This weekend in the mile-high city, we have a pair of new judges to Welcome to the Fold!
Aaron Benner
- Name: Aaron Benner
- Pronouns He/him/his
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Billings, Montana, United States of America
- Region: USA – Northwest
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 97
- L1 Certification Date: April 26, 2015
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Playing with my family.
- Occupation: Teacher, Systems Administrator, Software Architect
- Random fact about yourself: I’m nearly blind in one eye. Remember; light fuse and get away kids.
- Why did you become a judge?: I like teaching and being a judge seemed a good way to lend credence to my guidance to new players.
- What excites you most about this event?: It’s my first. You always remember your first.
- What worries you most about this event?: My last (only) other GP attendance was as a player at GP Seattle in 1999. It’s been a while and I’m not 100% certain what to expect.
- What are you hoping to learn at this event?: How to be my very best. Also how to avoid leaning on sarcasm when I’m faced with slightly stressful personal interactions.
- Who are your mentors?: Brook GrrDrrBrr (Gardner-Durbin) is my the judge who certified me and who I consider most to be a judge mentor.
- What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: I have very little spare time between multiple jobs, family, and other commitments. Montana is also big. Really, really big. No, bigger than that. Even bigger. Keep going. More. No, more. Look, we’re talking krakens and dreadnoughts for jewelry. So it’s hard to get gigs and keep your skills sharp.
- How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I spend a fair amount of time on judge slack and travel when I can. I also read a lot of judge related content.
- What is the best part about your local Magic community?: Their charming good looks?
- What is your favorite Magic memory?: There are so many to choose from. The most recent was pulling together 5 colors of mana in 5 lands on turn 5 in a GRN pre-release with Chamber Sentry in hand. Who says greedy never pays off…
Tad Treft
- Name: Tad Treft
- Pronouns He/him/his
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Clovis, New Mexico, United States of America
- Region: USA – South
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Summer 2014
- Occupation: Retail
- Random fact about yourself: I’m a proponent of Canadian highlander being the next big format.
- Why did you become a judge?: I really like making an environment for people to have fun and maintaining that environment. Also a little bit of spite.
- What excites you most about this event?: I mean, it’s my first GP as a judge!
- What worries you most about this event?: That feels like a really loaded question, so now everything.
- What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Everything I can, how to navigate myself around a tournament this big.
- Who are your mentors?: Kenny Perry, but I also try to learn from anyone who will answer questions.
- What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: I live 2 hours from any L2s, so I’ve largely been in charge of my own learning.
- How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I need to make the most from every tournament I work.
- What is the best part about your local Magic community?: It’s where I met 90% of my current friends.
- What is your favorite Magic memory?: My first GP, seeing all the judges taking calls and keeping busy, is when I really decided that was the community I wanted to be a part of.