This weekend in Providence, we have 4 new judges to Welcome to the fold!
Joseph Curran
- Name: Joseph Curran
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Revere, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Region: USA – Northeast
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: July 2017
- L1 Certification Date: December 28, 2017
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The Community, by far. Magic is sort of unique among activities that it can be so many things to so many people, and those people can connect at a level about the game they love, even if those two people are a MagicFest grinder and a tabletop Commander player. The game unites those people despite how differently they experience the game.
- Occupation: Manager, Friendly Local Game Store
- Random fact about yourself: I own 18 Commander decks of different color identity.
- Why did you become a judge?: When I started working at the FLGS, I was never meant to be the Magic guy. But the best laid plans oft go awry, and I found myself working every Friday night. And I found myself being asked Judge calls and having to run the event. So I came to the conclusion that the members of our Magic community deserved a certified Judge for FNM.
Maria Luiza Rodrigues Garcia
- Name: Maria Luiza Rodrigues Garcia
- Pronouns She/her/hers
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Bauru, New Jersey, Brazil
- Region: Brazil
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 09/11/2012
- L1 Certification Date: September 9, 2019
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: The Gathering is the best part and what holds everything together in this wonderful game!
- Occupation: Exchange student
- Random fact about yourself: I broke my right arm 3 times :o.
- Why did you become a judge?: The rules of MTG always fascinate me, since the beginning. Besides it, my local community needed a judge to help with some issues, so I was more than happy to become a judge to read and study the rules and help my community.
- What excites you most about this event?: It’s the biggest opportunity in my judge life until today and I couldn’t be more excited to learn more, work with people I admire, live the atmosphere of the event.
- What worries you most about this event?: The amount of people and the responsibility a judge has to make sure everyone is having a good and absolutely fair experience!
Dylan Stephano-Shachter
- Name: Dylan Stephano-Shachter
- Pronouns He/him/his
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Region: USA – Northeast
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: 2015
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Ensnaring Bridge
- Occupation: Software Engineer
Sam Wiles
- Name: Sam Wiles
- Pronouns He/him/his
- Level: Level 1
- Location: Bealeton, Virginia, United States of America
- Region: USA – Midatlantic
- Approximate date/month/year you started playing Magic: August 1997
- L1 Certification Date: October 21, 2018
- Favorite thing (e.g., card, deck, group of people) about Magic: Storm mechanic
- Occupation: Software Engineer
- Random fact about yourself: Learned to play Starcraft in Seoul, Korea.
- Why did you become a judge?: Originally because the store I went to didn’t have a judge.
- What excites you most about this event?: EDB was a big part of me getting back into magic back in 2009. In 2018 he certified me as a judge. Now he’s on staff for my first MagicFest. I guess I’m saying I’m excited to have EDB as my judge spirit animal.
- What worries you most about this event?: That I’ll just forget how to judge an event.
- What are you hoping to learn at this event?: Anything and everything that judges with more experience than me are doing to improve player experience.
- Who are your mentors?: Vincent Roscioli and Tyrik Strachan
- What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge?: The IPG. There are a lot of times where I know that an infraction has occurred but I have to really stop and think about what infraction and how to fix it. I don’t like doing this in front of players.
- How have you worked to overcome those challenges?: Setting aside some time to read different sections of the IPG and taking policy tests on judgeApps.
- What is the best part about your local Magic community?: EDH Night, on Thursdays we get together and play some friendly games of EDH and everyone has a good time with tried and tested decks as well as jank that they threw together to show off an idea they had. It’s the one time I’m playing Magic and am certain everyone is just there to have fun.
- What is your favorite Magic memory?: My opponents reaction the first time I cast a summoner’s pact with a hive mind in play.