Happy weekend, everyone! Another week, another judge to feature. And today’s featured judge is Milijan Gacanovic, L2 from Serbia! He certified as a judge in 2006, and passed his Level 2 test is 2007. Why did he become a judge?

“When I start playing a new game, the first thing I ask is “What are the rules?” When I started playing Magic, all the rules information I could get was from “old players”, and often the information I got was conflicting. Somebody had to step in and clear up the mess, and no one was interested in doing that. I liked the game very much, so I decided to give it a try. I studied the rules, and shared the knowledge with my local community. As studying the rules gave me enough knowledge to explain how rules interact and why things work the way they work (instead of just saying “it is like that”) a lot of players started playing by “my rules” and soon I got community’s recognition as a “rules expert”. I very much enjoyed this new role, and next logical step was a formal certification as a judge.

Here’s some more information about Milijan:

Occupation: Computer Science Engineer
Favourite card: Control Magic Least favourite card: Thrun, the Last Troll … Can’t be countered and Hexproof !?!
Commander general: Oona, Queen of the Fae Favourite non-Magic Game: D&D
Random fact about yourself: You can see me without beard no more than 2 times per year

Tell us your favourite judge story.
When I was preparing for my level 1 exam (which I planed to take during Nationals) I mostly studied the rules. I was aware that when an illegal situation occurs that the judge needs to fix it, but, somehow I thought that all you need to do is apply state based effects and “common sense”.

So the day of the Nationals came, I was assisting as a “judge wannabe” and I witnessed an interesting situation. Player A had 1 creature in play and it had protection from Black. Player B also had 1 creature and played a black removal spell targeting Player’s A pro black creature. Obviously this was not legal, so the judge was called. Now, Nationals HJ (Philipp Daferner) entered the scene, listened to both players carefully, issued the appropriate warnings and rewound the game to before the black removal was played.

This struck me as strange and in contradiction with my “common sense”. Player A targeted an illegal creature, and it was obvious that this was against the rules, but why wasn’t he forced to choose new (legal) target if one existed? Rewinding the game seemed very strange to me.

After the ruling I approached Philipp, and asked him why he ruled the way he did. Philipp explained to me that it takes much more than game rules knowledge to be a judge, there are a lot of important things like tournament procedures, communication, leadership, mentoring and much more, and that during the lunch break he would explain
everything in detail.

I couldn’t wait for the lunch break, and when it finally came, for the first time I found out what it really means (and takes) to be a judge. Since then, I was “hooked” to judging 🙂

You were nominated by Vuk Gavrilovic from Italy because of your ability to stay impartial amidst many competing stores. How do you maintain your relationship with all of them?

It is not easy 🙂

I am in a position where I need to accommodate judging needs for an entire country. There are many sides, each pulling their own way and I am in the middle… What I try to do is stay impartial and try to see the big picture. It is not always easy, and often one side sees my objectivity as “favoring” someone else, but I always do my best to be fair to everyone. I think that everyone sees that at the end, but they do like to complain “along the way” 🙂

What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?

PT Amsterdam, day 1, early morning before the event. A few judges (dressed in full judge uniforms) are waiting at the Tram station. We are attracting a few glances from people walking by, but nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, we hear a very loud “Judge!” call from across the street. We all turn and look, and across the street stands a (typical) group of magic players. One of the players asks “Can you please direct us to the event area; it seems that we are lost”

What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?

Sometimes I have a tendency to end up with multiple legendary permanents with the same name in play (and all on my side of the battlefield). I have no idea how this escapes my attention (as I notice significantly smaller things) but it does.

Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following statements are true, but one is false. Figure out which one!

1. I was attacked by a strange looking fish while scuba diving
2. I sing lead tenor in my community choir
3. I really like beer

Congratulations to Milijan for being this week’s Judge of the Week! Leave your guesses, question, and comments down below!