Salutations, Judges!

We are pleased to announce that we will be organizing a Mock Tournament at Collector Legion in Gardena, CA.  Mock tournaments are Conferences where judges of all experience levels come together to teach, learn, and practice skills related to running tournaments at a Competitive Rules Enforcement Level.  Due to the nature of a Mock Tournament, this will be an in-person conference.

To provide a tournament-like experience, we are looking for lots of judges.  Judges as ‘Players’, Judges as ‘Player Presenters’, Judges as ‘Team Leads’, a Judge to run a Deck Check station, and (of course) Judges as ‘Floor Judges’.

Support:
This is a Judge Academy sponsored Judge Conference.  All certified Judges who register and attend will receive the appropriate number of packs of Foil Judge Promo Cards.

Event Structure:
The event will consist of three rounds of modern. We are looking to divide the Floor Judges into three teams, each led by a Team Lead.  Our intent for each round is to have two teams on the event floor, answering judge calls and questions, and the third team will be working at a Deck Check Station guided by their Team Lead and a Deck Check Lead.  Each round, the team at the Deck Check Station will be rotated to ensure that all Floor Judges perform a deck check and are given feedback.

Roles:
Floor Judge: 
You are our reason for this conference.  You will be answering judge calls & questions on our tournament floor and learning about deck checks & practicing those skills.  If you are interested in gaining more experience judging in a Competitive Rules Enforcement Level event, you should apply for ‘Floor Judge’.  Please be familiar with the IPG and MTR before the event.  The day is for practicing and receiving feedback, not for learning on the spot.

Team Lead:
You will be helping the floor judges throughout the day.  Whether it be providing feedback on calls taken, making sure the event floor is covered, or even just helping calls progress if the responding judge is stuck.  Due to the mentoring nature of this position, this will be a presenter role.

Player Presenter:
You will be the individuals helping to generate scenarios before the event and acting out said scenarios.  For this role, you will need a strong understanding of tournament policy and the IPG in order to accurately create scenarios and provide feedback to the responding judge.  As we are trying to acclimate floor judges to a typical competitive tournament environment, most of the scenarios will be common issues and errors that one may encounter at a typical competitive tournament environment.  Due to the preparation required before the event and the expectations on the day of the event, this will be a presenter role.

Deck Check Lead:
Each round, a new batch of floor judges will be at the Deck Check Station and, with their team lead, you will be teaching them why we deck check, how to swoop for a deck check, how you like to sort for a deck check, what to look for, common infractions, how to investigate common deck issues, and how to deliver “bad news”. Then, with the Team Lead, you will be overseeing the Floor Judges perform a deck check and leading a discussion of the issues they discovered. This position will also require you to create scenarios and decks to go with them. Due to the preparation required before the event and the expectations on the day of the event, this will be a presenter role.

Player:  
If you’ve wondered about being a Floor Judge, please go apply for that instead.  Those in the Player role will be helping the Player Presenters enact their scenarios throughout the day.  Please do not generate scenarios as we are planning for the Player Presenters to have enough for the day, but if an issue naturally occurs, you are encouraged to call for a Judge.

Proposed Schedule:
(We will be doing 40 minute rounds)
10-10:20 introduction
10:20-10:30 team meeting
10:30-11:20 round 1
11:20-11:30 team debrief
11:30-12:30 lunch
12:30-1:20 round 2
1:20-1:30 team debrief
1:30-2:20 round 3
2:20-2:30 team debrief
2:30-2:45 Conference debrief

Application Process:
We are hoping that those interested in being ‘Player Presenters’, ‘Team Leads’, and ‘Deck Check Lead’ will have applied by April 23 and we’d like to send out the associated acceptances by April 30.  We ask that ‘Players’ apply by May 8, so we can get final acceptances out by May 13.