Greetings Judges! This weeks Judge is Vyacheslav Gredenyuk a L2 from Kharkov, Ukraine! He was nominated by Irina Samanova (Who was featured here a few weeks ago!) and she has this to say:

“1. Mentoring. 
Vyacheslav teaches at the University. And he always uses his professional skills in judging. He shows by his own example how to be a good judge. He takes part in local community life and shared his knowledge at tournament, conference and personal contacts.

2. Localization.
For many years he was a technical editor in translation for Russian Magic cards.”

Wow! Seems like a great judge lets see!

Occupation: University teacher, senior lecturer at the Artificial Intelligence Department of Kharkov National University of Radioelectronics
Favourite card: Birds of Paradise
Least favourite card: in such lovely game there are no bad cards 🙂
Favourite format: Standard
Commander general: Atogatog
Favourite non-Magic Game: Легенда: Наследие Драконов
Best tournament result: Well, I’m not a professional player and I don’t remember how much tournaments I won, but the best one is when I’m happy and enjoyed.
Random fact about yourself: I was in Rovaniemi (Finland) and saw a aurora polaris. Amazing!

Why did you become a judge?
By chance, my friend wanted to pass a test and asked me to join.

Tell us your favourite judge story.
In 2006 at Worlds in Paris, Sheldon Mennery came to me and said: ‘Vya-che-slav Gre-be-nyuk, nice to meet you! You are the best name judge ever.’ Seems for many people my name is hard to pronounce, so at every international tournament judge meeting, I say: friends call me Slava or Slavik, please be my friends.

Tell us an embarrassing story that you’re not afraid of everyone knowing.
That happened in Leipzig, 2005. GP Leipzig was the first GP which was won by Russian player (and judge) Rustam Bakirov. We worked till very late time on Sunday and I came back to a hotel at 1 a.m. My flight was scheduled on 10 something a.m. from Frankfurt and I planned my back trip very ‘accurate’. I had to wake up at 4.10, catch a tram at 4.16, arrive to the central railway station at 4.24, catch a train to Frankurt and… of course I heard the ring of my alarm clock and I was on my feet at 4.12. Unfortunately in Germany it means – you are fail. I missed a tram, a train, a flight. Actually it was cost me 900 Euro for back trip to Kiev in business class, my visa expired that day. But it was also very instructively. Don’t sleep at all!

How has being a judge influenced your non-Magic life?
Judging means to know the rules and to follow the line. Applying this rule to my life I try to adjust my actions to the general life line. This is working! And that is why I have a fun from this amazing world 🙂

Another answer on this question is, in 2006, I became and now are a technical editor for Russian Magic. So it is a part time job for me now 🙂

You were nominated by Irina Samonova because of your excellent work by mentoring, she also told us you use your professional skills as an University Teacher. Tell us how you combine your Teacher skills by mentoring magic!
Wow… Okay, let’s start my lecture… Don’t be afraid, I’ll not spend all 1.5 hour 😉 Very shortly.

Teaching = judging – it’s very simple theorem. Let me prove it for you.

Let’s assume that the best teaching result is when student satisfied with his/her knowledge and marks. For reaching this what does a teacher do? Yes, to disseminate and to punish. It’s a schoolmaster is abroad, and a harsh mistress.

The main sequence is to explain, to ask, to assess, to mark.

Let’s look on a judge job. Again, explain the rules, ask if everything is understandable, assess a violation of rules, and mark a penalty.

I don’t like to punish people in my class as well as in my tournament. However I understand, sometime it’s necessary. So when my student and my player want to know more, have a fun from this process, play in different games and in the Magic of course, I’m very happy.

What motivates you to continue being a judge?
Sometime nothing, sometime some new interesting people, sometime a great the Magic storyline, sometime new interesting mechanics and their interaction, many things.

What’s the best part about your local Magic community?
It is not so very big, but very friendly. Probably it isn’t so competitive as many other local communities. I hope sometime in the very near future we will see some new champion at GP, PT or WMC, and he will hoist Ukrainian flag.

I know almost every player in Ukrainian magic community and many of Russian players. I’m very happy to see new faces and meet new players.

What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other judges?
In Prague, I and some of my friends, Irina Sumonova, Eugene Bazhenov, play in some very funny cards game, ‘Зелье-варенье’. I never played in it before, but it was funny. I felt myself like a child 🙂

What’s the biggest rule-breaking play you’ve ever made as a player?
I don’t like to give bad examples. It isn’t a good teaching technique. Of course I’m not a saint and did some horrible and even intentional rule violations. Never try to repeat this. It’s dangerous. Play fair!

If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
R. Daneel Olivaw – from Asimov’s Robot series.

To ask, why does he want to be a human?

I feel that the best judge must be a some kind of robot 😉

What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?
This question for me is sounding like what will you do after the doomsday?

I’ll relax and have a fun from our new state 🙂

What character in Magic (real or fictional) represents you the best, and why?
“Blind Seer”! It is only one card in my collection of the Magic Legends which has no proper name. However we all know who he is!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I wish you good luck and see you next time in some Magic planes!

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

1. I met and spoke with Prof. Richard Garfield.
2. I was the Head Judge for Nationals three times.
3. I never disqualified any players.

Thanks to Vyacheslav for an excellent interview! See you all next week!