Ask the Judge, 05/12/2006: Feature Friday

[Our new Feature Friday cycle gets off to a strong start with this effort from first-time StarCityGames writer and Level 3 judge Nick Fang. Enjoy! -Seamus]

What's in a Level?

Before I get started, let me introduce myself. I'm Nick Fang, a judge from the Seattle area, right in Wizards' backyard. You can typically find me at tournaments up here in Seattle or down in the San Francisco area, where my judging career got started. I've been judging for just about six years now, and I consider myself lucky to have worked with and learned from many of the best judges in the DCI, including many of the ones that write for this site.

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Okay, down to business. Level with me for a moment—that introduction was strange, wasn't it? Maybe for a reason you're conscious of, maybe not. Either way, I'm guessing that for most of you, something seemed a little bit off. When's the last time that a judge introduced themselves to you in a way that didn't include, "... I'm a level X judge ...?" In fact, if you're like many of the people I've talked to about this subject, that information is important to the way you classify and perceive judges. You might have been ready to decide how seriously to take this article (or even whether to bother reading it) based on me and my level.

Level is pervasive in judging, and it has far-reaching implications. But if you're like most players and many judges, it's probably not as important as you think. Don't get me wrong; the judge level system and judge advancement is certainly a meaningful and important thing, and I certainly don't mean to say that levels don't matter. However, if you were ready to decide whether or not to put any stock into this article based on my level, take a moment and ask yourself why. Does the content of this article change if I'm Level 5? Is the message suddenly less valid if I'm Level 1? Would being a higher level suddenly imbue me with a better ability to write and with more brilliant ideas?

The fact of the matter is, it doesn't actually matter here, does it?

The same thing can hold true in tournaments, too. Turns out, this kind of snap judgment based on level is a pretty common thing, and I frequently hear comments that boil down to this same issue; yes, level means something and can be a helpful guide in some respects, but probably not exactly in the way that you might think.

Here are some of the most common statements that I hear that stem from this issue; in examining these, hopefully we can come to a better understanding of what the judge levels are intended to actually reflect and how both judges and players can benefit from this understanding.

Examples

"I need to get my level 1 certification so that I can help judge tournaments for the store."
The lesson here: I've talked to a surprising number of players and judges recently with the belief that stores cannot run sanctioned tournaments without a certified head judge. This isn't true — while a sanctioned tournament does require a certified Tournament Organizer, tournaments can be sanctioned just fine without a certified head judge. In fact, though there aren't any published numbers, anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the majority of all DCI sanctioned tournaments are run this way.

Why this is important for players to know: Two things here. First off, if your way of looking for local sanctioned tournaments is to search through the judge locator for local area judges, you should know that you might be missing out on some happening right under your nose. Try the DCI Tournament Locator instead, or try calling local stores; you might be surprised at what's available.

Why this is important for judges to know: Interested in becoming a certified judge? Go out there and judge some tournaments! Talk to your local store owners or find your local Premiere Tournament Organizer and see if they can hook you up with somebody who is looking for a judge to run tournaments.

One of the reasons that certification isn't required to run tournaments is because practice and experience are extremely important when working on becoming certified. Besides the fact that there are skills that are best demonstrated or learned by actually getting out and actually judging, having some experience under your belt can help you with something arguably more important; finding out whether judging is actually something that you enjoy and would like to pursue. You might be surprised by how many people think this is something they'd like until they actually try it.

How level actually matters: While it's not the case that you have to be certified in order to run a sanctioned tournament, the level of the head judge still can make a difference. Higher level judges can sanction tournaments with a higher K-Value, a number that represents how much your rating can change in each match (the higher the value, the more points are at stake in each match — for more on how this works, see the K-Value explanation and the Elo Ratings appendix of the Universal Tournament Rules).

Tournaments can be run at a K-Value up to 16 without a certified head judge. With a Level 1 head judge, an event can be run at 24K, and a Level 2 head judge can run any of these as well as 32K events. So, if you're a player looking to increase your rating quickly with high stakes tournaments, you will need to seek out tournaments with certified judges.

"You do a really good job, why aren't you a higher level?"
The lesson here: There's a difference between skill and scope. In the DCI today, levels are not designed to track absolute knowledge and skill so much as they are to designate how much scope a judge has in the program. This wasn't always true, but it has been one of the hallmarks of current Judge Manager Andy Heckt's reign. If you haven't read the judge level descriptions recently, take a moment to do so now — a lot of the rest of this discussion hinges on the descriptions there.

You'll notice that each level is tagged with a title related to the size of the area that they're expected to work in; this is a relatively recent development. One of the first times I heard Andy speak was a speech at a Pro Tour right after this system was rolled out. The focus was on helping judges to find the right level of involvement for them, and to stop thinking about levels as being nothing but a metric of skill (this is when I knew that Andy was in the program for the long haul and was going to do great things for the DCI). These days, you'll find great and highly skilled judges at all levels across the board (including uncertified ones).

Why this is important for players to know: This one oftentimes rears its ugly head in the form of an assumption of how well judges know the rules, based solely on their level. While this is a natural assumption (given that it's well known that there are increasingly difficult rules tests involved in the judge certification process), it's also a fallacious one. It is both true that people with the same judge level can have very different levels of rules knowledge (consider, for example, my fellow Feature Friday writer Lee Sharpe, who I believe has forgotten more about the rules than I've ever known) and that higher levels don't necessarily imply greater rules knowledge (consider a player who knows the rules inside and out but hasn't pursued judging). Just like writing should speak for itself, rules knowledge should also speak for itself, and it can be severely unfair to make assumptions solely based on level. Give your judges a fair shake and let their knowledge and skills speak for themselves—I think you'll be surprised at what you can learn, and how much better your tournament experience can be when you don't go into them with preconceptions about the judges. And if it turns out that there is room for improvement, you're more likely to be able to help them get better if you work with them, rather than against them, which will benefit everybody involved.

Why this is important for judges to know: There's a common parable in business that nobody is ever standing still; you're always either improving or regressing. For the vast majority of judges, this has been applied to advancing through the judge level system, and ultimately, though they don't know it, this isn't going to make the majority of judges happy. This is totally understandable, as the culture for a long time was that higher levels were "better" rather than just "different". This isn't the case, however—while you should always be trying to improve as a judge, this is tangential to the level system.

When evaluating whether leveling is something that you want to do, take some time, step back, and figure out exactly what it is that you want to do in the judge program and how involved that you want to be. You may be surprised at what that says about the level that you should be shooting for; I know some stellar, top-notch Level 1 and Level 2 judges who are exactly where they want to be and do their jobs fantastically well; higher levels can mean thinking about travel, getting involved in policy discussions, dealing with nitty-gritty rules discussions, and other things that just might not interest you, and both you and the DCI will be much better off if you find the level of involvement that you're happy with and excel at that, rather than pushing too far and burning out entirely.

How level actually matters: The judge level requirements have good general write-ups of what I've been referring to as "scope". An easy way to think of this is that higher levels are predominantly about doing more, not solely about doing better. Yes, it certainly is the case that there are skill level requirements in order to advance, but this is because the requirements are a good minimum bar of skills that the DCI has found over time will be necessary to succeed at a higher scope. But this doesn't mean that anyone who has these skills is going to be the stated level, and assuming that judges of a lower level don't have them is just a bad idea.

"You're only level X? I want a ruling from a real judge!"
The lesson here: In a tournament, there are only two types of judges—there's the head judge, and there are floor judges; every floor judge is equivalent to every other floor judge, regardless of certification or level. Thus, asking for a "real judge" is both nonsensical and insulting. For more details on why you should trust the judge that takes your call, start reading this article again from the beginning.

Why this is important for players to know: From a purely human perspective, it's always good to try not to behave rudely and disrespectfully... it's just not a good way to be. While that should be sufficient, there are tournament reasons for it, too; because every floor judge is equivalent, the request is likely to get you nothing more than a stern talking to and an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty from the head judge.

Plus, here's a little secret; though many things in Magic are black and white, either correct or not, there is some gray area when it comes to how to handle tournament situations, and multiple ways to handle things reasonably. In general, for myself and other experienced judges that I've talked to, we generally won't overrule the floor judge's ruling except for the cases where the ruling is incorrect or too far off; this means that antagonizing judges (and even worse, developing a reputation for yourself) is likely to make things worse for you rather than better.

You should always allow the floor judge that responds to your call to make their ruling. If you think that they've made an error, then respectfully request an appeal to the head judge. If there isn't one, or you think the head judge has made an error, then accept the fact that the head judge's word is the way things will be for that tournament and move on. Of course, feel free to discuss it with them afterward, when the tournament isn't going on, as this can be a good opportunity for you both to learn something.

Why this is important for judges to know: Do not be intimidated and do not let yourself be pushed around when you're on the floor; you've been trusted to run the tournament to the best of your ability and it's important to take on that responsibility with as much confidence and skill as you can. As much as anyone would like to believe that they're impervious to being questioned or put down, it's a very difficult thing to actually look past in practice, and it can undermine your ability to be an effective judge (it's amazing how much your state of mind can have an effect on how well you judge). If somebody tries to pull this on you, take a quick moment to inform them that you're the floor judge that responded, that you are a real judge, and that while they're welcome to appeal if they have an issue, you're there to issue the ruling. An experienced head judge will back you up on this and you'll be amazed at how much better things can go when you're confident and people know that you're not going to be pushed around.

At the same time, however, don't take this overboard—one mistake (likely to be made by judges who have been advised of this for the first time) is to become overconfident, and to start making rulings on things that they aren't sure about [Note to the whole wide world: this makes me crazy. -Seamus]. If you aren't sure, make sure to check with somebody else; there's nothing wrong with this, and making sure the ruling is correct is the most important thing. Even the highest level, most experienced judges know when it's time to consult somebody else for a second opinion.

How level actually matters: In this case, not a whole lot; it's unfortunate that this happens less to judges that are a higher level, but it's true.

"I want to be a higher level so I can start mentoring other judges."
The lesson here: Mentorship, in both directions, should happen at every level. Every judge has things to teach and things to learn and while leadership and mentorship is one of the hallmarks of the highest levels of certification, they should not be exclusively practiced at those levels.

Why this is important for players to know: This one is primarily judge focused, but the same thing does apply to players. I've gotten some great ideas from players in my tournaments before about how things can run more smoothly; things that I wouldn't have thought of since I don't have the player's perspective of playing in them. If you have ideas, bring them up (politely) with the judge after the tournament—you might just help improve the tournaments that you play in.

Why this is important for judges to know: If you have suggestions or ideas for other judges, you should offer them. And if somebody else has a good idea for you, you should shamelessly steal them (as Saturday School's John Carter would say). This helps everyone to become a better judge.

How level actually matters: In general, expect judges of a higher level to be more actively looking for opportunities to mentor other judges. This tends to be true for two reasons—one is that this is a self-reinforcing phenomenon by virtue of the fact that ability to mentor other judges is one of the things that the DCI actively seeks when people want to move to a higher level (this is part of having a bigger scope—once you take on the responsibility of a larger region and larger events, you also will end up working with more judges, and the hope is that you will be in a good position to help them to improve). The other is that generally, you'll find more experienced judges at higher levels, and having been exposed to more gives you more background and more ideas that you can offer to other judges.

Putting it All Together

Ultimately, the common thread here is this: level does not directly track skill, it tracks scope. While it is the case that you should expect higher level judges to be highly skilled, this does not correlate to lower level judges being unskilled, and there are excellent judges to be found at all levels. Figure out what you want to do with the program and shoot for that level, but no matter what that level is, be the best judge that you can be.

That wraps it up for me this time around. Got any thoughts on this subject? Disagree with anything? Have any questions? Any and all feedback is welcome—please feel free to engage in the forums or send me mail with the link below or directly at mtgjudge@gmail.com. Or, for a more lively and interactive discussion, find me as Agbaar or Ag|Work on EFnet's #mtgjudge channel. You'll always find a lively debate there and many judges with great experience and ideas, including most of the judges you'll read here at StarCityGames. I can't recommend it enough for people interested in learning more (and helping others to learn more) about judging.

Next month: As Seamus points out, we "both blew an important call during the finals at US Nationals last year." We'll talk about just how much of an understatement that is, and how you can (and must) learn and grow through your biggest mistakes. See you then!

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Nicholas J. Fang
DCI Certified Level 3 Judge — Redmond, WA
mtgjudge@gmail.com
Agbaar and Ag|Work on EFnet's #mtgjudge