You can find our announcement here. This is the place to discuss that announcement!

(you can also find our website here)

Edited Judge Foundry (Oct. 6, 2023 09:55:20 PM)

We get to use Judge Apps for the discussion?? This is awesome

So is Judge Foundry just filling the gap until whatever comes next or this is the whatever comes next?

Edited Amin Sadri (Oct. 6, 2023 10:24:02 PM)

So is Judge Foundry actively seeking and in active negotiations with WOTC to obtain sponsorship support?

Originally posted by Amin Sadri:

So is Judge Foundry just filling the gap until whatever comes next or this is the whatever comes next?

We're hoping that Judge Foundry is what comes next, at least for judges in the United States and Canada. And we're hoping that other regions' community programs are what come next for judges there.

Originally posted by Brian Dombroski:

So is Judge Foundry actively seeking and in active negotiations with WOTC to obtain sponsorship support?

We think that a partnership between Judge Foundry and Wizards could be great for judges, players and Wizards. Stay tuned for more details.

Originally posted by John Brian McCarthy:

We think that a partnership between Judge Foundry and Wizards could be great for judges, players and Wizards. Stay tuned for more details.

Brief question here around the program risk (FWIW I'm bullish and very hopeful for the project!) - What's the overall plan if Wizards corporate determines mid-2024 to not work with JF, either because they decide to use their own employee/contractor sector somehow, delegate the tournament certification rights solely to their own event hosting companies, or in the worst case nix the concept of judges altogether? Mostly curious around how speculative this project is (particularly if there's unrevealed collaboration already in flight) and where there are hooks or needed gap filling to help minimize those risks.

Hey Peter - sorry I missed your reply until now (I accidentally turned off email notifications on this thread).

I'll be honest that we haven't planned much for failure yet.

Right now, we're pretty focused on planning for success, and there's still a lot of work to do there. I'll bring it up to the group as something we need to start talking about sooner rather than later, though - if there's one constant in judging, it's change, and we want to make sure judges have a “soft landing” when the next one comes along. I can also tell you that, as a non-profit, we're required by statute (and by our bylaws) to disburse any remaining assets to other non-profit organizations.

I'm sure details are currently being hammered out but I am curious about if my endorsement from Judge Academy for L2 will be recognized by Judge Foundry or if I would need to receive a new one. I, like others I'm sure, couldn't pay dues when they were reinstated and was decertified. At the time I saw no reason to pursue it since there were no large scale events or anyone in my local area needing a mentor. However recently I have been slowly working on the modules needed to become L2 again. At least I was until the announcement last week.

The main reason for asking is because it is not as feasible for me to travel to large events these days, where I would normally work with higher level judges to earn the endorsement. I would like to become a judge that others can look to for mentorship for becoming L1 as well as getting back to where I was before covid.

Originally posted by Christopher Schmitz:

I'm sure details are currently being hammered out but I am curious about if my endorsement from Judge Academy for L2 will be recognized by Judge Foundry or if I would need to receive a new one. I, like others I'm sure, couldn't pay dues when they were reinstated and was decertified. At the time I saw no reason to pursue it since there were no large scale events or anyone in my local area needing a mentor. However recently I have been slowly working on the modules needed to become L2 again. At least I was until the announcement last week.

The main reason for asking is because it is not as feasible for me to travel to large events these days, where I would normally work with higher level judges to earn the endorsement. I would like to become a judge that others can look to for mentorship for becoming L1 as well as getting back to where I was before covid.

This is a little bit of a case-by-case thing, I don't think there are going to be a ton of people in the same boat. (And if there are, that's fine, I'm just causing myself more work down the line reviewing endorsements.)

If the endorsement meets our desired quality standards for what we want out of the L2 endorsement/interview process, then we have no problem accepting it. (There's some fudge factor here, assume we will round up a bit if it is close.)

If it does not meet the standard and is very far from it, then you will have to get a new endorsement. This should be pretty easy, though. If you got an endorsement from an L2+, you can have them redo it for us to meet our standards. We can work with them to make it good enough, just have them reach out once we are to the point where we have the actual process posted and more formalized.

—
Rob McKenzie
Magic Judge Level III
Minnesota

Thanks for the insight Rob. I believe the endorsement is no more than a check mark. I do not believe there is any kind of review like you would find on a normal one.

I fully assume this will not be recognized but I just wanted to verify.