Grand Prix Atlanta 2018 - Welcome to the Fold

This weekend in Atlanta, we have 6 new judges to Welcome to the fold!

Gary Roland

Name: Gary Roland
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 2
Location: Anniston, Alabama, United States of America
Region: USA – Southeast
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: August 2015
L1 Certification Date: September 28, 2016
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Card: Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Occupation: Yoga Instructor/Marketing and Social Media manager for local small businesses
Random fact about yourself: I used to be a top 100 NA player in Hearthstone before becoming a Magic player
Why did you become a judge?: My LGS did not have one, and the default judge was a 16 year old who game lossed people at FNM events. So I stepped up.
What excites you most about this event?: I get to drive a short distance!
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Something I didn’t know.
Who are your mentors?: Richard Jones and Steven Romero
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Taking on to many projects/events at once (overplanning)
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: By working a little less 🙂
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: That they’ve all improved so much and are finally traveling to events out of the state!
What is your favorite Magic memory?: When my local community came together at our local store and we played a degenerate amount of modern to aid the relief after a tornado devastated the area. While the amount of money we raised was not a lot, it helped a small family get back on their feet.

Addison Baldree

Name: Addison Baldree
Level: Level 1
Location: Lyons, Georgia, United States of America
Region: USA – Southeast

Matthew Davis

Name: Matthew Davis
Level: Level 1
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States of America
Region: USA – Southeast

Elliot Gafter

Name: Elliot Gafter
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Orlando, Florida, United States of America
Region: USA – Southeast
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: July 2011
L1 Certification Date: June 4, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The people! I love getting to meet people because of a sweet card game 🙂
Occupation: Store Manager at Campus Cards and Games
Random fact about yourself: I’m something of a coffee snob – I own and actively use seven different coffee makers
Why did you become a judge?: I originally became a judge so that the players at my local shops had someone to come to when they had a question about Magic. I work at a shop, and before I certified we didn’t have any L1 judges that were really attached, and I felt like that was just a shame.
As it happens, becoming a judge has spurred a number of my local players to start working through the pretest requirements for L1! It feels good to be a positive enough impact on the local players that some decide to become judges as well.
What excites you most about this event?: I’m most excited to get to meet and work with judges from outside of my local area! Central Florida has a lot of judges, and I’d like to think that we’ve got a pretty good group. That being said, I look forward to working with people who were taught a bit differently and can offer a different perspective on judging overall
What worries you most about this event?: So my biggest worry isn’t that I won’t perform well at the event. I have every confidence that I’ll give a good showing. I’m more concerned about a call taking too long and holding up the event for an unreasonable amount of time.
I had a call at an RPTQ a while back that I took regarding life totals and whether a player had played a land for turn. After giving it a few minutes, I called my team lead. He took some time and called the head judge. The head judge eventually gave a ruling, and thankfully it was at the end of game 3 for a reasonably short match. Unfortunately, if that had been a control mirror it’s possible that the match would have gone fairly long into turns. My goal is to avoid any over-long extensions, and if I walk out of the weekend having met that then I’ll be thrilled!
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: I think the best part of my local community is the players. It sounds cheesy, but we’ve got a really great mix of competitive and casual players. Through that, the local shops have the ability to run some really sweet events to appeal to both sides! I personally love being able to go to a weekly modern tournament and be able to expect six rounds of competitive magic! I can also go out on a Saturday to play some free commander pods for goofy prize support, and I attribute all of it to my players being great.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: So far, my favorite Magic memory is my first RPTQ. Getting to the venue in the morning, I got to meet the team I was working with. The entire event was 6 judges (2 on deck checks, 3 on slips, and the HJ), and before that the biggest competitive event I’d worked was my shop’s PPTQ as a scorekeeper. It was a great experience, and I think that it has been one of the biggest factors in my desire to get more involved with the judging community.
As far as sweet magic plays go, the one that sticks out to me the most was a modern game I was spectating a few years ago. My friend was on Grixis control, and he was in game 3 against a player on BW Eldrazi Taxes. I sat down as they were shuffling up, and got to watch the E&T player lock my friend out of the game with Eldrazi Displacer, Flickerwisp, Wasteland Strangler, and Tidehollow Sculler. My friend lost with nothing in play and only one card in hand. It was, hands down, one of the sweetest games I’ve had the pleasure to experience

Skarlet Shuplat

Name: Skarlet Shuplat
Pronouns She/her/hers
Level: Level 1
Location: Albany, Georgia, United States of America
Region: USA – Southeast
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: April 2017
L1 Certification Date: January 14, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: My favorite thing about Magic is the community it builds. More often than not, players begin to meet for games outside of tournaments, become friends, and begin to mean more to each other than just an opponent sitting across the table.
Occupation: Social Media Marketer
Random fact about yourself: I used to raise pedigree show rabbits and could probably spend 20 minutes telling you about the genetics of any rabbit you point me at.
Why did you become a judge?: As a TO in my local area, it was my job to act as the acting judge multiple times a week, and I decided if that was the case I should probably know what I was doing! My players did not always have access to a judge and I felt that they deserved better, so I began working towards becoming an L1.
What excites you most about this event?: I certified as an L1 in January and have judged about a dozen Comp REL events since then, mainly in the Atlanta area. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and having some great new experiences at an event this size.
Who are your mentors?: When I became a TO, the only judge near my local area was David Rockwood. He was an L1 at the time and was my go-to for any general questions. He was a great resource not just for rules questions but also for tips on how to run better events. It was not long before we began discussing my interest in becoming a judge, and he has been an excellent mentor. He taught me everything I know about Judging at Regular and has also been very supportive of my Competitive REL experience and growth. Michael Starr has been a friend and mentor since I was an L0. He was the Head Judge at both the first Comp REL event I played in and the first Comp REL event I ever judged. At both events, he was an excellent example of what an L2 should be and I have learned a lot from him.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: With most things in life, the biggest challenge I set for myself is constant improvement. Perfection may be impossible and striving for it may be futile, but success for me is defined as being better at each event than I was previously.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: For me, the most effective method for constantly improving is to set specific goals and work to reach a higher bar each time those goals are achieved. I try to set at least one specific goal for improvement at each event I work.

Chad Tompkins

Name: Chad Tompkins
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Hampstead, North Carolina, United States of America
Region: USA – Midatlantic
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: Summer 1999
L1 Certification Date: March 15, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Spells that cost 8+ mana
Occupation: United States Marine
Random fact about yourself: I have deployed to 5 out of 7 continents
Why did you become a judge?: I like helping people and saw judging as a fantastic and challenging way to help players.
What excites you most about this event?: I have never been you a GP. I am very excited about how large and extravagant the entire weekend will be.
What worries you most about this event?: Not pulling my weight and someone else needing to do extra work to help me out.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I am on sides all weekend and by the end I would like to confidently handle my own events with little to no supervision.
Who are your mentors?: CJ Crooks, Perry Kraker, and Sean Linkous
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: As an active duty Marine I have had a tough time working around operations and a demanding training schedule. This year has also marked the birth of my first child and I give her a lot of my attention when I am home.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: My mentors have worked with me a lot over the past year and a half. Luckily for me a lot of qualities that lend toward success in the judge community are also shared by the corps; such as initiative, following orders, timeliness, decisiveness, hard work, and dedication to name a few
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: Silly games and inside jokes.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Sitting around the table with my parents and 3 other brothers playing home brew multiplayer games.