Hi fellow judges!

Let me introduce you to the project of Judge Tokens.

The main idea behind Judge Tokens is to advertize Magic Judge Feedback form - too many times I have heard from players that they did not know where to turn to in case they would like to provide a (positive or negative) feedback on a judge they had met during an event. As far as I know, vast majority of Magic community members are not aware of the existence of the Judge Feedback Form.

The secondary reason for the Judge tokens existence is my habit (and not only mine) to provide my players with tokens during their games in case they do not have them themselves. I just like to have the board state clear for everyone to prevent any possible miscommunications.

So, I have come to an idea of creating custom tokens branded for Magic Judge Program.

In January, I tried a pilot run of tokens - I was targetting Grand Prix Prague, specifically because it was a Limited Grand Prix and also the first one with a new Magic set - Aether Revolt. I had one Servo and one Energy Reserve for every main event participant (2000 players) and they were distributed in goodie boxes directly to the players.

After the much needed feedback from the pilot run, I was extremely lucky to get in contact with a magnificent person and artist - Tan Zie Aun from Malaysia. This allowed the project to thrive in two ways - first, we now had a great “art director”, and second, we were able to make the impact and spread of our tokens more global.

The team has created a second set of Judge Tokens - this time for Amonkhet: a Zombie and a Warrior. These tokens have been distributed at various events since then.

And now we would like to offer these tokens to any judge who would like to help us in our mission - to spread the word about Magic Judge Feedback Form. If you are interested, proceed directly to our order form and get your free package of Judge Tokens:

https://goo.gl/forms/3X0Jr19BsFUIBzJP2

Best Regards,

Milan Majerčík,
Judge Tokens Project

Hello fellow judges!

In today’s post, I would like to share with you some highlights and information about how the Amonkhet wave of Judge Tokens went. We will also speak a bit about the future of the project as we have Ixalan token designs ready.

Amonkhet wave aftermath

Amonkhet wave consisted of 2/2 Zombies, 1/1 Warriors and later also some 4/4 eternalized Zombies. There were several smaller print runs during the wave and we produced 19 740 token pieces in total. These pieces were distributed during various tournaments and we also accommodated 43 orders from judges worldwide. See below the coverage per countries:



The accumulated printing costs reached USD 760. The project received donations in various forms (direct transfers, physical gifts) worth of USD 340. For these funds and also a general support we would like to specially thank to:

Tomáš Joska, Hsu Tienming, Miquel Àngel Moya, Mónica Gonzalez, Warren Hawkins, James Do Hung Lee, Angela Chandler, Nicholas Zitomer, Steven Chendra, Mikhael Dominico and Yopi Effendi!

(I apologize if I missed someone. You know who you are and we thank you as well!)

During the Amonkhet wave, we have also received a lot of valuable feedback. Thank you for that! We are continuously trying to improve the project to better serve the Judge Program.


Ixalan wave

Tan Zie Aun, our magnificent cartoonist and graphical lead, created two new wonderful designs to be used during Ixalan season - a Treasure and a 3/3 Dinosaur.



For Ixalan, there is a change in our processing: we are opening a pre-order window at this moment. After the pre-order window closes (somewhere around October 10), we will collate the orders and have One Big Print Run. Then we will try to distribute the packages as fast as possible.

With Ixalan, we are also changing the financing scheme. The major part of the print run will be covered by crowdfunding. The crowdfunding price of a 50-token pack is set at USD 2.10 or EUR 1.90, which is to be settled by the judge who places the pre-order.

So what are you waiting for? Go to the pre-order form at once! :-)

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Edited Milan Majerčík (Sept. 27, 2017 05:53:50 PM)

Hello fellow judges!

With Rivals of Ixalan entering the scene, it is time for another update from the Judge Tokens Project. Today, I would like to summarize how the Ixalan printing run went. We are also kicking off another print run - see the link to Rivals of Ixalan pre-order form at the end of the article.

Ixalan wave aftermath

Orders we received for Ixalan print run totalled 16400 pieces of cardboard. Judges from all around the world found interest in all of the available designs. Treasure was the most popular one with almost 5000 pieces, which seems logical as it was heavily used during every Ixalan Limited tournament. See below the worldwide coverage:



Thanks to the crowdfunding financial pattern, we were able to stabilize the project and make it sustainable. The project also received donations. These were used to print extra tokens which were mainly distributed in events and in local stores with no judges, to follow the main purpose of the project: raise awareness about the Judge Feedback Form. We would like to express a big Thank You to our donors, namely (apologies if I missed someone):

Chuanjie Seow, Tomasz Ludkiewicz, Bernard Hoelschen and Nicholas Zitomer

Rivals of Ixalan wave

We have a new design available for this wave: a City’s Blessing reminder piece. We hope that it will help in preventing possible miscommunication among players (a.k.a. the Failure to Agree on Reality infraction ;-) ). Besides that we also have the older tokens available of course:



Please, use the pre-order form if you are interested. The pre-order window closes on January 30.


Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Edited Milan Majerčík (Jan. 17, 2018 03:50:57 AM)

Hello fellow judges!

A planeswalk to Dominaria is upon us so it is time for another update from the Judge Tokens Project. First, I will inform you about how the Rivals of Ixalan printing run went. Then we will kick off another print run - see the link to Dominaria pre-order form at the end of the article.

Rivals of Ixalan wave aftermath

Orders we received for Rivals of Ixalan print run totalled 12700 pieces of cardboard. Judges from all around the world found interest in all of the available designs. We had a bit of delay in the processing of the orders (my fault), which would not repeat in the future (I hope). See below the worldwide coverage:



The financial part of the Project runs pretty well. The project is clearly self-sustainable. The project also received donations. Again, we used these to print extra tokens to distribute in events and in local stores with no judges, to follow the main purpose of the project: raise awareness about the Judge Feedback Form. We would like to express a big Thank You to our donors, namely:

Kade Goforth and Robert Putnam

Dominaria wave

We have two new designs available for this wave: a 2/2 Knight with Vigilance and a 1/1 Saproling. The designs are still work-in-progress. To get a general picture where our magnificent artist and designer Zie is heading, see below. Besides that we also have the older tokens available of course:



Please, use the pre-order form if you are interested. The pre-order window closes on April 12.

Last but not least, I would like to inform judges from South America that there are plans to start printing locally there, as post services to those parts of the World are a bit problematic and ineffective. We will let you know once we know more.

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Edited Milan Majerčík (April 23, 2018 07:02:30 AM)

Hello fellow judges!

It is time for some more news from the Judge Tokens Project. As usual, there will be a summary of the previous wave. And, as we are heading back to the core with Core Set 2019, we are opening a preorder window for another print run - see the link at the end of the article.

Dominaria wave aftermath

Orders we received for the Dominaria print run totalled 20000 pieces of cardboard. Judges from all around the world found interest in all of the available designs. See below the worldwide coverage:



Judge Tokens in South America

We have good news for judges from Brazil who are interested in Judge Tokens. Albano Francisco Schmidt has started operation of his own project in order to bring the tokens to your region. Check the details here.

Core Set 2019 wave

We have three new designs available for this wave which make a nice triptych together: a 1/1 Thopter, a 1/1 Goblin and a 5/5 Dragon. Besides that we also have the older tokens available of course:



Please, use the pre-order form if you are interested. The pre-order window closes on July 13.

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Hello fellow judges!

We are on the way back to Ravnica and it is time for some more news from the Judge Tokens Project. First, I will inform you about how the previous printing run went. Then I will share some news and lastly we will kick off another print run - see the link to Guilds of Ravnica pre-order form at the end of the article.

Core Set 2019 wave aftermath

Orders we received for the M19 print run totalled 22500 pieces of cardboard. Judges from all around the world found interest in all of the available designs. See below the worldwide coverage. I would like to express a big THANK YOU to every one of you supporting the ideas behind the project! This time a special mention goes to Christian Gawrilowicz whose support allowed us to reach a new country - United Arab Emirates.



New logo

Starting with Guilds of Ravnica, we introduce a new logo to be used on materials produced by the project onward. While it would be wonderful to continue using the “official” Magic Judge logo, this change will allow us to attempt new things and ways how we promote our products.



Guilds of Ravnica wave

We have a draft of three new token designs (1/1 Soldier, 2/2 Elf Knight and 1/1 Insect) and we have also the older designs available. Besides that, there is something completely new: playmats. At the moment, we can provide two playmats, the Guilds of Ravnica panoramic street design and the M19 “Of Goblins and Dragons” scenery. We are excited to learn how you enjoy these and what ways you find to utilize them. Please note that tokens and playmats have separate pre-order forms:

Tokens pre-order form
Playmats pre-order form

The pre-order window closes on October 12.



Cheers,

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Hi everyone!

A new Magic set is around the corner and so is another print run of Judge Tokens. As usual, besides the older designs, we also have something new available for pre-orders. Our magnificent artist Zie created a design of a 1/1 Spirit token. This piece will surely come handy to any Orzhov Syndicate mage during Ravnica Allegiance Limited tournaments and could also find home in deck boxes of Modern players.

If you are interested in obtaining some packs of Judge Tokens, use this pre-order form.
Additionaly, if you would like to get some extra swag, you may also want to pre-order a playmat with Zie's designs here.

Both pre-order forms will close on January 25.



Thanks for supporting the idea of this project!

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Judges!

The WAR is upon us! Prepare yourselves for the decisive battle and get a weapon, err token, of your choice now!

Another print run of Judge Tokens is awaiting for you to order. The new designs for this wave are: 4/4 Beast, 1/1 Human and 0/0 Dreadhorde Zombie Army (which will be especially handy during Limited events with War of the Spark). Please note that the design for Dreadhorde is still a work-in-progress, just to give you a general picture and allow for a timely run of this pre-order window.

If you are interested in obtaining some packs of Judge Tokens, use this pre-order form.
Additionaly, if you would like to get some extra swag, you may also want to pre-order a playmat with Zie's designs here.

Both pre-order forms will close on April 15.

We have been also thinking about ways how make Judge Tokens more accessible worldwide. Besides the decision to have an additional pre-order window during the season (stay tuned for that), Zie also decided to provide his designs for download, so every Judge could print those locally.

The designs can be downloaded here. Please follow the license instructions provided with the source files.



Thanks for supporting the idea of this project!

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Hello Judges!

Another print run of Judge Tokens is awaiting for you to order. The new designs for this wave are: a 1/1 Elemental and a 2/2 Wolf. Please note that the design for the wolf pup is still a work-in-progress, just to give you a general picture and allow for a timely run of this pre-order window.

If you are interested in obtaining some packs of Judge Tokens, use this pre-order form.
Additionaly, if you would like to get some extra swag, you may also want to pre-order a playmat with Zie's designs here.

Both pre-order forms will close on July 25.

The designs can be also downloaded here. Please follow the license instructions provided with the source files. Note that the latest designs will be available only after they are finished.



Thanks for supporting the idea of this project!

Milan Majerčík
Judge Tokens Project Lead

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Hello fellow Judges!

Today, I would like to have a general talk about the past and the future of this project.

The first idea for Judge tokens came to my mind during 2016. After an initial test run, the first major print run came to be with Amonkhet in 2017. Since then, the Project quarterly produced tokens with various designs, serving Judges worldwide. During those 2,5 years and 10 print waves, hundreds of Judges placed orders for almost 200 000 pieces.

All this was possible only thanks to endless efforts of Tan Zie Aun, L2 from Malaysia. Zie was the author of all designs and later also managed the printing and mailing. The project also has had the luck in many supporters among you. People who incorporated the mission of Judge Tokens as their own and actually used the tokens. People who either helped the project financially in the start or acted as “Judge Mail System” messengers. People who provided feedback on the tokens themselves to make them even better. To all of you, I salute you!

Since the beginning, the main mission of Judge tokens produced by the project has always been:

1. Advertise Judge Feedback Form, so players and TOs are aware it exists.

2. Provide Judges with tokens that help mitigate possible unclear board states.

3. Provide a tool to foster Judge-player communication and relations. (there is nothing better than give a token to players waiting for their checked decks ;-) )

Many things are unclear now with the arrival of Judge Academy. First, we are uncertain what will be the feedback channel of choice in the future. Second, Judge Academy seem to be able and eager to provide some licensed merchandise (i.e. swag) to their members. I personally believe that it will be much more “sexy”, if such Judge tokens that are given to players present some official art, can contain the official logos etc.

I have decided to pass on the leadership of this project to Zie. Zie has been extremely successfull in running the project business more or less autonomously for some time already anyway. So it is just an act of making this all official. I will let Zie decide on what is best for the future of our lovely tokens. With the mentioned uncertainty in mind, I can imagine moving the project under a platform like Patreon or Etsy. It would probably make everyone's life easier.

Once again, thank you for all the support and stay tuned for the news from Zie!

Milan Majerčík

P.S.: Do not reply to this thread. In case you want to share your thoughts with us, send an e-mail to judgetokens@gmail.com, please.

Edited Milan Majerčík (Sept. 28, 2019 02:37:57 AM)

Hello fellow Judges!

Cutting to the chase: Here's the preorder form for the Throne of Eldraine tokens, and here's the form for playmats.

This time we have two new token designs: Food, which is making quite the splash in Standard and Limited formats; and Faerie, perhaps a complement to the Alela brawl deck.

(Art is still a work in progress.)


As for playmats, the Food and Faerie tokens combine to form a complete image, and the Wolf token from the M20 wave is also getting a playmat.

If you would like to reproduce these tokens yourself, you may access the digital files in the Google Drive link here. The Food and Faerie tokens will be available for download when the art is done.

Preorders close Wednesday, October 16. I am exploring options in setting up an online storefront so that the tokens can be ordered outside of preorder waves, though there will be a slight markup in prices to accommodate listing and transaction fees. If you have any suggestions or ideas, I would like to hear them at judgetokens@gmail.com.

—

Now if you'd allow me to indulge in some personal thoughts…

I became part of this project by chance. I was showing a potential judge candidate the Projects tab about what judges do “behind the scenes”, and I noticed the “Judge Tokens” project. Half an hour later, I fired off an email to Milan, and the rest was history.

In the last wave, we shipped out twenty-four thousand tokens. I think that's an insane number of custom tokens by any standard, and frankly, I'm quite easily spooked. If you've experienced any delay in e-mail replies over the last six months, it's me in the corner of my room facing the wall wondering what I did wrong.

With the Judge Program sunsetting and Judge Academy taking over, I'm not sure what the future of the Judge Tokens project will be. As Milan said, Judge Academy might have access to official art or better artists, allowing for cooler tokens.

In the meantime, I'll do whatever I can. I've learned a lot over the past six months not only creating designs, but also sending and replying e-mails, and bringing packages to the post office by the trolley.

I would also like to thank you for reading this far, and thank you for all your support. I always appreciate any feedback sent via the form or email (judgetokens@gmail.com).

See you next wave.

Zie Aun Tan
Judge Tokens Project

Edited Zie Aun Tan (Oct. 8, 2019 09:33:10 AM)