Judge Foundry is proud to announce its first wave of Level Four and Level Five judges. These judges were promoted today as a result of the expedited advancement process. Congratulations to everyone who met the stringent requirements.
Applications for further automatic and expedited advancement are now open.
Level Four
Seth Arar
Seth became a judge in 2017 thanks to the New York City Judge Class, and is now a fixture at both conventions around the country and local events in their city (wherever that happens to be at the time).
Amanda Coots
Amanda has judged large events regularly since 2015 as a floor judge, scorekeeper, team lead, and head judge. Outside of TCGs, Amanda works as an engineer, focused on operations and training.
Shawn Doherty
Shawn certified as Magic Judge in 1999, advanced to Level 3 in 2002, and was Regional coordinator of the Northeast US for 5 years. During his time as a judge he has worked high-level events around the world, while working local events in Chicago and Philadelphia areas.
Elliot Raff
Elliot is a cat dad, musical theatre actor, cube enthusiast, and Pro Tour competitor from Roanoke, VA. He will never say no to karaoke nights or ice cream.
Joseph Steet
Joseph lives in the Buffalo area with his wife, child, two cats, one Owl, two Falcons, and two Hawks. He got married in the same Judge shirt he made L2 and L3 in, which was actually his wife’s idea.
Tobias Vyseri
Tobi is an enthusiastic judge who loves working events and playing magic. She typically enjoy all formats, but right now she’s enjoying modern.
Ward Warren
Ward has been judging since 2010 and has been involved in organized play since 1999. Ward can be found in many different roles at large events, including judging, scorekeeping, and as a tournament organizer.
Level Five
John Alderfer
Although the joke of “lives in the GP Kit” is now older than many active judges, John does truly feel at home at large tournaments. At this point, he’s worked well over 300 premier events, and sees no reason to stop.
Stephan M. Classen
Stephan is a community focused judge, as in his daily work in sustainability and environmentalism, as well as in judging. His focus is helping judges grow and hosting interesting bigger events. He’s a Legacy Sultai player in game, and would gladly chat with you about sustainability.
Dan Collins
Dan is a Computer Engineer working in R&D from New Jersey, and has been judging since 2014. He has worked on projects like JudgeApps, and can often be found at Magic or Flesh and Blood events in the eastern US.
Abraham Corson
Abe is a 20 year-old Magic Judge, and a 30 year-old magic player. He likes to bring his wife and two-year-old daughter to events from to time.
Brook Gardner-Durbin
Brook has been involved in Magic since before he could read. He recently celebrated his tenth anniversary as a judge and looks forward to another great decade.
Jonah Kellman
Jonah is mostly bewildered and bemused that he’s been doing this professionally for any amount of time, but also pretty okay with how it’s played out.
Joe Klopchic
Joe has been judging since 2009. He has judged events of all sizes, from local weekly team drafts to organizing the Hunter Burton Memorial, a nonprofit Magic event held annually in Texas. Joe is a software engineer and spreadsheet enthusiast who works at a startup.
Travis Lauro
A permanent fixture of the California judge community, Travis describes his leadership style as “Cautionary Tale” and travels to events all over the continent, promising mandatory fun.
John Brian McCarthy
John Brian McCarthy, from Arlington, VA, has been judging since 2013. He’s judged over a hundred large tournaments, including serving as a Grand Prix Head Judge.
Rob McKenzie
Rob McKenzie is a member of the Judge Foundry board of directors, the former Regional Coordinator of the USA-North, and most recently has been head judge of CubeCon and working in the Command Zone at MagicCons. You can find him in Minnesota with his wife Ruth and three cats.
Eliana Rabinowitz
Eliana is an event judge who loves logistics and making events excellent. She is currently #wotcstaff and works on the rules team for Magic.
Bryan Spellman
Bryan has been judging since he didn’t make his win-and-in at GP Anaheim 2012. He took and passed the L1 Judge Test that Sunday at the Judge Booth and never looked back. He loves the Magic Judge Community. Bryan also loves dad jokes, dancing, and acting.
Steven Zwanger
Steven has been judging since 1997, and one of the highlights of his judging tenure was Appeals Judge at Pro Tour Barcelona this year.