How did you get involved in Magic in the first place? How has being a Judge influenced your non-Magic life? Digging into the Iberian archives, we found awesome stories about a Christmas Judge dinner and a paintball activities. How important you believe are these outside-event activities for the Judge Community? Any particular story about the paintball or the Christmas activity that you are willing to share with us? For Christmas dinner judge, we sang\u00a0karaoke, where Raul Rabionet<\/a> Proudest moment of your Judge life. What is one tip you have for other Judges? What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other Judges? What has been your favourite Magic event that you\u2019ve judged? What positive aspects has the Judge Program contributed to your everyday life? On the other hand becoming a judge compels me\u00a0to be mature, fair, and an honest guy; these qualities are one of the makes you a happy\u00a0and successful person.<\/p>\n If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why? What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed? What is the strangest card interaction you have seen in a tournament? If you were a Planeswalker what would be your ultimate? What is your favorite \u201cafter event\u201d story? (editor’s note: Spanish speakers have usually two family names, and “last name” literally read may be\u00a0understood\u00a0as the second\/last family name.)<\/p>\n But wait, there is more! As I got to the gate trying to board the plane the air hostess explained me about the mismatch so I had to leave the queue even when all of the other personal info were fine (ID number, day of birth, DCI numb-.. Ok, that didn’t, but you get the idea). As I was leaving my complain at the reception desk, I got intercepted by a couple of\u00a0agents\u00a0who asked me about where and why I was flying… well apparently Jorge Vald\u00e9s is a wide known Cartel Coke Lead<\/a>!<\/p>\n If you were a creature, what would be you? Two Truths and a Lie<\/strong><\/p>\n Two of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which! [expand title=”The answer to the last Two Truths and a Lie…”] April has not actually wandered aimlessly about Japan, but ask about that roller derby at your next event with her![\/expand]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/Jorge-a-e1424459738434.jpg\")
Name:<\/strong><\/span><\/span>Jorge Almeida<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nLevel 2!
\n<\/strong>Location:\u00a0<\/strong>Barcelona<\/a>
\nJudge start date:\u00a0<\/strong>June 2008
\nWhy did you become a Judge?
\n<\/strong>This is a good question, really, I can’t remember, maybe I started like many other judges, \u00a0wanting to know the rules, performing customer service and so on. Now I have discovered many other things I like the program.
\nOccupation:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>I work in a driving school, my degree\u00a0is in industrial safety.
\nFavourite card:\u00a0<\/strong>Birthing Pod<\/a> all the way #neverforget<\/strong>
\nLeast favourite card:\u00a0<\/strong>Norin the Wary<\/a>, …is true… is immortal!
\nFavourite format:\u00a0<\/strong>Modern and Khans Draft.
\nCommander General:\u00a0<\/strong>Ruric Thar<\/a>
\nFavourite non-Magic Game:\u00a0<\/strong>Game of movies, you can play with any site, with anyone.
\nBest tournament result:<\/strong> I’ve won a\u00a0PTQ, made day 2 at\u00a0PT Barcelona, top 96 in\u00a0GP Antwerp and top 98 at\u00a0GP Lyon, I also\u00a0won a 2K at my LGS.
\nRandom fact about yourself:\u00a0<\/strong>I’ve read the Silmarillion 14 or 15 times<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I started playing in my friends backyard.\u00a0We had no clue what we were doing and were inventing the rules as we went along. One day, one of my friends took me to a new magic shop.\u00a0That’s when\u00a0I really started playing Magic.\u00a0After the TO expressed the need for a judge, and I looked like a good candidate<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I think it has\u00a0improved my ability to coordinate teamwork<\/a>, and manage conflicts<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"paintball](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/paintball-jueces-e1424706849318-300x209.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n<\/strong>I think these activities are just so important\u00a0to generate activity, and reinforce the team spirit<\/a> in the community. In doing so we get a wonderful community, and their members become more active and this helps\u00a0improve their skills and knowledge as a team.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Sure! One of our paintball games\u00a0was Lv1’s vs Lv2+. Twas an epic battle but the L1s were vanquished! It was\u00a0such an Epic judge-on-judge encounter!<\/p>\n<\/span><\/span>, altered songs with humorous\/hilarious lyrics all the night long!<\/p>\n
![\"10570641_10203541050199614_536170183_n\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/10570641_10203541050199614_536170183_n-212x300.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>I so have many moments to be proud of\u00a0to be honest its hard to\u00a0pick one over others. However if \u00a0I had to pick\u00a0I’d say a lot of my very proudest moments\u00a0are related to\u00a0dealing with challenges<\/a> that\u00a0 impact your peers in a positive way that they become better people and recognize your hard work.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The judge community is so important and gives so many possibilities to do so many things, take advantage of this!\u00a0You can build something here. The only limitation is your voluntary commitment and desire of self-involvement in the community.<\/p>\n![\"Jorge](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/Jorge-a02-e1424483564158-205x300.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>Judge Conferences<\/a>! They are always full of good times and fun, would be very difficult to pick one over the others =P!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The last event where I had a great time was\u00a0the weekend \u00a0of Arkanis Deluxe, a event where\u00a0we ran\u00a0several events of all\u00a0different\u00a0formats\u00a0the\u00a0whole weekend, in Cantabria<\/a>. The judge staff did a really great job, and I ended up\u00a0exhausted. Some of the awesome judges we had on the crew\u00a0were Sergio Perez<\/a><\/span><\/span>, Maxim Antipov<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, Kepa Arrieta<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, Sergio Garcia<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, Antonio Jose Rodriguez Jimenez<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, Manuel Amaya Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, and Nicolas Glik<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>. Guys, you Rock!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Well, I love to manage teams, the judge program has helped me a lot by developing these skills which also are huge in\u00a0any\u00a0another regular job.<\/p>\n![\"Jorge](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/Jorge-a01-e1424483514871-221x300.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n<\/strong>I’d probably like to pic to have a chat with Buddha. I believe everyone must have trascendental<\/a> questions about our existence, where do we come from, \u00a0where are we going to, and such…<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Maybe I would be attending some English lessons :D, Actually couldn’t imagine my life without Magic, I’m\u00a0so involved in the game and is so much time I’ve enjoy both as player and Judge. I just love it!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Nowadays I haven’t\u00a0see many weird\/unexplainable card interactions, but back then at the early days as I started to play I couldn’t explain how a man-land could turn into an actual creature with a Humility<\/a> in play.<\/p>\n![\"Jorge](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2015\/02\/Jorge-Almeida-Catalonian-Manager2-215x300.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Hey! Did I mention that I’m a Planeswalker?\u00a0\ud83d\ude00 *see picture!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Certainly there a lot of them! Many took place at conferences, but if I had to choose one, I’d stick with the awesome capacity that Spanish Judges (me included, \u00a0of course :P) have to miss their return\u00a0flights from events. My most\u00a0memorable flight issue was I had to take a flight to play a PTQ in Andaluc\u00eda<\/a>, the one of us that was in charge of purchasing the tickets failed to properly register my name over the “last name” field. It turned out upon arrival to the airport my name was entered as “Jorge Vald\u00e9s” instead of Jorge Almeida Vald\u00e9s. Unfortunately then was so late to correct the mistake and take the flight but it keep still as a memorable story to tell. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Obviously… Judgegoyf!! All judges get + 1\/+ 1 for each judge on the floor.<\/p>\n
\n1. Although this interview never mentioned it I’m also a passionate dancer.
\n2. While I’m Spaniard, I’m also\u00a0a\u00a0fluent English speaker solely\u00a0\u00a0thanks\u00a0to the judge program!
\n3. One of my favorite\u00a0Magic characters is\u00a0Ajani, he reminds me \u00a0of \u00a0the value of valor, teamwork and trustworthiness.<\/p>\n