The Judge of the Week project is back! Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Today’s Judge of the Week is Javier Castellán. Javier is a Level 2 judge from Guatemala. He passed his Level 1 exam at the 2010 El Salvador Nationals, and leveled up the following year at the 2011 Mexico Nationals. That’s quite a bit of traveling! Javier decided to become a judge because he was already the person whom players asked all the rules questions… so it was the natural step to take. Javier was nominated by Carlos Ho, from Spain, for all the effort he makes traveling around and training judges in Central America.

Favourite card: Basking Rootwalla

Least favourite card: Timely Reinforcements

Commander general: Doesn’t play… (Please don’t hate him ;))

Favourite non-Magic game: Dominion

Best tournament result: 2nd place at Guatemala Nationals 2011 (where he conceded to his brother)

Random fact about him: Hates talking on the phone

Tell us your favourite judge story:
I will always remember the Mirrodin Besieged prerelease in Quetzaltenango, a city 200km away from home. It was just a 20-player prerelease but I made the trip with some of my friends. When we arrived to Tolarian Academy (the store hosting the event), we found out that the whole block was out of electricity because of a car accident which took down the electricity pole. I had to made all the pairings of the tournament by hand. To this day, it is the only tournament I had to run by hand.

How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?
I don’t understand what is this “non-Magic life” you’re talking about…

You travel a lot between Guatemala and El Salvador just to mentor other judges, even though travel costs are high. Are your judge students appreciative of your hard work?
I sure hope so :P. I really like to travel. Strangely enough, I enjoy long, test-of-endurance-like travels… In a typical trip to El Salvador, I drive 480km (about 8 hours). In 2011 I attended Mexican Nationals, and I made a bus trip (about 27 hours non-stop)… I think that was a little too much, but to date, it has been the best trip in my life.

What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
In 2010, Guatemala Nationals were the day before El Salvador Nationals. I played in Guatemala Nationals (came dead last), and after the tournament, Mexican judges Hector Fuentes and Jorge Lopez went with me on a road trip to El Salvador. We left Guatemala at 9pm, and arrived El Salvador at 1am. I judged, and drafted, and we didn’t leave until 1am the next day. We didn’t get home until 5am, and I had to zombie-work by 7am.

I also remember when I was in Mexico for their 2011 Nationals. After day 1, all of us went to a taco place for dinner. Arick Dickerman from Costa Rica was also there. We were the only non-Mexican judges in the staff. Arick arrived a day later than me, and he had not tried Mexican food yet. Let’s just say that Mexican food is a little too spicy for our tastes. The faces Arick made while trying to eat a spicy taco were priceless. (Sorry Arick, but I had to tell the world!)

What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?
I would be a boring Food Engineer… probably earning 10x more money than now lol.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
When I was certified as a judge, I was the 3rd judge from Guatemala and there were none in El Salvador. Now, less than 2 years later, there are 7 judges in Guatemala and 3 in El Salvador, and there are a couple of good candidates that I’m sure will be judges in a couple of months. The judge community is growing, and it is great being part of
its growth.

I would like to thank Hector Fuentes, Carlos Ho and Damian Hiller. This trio of Latin American judges have been my mentors at some point or other during my careeer as a Magic Judge. I hope I never break the trust they have in me.

Thanks to Javier for his dedication to the Central American Magic community! Keep having fun on your road trips, but try to get plenty of sleep between events!

Please leave questions/comments for Javier below, and as always, nominate a judge today!