Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Judge of the Week. Let’s get started, shall we?
Today’s Judge of the Week is Sean Roffey, Level 2 from Darwin, Australia. Thanks to Morgan Meehan-Lam for nominating him! Why did Sean become a judge?
Because I’m a terrible player! I wanted to get more out of Magic, I kept hearing so much about ‘the Community and people’ from reading articles, and wanted to be involved. I wasn’t good enough to try and get to the Pro tour as a player, so wanted to try as a judge. Glad I did!
Let’s find out more about Sean:
Yep, he’s a judge alright.
Favourite card: Spirit of the Night. It was the first ‘Big black fattie’ that I opened, even though I don’t think I ever cast it or used it in a deck…
Favourite format: Draft. I enjoy my limited, easily makes it fun 🙂
Commander general: Sharuum the Hegemon and Rith, the Awakener.
Favourite non-Magic game: Ascension. If you’ve played it, you’ll understand why. Game is awesome 🙂
Best tournament result: I won a few drafts in Darwin! I’m also 4-0 lifetime against my brother in sanctioned matches (and about 0-100 unsanctioned) 🙂
Random fact about yourself: My first sanctioned Magic match was in Rovaniemi, Finland, near the Arctic Circle.
How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?
After a few weeks of events, I come back with the drive to get things done and get people to do what I need, definitely much more productive at work and better at working in teams due to judging!
You were nominated by Morgan Meehan-Lam because you are always conscientious of making of the Judge Program a better place, specifically by working on many projects. Tell us about a few of the projects you are involved in.
The main project I’m involved with is the Magic Judges Monthly summaries, which definitely keeps me busy! I used to do the community and program section, but am now doing policy with one of the others. A lot of work, but glad it’s useful! The main reason I got involved was a comment I read somewhere by Riki Hayashi. I can’t remember where or when, but it said that if you want to get anywhere in the community, you need to put up your hand and do something, make a name for yourself and get known. So the next project that came up, I volunteered for, and have been working on the summaries ever since!
What motivates you to continue being a judge?
Every time I go to a big event, I leave shattered but have had an amazing time. I have so much fun judging, meeting new players and judges, and just trying to grow and mentor the game and the community.
What’s the best part about your local Magic community?
I moved here from another town, and building a local Magic community gave me a group of friends straight away. I didn’t know anyone on arrival, and I didn’t play that much previously, but in Darwin, it’s definitely been a sanity-saver to just have things to do with people every week!
What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
Judge dinners? Conferences? Sightseeing in Manila/Japan with Riccardo?? (definitely a close second!) Will have to go with just hanging out at GP Singapore after my level 2 test with David Lyford-Smith, Christian Gawrilowicz and Alfonso Bueno. Just hanging out and sharing a room in Singapore with a group of senior European judges at my first big international tournament was awesome! Definitely made me feel like a big part of this international community!
What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?
Probably not still being in Darwin, it’s definitely a big reason for me to be staying here. Sure I’d find something else though…
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I started playing when I was 12, learned about tournaments when I was 18 and learned to judge when I was 23. Definitely feel like Magic has done a lot for me, and looking forward to see what I can get up to in the future!
Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following statements is true, and one is a lie. Figure out which one!
1. Although I work as a Financial Analyst, I have a Linguistics degree.
2. I have never been sky diving, although do enjoy abseiling.
3. I was a member of scout groups from 6 to 23.
Thanks to Sean for all his work on the Magic Judge Monthly project, and congratulations on being chosen as this week’s Judge of the Week! Please leave your question and comments in the section down below.
[expand title=”The answer to last week’s Two Truths and a Lie…”]As correctly answered by Raven’s own mother, Raven was NOT part of a jazz symphony. He can’t even dance![/expand]