Behind the Tour
While the true foundation of the Magic Organized Play program is all of the local, lower-stakes events, like Friday Night Magic, that are run every day by stores and clubs and are easily accessible to players around the world, the capstone is surely the Pro Tour. As the showpiece of the DCI, there is a great deal of publicity and event coverage out there seeking to give players of all levels a taste of the Pro Tour play experience.

For judges, though, there is comparatively little—a tournament report here, a blog entry there—and their experience is largely kept out of the public eye. There is good reason for this, since it reflects the notion that an ideal tournament can be thought of as one in which the judges are effectively invisible. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of providing judges getting ready for their first Pro Tour very little information with which to prepare.

Despite the lack of information, judges that are new to the Pro Tour usually find that this doesn't affect their ability to do a good job at actually helping to run the tournament itself. Despite the level of play and the high stakes, the Pro Tour is still just another tournament, and the same rules for doing a good job apply there as they do for any tournament.

There is, however, a lot more to be gained from judging at the Pro Tour in terms of overall experience, potential for learning, and the chance to mentor and be mentored. Going in blind can make it difficult to take full advantage of these opportunities. Even for more experienced judges, it is important to spend some time thinking about the upcoming event and getting ready to take advantage of it.

With that in mind, here are ten things that you might not know about judging at the Pro Tour and how they can help you to enjoy and experience more while you're there.

(For judges who aren't yet judging Pro Tours, much of this also applies to Grand Prix events, and for those of you who focus on judging local events, some of the ideas and lessons here should be useful to you as well.)

1. Decisions
While you should strive to give your best at every tournament that you judge, most people will step up and try just a little bit harder to do a little bit better when the stakes go up. This is a natural tendency and is fine, within reason, but needs to be handled very carefully. A bit of extra spring in your step or a little bit of extra adrenaline that makes you respond to judge calls just a little bit quicker is understandable. So long as the difference is in enthusiasm or energy, this is not a problem (though certainly, the more enthusiasm you can muster for all of your events, the better).

What you need to guard against, however, is making decisions differently or changing your actions because of the magnitude of the tournament. The right response to a situation is essentially the same from tournament to tournament. Any infractions that occur are the same no matter what level the tournament, and while the Penalty Guide may call for a different penalty, following the specified guidelines for the appropriate REL is the correct thing to do.

The way this usually becomes an issue is when the stakes become high enough that they make you question your decisions. Issuing a penalty that might affect a match when hundreds or thousands of dollars may be at stake can be a difficult thing to do, and guilt can certainly be a factor. A very natural reaction to this situation is to want to tone down the penalty; this reaction needs to be strongly avoided. It's very important to remember that high stakes are not, in and of themselves, "significant and exceptional circumstances" worth deviating from the guidelines for. Regardless of the stakes, the infraction is same, and the penalty guidelines have been carefully designed to fairly balance the potential for exploit with an appropriate penalty in order to keep things fair for all players.

Remember that the decisions that you make affect more than just the person that you are addressing at any given moment, and don't let the environment stop you from doing the same thing you always do—the right thing. And, if you truly believe that the right thing is different than what you usually do, that's a good sign that you should reevaluate your usual behaviors.

2. Socializing
Much is written about the great social environment that the players enjoy at the Pro Tour. It's a chance to meet up with friends they don't see often, to spend time with people who share a hobby, and to enjoy time in a new city exploring the sights. While the headline is certainly the actual tournament, there are countless stories on the web of fun player exploits outside of the tournament itself.

Though it's less well known [... though probably little surprise to regular readers of Ask the Judge -Seamus], the same is true for the judge community, which spends plenty of time outside of the tournament doing its own socializing. Whether it's a group of Pro Tour regulars or some newer judges getting introduced to the community, there are plenty of activities outside of the tournament itself that add to the richness of the experience and make the travel well worthwhile.

Whether it's booster drafts or games of Elder Dragon Highlander, philosophical discussions with some of the DCI's policy makers, strolls around to see the sights, or just a relaxed chat over dinner, there are plenty of opportunities to get to know the other judges at the event and enjoy the company of people who share this interest with you.

It's important to be watching for these opportunities, though, and to be ready to take advantage of them. At the end of each day, generally groups will form up to head off to get dinner and for various activities. While the community is certainly very good about trying to make sure that everyone who's interested has something to do and making everybody feel welcome, they're also respectful of people who want to do their own thing. You do need to be ready to figure out what interests you and jump into it. If there's an activity you're really interested in doing, don't be afraid to organize something—there are usually some people happy to join just about any activity. And if you do go your own way for a while, or decide later that you're looking for people to hang out with, the lobby of the sponsored judge hotel is always a good place to look.

Most judges who have worked a Pro Tour will report that the social environment and the other judges there are one of the best parts of the experience, and it's worth taking the effort to get involved.

3. Sleep
With so much happening in and outside of the tournament, one activity that can easily fall by the wayside is sleep. Fatigue can definitely be a factor in how effective you can be as a judge, and while you should take advantage of being in the Pro Tour environment and the opportunities it presents, you shouldn't do so at the expense of judging quality.

Making sure that you're well rested is, of course, a factor at any tournament you may be in, but the Pro Tour presents more temptations and poses more time demands than your standard tournament, so it becomes more necessary to explicitly think about getting enough rest. This is one thing that nobody else can tell you how to manage, as everybody has different needs as far as sleep goes. Take some time to think about how much rest you need to stay productive and make sure that you make time for that. There's enough happening at the event that you likely aren't going to be able to catch all of it, anyway, so don't neglect your body's needs in the attempt to take in more than you can reasonably handle.

Also, don't underestimate how useful it can be to have gotten some extra sleep before the event. It's quite likely, no matter how hard you try, that you'll end up sleeping a bit less than you might otherwise want because there are so many good reasons to stay up. Being well rested in advance can help make up for this deficit.

4. Perspectives

At every tournament, there is always something to learn from the other judges there. Whether they're more experienced or less, whether you've worked with them for a long time or just met, every judge brings their own ideas and experiences to the table. This is taken to a whole new level at the Pro Tour, however, because of the international flavor of the event. In fact, the DCI goes out of their way to make sure that judges from around the world are sponsored to each Pro Tour, specifically to try and bring people from disparate regions together to learn from each other.

One thing that is often shocking to people who are meeting judges from other parts of the world for the first time is how very different tournaments and judging can be in different places. Things that are commonplace and taken for granted in one country may be totally foreign in another. Ideas that seem like pipe dreams in one place may happen every day in another. A canonical example of this is how different Grand Prix events in Europe are from the ones in the United States.

This diversity provides a good opportunity to learn some new ideas and to discuss differences. You might have some ideas to offer to another judge that they can use to improve their judging, and they might have ideas that you haven't thought of before that can help you to improve your events.

As is true with the social scene, the opportunities are there. The DCI sets the table by bringing a diverse set of judges together. It's up to you to take advantage of these chances and to engage in these conversations. For the introverted, it can be disconcerting to strike up a conversation with somebody that you don't know, but it's well worth the effort.

5. Sides
Though this feeling has started to go away over the years, it's still not uncommon for judges, particularly ones that are newer, to feel like the main floor is the raison d'etre for the Pro Tour and that there's no point to working on side events. For a long time, sides were seen by some as a lesser job. This is, as judges experienced at working at these events know, a mischaracterization, and there are valuable things to learn at sides.

The Pro Tour is deliberately overstaffed with seasoned judges, in order to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Because of this, there are always lots of experienced judges around to back you up and to make sure that things are taken care of, and there's oftentimes less to do or worry about than at other events. On the other hand, side events have much more going on, with more events and more players, and the judge staff on sides is frequently tasked with juggling many tasks at once.

This means, as many judges who have worked both will tell you, the main floor and side events have different things to offer to you as a judge. The main event is much more about mentorship and learning from experienced judges, whereas side events are where more active learning occurs, through personal experience. Of course, these are generalizations and there is some of each on the main floor and on sides, but the differences are real and it's worth your while to try and get some experiences in both, given the chance.

6. Goals
One of the standard things that the head judges of the Pro Tour will now send out before the tournament is the suggestion to set some goals for what you want to do and what you want to learn during the event. This can be challenging or seem like it's overkill, since it can be very difficult to predict what the tournament is going to have to teach you. However, there are several reasons why it's worth the effort.

There's certainly value in learning whatever lessons come up over the course of the event, and it's important to be receptive to this even if they aren't part of your overall goals. This is passive learning—waiting for things to come to you. However, there's a limit to how much you'll be able to pick up passively, and it's unpredictable whether you'll learn the things that would be most useful to you. Having specific goals for things that you know would be useful to you helps to facilitate active learning. Even if those things wouldn't naturally come about passively, generally anything that you might want to know more about is available to you if you go seeking it. Adding active learning while still being receptive to passive learning ensures that you learn the things that you want while not shutting out things you don't yet know that you need to know.

Additionally, some of the things that you might want to learn can only be picked up through having the opportunity to work in specific roles, which requires involvement from the head judge and other people planning the event. Though the DCI is very proactive and effective at keeping track of judge development, it's much easier for everybody if you're clear about the things that you need for your own development, and it allows them to schedule those opportunities for you. Of course, there aren't enough slots at certain jobs for everyone who might want to get a chance every time, but if you're straightforward about the things that you want to grow at, they'll usually come around before too long.

If you've never been to the Pro Tour before, coming up with goals might seem hard—it's challenging to know what a goal might look like. They might be judging tasks that you want to learn more about—"I want to learn how deck checks are run by experienced judges." They might be judging skills that you want to get better at—"I want to learn how to present myself more confidently to players". Or they might even be experiences that you think it would be valuable to have—"I want to find a senior judge to watch and evaluate me on what I should focus on."

Think of the reasons that you signed up to go in the first place—what it was that excited you about the chance to judge at the Pro Tour—and oftentimes there will be things that you hoped to learn buried there. Look through the list of judge skills on the review form in the Judge Center and see if there are any that you think you should focus on. Talk to judges that work with you and see if they have any advice on things that you could learn to do better. Chances are, if you spend some time thinking about it, something will come to mind that will help you to get more out of your experience.

7. Languages
One of the side effects of the international nature of the Pro Tour is that you'll encounter players from different countries, many of whom may not speak English well, if at all. Handling judge calls for these players can be awkward, both for the judge and for the player, and the language barrier can feel insurmountable.

There is a very natural instinct to try and avoid this awkwardness by trying to hand off to somebody who understands them better. It's important not to give in to this instinct. One important principle of fair judging is that players must not request rulings or help from specific judges, in order to avoid any potential favoritism (or perception thereof). While this practice is no longer common among experienced players, this can still creep up in the foreign language situation, where players are just as likely to feel more comfortable with a judge who speaks their language as the judges are. Indulging this preference often ends up having the same effect as explicit requests—getting rulings for certain players always handled by specific judges.

Instead, the first thing that you should do is try to answer the call on your own anyway. Even if you don't speak the same languages at all, a surprisingly large percentage of judge calls can still be handled, either by pointing and gesturing (or even just by the context of the cards involved), or because enough communication can happen through Magic vernacular, which generally transcends language, to handle the issue.

Of course, you should make sure that you really understand and are answering the right question, since the most important factor is to make sure that the ruling is right. If necessary, call in a judge who can translate to help facilitate communication. If you do this, however, remember that you're still the judge on the call, and you're the one making the ruling. Resist the urge to turn over the ruling and make sure that you only use the translator as a translator.

8. Share
There is (rightfully) a lot of focus that will be placed on the things that you should learn, and ways in which you can grow through your judging experience. Education and mentorship aren't a one-directional thing, however, and it's equally true that there are things that you have to offer, and things that you can teach to other people.

It can be intimidating to even consider this idea, given the number of veteran judges and DCI officials that will be at the event. Especially if you're relatively new, or aren't a senior judge, it can feel like there isn't possibly anything that you could offer that would be new, or that could contribute to the conversation.

Regardless of how long you've been in the program, though, your perspective is valuable. Even if some people might have thought about similar things that you have before, others may well not have. For the senior judges involved in setting policy, getting to hear more perspectives, and getting a sense of how prevalent different views are is useful in the decision-making process. Also, you never know when something you say becomes the catalyst for a thought or a discussion that ends up effecting some change.

So while it's certainly the case that you shouldn't assume that everything that you say will be new or lead to any brilliant insights, you shouldn't let that stop you from being willing to express your opinions and participate in discussions.

9. Explore
A recent Pro Tour motto is, "Play the Game, See the World," and for good reason. A lot of effort goes into choosing locations that are interesting on their own, and not just because a big Magic tournament is happening. Once you've made your way there, sometimes having to travel a very long distance, it would be a shame not to take advantage the opportunity to actually see anything other than the inside of a convention hall.

A common regret among judges that have been judging Pro Tour events for a while is that they wish they'd taken the time to see more of the cities they were in during some of their earlier events. Even if it's just walking a couple blocks to get dinner or taking a walking tour of the near vicinity, you'll find that it's worth the time to get a little exposure to the local flavor.

Better yet, if you can schedule some extra time there before or after the event, it's worth the effort to do some sightseeing. If your flight was sponsored by Wizards of the Coast, they're happy to work with you to schedule your flight to include these extra days, so take advantage of this flexibility!

10. Enjoy
Last, but certainly not least, don't forget to stop and smell the roses. You're at the Pro Tour, an amazing event with amazing people, playing an amazing game in an amazing place. Don't let all the hustle and bustle, all of the education, all of the commitments, all of the things that you "should" cram into those few days distract you from enjoying your experience.

If you find yourself overwhelmed, stressing out, or just plain not having fun, stop. Take a deep breath. Talk to your team lead, or peer mentor, or the judge manager, and let them know. Everyone there wants you to have a great time and will do whatever they can to make sure that you do.

Wrapping Up
Hopefully some of the thoughts on this list have given you something to consider, whether it's for your local tournaments or if you're lucky enough to be headed for San Diego. There are, of course, many other things that are worth knowing, and lots of other advice that could be useful—as always, the forums are a great place to share your ideas or to ask any questions.

If there's only one message that you take from all of this, it would be this: The Pro Tour provides tons of opportunities for everyone involved, but you need to take an active role in capitalizing on them. Keep your eyes open and you'll be better prepared to take advantage of whatever comes along.

Thanks to Karen Degi for her thoughtful feedback, suggestions, and a soon-to-be first-time Pro Tour judge's perspective.

Next week: Johanna Virtanen, with her monthly dose of Magic wit and wisdom.

Next month: Snap Judgments returns, with more polls, reader questions, and other shorter topics in judging. Once again, if you have any judging questions not related specifically to the rules that you haven't found a good place to ask, or if there are any particular topics you'd like to hear about, this is an opportunity to find out more. Questions or topics can be sent to mtgjudge@gmail.com, or posted to the forums for this article.

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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