Greetings Judges! This week’s Judge of the Week is Paweł Kazimierczuk, L2 from Kraków, Poland!
Paweł was nominated by Jan Grottel, L2 from Poznan, Poland. Jan had the following to say about Paweł:
“He’s always educating. Every rules question on the floor is a discussion in waiting with him. I love listening to him explain policy philosophy as he sees it. He runs multiple seminars on Judge Conferences, and is THE authority on CR in Poland.
He’s also an adept writer, he writes for magicjudge.pl (judge community website), is the only non-L3 judge allowed to answer players rules questions on mtgnews.pl (Polish biggest and very active mtg forums), also runs Magic Judge PL facebook profile, with short articles with rules questions and interactions. If I was to describe a judge, that I aspire to be in my judging ‘career’ it would be Pawel.”
Paweł has been judging for eight years. He certified as an L1 in 2005. In 2010 he made the leap to L2. Paweł had a passion for studying the rules which gave him a good start to becoming a judge. As a player, he would occasionally make a play that his opponent would think was illegal and an argument would start. Now they would call a judge and verify via the internet if needed instead of trying win over the crowd with a debate. This method did teach Paweł a lot about how to properly deliver a ruling.
Occupation: Math teacher by education. No actual job at the moment. If you know of a job that has something to do with Magic or teaching math, let me know. 🙂
Favorite card: Maddening Imp. I used to combo it with Festival for one-sided Wrath of God effect. For opponents who had never heard about the post-combat main phase, I didn’t even need Festival.
Least favorite card: Blood Scrivener. I simply don’t understand how this card works.
Favorite format: Limited
Commander general: Don’t really have one. I think Commander is no longer “the judge format”.
Favorite non-Magic Game: Heroes of Might & Magic III
Best tournament result: 2nd place at PTQ Honolulu. So close!
Random fact about yourself: I was born 12 days after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, near the Ukrainian border. No superpowers though (yet!).
Tell us your favourite judge story.
I was head judging a Vintage side event (old name for public events) at a GP. The round was about to end, with seconds on a clock. I looked at the floor to see how many tables are still playing and then noticed something that immediately made my judge radar go off. At one of the further tables a guy asked his opponent something, grabbed a dice and rolled it. Then they shook hands and reached for a result slip. I made my way towards them, mentally collecting sheets of paper to get players’ statements.
I stopped at their table and asked, ready for the lecture about tournament rules, “Can you explain to me how this game finished?” Somewhat surprised player answered “Sure… I was at 2 life and I killed myself with a Mana Crypt, why?” I replied, “Um, ok. Thanks.”
At least I didn’t start off with telling them they’re disqualified. Lesson from this situation: you’ll often make obvious assumptions. Every now and then they’ll end up being wrong.
Tell us an embarrassing story that you’re not afraid of everyone knowing.
I like embarrassing, it’s like pain in that it shows you something that is wrong and requires attention. You can either listen to this unpleasant teacher and deal with the problem or try to ignore the problem and risk making it bigger.
Anyway, the story. At some GP, I’m answering a judge call. Players appeal. I go get a HJ (who happened to be Jurgen Baert), tell him about the ruling and we go back to the table. And then I realize that I don’t remember which table it was. I remember roughly the area, but can’t see the players when we got there. So awkward! We ended up going back and forth through the rows until finally one of the players called out “Hey, Jurgen, over here!” Luckily it was one of his locals. Still, it was very unprofessional of me and could have delayed a round. Since then, I usually collect result slip when leaving table to get a HJ. I advise you do the same. 🙂
How did you get involved in magic in the first place?
My cousin showed me the game at some fantasy convention. It was the most important thing I’ve learned there and it tells a lot, considering that at the same convention I attended hentai night (I think I was 14 at the time).
How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?
It ate up a lot of my time, made me fail some exams at the university and left me brokenhearted at some point. On the other hand, I’ve met a lot of interesting people, learned some new skills, traveled a lot and generally had a good time. It was definitely worth it.
You were nominated by Jan Grottel because you are THE authority on rules and policy in Poland. What is it about the rules that inspire you so?
It’s a bit of an overstatement on Jan’s side, but I do like rules and policy. It’s like math. This pleasure of getting to understand how things work. And in trying to break them. But there are differences, too. In Magic, it’s important for policy to work in majority of cases and it’s fine if it occasionally produces odd results. In mathematics, when you’re presented with a theorem that is supposed to work, for example, for every set, you start checking whether it’s true by analyzing obvious corner cases, like empty set. It’s a challenge to find a balance.
What motivates you to continue being a judge?
New challenges. Magic changes and so does Judge Program. There are many more skills I can learn and many more good memories to be had.
What is your favourite non-magic hobby?
Cycling. I can’t understand why would people choose cars to move around the city. If weather allows, I’m planning on going to GP Prague on a bicycle (it’s roughly 300 km distance from Kraków). It’s going to be fun!
What is your favorite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
Hard to tell. Maybe trip to San Juan? There was some judging too, but I don’t remember much of it. I do remember sightseeing though with David de la Iglesia, Andreas Quvang Jepsen
and George Trichopoulos
.
What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?
It was pretty recently, at Dark Ascension Prerelease. I cast Stolen Goods and got Butcher Ghoul (which has to be the least exciting loot in the whole set). Some time later the Ghoul dies and my opponent puts it in his graveyard. I thought, “Cool, he missed the trigger. I don’t have to say anything and the Ghoul will never come back even if he remembers later”. In fact, that was my triggered ability and it was my responsibility to resolve it. Furthermore, it was Regular tournament, so at the time I wouldn’t be able to ignore my opponent’s missed ability. I felt so ashamed when I realized that!
What has been your favourite magic event that you’ve judged?
Probably Finnish Nationals in 2010. Mostly because Johanna Virtanen is such a nice person.
If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I think it would be Matt Tabak. Have to ask him about that Blood Scrivener one day. 😉
Two Truths and a Lie
Two of the following statements is true, and one is false. Figure out which!
- I’ve never received a Game Loss penalty.
- I used to work physically filling huge batteries with sulfuric acid.
- I’ve never seen a certified judge before my L1 exam