Ciao Judges! This week we continue our tour to meet the Level 4+ judges, and stop in Italy to talk with Cristiana Dionisio, who is making her second Judge of the Week appearance. Let’s meet her!
Name: Cristiana Dionisio, but everybody calls me just Cri.
Level: 4
Location: I’m Italian. I was born in a small quiet city 50km to the south of Rome but I currently live in… hmmm… somewhere in the world
Judge start dates: L1: January 2003, L2: September 2003, L3: December 2005, L4: April 2011
Occupation: Hasbro Contractor
Favorite card: Vesuvan Doppelganger
Least favorite card: Sinkhole
Favorite format: Standard
Commander general: I don’t play Commander… sorry. The best General ever is Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Favorite non-Magic Game: Taboo XXL
Best tournament result: 20th at Italian Regionals. I also won 2 Prereleases.
Random fact about yourself: I love lions! When I was 9 years old, while I was playing at the beach with my brother, an Arabian man who was carrying a very small male lion in a leash put it in my arms asking if I wanted to buy it. It was love at first sight and I cried for hours when my parents said no. How can you say no to such a request?
How did you become a L4+?
In 2007 Davide Bonati (former Italian Office responsible) asked me to become the “Italian Judge Manager” – it was a new role to take care of judges, talk to TOs, solve issues, prevent problems, select HJs. In 2010 the “local judge manager” Role became what today is called a Regional Coordinator; Andrew Heckt divided the world into Regions and designated a Regional Coordinator for each one. After 4 years of performing the role with good results, Andy and the other L4+ Judges decided that I was doing well and I fitted the role of RC Coordinator and assigned RCs as my sphere.
What are you currently working on within the judge program?
Together with RCs and Sean Catanese we are especially taking care of misconduct and procedures to demote/de-certify L1-2s who misbehaved or don’t have the requirements anymore. We are finding the best ways and practices to handle these cases. RCs are also talking about new L2 requirements.
Tell us your favorite judge story.
My first DQ was to a guy who had slightly different sleeves added intentionally. The guy admitted he was cheating. At the end of the investigation, when I told him that he was DQ’ed, he asked to talk to me in private and he pointed to a girl that was seated in a corner of the room. He said ‘See that girl? She is from Brazil and doesn’t speak Italian at all, I told her that I am the worldwide Magic champion to convince her to date me. So today I cheated because I need to win this PTQ to keep the story believable. SO please DQ me but do it in a quiet way.’
Two Truths and A Lie
Two of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which!
1. I am very selective
2. I see things as black and white.
3. I am very evil!
If there is a judge who is also doing something exemplary, please nominate a judge TODAY!