Welcome to our first Program Lead Ask-Me-Anything – or rather, to the answers of our first AMA. In our Program Update last month we asked you to submit any questions you had about the International Judge Program so the Program Leads (PL) could answer them. This article presents the answers to your questions.
Some of the questions we answer here are not verbatim what was submitted to us but were edited slightly for clarity or to combine them with other questions on the same topic. This allows us to cover more questions while also keeping this article at a reasonable length. For each question, the PL who gave the answer is indicated. With that being said, let’s get to the questions!
Questions about who can join and how
Answer from Khanh: Judge Apps has a page to explain the procedure to follow for the synchronization. If all else fails, there is a support request form at the bottom of the article:
Answer from Dan: No, US & Canada judges can’t join the IJP at this time. Judge Foundry is the judge program for the US & Canada and while we are collaborating with them in some capacity, they are not part of the IJP, unlike the Mexican Judge Program. Since we aren’t well equipped to provide a good service to judges in the US & Canada, we can’t welcome members from there.
Answer from Khanh: The IJP wishes to be accessible to judges wherever they are in the world.
While the initial founding team was indeed Euro-centric, we quickly changed to a global approach for as many Judges as possible.
As an example of that approach, the various teams (especially the Temporary Regional Advisors) are from all around the globe, and we have requested input and feedback from about a dozen international TOs from all continents.
You can find more information about the Temporary Regional Advisors here, they are our primary source of local Judge feedback: https://internationaljudgeprogram.org/tra-update-1/
Answer from Dan: Yes. At this time, judges from any place other than the United States and Canada can join the IJP. That said, a UK-centric judge organization is being set up in UKMO, which any judge from the UK should be aware of.
Answer from Khanh: During the transition period that will last until the end of May, any level from an earlier program will be ported to the IJP. Currently certified L2s will thus keep their L2 level.
About the IJP L3, we already had the first tests in April. The biggest difference to Judge Academy is the return of community participation and the expression of values (such as Diversity, Inclusivity, Quality, Feedback and Fairness) on top of the usual technical and operational tests.
Questions about level definitions, requirements and maintenance
Answer from Khanh: The IJP does not wish for Judges to work for free, on the contrary we strongly believe judges must be fairly compensated for their qualified job. The maintenance is to ensure that each Judge provides the quality their level represents and to avoid cases of Judges who keep their level for years without Judging. This is why we provide multiple options to demonstrate activity to maintain each level.
That being said, we are aware of feedback concerning the maintenance and we are closely monitoring the situation.
Level 3, which most of the concerns are aimed at, is the first level where we are aiming for global consistency and it requires candidates to interact with Judges from other regions. For some Judges this might mean they have to travel in order to meet some of the lifetime experience requirements. However, we would suggest not doing this at a loss.
For L3 maintenance however, there is currently an option to judge six competitive events of any size. We will monitor the situation should this option be insufficient.
Answer from Alfonso: No, far from that. The old-L4 would be like L6 on the IJP scale. I’m expecting all active old-L3s to become L4 or 5, so around 100 of them in the IJP territory. L3 is harder to guess, probably between 200 and 300 of them by the end of 2024.
Answer from Sergio: At this moment, there are no plans for certifications specifically for large events like Opens or even the Pro Tour. Positions such as these are currently very few and at the discretion of their TOs. However, we’re currently exploring a certification for L1s to specialize on large Regular REL events.
Answer from Alfonso: At the moment of writing this answer the full European OP plan for after May 2024 has not been disclosed yet, the same is true for other regions. But if you look at the L4 maintenance requirements you will see that someone could maintain the L4 judging just one big tournament a year (“Head-judge an event with at least five judges”) and then do some community building (Two of the “B” requirements).
That said we will wait for the announcements on Organized Play and react accordingly.
For reference, an average 2019 GP could provide maintenance for 17 L4 (7 HJ positions main + big SE = 7 maintenance; 16 Team Leadings Main and PTQ = 4 maintenance; 3 Sides Managers = 3 maintenance; plus almost infinite FJing opportunities). With 25 GPs (counting only non USA GPs) a year and a perfect distribution of slots they could maintain 425 L4 judges plus another undetermined number of L4s maintained by floor judging those. That number is larger by many times than the expected number of L4s.
Answer from Cristiana: RCs automatically qualify as LArge Competitive Events and can be used for L4 maintenance, therefore at least 4 L4 can maintain their level in Australia without traveling internationally (please note that some international traveling is still expected from L4+ judges).
There is a double challenge for levels starting from L3. On one hand, this is the first international level and this is where we want to unify the standards to ensure consistency. Ideally a TO should be able to select a L3 Judge for the first time knowing the Judge is operational on the floor of a convention.
On the other hand, a global standard (and list of requirements) needs to consider the local reality as well. In that regard, the group of Regional Advisors is regularly solicited to provide feedback on those requirements.
Answer from Dan: Each part of the world can maintain a minimum of four L4s through their Regional Championships. However, it may happen that no one is interested or qualified to be an L4, in that case: For Levels 1 and 2, our Temporary Regional Advisors are encouraged to find solutions that work for their region in collaboration with the Level Testing Managers. Several such solutions are already in place for regions that need them.
Answer from Alfonso: It depends on the level of those 50 judges. L2s can maintain their level just working one FNM every two months, so those shouldn’t have a problem meeting the requirements. With 10 medium size events per year, and optimal distribution the region should be able to maintain X L3s (10 HJ positions = 10 maintenance; 20 TL positions = 20 maintenance; 30 FJ slots = 5 maintenance slots). So technically that region could maintain 35 L3s, but that’s probably a way over what is realistic to expect in that region. Regarding L4 and 5 they’re expected to travel outside of the regions, so they are not related to this question.
Ultimately the goal of maintenance is ensuring judge quality. If it happens that a person who got certified some years ago hasn’t judged since then, we expect that level to be removed from that person because it no longer reflects the judging skills of that person.
Answer from Dan: If you want to judge at MagicCon or other medium sized events as you say, that alone is a very solid step towards L3. We don’t recommend judging at a loss. With that being said, Level 3 can be maintained without traveling abroad. Working multi-day events or medium-sized events are only two out of five options for point 3 of L3 maintenance and you can, for example, maintain the level by judging an in-store RCQ every other month and getting some educational content (like a conference presentation) approved by an L4+ or by your TRA.
Answer from Alfonso: A very experienced European judge does not need to work six multi-day events a year. They can choose this option to maintain L4/L5 if they wish. If they don’t, they can choose one of the other options.
Answer from Alfonso: To answer this question I need to know what level it is. If it’s L2, they will need to judge one FNM or Prerelease. If it’s an L3 (defined as a judge doing medium or large competitive events away from their local area), they will need to: Work at least six competitive events; or; Work at least three multi-day events; or Team lead at a medium sized event. Once a year. Maintaining levels 4 or 5 will require some traveling, but this is also the case for all other regions.
Answer from Alfonso: Level requirements have obviously been based on JF’s because we believe in worldwide consistency in judge levels and expectations for each level have to be consistent. Otherwise the ability to judge internationally for judges from smaller regions will be close to zero. That said, the level certification and maintenance requirements are indeed adapted to an international environment, analyzing the feedback and information of events all around the world provided by over 15 TRAs.
We have two tiers of levels. Levels 1 and 2 are designed to operate locally and they’re heavily adaptable to each region by TRAs and Testing Managers. Then we have International Levels (3, 4 and 5) that are designed to assure the international organizer hiring the judges that certain skills and qualities are present. We don’t think it’s healthy to create an environment where the TOs don’t hire L4s from a given region because they’re worse than other L4s. The higher the level, the more important we believe is the quality and consistency in the judges holding that certification.
Answer from Khanh: For the regular promotion to Level 3 or 4, there are no time constraints to get the experience you need.
For the expedited advancement to L4 during the transition phase, there is a time constraint of 2 years. As the fast tracks allows Judges to skip certain steps we needed to put a limit to the recognized experience. Without a limit, it would contradict the spirit of maintenance.
Last but not least, for level maintenance, there are different options to maintain each level to accommodate the different styles of judges. If a judge is not able to meet any of available combinations of maintenance requirements, the general idea is that Judge moves to the previous Level. I’d like to highlight that for L3, there is a possibility to maintain the level with 6 competitive events of any size over one year (these can be in-store competitive events). L4s are expected to travel outside of their region, so they should have enough events available to meet their maintenance requirements (for which there are several options).
Other questions
Answer from Alfonso: The old-L4 would be like L6 on the IJP scale. We don’t know what regions we will have in the IJP, those are to be decided by the TRAs later in 2024, but I’m expecting all active old-L3s to become L4 or 5, so around 100 of them in the IJP territory. L3 is harder to guess, probably between 200 and 300 by the end of 2024.
Answer from Khanh: We have contacted as many international and regional TOs as possible (about a dozen) to ask for their input before creating the levels and their feedback after the first draft. We still have open feedback channels with them, so we expect TOs to trust and use our level system and share any concerns they have regarding it with us.
Answer from Dan: We can’t speak for other judge organizations but membership in another judge organization doesn’t prevent a judge from becoming a member of the IJP. The one exception here is Judge Foundry, as by definition a member of that organization is from the USA or Canada, which is an area the IJP does not cover.
Answer from Bruna: There is currently an article in the final stages of Draft which lists (and thanks) the teams working on each project. Later on, most (if not all) projects will be listed, either on the IJP website or on JudgeApps.
For projects that have created a workspace on JudgeApps, you can also find them at http://apps.magicjudges.org/projects/ by filtering for “International Judge Program”.
Answer from Cristiana: We have two TRAs from SE Asia and one from Japan, as well as a TRA for Australia and New Zealand. You can find an overview of the TRAs here: https://internationaljudgeprogram.org/tra-update-1/
If this question is referring to the Program Leads, those will be voted in early 2025 and candidates can come from any IJP region.
