This weekend in New Jersey, we have 2 new judges to Welcome to the fold!
Elaine Cao
- Name: Elaine Cao
- Pronouns She/her/hers
- Level: Level 2
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Region: USA – Central
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: February 2012
- L1 Certification Date: September 13, 2014
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Gifts Ungiven!
- Occupation: Private tutor
- Random fact about yourself: I have a dog!
- Why did you become a judge?: Because there was a need for more judges in my area.
- What worries you most about this event?: Feeling out of my league and messing up calls
- What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Everything that comes with being a judge outside my local store.
- What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Learning how to educate players with significant rules misunderstandings
- How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Practice!
- What is the best part about your local Magic community?: They are super accepting and close knit!
- What is your favorite Magic memory?: Beating ANT with delver after they resolved Xantid Swarm on turn 1
Jack Pullman
- Name: Jack Pullman
- Pronouns He/him/his
- Level: Level 2
- Location: Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Region: USA – Midatlantic
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: June 24, 2013
- L1 Certification Date: August 18, 2017
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The community as a whole. Without it I can’t even imagine where I would be today.
- Occupation: Student/Part time Software Testing Contractor
- Random fact about yourself: Until I turned 18 I’d never seen snow before
- Why did you become a judge?: To better aid my local community and gain the tools to more easily get out into the global magic scene. Also to improve my play skills with better rules knowledge
- What excites you most about this event?: It’s my first MagicFest! I am working with one of my best friends on Saturday and am looking forward to the entire weekend
- What worries you most about this event?: Fielding a call and freezing up and having no idea what to do or say
- What are you hoping to learn at this event?: To add fluidity to my ability to handle situations both at and away from the table
- Who are your mentors?: Ryan Freeburger, Patrick Vorebroker, Mitchell Wetherson
- What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: Getting more opportunities to judge at competitive REL and being able to travel to those events
- How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Worked more to earn enough to be able to travel more and applying more often to events
- What is the best part about your local Magic community?: The people and their comradery
- What is your favorite Magic memory?: A tie between Top 16ing the 2017 US Nationals, getting my L2 Certification, and getting my first Pro Point at GP Orlando 2017