{"id":6361,"date":"2017-01-18T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/?p=6361"},"modified":"2017-01-17T11:54:15","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T17:54:15","slug":"aj-kerrigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/aj-kerrigan\/","title":{"rendered":"AJ Kerrigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good to have you back, judges! The rock star we are featuring this week began his involvement with Magic<\/strong> at a young age as a player and columnist, and has continued to perform extremely well as a judge. Time to get to know AJ Kerrigan!<\/p>\n

\"L2Name:<\/strong>\u00a0AJ Kerrigan<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nLevel:<\/strong> 2
\nLocation:<\/strong> Philadelphia, PA
\nJudge start date:<\/strong> August 16, 2014
\nWhy did you become a Judge?<\/strong> I wanted to keep travelling to events and staying involved in the community that I had grown up in, but was unfortunately at a point in my life where it was no longer financially feasible to travel to events as a player as often.
\nOccupation:<\/strong> Student
\nFavourite card:<\/strong>\u00a0Dark Ritual<\/a>
\nLeast favourite card:<\/strong>\u00a0Mental Misstep<\/a>
\nFavourite format:<\/strong> Modern
\nCommander General:<\/strong>\u00a0Kemba, Kha Regent<\/a>
\nFavourite non-Magic Game:<\/strong> The Adventure Time CCG<\/a> or Love Letter<\/a>
\nBest tournament result:<\/strong> T64 of an SCG Invitational, a few GP cashes, and I\u2019ve Top 8ed\/won a bunch of States, PPTQs, and similar tournaments
\nRandom fact about yourself:<\/strong> I earned an Associate Degree when I was 17 years old.<\/p>\n

<\/u>How did you get involved in Magic in the first place?<\/strong>
\nI had started playing Yu-Gi-Oh! when I was 3-years old, and a few years later, started attending a game store owned by a family friend. I tried a ton of games, but never ones that lasted or grew beyond a small scene (Bleach TCG, Flames of War<\/a>, Monsterpocalypse<\/a>). I stopped attending the LGS regularly for a little while, and one day while I was shopping for baseball equipment for the upcoming season, I passed a small area of a store that had packs for various card games. I bought some\u00a0World of Warcraft TCG<\/a> and Magic<\/strong> starter decks, took them to the LGS, and asked which I should play. I actually liked the mechanics of WoW TCG a little more, but since Magic<\/strong> was much more popular at the LGS and I had walked in on the morning of the Shards of Alara prerelease, I chose that one. I guess I made the right choice!<\/p>\n

You used to be a columnist for Star City Games. What was that like?<\/strong>
\nIt was honestly one of the best experiences of my life that I wish I had taken advantage of better. I started writing for SCG when I was only 13, so to have that kind of responsibility and opportunity really helped me develop both educationally and in terms of maturity. In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time on my articles and had been better at meeting my deadlines, but at the very least, it looks amazing on a resume. It also really helped me meet a lot of people, both in the game and out, as it extended my reach in the community and also\u00a0provided\u00a0me an increased ability to travel to events.<\/p>\n

\"SCGWhat motivates you to continue being a Judge?<\/strong>
\nI was given so much good fortune in this game throughout my childhood, particularly in the competitive scene, so I\u2019m mostly motivated by the idea of giving back. I want Magic<\/strong> players to have amazing experiences at tournaments so that they might be able to get as much from the game as I have. I continue judging so that I can keep helping run great events. I also love the leadership and teamwork experience that judging provides me, which I otherwise do not have many other opportunities for.<\/p>\n

What is one tip you have for other Judges?<\/strong>
\nFind your niche. No judge will be good at everything (or even want to do everything), so look for what part of the program is most suited to either your current skill set, what you want to learn, or what you enjoy the most. There is a different part of the program for everybody, so don\u2019t be discouraged when you can\u2019t do it all. I\u2019m not the greatest mentor or community developer, but I like to think I am pretty good at helping to run large events, so I stuck with that for a while. Now I have shifted towards the community development stuff in order to get better at those skills that I could use in my professional life outside of judging.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best part about your local Magic community?<\/strong>
\nWhile school has taken me away from my local community for a little bit,\u00a0The Only Game in Town<\/a> in Somerville, NJ will always be the store I grew up with. I\u2019ve been going there for around 13 years now and have met some of my best friends through that store. The best part really is the camaraderie that exists. The core group of players has a really strong balance between wanting to improve at Magic<\/strong>, but also just wanting to enjoy their time together. Lots of late night trips to TGI Fridays<\/a> and drafting at Arby\u2019s at 2 a.m. are the kinds of things that have given me such amazing friends over the years.<\/p>\n

\"SCGWhat has been your favourite Magic event that you\u2019ve judged?<\/strong>
\nThis might be a cheap answer, but it was probably the SCG Classic<\/a> that I Head Judged in Philadelphia. The other head judges were great, I met a ton of awesome people, and I really learned a lot that weekend. I absolutely loved the leadership role and I want to try to get back into those roles once I return to judging more actively than I currently am. My team for that event was also fantastic, as it was some of my favorite judges who also happen to be on the polar opposite spectrum for a lot of policy philosophy, so the lively discussions were quite nice.<\/p>\n

What positive aspects has the Judge Program contributed to your everyday life?<\/strong>
\nMore than anything, I think the Judge Program has helped my confidence. I went through high school and the beginning of college with a ton of doubt about my own skills and self-worth. Getting feedback, both immensely positive and actionably negative, have helped me realize that I am actually good at things, and that there are some people who actually benefit by my presence. Those two facts have helped me really develop as a person in the past two years.<\/p>\n

What would you be doing now if Magic no longer existed?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019d probably put a little bit more energy into poker, for\u00a0which I\u2019ve recently discovered a strong enjoyment. I\u2019d also spend more time doing research, particularly in Finance and Philosophy, since I love reading\/researching on those topics but don\u2019t spend as much time on it as I would like. Lastly, I\u2019d probably still be hanging out with all of my close Magic<\/strong> friends, whether it be to eat at the Reading Terminal Market<\/a>, play poker, or watch various Pixar films. Mostly, I would just spend more time with my girlfriend though, since we love using weekends to explore various activities in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

What is the strangest card interaction you have seen in a tournament?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t remember if I saw this specifically or just heard it from someone else, but Turn to Frog<\/a> plus Magus of the Moon<\/a> is still one of my favorite examples for teaching non-judges the intricacies of layers and, more importantly, to always call a judge if you aren\u2019t absolutely sure that something works like you think it should.<\/p>\n

How do you have fun during events?<\/strong>
\nI play games with my friends between rounds. In recent years, I\u2019ve started travelling to events with Jonathan Sukenik more often, and he\u2019s always said that the games in between rounds with friends is the most fun part of a tournament. I know he loved the multi-hour delays between rounds at the most recent GP Charlotte because it meant more time for games. Playing things like Love Letter, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and Are You the Traitor really help me de-stress from the specifics of Magic<\/strong> while still letting me play games like I love to do.<\/p>\n

Two Truths and a Lie<\/strong>
\nTwo of the following statements are true and one is false. Figure out which!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I built my own major in college completely from scratch.<\/li>\n
  2. I’ve acted in many small roles in commercials, T.V. shows and movies.<\/li>\n
  3. I have visited every state in America at least once.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [expand title=”The answer to the last Two Truths and a Lie…”] Chris Cahill did not have a Selesnya-themed wedding.[\/expand]<\/p>\n

    If there is a judge who is also doing something exemplary, please nominate a judge\u00a0TODAY!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    L2 AJ Kerrigan has excelled as a player, a columnist and now a judge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":6365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"language":[],"class_list":["post-6361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judge-of-the-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6361"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6577,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6361\/revisions\/6577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6361"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jotw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=6361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}