I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
The new system is designed to shift the foils from Grands Prix to more local and lower-level recognitions and recognize the sort of efforts that you are unhappy are currently not being recognized. How is this not a step forward for you?
I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
Actual "value" of a card is not what WotC sets, they just give out the cards and 2nd market decides the price.
They are totally free to give high value cards only to 2nd level judges that actual contributed to get more judges, that seems fair and there should be no envy for that.
The normal judge (lvl 1 store dudes) should really do it because they enjoy it and want their store to be a nice place to play. Then in addition any reasonable store "should" make its judge happy aswell (for me that means i get Promo products for free, they will allways keep 1 for me).
In the end, its absolute no "real" deal for anyone, just imagine they would need to pay you even minimum wage, would just make drafts more expensive.
Some shops even charge money for the judge ; they make the event 1$ more expensive and thats the judges money. While that certainly make the judge happy, it really does not contribute to the player base.
Judges really dont need any money for what they do, its either fun or its not ; thats the deal with low level judging.
In higher level events, that actual have a cost for the judge to get to the location, it should at least be a 0 outcome, its not fun to pay money just that you can judge an event.
Promo cards are a good deal in my book , they dont need taxes, they actual give something special to the judge ; if they choose to sell the cards, do so ; removing that seems just a bad decision, its cheap and has real value for the judge AND collectors aswell (who doesnt like to pimp a deck with some foils ? the option is welcome).
You are assuming there are other higher level judges in my area within an hour drive that would even know I exist let alone interact on a Magic level. (When in fact I'm the only one and a lowly level 1). That's a pretty poor assumption. My thought was always something like the holiday promos. Something to say thanks and yet not cause a huge secondary market flood on exclusive cards.
EDIT: I dont require compensation. I knew getting into this that there would be NONE. However, as I said, it's always nice to have a thank you from time to time. My point was it doesnt have to be something valuable. It could be a stupid WoTC letterhead that says "Hey man, thanks for your help." I dont expect every judge ever to get bonkers promos all the time just for existing. That would be silly and ruin the judge community as it would be flooded with people just trying to get those rather than being there for the right reasons.
Myself, I'm withholding judgment (heh) until I get more information.
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
The new system is designed to shift the foils from Grands Prix to more local and lower-level recognitions and recognize the sort of efforts that you are unhappy are currently not being recognized. How is this not a step forward for you?
I imagine he's annoyed at judge foil comp becoming nepotism central. 'Judge a GP = get foils' has a nice consistency to it.
Also lol at "let me tell you what you are actually unhappy about and how this fixes that"
Just to note, I don't think they can pay cash due to international laws. For example: An American Judge judging in France, for example, cannot get paid to do work in a foreign country without the proper visa paper work. In my mind, cash compensation is never going to happen.
How many judges normally attend a GP? (or maybe, how many judges are normally there, per X number of players attending?) The number of GP's may pale in comparison to the number of total Magic events run every year, but GPs and PTQs feed the PTs, and these higher level events likely need judges there more than local tournaments and trials and such. We can't assume a judge will automatically continue their current appearance levels for these higher events, if the foil compensation is being taken away to help them offset costs to travel/lodge. Even if a judge is traveling 2 hours, that could be $35-60 for just gas for judging. Obviously every judge is not in the same financial situation, but I am sure at least some judges will be unable to attend events to Judge that they previously were able to.
As for the new way they will distribute cards, it feels like a lot of the recognition may get abused, whether its a judge giving special treatment to his friend judges, or denying other judges fair recognition for one reason or another.
This is why, the French hire the French, the Japanese hire the Japanese. But it also means that relations MATTER a whole lot more. Perhaps Toby and gang haven't caught on to that.
I wager this move is close to the catastrophe that is the GPT/PT changes. That one is nuclear.
Just to note, I don't think they can pay cash due to international laws. For example: An American Judge judging in France, for example, cannot get paid to do work in a foreign country without the proper visa paper work. In my mind, cash compensation is never going to happen.
Funny. I guess the checks I've received for judging just didn't exist?
I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
The new system is designed to shift the foils from Grands Prix to more local and lower-level recognitions and recognize the sort of efforts that you are unhappy are currently not being recognized. How is this not a step forward for you?
I'd say it's a step to the side, really. Goes from "senior judges unilaterally deciding who can judge at Grands Prix and get foils" to "senior judges unilaterally deciding who gets foils directly"; I don't buy the idea that any of the nominations submitted by level 2's are even going to be considered unless there's a senior judge there to authenticate and substantiate.
Six of one, a half dozen of the other. Judges out in the middle of nowhere (read: not within a hundred miles or so of a level 3 or 4) are still getting shafted either way if they lack the time or financial consideration to travel outside of their local area.
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Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
I'd say it's a step to the side, really. Goes from "senior judges unilaterally deciding who can judge at Grands Prix and get foils" to "senior judges unilaterally deciding who gets foils directly"; I don't buy the idea that any of the nominations submitted by level 2's are even going to be considered unless there's a senior judge there to authenticate and substantiate.
I can't speak for all regions, but I know that in the SE USA, our RC puts in tremendous effort to be accessible to EVERY Judge in the region. He is especially receptive to the L2s in the area, who are constantly logged into an ongoing chat group where we discuss the daily local goings-on. I have no doubt that, at least in the southeast, the Exemplar program will be used as intended. The vast majority of our L2s communicate constantly, our L3s are kept informed, and have always placed an emphasis on keeping the Judge community exactly that... a community.
In the days of smartphones, facebook, skype, and IRC, there's no reason for the senior judges in your area to not know if you're doing great things for the program. If you don't know your semi-local L3s (mine live at least a 5 hour drive away from me), you simply haven't put in the effort to try. It doesn't require a face to face meeting. Judge Center or JudgeApps both have the information needed to contact your local or semi-local Senior Judges.
In all actuality, it should be much EASIER for judges to receive Promo Foils now. I understand the complaints of those who use this NON-compensation from GPs to fund their travel to those events, but I really don't understand why the average L1 in the middle of nowhere who doesn't judge GPs to begin with is complaining.
Again, this is coming from a judge who is in "the middle of nowhere" with an hour drive to the nearest L2. Heck, my local game shop is INSIDE a florist shop and can only open after 7pm.
Maybe it's a regional thing, then. It's pretty difficult for me to get in contact with the RC here (SW US), but that's probably a function of California being so large that Arizona and Nevada get left in the dust, proverbially speaking. Despite being probably the most active judge, or at least one of the more active ones, in the area (Southern Arizona), I don't really feel like the RC really pays much attention to goings on outside of California, and I think it's a matter of there just being too much stuff to manage in California, rather than any malice on the RC's part. But it is frustrating to try to go through the proper channels when I have to wait two weeks (and counting) to get a response.
Having the Southern Arizona region be semi-autonomous in the sense that we basically manage our own affairs is nice, but it also means that we don't have any channels by which to express our concerns when the highers up rain massive policy changes down from on high.
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Former Level 2 Judge (Retired / Renounced)
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
I can't speak for all regions, but I know that in the SE USA, our RC puts in tremendous effort to be accessible to EVERY Judge in the region. He is especially receptive to the L2s in the area, who are constantly logged into an ongoing chat group where we discuss the daily local goings-on. I have no doubt that, at least in the southeast, the Exemplar program will be used as intended. The vast majority of our L2s communicate constantly, our L3s are kept informed, and have always placed an emphasis on keeping the Judge community exactly that... a community.
In the days of smartphones, facebook, skype, and IRC, there's no reason for the senior judges in your area to not know if you're doing great things for the program. If you don't know your semi-local L3s (mine live at least a 5 hour drive away from me), you simply haven't put in the effort to try. It doesn't require a face to face meeting. Judge Center or JudgeApps both have the information needed to contact your local or semi-local Senior Judges.
In all actuality, it should be much EASIER for judges to receive Promo Foils now. I understand the complaints of those who use this NON-compensation from GPs to fund their travel to those events, but I really don't understand why the average L1 in the middle of nowhere who doesn't judge GPs to begin with is complaining.
Again, this is coming from a judge who is in "the middle of nowhere" with an hour drive to the nearest L2. Heck, my local game shop is INSIDE a florist shop and can only open after 7pm.
I have no qualms with any other judges I have run into within my region. Our RC was very receptive and gave me his contact info etc. After my venting the other day, I feel a bit vindicated now that WOTC just announced the new Judge lands going to ALL judges and not as some kind of reward. I guess the wonderful people at Wizards listens after all.:p
Actual "value" of a card is not what WotC sets, they just give out the cards and 2nd market decides the price.
I can't imagine you actually believe for a second that WotC doesn't take into consideration what the secondary market value of a card will be when deciding what to make into a judge promo.
In the end, its absolute no "real" deal for anyone, just imagine they would need to pay you even minimum wage, would just make drafts more expensive.
Some shops even charge money for the judge ; they make the event 1$ more expensive and thats the judges money. While that certainly make the judge happy, it really does not contribute to the player base.
I request a minimum of $10/hour when I judge an event. I am a full-time employee at my main store, and other stores only hire me when they need to for a larger event. Judge compensation is already factored into the cost of those.
Judges really dont need any money for what they do, its either fun or its not ; thats the deal with low level judging.
Absolutely incorrect. It takes time, work and dedication to become a judge. Anyone that would expect someone to go through that, then make sure an event runs smoothly, for nothing at all is fooling themselves. Are people going to be rich from judging? No. Should they be fairly compensated for the time involved? Absolutely.
The rest of your points are fine, but I think you're undervaluing local judges.
I'm not necessarily mad about this change. It just simply means I won't be bothering to judge GP's anymore. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. I hope TO's are comfortable running their 2,000+ player events with an inexperienced local staff.
I find this increasingly frustrating. I did not become a judge (while I am only level 1) for prizes, foils, and glory. I did it because I wanted to help herald and facilitate a game I love. I get a little bothered though when something I work(ed) for is not only being NOT being recognized, it's being pushed further on the back burner. If I had not taken it upon myself our LGS would not have had 5 Grand Prix Trials this year. While that is small potatoes in the scheme of things, how many other judges, like myself, continue to be overlooked? Do I think what I do is as hard as High Level Pro Tour judging? Absolutely not. However, a small bone from time to time is more than enough to keep most people happy especially considering what these $600 Force of Wills ACTUALLY cost WOTC to print...
The new system is designed to shift the foils from Grands Prix to more local and lower-level recognitions and recognize the sort of efforts that you are unhappy are currently not being recognized. How is this not a step forward for you?
I have run multiple tournaments every single week since Guildpact was released. I have done everything I can to run these events well, and have received innumerable compliments from our players. However, there is not a L2 judge or higher that comes to the store. Not counting social media as those people have never seen me judge, I am not friends with any L2 judges. For what possible reason could I, or any other local judge, ever expect to receive recognition? How are local judges supposed to recognized for work that no one actually sees them doing?
You say this is designed to reward efforts for local and lower-level efforts, but you have to understand why this comes across to us as just a way for all the L2 and higher judges to just nominate their friends and be nominated in return. You can claim that there are measures taken to prevent abuse of the system, but how? Posting the reasons for selecting someone publicly does nothing: these people who are friends and like each other have most likely worked events together, so it's not really suspicious to nominate each other.
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I have run multiple tournaments every single week since Guildpact was released. I have done everything I can to run these events well, and have received innumerable compliments from our players. However, there is not a L2 judge or higher that comes to the store. Not counting social media as those people have never seen me judge, I am not friends with any L2 judges. For what possible reason could I, or any other local judge, ever expect to receive recognition? How are local judges supposed to recognized for work that no one actually sees them doing?
You say this is designed to reward efforts for local and lower-level efforts, but you have to understand why this comes across to us as just a way for all the L2 and higher judges to just nominate their friends and be nominated in return. You can claim that there are measures taken to prevent abuse of the system, but how? Posting the reasons for selecting someone publicly does nothing: these people who are friends and like each other have most likely worked events together, so it's not really suspicious to nominate each other.
The promo rewards system has never been designed to reward those who only support their own local store. Nor should Wizards really push to reward every judge who only judges at their own store. This change isn't for you. This change is to promote more judges leaving their stores for PTQs and other large events that are done locally. There are plenty of judges who have thanklessly worked PTQs and other events for many years and generally the only thanks they ever got was what they were paid. It is because of those traveling local judges that the PTQ and SCG scenes have thrived and grown along with the playerbase. It doesn't seem right to only reward those players who travel to GPs or are lucky enough to have a local GP. Of course local l2's are going to nominate the people they see working these events, that is the intent of the system. You all are acting like every l2 or higher you know is just a selfish and petty person who only cares about friends, where my interactions with almost any judge have always been the polar opposite.
If you feel un-rewarded because you've worked on your store and only your store, you should speak to the owner. If you're like the many judges who venture outside their own LGS, this change at the very least is an improvement over the absolute nothing from before.
Pre-release promos, don't be surprised if the "40 something promos per color!" means you just get one of 40 different regular foils instead of the alternate-art, date-coded promotional material.
Judges really dont need any money for what they do, its either fun or its not ; thats the deal with low level judging.
Absolutely incorrect. It takes time, work and dedication to become a judge. Anyone that would expect someone to go through that, then make sure an event runs smoothly, for nothing at all is fooling themselves. Are people going to be rich from judging? No. Should they be fairly compensated for the time involved? Absolutely.
I agree with you. The point is Judges didn't become Judges to become rich, but if their work in a tournament has a value, then it is bound to have a price. Anything without a price (make it promos, sealed product, coupons or bare cash) doesn't have any value. And if there is no value in Judges' work, then why bother having one during a tournament?
There is a flip side to this coin though in my opinion. Wizards has been using the judge program to put small quantities of some chase cards that are incredibly hard to obtain back into the market and the judge program is small enough that the impact of this program really hasn't don't much to increase availability of these cards. Its entirely an option that we just dont get reprints of these cards at all but I know there have been several cases of well that card was a judge promo so they wont actually print it in any real quantity for public which is a bad situation in my mind.
I am just trying to remain optimistic but I don't think this is entirely bad. I think it makes more sense to try to pay judges for their time rather than having hit and miss judge pack promos with questionable varying value. I want judges to be at events and judging because they like doing it not because they want a particular judge packet. I just feel like in the last few years there have been situations where some of the judges I know feel like they have to go to certain events and judge because they want to obtain packet x or y. This should not be the reason for judges to be doing what they do.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Maybe the IRS got really interested in how Wizards is compensating hundreds of unofficial employees. I was under the impression that for GP's judges MUST travel to the location because of the sheer demand for higher level judges and selling these promos basically offsets travel costs.
How do you judge a Judge for going above and beyond?
Like.. that seems arbitrary on so many levels.
Outside of like 'Mike the Judge woke up at 3am and drove from Wisconsin to Oklahoma to Judge here today, gold star!'
Although I could see like a 'Judge Competition' go down, like where you had to Judge your way across a path of hot coals.
In all honesty this seems like utter nonsense. Give Judge some cash, maybe state min. wage and throw a foil promo or two in and I could see why this would be done at the very least.
There is a flip side to this coin though in my opinion. Wizards has been using the judge program to put small quantities of some chase cards that are incredibly hard to obtain back into the market and the judge program is small enough that the impact of this program really hasn't don't much to increase availability of these cards. Its entirely an option that we just dont get reprints of these cards at all but I know there have been several cases of well that card was a judge promo so they wont actually print it in any real quantity for public which is a bad situation in my mind.
Problem is foils allocation will be exactly the same as before, just delivered in a different way to judges (exemplary program, not working at GPs).
How do you judge a Judge for going above and beyond?
Like.. that seems arbitrary on so many levels.
Outside of like 'Mike the Judge woke up at 3am and drove from Wisconsin to Oklahoma to Judge here today, gold star!'
Although I could see like a 'Judge Competition' go down, like where you had to Judge your way across a path of hot coals.
In all honesty this seems like utter nonsense. Give Judge some cash, maybe state min. wage and throw a foil promo or two in and I could see why this would be done at the very least.
I'm really worried about the change for the same reasons. I can see judges ass-licking and going to great lenghts to please other people in the program. This won't improve the program as just smoothly and perfectly doing their job at events won't draw enough attention, so the risk is degrading the judge role and the program itself due to judges investing their resources in something eventually detrimental to Magic. Hopefully I will be proved wrong, but I don't have any trust in human race.
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Magic Judge, Level 2 - Pistoia, Italy
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The new system is designed to shift the foils from Grands Prix to more local and lower-level recognitions and recognize the sort of efforts that you are unhappy are currently not being recognized. How is this not a step forward for you?
Actual "value" of a card is not what WotC sets, they just give out the cards and 2nd market decides the price.
They are totally free to give high value cards only to 2nd level judges that actual contributed to get more judges, that seems fair and there should be no envy for that.
The normal judge (lvl 1 store dudes) should really do it because they enjoy it and want their store to be a nice place to play. Then in addition any reasonable store "should" make its judge happy aswell (for me that means i get Promo products for free, they will allways keep 1 for me).
In the end, its absolute no "real" deal for anyone, just imagine they would need to pay you even minimum wage, would just make drafts more expensive.
Some shops even charge money for the judge ; they make the event 1$ more expensive and thats the judges money. While that certainly make the judge happy, it really does not contribute to the player base.
Judges really dont need any money for what they do, its either fun or its not ; thats the deal with low level judging.
In higher level events, that actual have a cost for the judge to get to the location, it should at least be a 0 outcome, its not fun to pay money just that you can judge an event.
Promo cards are a good deal in my book , they dont need taxes, they actual give something special to the judge ; if they choose to sell the cards, do so ; removing that seems just a bad decision, its cheap and has real value for the judge AND collectors aswell (who doesnt like to pimp a deck with some foils ? the option is welcome).
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
EDIT: I dont require compensation. I knew getting into this that there would be NONE. However, as I said, it's always nice to have a thank you from time to time. My point was it doesnt have to be something valuable. It could be a stupid WoTC letterhead that says "Hey man, thanks for your help." I dont expect every judge ever to get bonkers promos all the time just for existing. That would be silly and ruin the judge community as it would be flooded with people just trying to get those rather than being there for the right reasons.
http://blogs.magicjudges.org/lems/2014/07/28/the-magic-judge-exemplar-program/
Myself, I'm withholding judgment (heh) until I get more information.
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
I imagine he's annoyed at judge foil comp becoming nepotism central. 'Judge a GP = get foils' has a nice consistency to it.
Also lol at "let me tell you what you are actually unhappy about and how this fixes that"
As for the new way they will distribute cards, it feels like a lot of the recognition may get abused, whether its a judge giving special treatment to his friend judges, or denying other judges fair recognition for one reason or another.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
I wager this move is close to the catastrophe that is the GPT/PT changes. That one is nuclear.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Funny. I guess the checks I've received for judging just didn't exist?
----
Lightning Bolts don't kill creatures. State-based actions kill creatures.
I'd say it's a step to the side, really. Goes from "senior judges unilaterally deciding who can judge at Grands Prix and get foils" to "senior judges unilaterally deciding who gets foils directly"; I don't buy the idea that any of the nominations submitted by level 2's are even going to be considered unless there's a senior judge there to authenticate and substantiate.
Six of one, a half dozen of the other. Judges out in the middle of nowhere (read: not within a hundred miles or so of a level 3 or 4) are still getting shafted either way if they lack the time or financial consideration to travel outside of their local area.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
Fair enough. I look forward to proving you wrong
In the days of smartphones, facebook, skype, and IRC, there's no reason for the senior judges in your area to not know if you're doing great things for the program. If you don't know your semi-local L3s (mine live at least a 5 hour drive away from me), you simply haven't put in the effort to try. It doesn't require a face to face meeting. Judge Center or JudgeApps both have the information needed to contact your local or semi-local Senior Judges.
In all actuality, it should be much EASIER for judges to receive Promo Foils now. I understand the complaints of those who use this NON-compensation from GPs to fund their travel to those events, but I really don't understand why the average L1 in the middle of nowhere who doesn't judge GPs to begin with is complaining.
Again, this is coming from a judge who is in "the middle of nowhere" with an hour drive to the nearest L2. Heck, my local game shop is INSIDE a florist shop and can only open after 7pm.
Having the Southern Arizona region be semi-autonomous in the sense that we basically manage our own affairs is nice, but it also means that we don't have any channels by which to express our concerns when the highers up rain massive policy changes down from on high.
Went to a new shop from a friend's recommendation, DQ'ed for willful violation of CR 100.6b.
Have played duals? I have PucaPoints for them!
(Credit to DarkNightCavalier)
$tandard: Too poor.
Modern:
- GW Birthing Pod(?)
Legacy:
- UWR Delver
I have no qualms with any other judges I have run into within my region. Our RC was very receptive and gave me his contact info etc. After my venting the other day, I feel a bit vindicated now that WOTC just announced the new Judge lands going to ALL judges and not as some kind of reward. I guess the wonderful people at Wizards listens after all.:p
I can't imagine you actually believe for a second that WotC doesn't take into consideration what the secondary market value of a card will be when deciding what to make into a judge promo.
I request a minimum of $10/hour when I judge an event. I am a full-time employee at my main store, and other stores only hire me when they need to for a larger event. Judge compensation is already factored into the cost of those.
Absolutely incorrect. It takes time, work and dedication to become a judge. Anyone that would expect someone to go through that, then make sure an event runs smoothly, for nothing at all is fooling themselves. Are people going to be rich from judging? No. Should they be fairly compensated for the time involved? Absolutely.
The rest of your points are fine, but I think you're undervaluing local judges.
I'm not necessarily mad about this change. It just simply means I won't be bothering to judge GP's anymore. I'm sure I'm not alone in that. I hope TO's are comfortable running their 2,000+ player events with an inexperienced local staff.
I have run multiple tournaments every single week since Guildpact was released. I have done everything I can to run these events well, and have received innumerable compliments from our players. However, there is not a L2 judge or higher that comes to the store. Not counting social media as those people have never seen me judge, I am not friends with any L2 judges. For what possible reason could I, or any other local judge, ever expect to receive recognition? How are local judges supposed to recognized for work that no one actually sees them doing?
You say this is designed to reward efforts for local and lower-level efforts, but you have to understand why this comes across to us as just a way for all the L2 and higher judges to just nominate their friends and be nominated in return. You can claim that there are measures taken to prevent abuse of the system, but how? Posting the reasons for selecting someone publicly does nothing: these people who are friends and like each other have most likely worked events together, so it's not really suspicious to nominate each other.
Wizards could put $100 bills in packs and people would complain about how they were folded.
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The promo rewards system has never been designed to reward those who only support their own local store. Nor should Wizards really push to reward every judge who only judges at their own store. This change isn't for you. This change is to promote more judges leaving their stores for PTQs and other large events that are done locally. There are plenty of judges who have thanklessly worked PTQs and other events for many years and generally the only thanks they ever got was what they were paid. It is because of those traveling local judges that the PTQ and SCG scenes have thrived and grown along with the playerbase. It doesn't seem right to only reward those players who travel to GPs or are lucky enough to have a local GP. Of course local l2's are going to nominate the people they see working these events, that is the intent of the system. You all are acting like every l2 or higher you know is just a selfish and petty person who only cares about friends, where my interactions with almost any judge have always been the polar opposite.
If you feel un-rewarded because you've worked on your store and only your store, you should speak to the owner. If you're like the many judges who venture outside their own LGS, this change at the very least is an improvement over the absolute nothing from before.
My wife was on MTV with this video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUutIZg2EpU
Pre-release promos, don't be surprised if the "40 something promos per color!" means you just get one of 40 different regular foils instead of the alternate-art, date-coded promotional material.
I agree with you. The point is Judges didn't become Judges to become rich, but if their work in a tournament has a value, then it is bound to have a price. Anything without a price (make it promos, sealed product, coupons or bare cash) doesn't have any value. And if there is no value in Judges' work, then why bother having one during a tournament?
I am just trying to remain optimistic but I don't think this is entirely bad. I think it makes more sense to try to pay judges for their time rather than having hit and miss judge pack promos with questionable varying value. I want judges to be at events and judging because they like doing it not because they want a particular judge packet. I just feel like in the last few years there have been situations where some of the judges I know feel like they have to go to certain events and judge because they want to obtain packet x or y. This should not be the reason for judges to be doing what they do.
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How do you judge a Judge for going above and beyond?
Like.. that seems arbitrary on so many levels.
Outside of like 'Mike the Judge woke up at 3am and drove from Wisconsin to Oklahoma to Judge here today, gold star!'
Although I could see like a 'Judge Competition' go down, like where you had to Judge your way across a path of hot coals.
In all honesty this seems like utter nonsense. Give Judge some cash, maybe state min. wage and throw a foil promo or two in and I could see why this would be done at the very least.
Problem is foils allocation will be exactly the same as before, just delivered in a different way to judges (exemplary program, not working at GPs).
I'm really worried about the change for the same reasons. I can see judges ass-licking and going to great lenghts to please other people in the program. This won't improve the program as just smoothly and perfectly doing their job at events won't draw enough attention, so the risk is degrading the judge role and the program itself due to judges investing their resources in something eventually detrimental to Magic. Hopefully I will be proved wrong, but I don't have any trust in human race.