organizing a conference where we can hopefully test candidates.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Either topdecking a Blood Moon to make an Amulet player not able to pay for their Pact, or wiping out Steve Rubin’s graveyard with two Faerie Macabre in a Living End mirror.