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Ask the Pro Judge #1
Interview with Sheldon Menery
von Heiko Schmidt |
14.09.2007 |
Heute wird's international… Wer das Interview lieber in deutscher Sprache lesen möchte, klicke bitte hier!
I imagine most of you clicked the link to this article already knowing what to expect. PlanetMTG is Germany's biggest site dedicated to Magic and usually publishes German content only. This article, however, is different. The interview you are about to read is completely in English and an almost exact copy of the mails Sheldon and I interchanged.
We are publishing this text in its original language because we think it should be available for the whole Magic community. Sheldon talks about lots of interesting stuff that is both entertaining and relevant to players and judges all over the world. I am proud to be able to present such a high profile interview in the context of my own PlanetMTG column.
This is the first part of a series of articles I intend to publish. Each one will be an interview with one of the six current Professional (Level 5) Judges (Michael Guptil, Jaap Brouwer, Toby Elliott, Gijsbert Hoogendijk, Collin Jackson and Sheldon Menery). It will probably take a while to publish all of them but I will do my best to inform the public when there is a new one available. If you have feedback or questions you'd like to ask those judges, I'd appreciate if you send them to Judge@PlanetMTG.de. I will try my best to consider them in my next interviews.
Next up will probably be Toby Elliott, talking about himself, Magic in general and the new and improved Penalty Guidelines in particular. Until then, have fun with this conversation.
- Heiko Schmidt.
Sheldon, first of all, I want to thank you for participating in this interview. To get started, tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, what are you doing for a living, what's your personal life like (family, children, any other hobbies besides Magic), et cetera?
I currently live in Tampa, Florida, with my heart-stoppingly beautiful wife Gretchen, who you've heard me refer to as "The Rocket Scientist," because she is indeed an Aerospace Engineer. I retired from the US Air Force in 2004, and in addition to being a house-husband, I am a part-owner of a gourmet market and wine shop, spend some time as an independent wine consultant, and I'm writing a fantasy novel called "Zolan's Scar," which I should have finished by the end of the year.
As far as hobbies, I have a RPG campaign (www.fourkingdoms.net) that's celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2007, which has run all over the world in both home games and at conventions. I was an avid weightlifter until a series of shoulder injuries derailed me. I love golf, but don't play nearly as much as I would like. I'm a huge fan of certain types of music, most especially classical (Wagner and Mozart), prog rock (Yes, Rush, ELP), and heavy metal (Metallica, Dream Theater, Queensryche).
Together our primary hobby is food and wine. I love to cook (though I'll confess to being the 2nd best chef in my house) and eat in interesting restaurants. In this house, we call Italian food "food," and my German wife has taken to preparing it as if she were from the Tuscan countryside. I have a 600 bottle wine cellar, which is about 56% French, 17% Australian, 13% USA, and 11% Italian. I will unfortunately confess to having no German wines in the cellar, although we'll occasionally pick up a bottle of dry Riesling. The remainder of the German wine is too sweet for my palate.
I started playing Magic almost immediately after it came out, having been at GenCon 1993. I brought it with me when I moved to Belgium in 1994. I was certified as a judge at the first GP Amsterdam in 1996 or 1997. I made Level 3 in 1998 (GP Antwerpen), Level 4 in 2004 (Pro Tour San Diego) and Level 5 in 2005 (Pro Tour Atlanta). Living in Europe from 1994 to 2000, I got to know quite a few of the European players. I remember when Kai wasn't yet the best player in Cologne (that was one Thomas Esser). I think my favorite German player of all time is Stephan Valkyser.
Can you tell us a bit more about how you got involved with Magic?
My ex-wife Lisa and I were at GenCon in Milwaukee. I was pretty deeply into the RPGA. In fact, I GM'd 10 of the 13 slots that year, an incredible load. During the only slot that I had open in which the dealer's room was open, we were wandering through. There was a huge pile of people around the Wizards of the Coast booth. I knew them as a RPG company, so we looked closer, and saw people playing this card game. The art looked cool, so we picked up a Starter and a Booster and moved on. She opened the booster as we walked off, and the first card she looked at was Time Walk. We had driven to the con with two other friends, and on the trip home she and one of the friends were playing the game and having fun. I didn't actually play until about a month later. The first game, I was hooked. Veteran Bodyguard did it for me.
What was it like to experience something completely new like that in 1993?
Breathtaking. You could feel the game was something special. Within 2 months, all our RPG friends were playing and collecting.
What were your experiences in the first few years as a player?
I became a pretty fair player. I had moved to Belgium shortly after discovering the game, so I got some friends at work involved, and we eventually went to events together. I played in five Belgian Nationals. My best finish was 11th.
And how did you get involved in judging?
I was at the first GP Amsterdam. I went 3-2-1 on Day 1, not making the cut. I was looking for something to do on Sunday when one of the guys at the DCI booth grabbed me and asked how well I knew the rules. After I said "pretty well", he asked if I wanted to be a judge. Already being the leader of my local Magic community, it seemed like a natural fit. I tested, and did well enough to make Level 2 (that's the way it was back in the day - and I only missed Level 3 by 2 points). As soon as I passed the test, they put me into judging a Grand Melee, which was lots of fun. The rest, as they say, is history.
Lets get into some details of that history: after getting into judging like this, how did you develop as a judge - all the way up to Professional Judge? And what are currently your tasks and concerns as Level 5?
My development, almost all the way up, has been without any kind of mentor - which is an extremely rare case in the program. I've certainly had my share of advocates, of people who have spoken well of me, but my development was mostly self-taught, and self-correcting. Trust me, I've made my share of mistakes, and have probably learned more from them than my successes. That said, I was already in my thirties when I first got certified, and I had already developed, as an Air Force NCO, all the leadership skills needed. All I really needed was to get a handle on the rules, the administration of tournaments, and handling tricky situations.
As a L2, I cut my teeth on PTQs and regular tournaments in Belgium, mostly in Bruxelles and Antwerp, and some in southern Holland. Dealing with 100+ player PTQs in the days before DCI Reporter, and the players speaking in four different languages, will teach you a great deal rather quickly. At the Stronghold Prerelease, I came to the attention of the European office, and soon I was going to all the premiere events in the region. My first Pro Tour was Mainz in 1997. By then, I was teaching new judges, and developing a good local community. I was recognized for this at GP Antwerpen by being promoted to Level 3.
Leaving Belgium in 2000 to move to Alaska, I took again the task of growing a small community. The Alaskan scene had withered, and Scott Larabee, then the North American Organized Play Manager, asked me to be the Premiere Events Tournament Organizer for the region. I gladly accepted. I actively recruited both players and judges, and we saw great improvements in the region in less than a year. I had developed enough judges that I could return to playing regularly, and got my constructed rating up towards 1800, one FNM at a time.
At this time, I also started becoming visible internationally. In July 2000, I started writing "Ask the Judge" for Star City Games, which became rather successful rather quickly. I was getting invited to more and more Pro Tours. I was being recognized as one of the games rules gurus. By the time I had left Alaska for Virginia in 2003, I was one of the senior Level 3s in the world (and this was in the days when there were really only four levels in the program). These three years were probably the time of my greatest growth in the program. I got to a certain point where I realized that being visible and popular came with a great deal of responsibility, and that realization - that it was about more than just me - was the breakthrough.
In May 2004, at Pro Tour San Diego, I was invited to join the ranks of the Level 4s. This was a distinct honor. It reinforced in me that I had a great deal of responsibility, not just a title. I took that responsibility very seriously. I became active (as was appropriate for the level) in policy discussions, and helping plan the future of the judge program - which underwent a change in September of the same year.
Realizing that we could make use of the levels in the program as they were originally laid out, we decided to make use of the long-useless Level 5. Four great L4 judges - Mike Guptil, Rune Horvik, Collin Jackson, and Gis Hoogendijk - were immediately promoted to Level 5, with the promise that Jaap Brouwer and I were to be promoted immediately after Head Judging our first Pro Tours, which I did in March 2005.
Since then, I've actively stepped into the role as a global leader in the judge program. My responsibilities include helping make DCI policy decisions, helping to decide on staffing for Pro Tours and GPs (though mostly just Head Judges for GPs), and being a focal point for any and all judge-related issues. What is most important to me is that I am responsible for ensuring that more than 2,000 judges worldwide have the training, resources, and opportunities they need to do what they do. I want to make sure that judges around the world know that I'm looking out for their best interests, and that I'm not going to sit still if something – anything - is getting in the way of them doing what they love to do, namely judging Magic tournaments. That goes for local judges all the way up to my Level 5 peers.
Throughout my development as a judge, I'd say the thing that I've learned the most, not to mention the most importantly, is that people are the key to everything. Improving my skills with other people has been the major key to getting to where I am. It's extremely important to me that people in the program know that I'm accessible to them, I'm not some shadowy figure in an ivory tower. My time is in extreme demand at Pro Tours, but never too much to stop and talk to someone who has an issue - or just wants to talk. After all, the only reason I have the position that I do is so that I can help the people who want to talk to me. To make myself unavailable to them seems silly.
Although I mention above not having a direct mentor in the program, there is one person without whose influence I would not be where I am today, and that's Judge Coordinator Andy Heckt. I have learned a great deal from watching other judges operate (both in what to do and what not to do), but it was Andy who believed in me when I had seemed to hit a ceiling in the program. Andy helped unlock the door, and I took the opportunity to step through. There is no one in the program to whom I am more grateful.
What do you think about the current state of Magic - especially the tournament scene and the judge program?
It's as good as it's ever been. Magic is a robust and healthy game, and is going to continue to be so into the foreseeable future.
Do you think the organized play that is offered - from FNMs all the way up to the Pro Tour – is enjoyable for the players?
It is, and by design - from the casual nature of FNM to the amenities of the Pro Tour (like the PT Lounge), we've created an environment that players want to come to.
Are there things that you (both you personally and the DCI in general) would like to improve?
Quite honestly, there's not much difference between me personally and the DCI in general, since I'm lucky enough to have the opportunity to help guide what changes take place. Toby Elliott's rewrite of the Penalty Guidelines was one of those things that we recently accomplished. We're currently working on freshening up the Universal Tournament Rules.
Are you happy with the quality of the judges that are available today? And how do you think the programm will or should develop in the future? I think I've heard you say there could be some more International Judges (Level 4), for example.
The 2,000+ Judges worldwide that I have the honor of leading are remarkable, and remarkably skilled. I'm ecstatic with the quality of judging today. There's been a shift, if you will, in the skills required for each level. The bar has been raised, and by design. As a program matures, you must require more out of more people. Most L2 judges today (who I believe are the real backbone of the program) have the skills that we demanded from L3s in, say, 1999. You can find rules experts everywhere today, whereas in back in the day there were about a dozen of us worldwide.
We're in a great place after a few years of upheaval and then settling down. Now that the dust has cleared, you'll find that judges have found their level in the program. We find out what good people like, what they are capable of, and what they want from the program, then help them achieve it. As I've already said, this is a large part of my job, and I love doing it.
There might be room for a few more L4s, maybe two or three. We'll see how that goes the rest of the year. That said, one thing I'd like to do is manage expectations in the program. It's reasonable for judges to expect to make Level 2 in their career. Level 3 is more difficult and demanding, both in skills and commitment, so we don't expect everyone to make it there. Additionally, it's not neccessarily a continuation from L2; the progression definitely isn't linear. Being the best L2 in the world isn't neccessarily a qualification for L3. There's a new skill set required to make that step forward, and a change in focus. Level 4 is a stratospheric accomplishment, and again, not a linear progression from Level 3. Level 5 is much the same, on an even grander scale. Think about it in terms of numbers - roughly one in a thousand people who've ever been a certified judge have made it to L5.
In my experience there are many people who don't agree with you about Magic being healthy at the moment. They think that cheaters are running rampant and that there's not much judges can do about that. They actually seem to think that the new Penalty Guidelines and the existence of "low level judges" at events like PTQs support cheating because there's "close to no punishment for trying to cheat, even when you get caught". What's your opinion on that?
Well, first you'll have to define "many," and when you try, I think you'll find that it's not numbers, just noise. There are certainly dissenting opinions, but cheaters are not running rampant. Ask the seven players who got disqualified at GP Richmond. Ask the eight who got DQ'd at Worlds. There is nothing that we do that supports cheating. We give them the rope with which to hang themselves. My philosophy is "prevent someone from cheating and they don't cheat for that event; catch someone cheating, and they don't cheat for a year or more."
At Pro Tours, we have seminars for judges that help them learn advanced anti-cheating techniques, and take them back to their local environments. Training in the judge program is important, and this is certainly one of the areas on which we focus.
Players themselves can also be a great help against cheating. You know that shady player in your area? Stop associating with him. Actively shunning sketchy characters is a great way to get them out of the game. And I mean actively. Get your friends together and tell the person "We think you're shady, and we're not going to put up with it." Making someone an outcast in the community will definitely send a message. Refuse to chat with them, refuse to let them draft with you. Completely wash your hands of them. If you do that part, the judge program will take care of the rest.
Here are some questions from the PlanetMTG readers:
- What was the funniest situation you've ever been in as a judge?
It was at the 2nd GP Amsterdam, so sometime in the late 90's. Since I speak some French, I was table judging a late day 2 Feature Match between Michael Debarre and Laurent Pagorek, two Frenchmen. It was an important match; the gallery was full of spectators. Michael spoke fluent English (and with almost no accent); Laurent almost none. Michael was a relatively high level player at the time, so he was used to speaking English to his opponents. At one point, Michael said something to Laurent in English, and Laurent turned to me and asked in French, "What did he say?" I translated, and he responded to Michael in French. Michael turned to me and said (in English) "What did he say?" The crowd roared.
- What was the most interesting situation you've ever been in as a judge?
Well, there were two players at PT Geneva who decided to have a foot race to see who went first instead of rolling a die. Unfortunately, they crashed into the curtain behind the stage. They could have been seriously injured, or seriously injured other people. The were very lucky on that account, and they were very lucky the HJ did not DQ them.
Certainly, the most interesting and highest-profile situation in which I've been involved was in the Mori/Karsten finals at Worlds 2005. You can check out the online coverage archives for the details [Link], but as HJ, I had to deal with the fact that both players and the judge at the table missed the fact that Yosei's triggered ability and Seedborn Musein play is not a combo.
- What's the most interesting deck you've ever encountered?
I don't know about the most interesting, but the least interesting usually involves Psychatog and a pile of blue.
I will note that my friend Adam Staley Top 8'd a PTQ with Security Detail as his only kill card (I know most of your readers are going to have to go look it up).
- Do you still play yourself? If so, at what level?
I have played at the PTQ and Nationals level in the past, but currently I only play casually (thought 10th Edition is so interesting as to make me rethink that idea), and at the moment, the only format I play in is Elder Dragon Highlander. EDH = best. format. ever.
- Doesn't it cost a lot of time and money to become and stay a L5 judge?
Time yes, money no. Being a professional judge, I'm actually rather well-compensated for my time.
- What does your family, especially your wife, think of your activity as a judge?
My wife is extremely supportive of my Magic involvement (in all my hobbies, actually). She's not strategy game oriented, so she doesn't play, but I used to have a casual group that met every Sunday (give or take), and every Sunday, she'd lay out this great spread of food for us. She definitely understands Magic players. She's an engineer, after all.
- Are you still aware of your local community? I imagine it's quite easy to forget about it when you're so active internationally.
Giving that I just moved here, I'm less aware of my local community than I was before I moved. It's important for high level judges to stay involved locally, to keep their feet on the ground, so to speak, and not lose touch with the roots of the game. Now that the summer is winding down, I'll probably start going to the occasional FNM and playing a little Standard (I'm telling you, 10th Edition is great!).
- Why do you think so few women play Magic?
The mindset of the Magic male and female player is the same, it's just that the mindset occurs more frequently in men. I've had the pleasure of knowing some of the best female Magic players of all time, like Kate Stavola and the inimitable Michelle Bush - fierce, fierce competitors. Although it's a very broad generalization, women tend to enjoy more the social aspect of the game, and men the competetive. Add to that in the general age range of most Magic players (17-25ish), women - again, this is painted with a very broad stroke - tend to like more group activities, whereas men tend to like the individual. Trust me, there are women serving beats around FNM (not to mention kitchen) tables all across the world.
Can you tell us a bit more about EDH?
Elder Dragon Highlander is a multiplayer format created in Anchorage, Alaska, by the inimitable Adam Staley (who I referenced earlier at Top 8'd with a Security Detail deck). The main part is that you choose a Legendary Creature as your General, and you can only have your General's mana symbols in your deck. For example, my General is Phelddagrif, so I can only have cards with white, blue, and green mana symbols on them. Deck construction is 100 cards (which includes the General), only one of any card. Players start the game with 40 life.
The other two main rules are 1) if you take 21 damage from any single General (total, over the course of the game), you lose no matter what your life total is and 2) Generals start in the „Removed from game“ zone, and you can play them from there. If your General would go to the graveyard, you can RFG it instead - and then you can replay it for 2 additional mana (each time - so the fifth time you play it in a game, it will cost you 8 extra mana).
What I love about the format is that it's rarely the same game twice, and the effects are big and splashy. It's known in EDH circles that it's better to do something cool than to win. One of my favorite EDH memories was at a Pro Tour when someone played Stroke of Genius on himself for 10 or 11, and Canadian Judge Duncan McGregor (who had Vedalken Orrery in play ) responded with Chains of Mephistopheles as an Instant. That's the kind of chaos that makes the game fun.
I have a pile of decks now: Phelddagrif, Darigaaz, Merieke, Marrow-Gnawer, Vorosh (my all-Italian deck), Garza Zol, Arcades Sabboth, and a few more. Most of them are all-foil (which inhibits deckbuilding just a bit, but again, it's about coolness, not brokenness).
The format is a huge hit amongst Pro Tour judges. On Sunday night at this past Pro Tour San Diego, I counted more than 20 judges in the hotel lobby playing EDH.
Currently, I have no local group, but rest assured I'll be infecting a new local environment with it soon. I can honestly say that EDH is the best casual format ever.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I feel like the luckiest man ever. In addition to the other parts of my life, Magic has given me a marvelous opportunity to do the kinds of things that many people never imagine. I've crisscrossed the globe and met some of the finest people this planet has to offer. I can't imagine what my life would be like without this wonderful game that we all love. I'm certainly a better man for it. Thanks for the opportunity for me to tell part of my story.
PlanetMTG.de already interviewed Sheldon some time ago about the Max Bracht Disqualification. You can find that article here (Link).
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