![\"Jonas0\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/08\/Jonas0.jpg\")
Name:<\/strong>\u00a0Jonas Drieghe<\/a>\nLevel:<\/strong> 2
\nLocation:<\/strong> Leuven, Belgium<\/a>
\nJudge start date:<\/strong> 4\/26\/2014
\nOccupation:<\/strong> Software Engineer
\nFavourite card:<\/strong> It\u2019s a tie between Goblin Sharpshooter<\/a> and Restoration Angel<\/a>
\nLeast favourite card:<\/strong> Hmm \u2026 Emissary of the Sleepless<\/a> not having Morbid is pretty tilting
\nFavourite format:<\/strong> Cube
\nCommander General:<\/strong> Currently Selvala, Explorer Returned<\/a>
\nFavourite non-Magic Game:<\/strong> League of Legends
\nBest tournament result:<\/strong> 1st at a PPTQ
\nRandom fact about yourself:<\/strong> I have 3 Star Wars cats (Lord Vader, Queen Amidala and Emperor Palpatine)<\/p>\n
Jonas, you\u2019ve been praised for having a big impact on the BeNeLux community even when you were a L1. What sorts of ways did you step up? How did you get involved in Magic in the first place? How has being a Judge influenced your non-Magic life? What is one tip you have for other Judges? What\u2019s the best part about your local Magic community? What is your favourite non-judging moment that happened with other Judges? What\u2019s the biggest rule-breaking play you\u2019ve ever made as a player? What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed? How do you have fun during events? If you were a Planeswalker, what would be your ultimate? If you were a creature, what would be your creature type? What do you see as your short-term and long-term goals within the Judge program? Is there anything else you\u2019d like to add? Two Truths and a Lie<\/strong> [expand title=”The answer to the last Two Truths and a Lie…”]Evan has not delivered a baby in a taxi.[\/expand]<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I quickly realized that the best way to help out in our region was through communication and collaboration. I attended 1 or 2 regional judge dinners and started helping out organizing them on a regular basis. I got involved in couple of other projects too (like Annotated MTR<\/a> and Benelux Bulletin<\/a>, our regional newsletter).<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I got introduced to it by some older friends around the release of Onslaught and instantly fell in love.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I\u2019m often away for one or more days during weekends, so it has definitely had an impact on planning. Besides that, I believe part of the mindset of continuous self-improvement and looking for opportunities to help out translates well to both personal and professional non-Magic life.<\/p>\n
\nWhat motivates you to continue being a Judge?<\/strong> ![\"Jonas](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/08\/Jonas-2-300x200.jpg\")
\n<\/strong>The program itself and the self-improvement based mindset of our community makes every effort a breeze and every event a well-spent day. Judging is more that just rules and policies and I believe that the challenges in various other areas (community building, customer service, logistics etc.) are both interesting and motivating.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Always stay curious. Look at what other judges are doing because there is always something to learn, just like other judges always have something to learn from you.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Definitely the TO. Around the time I started judging, he became the new owner of my LGS and he immediately understood the importance of a great (playing and judging) community. His generosity towards players and judges in combination with his can-do attitude and everlasting smile make him very rewarding to work with.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I love every single one of our judge dinners. We used to go to the same restaurant in Brussels every time, Ninja House, an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant.\u00a0But we are trying something different at the moment. Every Wednesday before a pre-release weekend, we host a judge event in one of Belgium\u2019s stores, where we discuss various topics while enjoying food and drinks. Afterwards, we often play some games. The idea behind this change is that newer judges are more willing to attend in a local game store than in a restaurant and that it\u2019s a great way for judges and TOs throughout the country to get to know each other.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I play mostly mono-white in Modern and Legacy and I have found myself with two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben<\/a> on board way more than I would like. Stupid yet honest mistake but it seems to always creep up on me when I\u2019m getting tired.<\/p>\n![\"Jonas](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/08\/Jonas-1-200x300.png\")
What was the toughest Magic event that you\u2019ve judged, and how did you deal with it?
\n<\/strong>I was working the early Deck Checks team at GP Utrecht (Modern Masters 2), my first GP. While the event had thousands of deck lists, we got the added challenge of having to process hundreds of players dropping (because of the value of their sealed pool) before round 1 could start. We managed, albeit barely, to get it done by being super methodical, continuously improving our process and working as a well-oiled machine. I\u2019m still very grateful I had both Jack Doyle<\/a><\/span><\/span> and Charlotte Sable<\/a>
<\/span><\/span> by my side at that event, as they were instrumental in keeping everything calm and organised.<\/p>\n
\nIf you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why?<\/strong>
\nLeonardo da Vinci<\/a>. He\u2019s the archetypical Homo Universalis<\/a>, so I believe he would have a lot of interesting things to talk about. Also, I\u2019m very curious how people like him (and the likes of Einstein etc) would thrive in our modern, computer-driven world.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I would probably be more involved in the Open Source software<\/a> community, speaking at meetups and conferences.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Watching players enjoy themselves is already very rewarding. When there are other judges around, I love to challenge (and be challenged by) them with interesting questions or scenarios.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Getting an emblem that says: \u201cWhenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it did not come from exile, exile it and return it to the battlefield under your control.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Probably Goblin Artificer because my tinkering with everything is often based more on gut feeling than on deep thought.<\/p>\n![\"jonas30\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2016\/08\/jonas30-185x300.jpg\")
What was the proudest moment of your Judge life?
\n<\/strong>At GP Copenhagen, I was working side events and could see a bunch of issues with main event floor coverage because of my location in the venue. I made sure my event was being watched and got the problem sorted out by rearranging some stuff and talking to some team leads.\u00a0After the round, the main event head judge (Kim Warren<\/a><\/span><\/span>) showed up near the side event stage looking for me just to figure out who was doing such a wonderful job at side events. As I didn\u2019t have a lot of GP experience yet, I felt really proud in that moment and learned how valuable public praise is to keep people motivated and productive.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do you see as your greatest strengths as a Judge?
\n<\/strong>Finding the strengths in other people and challenging them whenever I can. It also helps to understand 5 languages.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Short-term goals are simply to keep empowering our region with fresh ideas and focus more on reviews. The long-term goals are currently rather cloudy as I\u2019m pretty busy with raising children and renovating our house, but for now it\u2019s just to keep judging while trying to improve myself and the people around me.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Criticise privately, praise publicly and sit down as much as possible when judging.<\/p>\n
\nTwo of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which!<\/p>\n\n