JudgeCast

Level Three judge Matt Williams joins us to discuss the JudgeCast Open that took place in Atlanta recently, where all three of our hosts were Classic HJs on Sunday.  We talk about some challenges that lead to the event and interesting things that occurred.   For more information on team events, check out episode 174: https://judgecast.com/?p=1114

In this episode, we talk about the state of judge testing, some styles of learning, and how one can study and prepare for tests without being able to spam practice tests. In addition to JudgeCast, we talk about lots of other resources for judges to learn from. We end the episode by discussing the list of things you need to know to pass the Level 1 and Level 2 exams. Resources discussed in this epi...

Settle in as Brogan, Bryan, and Jess bring you everything you need to know about Hour of Devastation. Learn about the Afflict mechanic as well as the pseudo-return of Embalm and Exert. We also go over all our favorite new cards and tell you what tricky rules to watch out for. Be sure to check out the full release notes.

Welcome to Episode #175 In this Episode we talk about things a player may want to know before taking the plunge and attending their first Competitive Rules Enforcement Episode. What is a decklist and why do I need to bring it?  Is there a lunch break? Why is this person in a black shirt hovering behind me? It's full of chillax and whatever wine pairs well with chillax'in. We also are joined by a s...

Edit: This is the second attempt to publish this episode. The first had some unfortunate audio errors that made it impossible to listen to. This has been corrected.  Sorry about that. -Jess We are joined by L3 and GP Head Judge Paul Baranay as he and Jess chat about their recent experiences Head Judging ~900 player Team Constructed Opens. We talk logistics, weird stuff, deck checks, and take a nic...

The JudgeCast team reprises an episode from five years ago by tackling replacement effects. If you would skip this episode, instead don't! Replacement effects rules on Yawgatog: http://yawgatog.com/resources/magic-rules/#R614

There's a lot to go over in this policy episode, but first we introduce the newest regular co-host of JudgeCast. Please welcome Brogan King back to the show for her first episode as a full-fledged co-host! The MTR, the IPG, the combat shortcut, and decklist problems. Also deck problems.  Wait, what? There's two of them now?  Find out about all of this and more on this episode of JudgeCast! You can...

We are once again joined by Brogan King as we talk about the newest Magic set, AlmondCat! Oh wait... Amonkhet! Yeah, that one. We discuss the mechanics, what we love, what we hate, and some Madness Weirdness. And, of course, we go through a ton of interesting cards and rules interactions. Amonkhet Release Notes: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/amonkhet-release-notes-2017-04-14

Listen to Channelfireball.com's own Jon Saso and Mashi Scanlan talk about the new world of Grand Prix and the challenges they face ramping up from 12 GPs this year to ~55 next year!  What does this mean for the events, the players, and especially the judges?  We ask those questions and ask for your feedback. Do you have more questions about judging at Grand Prix? Email us at JudgeCast@gmail.com. M...

Join us in talking to Brogan King, an admin of the Review Revue Facebook Group. We talk about that project and reviews generally. This includes what a judge review is, how to access them, and the different kinds of reviews judges write. We also speak a little about the basic dos and don'ts of writing reviews. We'll tackle deeper review topics, such as gathering feedback for a review at an event, i...

Welcome back our Judge of the Week interviewer and level 2 judge Jacob Milicic (From episode #166) to talk about his experience Head Judging a recent StarCityGames.com Classic event. We ask him a lot of questions and get even more answers. How did his judge career get to this point? What did he do to prepare? How did he even get on a list to do that?  Is the proper plural of staff "staves"? Find o...

On this episode, we're joined by the amazing Billy Willy to discuss the numerous parts of a card. Find out about the rules for illustrations (yes, there's a rule for that!) and how set symbols used to be relevant in the game! Bprill reminisces about the good old days before color indicators and tells you about his new puppy, pictured below.  You can more or less follow along in the comprehensive r...

On this episode, we have special guest and representative of Judge of the Week Jacob Milicic on to interview us for Judge of the Week! You can consider a future Judge of the Week spoiled! Jacob asks us a fantastic range of questions, including how we got started, what we do to edit, if each of us was to name a Magic card to represent the others what would it be, and we talk about our future as wel...

On this episode, we cover quite a bit of news and policy updates! So much, that we have to bring special guest Erik Aliff on to help! Some mysterious changes to hidden card error, some tweaks to looking at extra cards, and some exciting changes to deck decklist error! If you're not excited about minor policy tweaks then honestly what can you be excited for? We also cover some changes in the MTR, l...

We're back with the Aether Revolt release notes episode, and this time we're joined by judge Amanda Coots, who helps us go over the mechanics and favorite cards from the new set. She also tells us what it's like when the rodeo's in town. Oh and Emrakul was banned. That wily Emrakul. Here's the full release notes for your reading pleasure: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/aether...

On this episode, we take a look at the various changes to the Judge Program over the year. Policy changes, Program changes, personal changes; we run the gambit. We also discuss our favorite episode from 2016 and what 2017 holds for us personally and for the podcast. It gets surprisingly heavy for such a light topic. Note:  No celebrities were harmed during the recording of this podcast  

On this episode, we take the time to go over listener e-mails! We cover rules, policy, and some mysterious "other" questions. The mysteries of transform are revealed, and how many Emrakuls are too many Emrakuls? Also, everyone's second favorite weird red card Illicit Auction is here (the first favorite is of course Goblin Game). This episode may hold the record for our shortest ever (but maybe not...

We combine our deep and vast wealth of knowledge to talk about all the "other" stuff you need to know to head judge your first PPTQ. Sure, you know there are 50 minute rounds with a 40 minute minimum. But what do you do before the day of the event to prepare? When do you show up? What should you bring and what should you make sure the TO has? How should you handle player seatings and top 8? All th...

On this episode, the three amigos cover everything anyone could ever want to know about copy effects. If by the end of this there is some corner of copy effects you don’t understand, then you just weren’t listening. On this episode, the three amigos cover everything anyone could ever want to know about copy effects. If by the end of this there is some corner of copy effects you don’t understand, t...

On this spooookky episode (That came out after Halloween, but what're you gonna do) we talk all about the Graveyard! We go into random rules around it, talk about a mish mash of graveyard abilities, and talk about a few of our favorite graveyard cards. You know, like Savannah Lions!

It's important, when you have a podcast, to come up with great memorable titles for your episodes. On this episode, we have fungus expert, L2, and prolific judge blogger Nik Zitomer on to talk about balancing out your work, judging, playing, and family life. We also talk about some of the advantages that Magic can give in all of those! Nik's article on the topic: https://theelvishfarmer.wordpress....

We spend this episode going over a mish-mash of policy updates and news! First, we cover some of the new IPG updates. Nothing earth-shattering, but some new changes to HCE, tweaks to Missed Trigger, some clarifications on DDLP downgrades, and some changes to the MTR which apparently ruined Magic! After that we cover the L2 Tester position and how you can certify for it. We also welcome a new Progr...

Tabak and Mox, attorneys at law. Tabak and Mox, chefs extraordinaire. Tabak and Mox, crime fighting duo. Whatever they may be to you, we have Matt Tabak (Some random editor at WotC who would agree to be on. I think he writes some stories on the website?), Sara Mox (The judge manager at WotC and contender for #1 fan of the show), and a silent and mysterious Kayla (who attempts to, behind the scenes...

On this episode, we cover the pregame procedure! You already know the pregame procedure, you say? Just listen and see, I have a feeling you'll learn something that surprises you. We also cover everything that can go wrong in the pregame procedure, and occasionally a quick overview on how to fix it. There's a lot that can go wrong for something that's done so often! We also cover some modifications...

We talk about the newest Conspiracy set! We discuss what Conspiracy is and what to look out for, and give a brief refresher on multiplayer rules. We then cover the new mechanics, including the king of all new mechanics: Monarch! We fight over the pronunciation of melee and goad each other over the pronunciation of orchard. We then go over some of the more interesting cards and conspiracies in the...