This week’s snowboarder is an L2 from Copenhagen! A mentor and self-improver, William Tiddi loves Genesis Wave and has troubles dealing with flying Thopters. Find out why in this edition of Judge of the Week!
Name: William Tiddi
Level: 2
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark (but will switch to the Netherlands soon!)
Judge start date:
First L1: 11/04/2010
First L2: 25/04/2012
*lapsed in Summer 2014*
Retest L1: 25/11/2014
Retest L2: 10/06/2015
Why did you become a Judge? I played occasionally in high school. Years later, I wanted to start again and loved the community, but I am far from a competitive player and I did not have established play groups. Being a judge allowed me to be part of the local and international community and have fun, without the stress of competitive play. Of course, I always loved learning rules and tricks, so that was perfect!
Occupation: Ph.D. student
Favourite card: Humility! We need a Judge Foil version!
Least favourite card: Scrambleverse, on a crowded board.
Favourite format: Prerelease Sealed
Commander General: Maelstrom Wanderer
Favourite non-Magic Game: Jungle Speed
Best tournament result: I 5-0’d a Prerelease recently, that’s my highest achievement.
Random fact about yourself: I have a shelf full of Nohohon Zoku at home. So relaxing!
How did you get involved in Magic in the first place?
Some classmates were playing in high school and I remembered my brother having some cards at home. I picked those up and started assembling terrible decks out of random commons and uncommons from Ice Age, Fallen Empires and Fourth Edition, with Legions and Scourge cards thrown in as they came from new boosters.
How has being a Judge influenced your non-Magic life?
It taught me self-confidence, speaking in public, preparing presentations, and the importance of diversity and of listening. It also made me respect and thank those people whose job is to be sure other people will have a good experience, such as store clerks, customer support, or security.
You were nominated for your work during wave 6 of the Exemplar Program. Can you share with us what was you exemplary work doing this wave?
Together with Vuk Gavrilovic, we designed a seminar about Mentoring. He has a relevant background in that field, so he put all the theory in place; I could then build on its narrative and focus on putting it into practice with examples and dragging in the audience. I thoroughly enjoyed that seminar, I think we complemented each other and offered the audience engaging content, and this hands-on approach was highly appreciated.
What motivates you to continue being a Judge?
Doesn’t matter how much time I have, how much I can commit, there will always be somewhere where I can offer help while learning something new. It’s the “cult of self-improvement”, as it is sometime said.
What is one tip you have for other Judges?
The Program is a broad entity that offers constant opportunities. If there’s anything you’d like to learn, to try, to experiment, there’s a good chance there is a project you can join, or even set up. This is not something easy to find in the real world, so you better take advantage of this “sandbox” and take this chance to learn, while providing help to our community as well.
What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other Judges?
At a Team GP in Florence some years ago, we arranged to surprise and play with some close judge friends. We all live in different parts of Europe so we don’t see each other often. I took a flight to land in Rome Friday evening and another judge and I drove 4h in the early morning to arrive in time to enroll with a third one as a team in the main event. We proceeded to get crushed, play with our other friends some monocolored precon EDH, eat awesome cupcakes, and then drive 4h more back in the night, so I could take a flight on Sunday morning.
What has been your favourite Magic event that you’ve judged?
My first Bazaar of Moxen in Annecy, a long time ago. It was one of my first events abroad, my first experience alone in a French speaking country, and I did not know anyone in staff. But the location was charming, everyone in staff friendly and encouraging, and whoa, deckchecking black bordered P9 decks makes a L1 quite excited… and nervous!
What is the strangest card interaction you have seen in a tournament?
Italian Shards of Alara Thopter Foundry does not define which colour the tokens created will be (blue). One of my first PTQ, I stopped at a table where a player was just playing and equipping a Sword of Fire and Ice, against the Thopter combo. Unfortunately the opponent was using some colorless Thopter tokens from Mirrodin Besieged. I had literally no idea how to behave there!
If you were a Planeswalker what would be your ultimate?
“-X: Each player Genesis Wave for X (Each player reveal the top X cards of his or her library and put all permanents with converted mana cost X or less onto the battlefield)”
What hobbies do you have outside of Magic?
Uhm… is eating a hobby? Also, snowboarding, juggling, and recently picked up bouldering.
Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which!
- My bike’s name is Giuggiola
- My daily job consists of freezing alcohol and drawing stuff on it
- My most prized collection is of artist-made Turtle tokens
If there is a judge who is also doing something exemplary, please nominate a judge TODAY!