MagicFest Minneapolis 2019 - Welcome to the Fold

This weekend in Minneapolis, we have 5 new judges to Welcome to the Fold!

Ken Andrs

Name: Ken Andrs
Level: Level 2
Location: Superior, Wisconsin, United States of America
Region: USA – North
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: September 2013
L1 Certification Date: March 16, 2015
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Minotaurs
Occupation: I am a Pastor and In-Home Counselor
Random fact about yourself: I enjoy lifting heavy things and have competed taking best lifter at a state championship.
Why did you become a judge?: To learn the game and improve the quality of events in my area.
What excites you most about this event?: Learning from other judges and exploring the details of leading larger events!
What worries you most about this event?: The unknowns. I have never attended a Magic Fest and do not know what to expect nor how it operates.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I hope to develop my skills as a leader, as a head judge of Reg REL events and gain feedback from more experienced judges.
Who are your mentors?: Eric Evans, Ken Bearl, Zach Rivers
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: I live in a rural area with a minimal amount of large events, I have to travel 3 hrs one way to judge a 1k. I care about the development of the judging community in Northern MN/WI and have taken hours to travel to shops to mentor and coach new judges.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I built an online learning community and have develop online judge classes for those in my sphere of influence. I have worked with stores to identify and develop new judges as well as to support the stores in developing their PPTQs and other Competitive Events.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The ability to connect with players and hear about their passions for different aspects of the game.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: At every pre-release people hand me Minotaurs from that set. They show their appreciation for me and my work in the community by helping me develop my collection.

JENNIFER CALIFF

Name: JENNIFER CALIFF
Pronouns She/her/hers
Level: Level 1
Location: Duluth, Minnesota, United States of America
Region: USA – North
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: May 2010
L1 Certification Date: July 17, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Meeting new people
Occupation: I dont work I Slay
Random fact about yourself: I was a swimmer for the USA disabled swim team
Why did you become a judge?: To be an advocate for the game I love playing and people with disabilities that love playing the game
What excites you most about this event?: So many people to meet!!!
What worries you most about this event?: Being overwhelmed
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: More Confidence in myself by pushing my boundries
Who are your mentors?: Ken Anders, Matthew Westfox, and Rob McKenzie
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Lack of local competitive events
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Decided to start judging at Magicfests
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The feeling of family
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Buying my first deck which was a premium series….SO SHINY!

David Holt

Name: David Holt
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Arvada, Colorado, United States of America
Region: USA – Northwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 8/94
L1 Certification Date: May 16, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Slinging cardboard
Occupation: High School History Teacher
Random fact about yourself: … I’m going to Italy next summer
Why did you become a judge?: Mainly to be able to sanction events for my students
What excites you most about this event?: I love to travel, and I’m excited to build my experience for next season
What worries you most about this event?: Making a mistake
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I want to get more familiar at tournament operation
Who are your mentors?: Bryan Spellman, Michael Fletcher
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Missed my L2 by 2 questions… RTFQ…
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: … RTFQ
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: We have a hard core playgroup that is inclusive and friendly
What is your favorite Magic memory?: My best friend trading me TERRIBLE value because I wasn’t allowed to have “Black Magic” cards…

Zachary Knechtel

Name: Zachary Knechtel
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Coon Rapids, Minnesota, United States of America
Region: USA – North
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 03/24/2018
L1 Certification Date: March 10, 2019
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The nigh infinite variety of EDH decks.
Occupation: Machine shop quality technician
Random fact about yourself: I’m a Kickstarter addict!
Why did you become a judge?: Honestly, it think it was because I love the rules of the game more than the game itself. Is that weird?
What excites you most about this event?: The chance to finally work with some of my peers whom I’ve already come to respect through interactions at conference.
What worries you most about this event?: The thought that I’m not going to get learn everything I want to learn!
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: The culture and logistics of running a MagicFest. How the roles work and how they’re assigned. Who to go to for various questions. I just want to take in as much as possible to get an idea of what working a MagicFest is like.
Who are your mentors?: Liberator L. has been my mentor and L1 proctor, always doing a good job of randomly quizzing me and pushing me forward. I’ve also more recently been in contact with the amazing Joshua Marin with questions about pacing myself as a new judge.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Myself! I’m absolutely terrified of actually judging for the first time!
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Liberator has been working hard to convince me that I’ll do fine. It’s been helping a little, but the biggest motivation I’ve gotten so far was my recent acceptance to Judge Staff at MF Atlanta, which gave a sense of, “Yup, this is going to happen, so, like, stop freaking out and just get ready.”
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The Monticello area playgroup I’m in has morphed into a community support group. We play magic and we help each other when one of us is in need. It’s really an amazing thing.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Being allowed to Genesis Wave for 13 because the blue player was just as excited as I was to see it resolve. I then turned over 12 permanents and smashed everyone’s faces. It was glorious.

Joseph Perry

Name: Joseph Perry
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, United States of America
Region: USA – North
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: June 2015
L1 Certification Date: January 20, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Playing magic with my friends and family
Occupation: Laser Operator
Random fact about yourself: I LOVE to cook food!
Why did you become a judge?: There was a lack of judges in out area, and I wanted to give back to my community.
What excites you most about this event?: This is my first Magic Fest!
What worries you most about this event?: This is my FIRST Magic Fest!
Who are your mentors?: Ken Andrs
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Second guessing my calls, fixes, and penalties.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: By judging as many events as I can.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: They’re a great group of players, who help me grow as a judge and they allow me to return the favor by making them better players.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Opening up a foil Liliana, Heretical Healer in my very first booster pack.