Advice for judging first event?
Hi, Jeff,
Last friday, I actually had the privelage of judging for the very first time at my local game shop. I was fortunate enough to have the store's regular judge, a very friendly L2, there as well, and he kind of held my hand through much of the night. He handled about half the calls with me observing, and I handled the other half with him providing backup.
The major things I learned the other night were to be very careful to not give strategic advice, and to always, always, ALWAYS ask questions.
Fortunately, I knew beforehand not to give advice, and I didn't actually give any while answering any of my calls, but I did learn just how easy it would be to do so. One of the calls I handled was “judge, when I +1 my (planeswalker whose ability targets a creature, don't remember which), does it trigger my dude's Heroic?”. I handled it by explaining the difference between a spell and an activated ability, but it would have been just as easy to say “if you want to trigger heroic, cast an aura, instant or sorcery that targets that creature” It's a fine line between telling them the rule for something and telling them how to do what they wanted.
I learned that I have a pretty good handle on the rules, but I don't have the vocabulary, the habits for judging yet. The calls I took, I answered directly. The calls that I watched the other judge take, he always started by asking questions. “Walk me through the turn so far”. “Did you do that during Declare Attackers or Declare Blockers?”. And so on. He was careful to extract as much detail as possible about the situation before giving an answer, even if the answer was obvious from the start. You never know what could be important to the situation, what the players may have overlooked.
Other random things from the other night: The players were all very friendly and supportive of me, and I imagine it would be the same way at most events. They may have felt more comfortable because “their judge” was standing right behind me, but they were always polite, engaging, and encouraging. It can be very intimidating taking a position of authority for the first time, or with people you don't know well. Just remember, though, they're all there to play Magic and have fun, and they know you're the guy who will facilitate that when needed. As long as you respect them and are fair, they will treat you the same way (I know this not just from judging one event, but from spending a couple years as a guild leader in an MMO. Different circumstance, but essentially the same social contract between you and those you are leading.).
Don't be afraid to read the cards! There are a lot of cards in standard that I am just not familiar with. We should strive to be quick in resolving our judge calls, but not to the detriment of our effectiveness. If you din't recognize the cards involved, read them. Carefully. You might have to give a time extension, but better to do that than to miss something and give the wrong answer.
I think that's quite enough for now. Hopefully you find something useful in this novella of a post. I'll keep an eye on the topic, and will happily answer any questions you might have about my first experience. There's a lot more I'd love to say, but I don't want to make this particular wall of text any higher than it already is.
Good luck!