MagicFest Oakland 2019 - Welcome to the Fold

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

dakota ainsworth

Name: dakota ainsworth
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: 29 Palms, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: may 2003
L1 Certification Date: December 31, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: My favorite thing about magic is once everyone gets together the only thing that separates us is which formats we play.
Occupation: Manager of a shipping center
Random fact about yourself: The flash is my favorite superhero and I have Flash everything.
Why did you become a judge?: I love to tutor and teach and being a judge gives me that opportunity with both players and other judges.
What excites you most about this event?: I’m excited to do a large competitive event finally.
What worries you most about this event?: I just hope I can keep up with the hectic pass of the event.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: I’m hoping to learn more about the flow of gps and now to navigate them better.
Who are your mentors?: I worked a lot with Dave delgado, and Ralph colby, and now I’m working with Jeremy stoermer
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Right now my biggest obstacles are time and location.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: I am training someone to cover me when im gone and trying to have less hours worked per week.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: That it’s there. For a while my area didn’t have a store and the nearest places is hours away. It’s great to have a store again and even better that’s there is great people at it.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: My favorite memory is winning my first competitive legacy event. It’s as great to go into an event and come out on top of so many great competitors

Kazi Baker

Name: Kazi Baker
Level: Level 1
Location: Chula Vista, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest

Liam Binell

Name: Liam Binell
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: Los Gatos, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 7/1/2011
L1 Certification Date: January 7, 2018
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: EDH
Occupation: Nonprofit Teacher/Tutor
Random fact about yourself: I have 40 Commander Decks
Why did you become a judge?: I wanted to be part of/help out with the world of competitive magic, but I don’t like playing competitive magic.
What excites you most about this event?: Learning what it’s like to judge at a competitive event.
What worries you most about this event?: Making mistakes.
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: More about the rules, possibly how to start working toward L2
Who are your mentors?: Angela Chandler and Chris Trent.
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: There are no L2 judges in my county.
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Reaching out to Angela through my friend Chris.
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: It’s a very casual and accepting environment, especially for younger kinds trying to get started.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: My very first draft I received a Spellstutter Sprite from the TO, and even though I went 0-3, my last opponent helped me rebuild my deck after the match, and I managed to beat him with it.

Thomas Conmy

Name: Thomas Conmy
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 1
Location: San Francisco, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest
Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: September/2000
L1 Certification Date: December 29, 2017
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: My custom Danger Room//Battle Box, Commander and Vintage and the communities that surround these formats
Occupation: School Teacher
Random fact about yourself: Getting my doctorate studying Dungeons and Dragons as an instructional method
Why did you become a judge?: Wanted to help my community
What excites you most about this event?: I’ve been at GPs as a player and a vendor, now it’s time to see it from a new point of view
What worries you most about this event?: No time to worry, I got side events to run!
What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Everything; I seek all the knowledge
Who are your mentors?: Dave Delgado, Nealesh Aneja
What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Working on my philosophy to better focus my immediate rulings
How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: More puzzles, reading the IPG, debriefs from events and “talking out the line”
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The people are family
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Any time I get a player to jam games with my Battle Box and get hooked (sometimes bring them back to the game they left years ago!)

Ryan Koenig

Name: Ryan Koenig
Pronouns He/him/his
Level: Level 2
Location: San Marcos, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest
Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Nexus of Fate. There is nothing like having all the fun by taking all the turns.
Occupation: IT Manager
Random fact about yourself: Two time International Pro Tour Competitor. And avid Taylor Swift fan
Why did you become a judge?: It was a way for me to stay a part of my local Magic community when I did not have the money or the time to play competitively.
Who are your mentors?: The David Zimet
What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The attitude everyone has about Magic is one of the best I’ve seen in the country. It’s never serious, it’s about self improvement and fun.
What is your favorite Magic memory?: Doing not-awful at Pro Tour Hour of Devastation will always stand out, as it was just proving to myself I could play at the highest level. Now I can judge and never feel bad I’m not playing.

Christopher Trent

Name: Christopher Trent
Level: Level 1
Location: San Jose, California, United States of America
Region: USA – Southwest