![\"Jorge\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/04\/Jorge.jpg\")
Name:<\/strong>\u00a0Jorge Rua\nLevel:<\/strong> 2
\nLocation:<\/strong> Mira, Coimbra, Portugal
\nJudge start date:<\/strong> 2000
\nOccupation:<\/strong> Environmental Engineer
\nFavourite card:<\/strong>\u00a0Counterspell<\/a>
\nLeast favourite card:<\/strong> Jace (all versions of it and also all the others planeswalkers to which I always lose my games \u2026)
\nFavourite format:<\/strong> 2HG Sealed
\nCommander General:<\/strong> I know it is a very serious fault for a Magic Judge, but I do not play Commander. In order to evolve, I have to solve this quickly!
\nFavourite non-Magic Games:<\/strong> Settlers of Catan, Risk and Trivial Pursuit.
\nBest tournament result:<\/strong> I have won five or six FNMs (which only happened because the rest of the players were distracted).
\nRandom fact about yourself:<\/strong> Every year in October, I let my beard grow. In March, I cut it.<\/p>\n
Tell us your favourite Judge story. The pavilion is bursting at the seams. In the 1st round, one can see players playing standing while half the Judges and all the staff were carrying tables and chairs to occupy every square meter still available in order to have space for the rest of the players with byes that will enter during the next rounds.<\/p>\n I was floor judging and I stop at a table where a middle-aged man was playing against a little girl. I asked her age and she answered that she was 10 years old. I expressed to her that I was very happy to see a girl playing Magic and, with a smile, I said to the opponent to be nice and gentle with her.<\/p>\n The opponent also smiled, looked at the little girl and answered me “Rest assured, Judge, that I will take good care of my opponent\u2026 She is my daughter!”<\/p>\n It\u00b4s amazing how in a first round, completely random, at a tournament with 2.220 players, it happened that a father and daughter were playing against each other.<\/p>\n How did you get involved in Magic in the first place? When I returned home I looked for a store that sells the famous cards, bought a deck and half a dozen booster boxes and started playing with a cousin of mine. It was not easy because we only had the little book of basic rules on the decks and there was no Internet nor anyone to teach us.<\/p>\n Then I discovered a group of players at the University of Aveiro, spread the Magic among my friends, and we founded a local community. Shortly after we were running tournaments every weekend, at a local association, though not sanctioned. As we had not many cards, we played only with commons in a format that later (much later) would be known as Pauper.<\/p>\n How has being a Judge influenced your non-Magic life? Having to judge and work with other people, some radically different from my way of being, and to be able to communicate overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers that often exists, are achievements that then translate into my non-Magic life.<\/p>\n You were credited with helping make the process for certifying L1s in Portugal more consistent. What did you do? We have a system where candidates start by sending an e-mail or filling out a form on the net to express their interest in certifying. I gather that information and, depending on the candidate’s area, I contact the available L2s to get the candidate a mentor. Then I put both in touch and stay available to help them as needed.<\/p>\n It is also my responsibility to keep updated the letter that each mentor sends to their candidates, with the list of requirements and resources they have at their disposal to study and practice for the exam. Finally, I update the database of candidates, their mentors and the status of the certifications, asking the mentors each two months how is it progressing.<\/p>\n Why did you become a Judge? What has been your favourite Magic event that you\u2019ve judged? – GP Barcelona 2006: It was my very first GP, it definitely marked my integration into the community of judges, and especially in the community of Portuguese Judges, as well as my involvement in competitive tournaments from there (PTQs and Regional Qualifiers at those times…)<\/p>\n – GP Paris 2010. Although I have taken the test before, during a PTQ in Portugal, it was at GP Paris that I completed the process and was officially certified as L2.<\/p>\n – Magic National Championship 2014: It was a championship organized by the Portuguese TOs with regional classifiers and then the final tournament was held over two days. It was like the old National Championship where our champions earned the invitation (and the travel) to play the Magic World Championship. I was the HJ of this tournament, with an extraordinary \u00a0team, and I could see again the players, from all over the country, with a sparkle in the eyes and the feeling of playing in a very special event.<\/p>\n – PT Dragons of Tarkir 2015: It was a unique opportunity to work and learn with some world-class judges, to meet people of WoTC who I only knew from the Internet, to contact with high level players (it\u00b4s professional) and also to dispel some myths. Overall it was an awesome experience.<\/p>\n What is your favorite \u201cafter event\u201d story? I kept the spirit and shouted the same whenever I picked a crap card, which was very often. And every time Niko replied “No way, no way!” And everybody laughed.<\/p>\n While opening the last booster I yelled \u201cNow you will see, in these cards I surely have an Ugin!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>GP Madrid 2010, format Legacy. With 2220 players, it broke the world record for attendance at the time.<\/p>\n![\"DIGITAL](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/03\/2012-PTQ-Coimbra-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>It was the year of 1998. I was on holidays at Algarve. While reading the newspaper at the beach, I found an article about the GP held in that year at \u201cConvento do Beato\u201d in Lisbon. Loving RPGs, I knew right away that this could be the game of my life!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Being a Magic Judge allowed me to see various regions and meet people in my country and in other countries abroad. That gave me a global and universal view of life in general and people in particular.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I am part of the L1 certification project in the region of Portugal and Spain (now Ib\u00e9ria!) and I am responsible for coordinating the process in Portugal.<\/p>\n![\"2013](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/03\/2013-GP-Valencia-300x225.jpg\")
What is your favourite non-Magic hobby?
\n<\/strong>Gardening and fishing. And I cultivate my backyard (yes, that means vegetables, potatoes, corn, beans, and all kind of \u00a0\u201creal\u201d food) .<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Most Judges have a very altruistic and eventually heroic reason to justify his vocation. In my case, it was far more ordinary.\u00a0In the distant year of 2000, the formula for calculating the points gained or lost in each Magic game depended on a K-value. For normal tournaments in stores K was 16, if the tournament had a certified judge and 8 in other cases (we were in the long age that preceded Planeswalkers Points). And it was in order for my community to benefit from a K=16 that I got into this life.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Allow me to mention four tournaments, all very special, although for different reasons:<\/p>\n![\"DIGITAL](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/03\/2015-PT-Brussels-300x225.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>At PT Dragons of Tarkir 2015, Saturday night, we arrange to draft Dragons \/ Dragons \/ Fate. I\u00b4m not a good player and luck does not favors me often. So, after opening the first booster with only crap (as usual), I said in a fun way “What will save my draft is that in the last booster I’ll open an Ugin!” Nicolas Glik (Niko)<\/a><\/span><\/span> was seated at my left and immediately replied in same tone “No way, no way!”<\/p>\n