Axion Now Mega RPTQ Weekend

Axion Now are excited to invite you to apply for their upcoming RPTQ Mega weekend, hosted at the Radisson Blu Stansted Airport, on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th February. As usual, this will be a very large and very competitive event that offers valuable judging experience and development opportunities through being part of a larger judge team.

Applications for this event will be open until Sunday 13th January. Make sure you read the information below carefully before applying. 

OUR EXPECTATIONS OF YOU

As always, Axion are looking for judges willing to go above and beyond to provide a great experience for players. We welcome applications from judges of all levels and ranges of experience, and we want to provide an environment where judges can learn and grow.

We also expect that judges have a strong knowledge of the format they will be judging and the IPG - providing confident and accurate rulings will be an important element of customer service, as these will be Competitive REL tournaments with significant prize pools. If you are a judge with less Competitive REL experience, it would be great to hear about the non-event activities you have been doing to hone your knowledge and skills in your application.

For the Team Trios Constructed event on the Saturday, we will also be looking for judges with a strong knowledge of legacy, in addition to standard and modern. Please indicate in your application if you are familiar with the format and its most common archetypes and rules interactions, either through judging or playing. 

If you have any additional questions, requests or concerns about this event or the judge selection process, don't hesitate to contact me by email at hannah.lissaman@gmail.com. 

SCHEDULE

The RPTQ Mega weekend will feature multiple large events on both the Saturday and Sunday, as well as side events:

Saturday:

Report time: 9.45am for floor judges and 9.00am for the Head Judge and Scorekeeper

End time: Shifts are likely to end around 8PM

Events: LCQ, Standard (Start time TBC); Team Trios Constructed, Standard, Modern, Legacy (Start time TBC)

Sunday:

Report time: 8.45am for floor judges and 8.00am for the Head Judge and Scorekeeper

End time: Shifts are likely to end between 8-9.30PM

Events: RPTQ, Standard (10am start); Mega Modern (10:30am start)

If you find that your transport options would require you to arrive or leave a little earlier or later than these times, please make this clear in your application - we can work around most reasonable requirements.

COMPENSATION, TRAVEL SPONSORSHIP & ROLES

Compensation:

Payment will be in boxes of the latest standard set (Ravnica Allegiance). Axion Now will also be offering a cash alternative (via online payment). 

Judges:

1.5 boxes or £85 (per day)

RPTQ Head Judge, Mega Modern HJ, Team Trios HJ, Scorekeeper:

3 boxes or £165 (per day)

If we reach certain player numbers on each day, all judges will receive an additional box for that day to recognise the increased workload of the event, regardless of which event you are on. The thresholds will be:

• Saturday: 220 players
• Sunday: 280 players

Travel Sponsorship:

We will also be offering the opportunity to apply for travel sponsorship, to allow us to bring in more of the brilliant judges from further afield. You can apply for travel sponsorship in units of 1 box or £55 equivalent. 

If you would like to apply for travel sponsorship, please indicate in your application both the amount you would like to apply for and a minimum amount of travel sponsorship you would need to consider applying to this event. Don’t worry if these are the same - we just want to make sure we can use our travel sponsorship budget to its best effect.

Roles:

We also have a number of special positions which you can apply for:

Main Event Head Judge Positions:

We need head judges for the following events:

• RPTQ (L3)
• Team Trios Constructed
• Mega Modern

If you are interested in applying for a head judge role, please get your application in promptly - we will be selecting these lead roles ahead of the main judge selection. 

Scorekeeper:

Large event scorekeeping experience required. The Scorekeeper will support the inputting of pre-registered players in the week before the event. 

Team Leads (experienced Comp REL judge):

Team leads will coordinate other judges in ensuring the completion of various tournament tasks. We will most likely have a Papers, a Deck Checks and an End of Round team lead. Team leads may also be assigned a small team of judges, and will be responsible for their organisation and wellbeing throughout the event, in coordination with the Judge Manager.

LCQ / Side Event Head Judge Positions:

We are looking for Head Judges who will be able to manage the LCQ as well as the Modern and Standard rebound events, including liaising with the Scorekeeper, managing a small judge team, and providing an excellent event experience to players. 

Standby:

Standby judges will receive the regular shift compensation rate if activated. Activation points for standby judges will be released shortly after the staffing is published. Standbys not activated will have the choice of either free main event entry or side events of equivalent value. 

We will also have a number of additional responsibilities which we would like some of our floor judges to take on. These responsibilities are open to any judge who is keen to take ownership of a specific task on the day, regardless of your experience level:

On-Demand Drafts Manager:

Over the weekend we will be running a number of Ravnica and UMA drafts as on-demand events. The On-Demand Drafts Manager will be in charge of liaising with the Info Desk about registration, starting these events, and coordinating round turn-arounds with the Scorekeeper. 

Special Circumstances Coordinator:

This role includes welcoming players with special circumstances, setting up their playspace, and coordination with Axion, the Scorekeeper and the Head Judge on any special arrangements. They will check in with these players throughout the day to ensure that their needs are still being met. For this role we are looking for a judge with good empathy and an understanding of the different requirements players may have. 

Axion Now Representative:

This judge will support various tasks relating to improving the player experience throughout the day. This will include looking after the Axion Now table at the beginning of each round, bringing a smile to the faces of players in the bottom half of the standings when they're seated at the table, as well as being the first point of contact for customer service-related tasks on the day. 

You are welcome to apply for as many roles as you are interested in. The roles listed are aimed at a range of experience levels - unless it says otherwise, we welcome applications for these from judges of all levels and experience. If you are applying for a special role, make sure to let us know why you would be great for the job in your application.

Note that, due to the increased base compensation offered at this event, we will NOT be providing judges with a lunch stipend. Food will be available from the on-site sandwich bar, or from Stansted airport a short walk away.

Judge Selection will be published on 18th January to give you plenty of time to plan your travel.