Logistics and Tournament Operations

This is the sixth installment in a series focused on tying the L3 qualities to actions/behaviors you can find at all levels in the judge program. 

One of the major steps of the L3 advancement process is the creation and occasional revisiting of a detailed self-review. This review specifically must address strengths and weaknesses in the 9 identified qualities of an L3 judge.

As I have been spending some time contemplating these qualities, I realized each individual quality is worth a discussion here. One topic I’ve mentioned previously is the idea that a level does not define you as a judge (though it certainly does have implications on the amount of work/testing you’ve gone through). It strikes me that many judges, therefore, may not have taken the time to think about and review their strengths and weaknesses at each of these qualities until they are contemplating going for L3.

These qualities are not reserved for L3s or L3 candidates. On the contrary, many of these are characteristics of judges I see regularly, and from those who have likely not yet even thought seriously about the L3 advancement process. These qualities, therefore, serve as a nice framework for a series of blog posts. I hope to bring a discussion of how each quality may apply or be seen at a local (L1) or area level (L2), not just at the regional level (L3).

Logistics and Tournament Operations

Level 3 Judges are experts in the area of running large events using a team structure. They can fill a variety of judge roles and have a clear understanding of what is required of each team to support an efficient, enjoyable tournament. A deficient candidate may be sufficient in one role, but struggle when assigned a different team. He or she may exhibit a lack of awareness of the tournament’s needs and be unable to handle the magnitude of tasks at Grand Prix level events. An exemplary candidate can excel while leading any team and is often sought after for advice on best practices and new techniques. He or she is able to support the event from any role and often aids others in identifying essential tasks before they are missed.

This quality is interesting in that the amount every judge knows on the topic is dependent mostly on what they have experienced first-hand. It naturally follows therefore that the higher your judge level the more you’ve likely observed/done, and therefore the more expert you are. There is an interesting wrinkle to this way of looking at it though. An L1 who has spent years running store-level events may have seen more high player-count events such as pre-releases in the hundreds of players, or large Gamedays, than an L2 who mainly works pPTQs (that are unlikely in general to break 40 players). This means that a judge’s logistics skills may be “out of whack” with their level, and that’s ok. The knowledge that L1 tournament expert has can make a significant difference to the players and TOs of those events.

Pre-releases

As I mentioned above, some pre-releases can be huge events, with tremendous logistical challenges. Dealing with 100+ players, many of whom only attend store events specifically for the pre-releases, can be daunting if the judge and TO don’t have experience and skill with logistics and tournament operations. Thankfully, those stores with large turnouts tend to be the ones very prepared for this scenario, and so it often works out fine. One of the major issues that can arise, and did recently with the Aether Revolt Pre-release, is that when so many stores are using the same tournament software and it all needs to reach back to a database, that software can have… problems. It actually takes a very high level of tournament operations knowledge to run a huge event on notecards, and that is something that happens under duress like this sometimes.

In addition to all of that, store events require thoughtfulness about logistical issues such as where to post pairings, how to record results, round turnover times, and all the normal stuff we think about for comp REL, except decklists and generally results slips. In other words, a large Regular REL event like a pre-release may actually test a judges tournament operation knowledge as much or more than a smaller competitive REL event.

pPTQs and GP Floor Judging

When we move to competitive REL events, we add a few tournament operations and, depending on the size of the event, potentially significant logistical hurdles. Let’s start with pPTQs. There really isn’t that much different from a pPTQ and any other store-level event generally. We now require decklists and use match results slips (though some events use these even for regular), and the event is under the guidance of the IPG instead of the JAR. Otherwise, the logistics and tournament itself don’t operate much differently.

If we move our scale up a bit, to large in-store events or, ultimately, large events outside of the store-level (GPs and similar) we have a huge swath of logistical challenges that can arise. At this level of event, logistics expertise is actually a highly sought-after skill, and demonstrating evidence of your experience or expertise is a good way to stand out in applications/cover letters. For instance, if your LGS routinely has 5-10 drafts firing concurrently, and pre-releases in the hundreds of players, you have a solid amount of experience that translates well to GP side events.

Examples from Exemplar

As with every other post for this series, I took the dive into recent Exemplar nominations (wave #7) to find examples to highlight logistics and tournament operations. This quality is well-represented in Exemplar nominations, as skill here is generally easy to spot and impacts large numbers of players and judges. As always, I’m glad to read about the great behaviors and actions our community sets forth as examples to follow. Check out some of the gems I found below.

From Stephen Classen to Jessica Livingston (L2) – Jessica, you were very much on top of helping manage logistics of side events. You came in early to set up, found that the ODE lead wasn’t there yet, and set up their system to start events. Then you helped me coordinate scheduled events firing when I was on break, an did a fantastic job of it all. Most of the judges didn’t even realize you weren’t L2, proving that level is only a part of what makes people great! You did awesome, and I’m glad you did so well with the opportunities and challenges that arose at Portland! 

From Jack Doyle to Christian Genz (L2) – I’ve heard a few stories at various judge dinners. They’re often hard to believe. “A whole tournament was moved without interruption in 10 minutes.” or “we moved On Demand Events all around the hall each hour so that we could start packing up tables earlier.” The common link in these crazy stories is Christian Genz. You have a skill for this kind of logistics, not only the specifics of which tables to use and how to number them, but also how to do it quietly, efficiently, and make sure that judges and players are comfortable with the changes. I saw these skills first-hand at Lille, and I was really impressed. Great work, Christian.

From Graham Schofield to Michael Hill (L1) – At the Toronto WMCQ you rose to the occasion when your fellow judges fell sick and left you running many more events and logistics then you had signed up for. You made sure the players were minimally disrupted despite the unexpected absences.

From Thomas Ralph to Jason Howlett (L1) – Jason, you have an unerring and unwavering dedication to making the hard part of Grand Prix events – the logistics and organisation – softer on other judges. This takes the form of planning and preparing, calling out inappropriate behaviour, and putting your shoulder to the wheel and just getting on with things when hands and legs are needed. We have extensive discussions outside events on improving further – please don’t stop striving to be better yet.

From Brandon Welch to Nicolas Hammond (L1) – Despite Nic’s shy behavior, he is always willing to accept positions of leadership that will better himself. At the last PPTQ we worked together he showed this large amount of confidence that I’ve never seen from him before. He handled sealed deck logistics semi-flawlessly and really made sure he was loud for players to hear him. His rules and policy are beyond his level, with his ability to be very diplomatic with the players during a call. Nic recently has also taken up the reins of teaching and mentoring another L1 candidate in our community. This Willingness to help people improve others on your own time is amazing.