![\"Eliana](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2017\/01\/Eliana-Rabinowitz.jpeg\")
\n<\/span>Level:<\/strong> 2
\n<\/span>Location:<\/strong>Pasadena, CA<\/a>
\n<\/span>Judge start date:<\/strong>\u00a0 2\/14\/15
\n<\/span>Occupation:<\/strong> \u00a0Magic Judge! (For now\u2026 \u00a0Searching for a day job that will allow me to keep judging just as much!)
\n<\/span>Favorite card:\u00a0<\/strong>Heritage Druid<\/a>
\n<\/span>Least favorite card:\u00a0<\/strong>Pyroclasm<\/a>
\n<\/span>Favorite format:<\/strong> Draft!
\n<\/span>Commander General:\u00a0<\/strong>Ezuri, Renegade Leader<\/a>
\n<\/span>Favorite non-Magic Game:<\/strong> \u00a0Terra Mystica<\/a>
\n<\/span>Best tournament result:<\/strong> \u00a0Conceded in the finals of a Sealed Last Chance Trial for GP San Diego 2015 after finding out during the tournament that Standby judges were activated!
\n<\/span>Random fact about yourself:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been a national finalist in two horsemanship<\/a> competitions<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
Why do you judge? Me:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cHey, I can\u2019t seem to find you in the system, which is weird given that you were in this morning\u2019s event.\u00a0 Are your names correct on my list?” *shows list* That was perhaps the strangest player interaction I\u2019ve ever had as a judge.<\/span><\/p>\n What is your favorite non-judging moment that happened with other judges (or after event story)? What challenges have you faced or are you facing to become a better judge, and how have you worked to overcome them? What positive aspects has the Judge Program contributed to your everyday life? What\u2019s the best part about your local Magic community? What is your favorite non-Magic hobby? How did yo If you could chat with one person, real or fictional, dead or alive, who would it be and why? If you were a Planeswalker, what would be your ultimate? What was the proudest moment of your Judge life? Two Truths and a Lie<\/strong> [expand title=”The answer to the last Two Truths and a Lie…”]Anthony “Krugs” Hullings does not consider White his favourite color.[\/expand]<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I judge for a lot of reasons.\u00a0 I started pursuing judging because I saw a local need for consistent and fair rulings.\u00a0 Once I started studying, I also found out that the rules and policy system in Magic<\/strong> is unbelievably detailed and complete, and I\u2019ve always really enjoyed complex and thorough systems of rules.\u00a0 Now, I still judge to create a fair and consistent experience for players, which I think is really important to enjoyment of the game, but I also judge because I love the Magic judge community.\u00a0 It is full of some of the most interesting and intelligent people I\u2019ve ever met, and I learn a tremendous amount about Magic<\/strong> and other things every time I judge an event.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Elianagroup\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2017\/01\/Elianagroup-300x225.jpg\")
Tell us your favorite judge story.
\n<\/span><\/strong>At the Oath of the Gatewatch prerelease, I was responsible for the 2HG event taking place Sunday<\/span><\/span> afternoon, after the morning Sealed prerelease.\u00a0 For previous sets, we had between 4 and 12 teams for the 2HG events, so I didn\u2019t expect it to be a large event.\u00a0 When I checked the entry spreadsheet about an hour before the event, we had almost 40 teams.\u00a0 I decided to start entering teams into WER right away, because registration for 2HG can take a while (it isn\u2019t WER\u2019s favorite type of event to run).\u00a0 There were several new players who needed DCI numbers, but there was also one team of players who wrote \u201clookup\u201d for their DCI numbers but were not coming up in my search.\u00a0 I called their names to get them to come up, and saw they were playing in the morning event, but I couldn\u2019t find their names there either, which was weird.\u00a0 I had them finish their matches, so a few minutes before the 2HG was supposed to start, they came up to my desk to sort out the situation.\u00a0 The following conversation then happened (names changed for anonymity):<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYes\u201d
\n<\/span>Me:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWell, were you using your own DCI numbers in the morning event?\u201d
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYeah, but in that event, my name is ‘John Allen Smith’ and his name is ‘Steven Doe’.\u201d
\n<\/span>Me:<\/strong> \u00a0*Look at sign up list and see the names \u201cAllen Smoe\u201d and \u201cStohn Dith\u201d and look quizzically at players.*
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYeah, well obviously we are a team, we need to meld minds.\u201d
\n<\/span>Me:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201c\u2026 well I need to use your actual names in the event.\u201d
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019ll still show up how we want it on the match slip though, right???\u201d
\n<\/span>Me:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cNo, it will use your actual last names to identify the team.\u201d \u00a0(Due to high attendance, I had a blanket policy of no team names.)
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cBut how will we meld minds!?!?\u201d
\n<\/span>Me:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWell, you can call each other whatever you\u2019d like\u2026\u201d
\n<\/span>Them:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cOk!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Eliana](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2017\/01\/Eliana-3-248x300.jpg\")
What are some tips you have for other judges?
\n<\/span><\/strong>Don\u2019t be afraid of giving and getting feedback.\u00a0 The judge community really thrives on feedback and others in the program genuinely want to help you improve.\u00a0 If you receive constructive feedback, it doesn\u2019t mean you are doing a bad job, it means that someone wants to help you do an even better job!\u00a0 Similarly, if you see something that you think another judge does really well or could improve on, they won\u2019t know unless you tell them!\u00a0 Judges are usually really excited to receive feedback so that they can improve!\u00a0 Plus, the return on investment on feedback is really high.\u00a0 You take a small amount of time to write down or tell someone what you noticed, and they get really valuable insight that can help them be a better judge and make them feel like others notice and care about them.\u00a0 Feedback impacts the recipient for a lot longer than it took to write it! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>The day after GP Portland 2016, Steven Zwanger<\/a><\/span><\/span>, Jeremy Fain<\/a>
<\/span><\/span>, Kyle Mcquilkin<\/a>
<\/span><\/span> and I had relatively late flights out and decided on a whim to go to the zoo.\u00a0 After spending a rather large amount of time figuring out how to get there, we had a pretty great time.\u00a0 They all got to learn that I think pretty much every animal is cute, and all of our Facebook pages became inundated with a variety of photos and videos of the animals we saw for quite a while after that.\u00a0 Before that GP, I had always tried to fly out early on Monday<\/span><\/span>, but now I try to stick around until the afternoon or evening when possible, because spending time with judge friends is pretty much always fun.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>Especially when I first started judging, I found it really stressful to deal with uncertainty or unexpected situations.\u00a0 I\u2019m someone who really likes to be organized and have a precise plan of when and how everything will get done.\u00a0 In judging, however, that\u2019s just not always possible.\u00a0 Things don\u2019t always run as expected and sometimes flexibility is necessary.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that I can approach this from two directions to overcome this difficulty. \u00a0First of all, I learn everything I can about how events run.\u00a0 That way, no matter what role I\u2019m in, I have some understanding of my place in the event and what I need to prioritize. \u00a0Additionally, I try to practice dealing with these situations when I can.\u00a0 The more I experience unexpected situations, the fewer situations are unexpected when they come about! \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"eliana](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2017\/01\/eliana-2-208x300.jpg\")
Who have been some of your biggest mentors in the Judge Program, and what did they teach you?
\n<\/span><\/strong>When I first started judging GPs, John Brian McCarthy<\/a><\/span><\/span> was one of the first judges to show me the ropes of how GP Main Events worked.\u00a0 He gave me a lot of great advice about how to be effective and efficient on the floor of an event, and he has continued to be a great resource any time I have questions. \u00a0Ben McDole<\/a>
<\/span><\/span> has also been great at helping me step up my judge skills to be a better leader and mentor.\u00a0 He taught me that different judges have different learning styles and personalities, and that being a good mentor or leader sometimes entails figuring out what a particular judge needs. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>The Judge Program gave me a lot of confidence to give and receive feedback.\u00a0 I used to find it really hard to receive or give constructive feedback and it always made me feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 The Judge Program helped me learn that no one bothers to give feedback to someone they don\u2019t care about, so getting feedback means that someone is trying to help you grow.\u00a0 Judging also introduced me to some of my best friends and I get to be part of an amazing community of people from all over the world, with all sorts of backgrounds and fields.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>The best part of my local Magic community is probably the scale of it.\u00a0 I live in a very large city, so there are tons of Magic players who enjoy all kinds of different formats.\u00a0 The community is large enough to support frequent events of all kinds\u00a0and it means having \u00a0a lot of choices and variety of Magic in the area, which is really cool.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>I ride horses!\u00a0 Specifically, I do Dressage<\/a>. \u00a0(Stephen Colbert calls it \u201cHorse Dancing,\u201d and he\u2019s not really wrong.)<\/span><\/p>\n![\"IMG_5994\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/files\/2017\/01\/IMG_5994-e1484171266672-225x300.jpg\")
u get involved in Magic in the first place?
\n<\/span><\/strong>My friends tried to get me to play Magic<\/strong> for years while I was in college, but I kept saying it was too nerdy, even for me.\u00a0 Eventually, the week before I graduated, I tried out my friend\u2019s casual Vampire deck.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like it at the time, but I couldn\u2019t get it out of my head, so I decided to learn more and read the Comprehensive Rules<\/a> (because reading the rules is definitely how you learn to play a game, right?) \u00a0I went home after graduation, ventured to my LGS for the first time, and tried a draft.\u00a0 I\u2019ve loved it ever since!<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>I would probably want to talk to Gandalf.\u00a0 He\u2019d have some really terrific stories and I\u2019d want to hear them all.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>You get an emblem with \u201cWhenever a player casts a spell, you get 3 energy counters.\u201d \u00a0I tend to get excited and enthusiastic about pretty much anything!<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/strong>The proudest moment of my judge life was probably organizing the Judge Buddy program for GP Pittsburgh 2016.\u00a0 It was my first time doing that and also my first time getting to post a new thread in an event forum!\u00a0 It felt amazing to have been trusted to do something that would impact so many judges at their first or second GP and it was the first time where I was publicly acting in the mentor role.\u00a0 I got a lot of positive feedback from that event and it was great to know that my efforts made a difference.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTwo of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which!<\/p>\n\n