Q&A: Max Kahn, Event and Judge Manager of the NRG Championship Series

As the Nerd Rage Gaming Championship Series grew from an idea into a reality, Max Kahn played a number of different roles.

Along with Norm and Noah Cohen, Max helped design the structure of the series, set the formats for the Championship Trials and create the multiple-format championship. In addition, as the Judge Manager for Nerd Rage, Max had the responsibility of lining up judges for the CTs and the Championship, as well as serving as head judge for the CTs whenever possible. The “whenever possible” is necessary because Max was also preparing to move across the country to go to college at the University of Washington.

To his credit, Max has managed to juggle all the chainsaws without losing any limbs, and he even found time to answers some questions about the judge-related elements of the Championship Series.

Casey Laughman (CL): When the Nerd Rage Championship Series began, you were still local, which gave you the ability to be the head judge for the CTs. But, you also knew you’d be leaving for college, so how did you prepare for the time when you wouldn’t be available to serve as head judge for every event?

Max Kahn (MK): When we started the Championship Series, I knew from the start that I had to leave it in September to head to Seattle. Because of that, some of my staffing decisions were based on finding somebody who had as much energy and passion about making the Series successful as I did.

However, due to scheduling, I managed to make it to every event in the 2016 Championship Series; I flew back for the October Regionals/CT Weekend and I was back in town for the CT over Thanksgiving weekend and the Championship over winter break. So far in 2017, I haven’t been as lucky with my scheduling, and haven’t been able to judge any of the CTs. Luckily, I’ve managed to find great judges for the series who I trust to run high-quality events.

CL: With the decline in the number of events such as SCG Tour Opens in the Midwest, how does the Championship Series help fill the gap for judges looking to get more experience with Competitive events?

 MK: Well, there aren’t a lot of Competitive REL events anymore that are larger than a 30-person PPTQ since they changed the PTQ System. Old-school PTQs were one of the best ways to train Level One judges at Competitive REL, and since their disappearance, the only comparable event in the Midwest is SCG Regionals, but it only happens two or three times a year.

With CTs now reaching upwards of 90 players each, it is now one of the few regularly scheduled events that have a need for multiple judges, which gives them the opportunity to work together and learn from each other. The CTQ system also allows newer judges to judge smaller, Competitive REL events in the comfort of their local store, which will help to improve their judging techniques.

CL: What is the process for judges who aren’t currently involved with the Championship Series and want to be?

 MK: All of our event listings are posted on Judge Apps (apps.magicjudges.org), and I accept applications through there as well. While I can’t accept everyone’s applications, I encourage people to continue to apply even if they initially get rejected; our needs and preferences are always changing.

CL: The addition of CTQs offers more opportunities for judges to get experience with Constructed events. But, you don’t necessarily want someone who’s doing their first Competitive event to be head judging a CTQ. How do you balance experience and opportunity when managing judges for CTQs?

 MK: This was one of the hardest problems that I encountered when designing the CTQ system. We didn’t want the need for a Level 2 Head Judge, since that puts even more pressure on the L2s who are already so busy running PPTQs. So, we are allowing certain L1s to be Head Judges of CTQs, provided that they’ve worked at Competitive REL before and have some L2 references who can vouch for their skills. Hopefully, this ensures that all CTQ events are head judged by competent judges and provides them a good springboard to working at larger events. Floor judges of CTQs can be any judge, regardless of level or previous experience.

CL: Thinking about the CTs themselves, what kinds of challenges did you run into while getting them off the ground? How did you adjust your approach to manage them, and how much did you draw on your experience with Nerd Rage’s previous big events such as regionals?

MK: There are a ton of challenges in designing a tournament series, but I think the one that Norman and I were most concerned about was attendance. After our first CT only had 37 players, we began to wonder how we could find ways to boost the attendance at the series. We had previously hosted large Regionals events (our largest had over 400 players), so we took a look at how we advertised for that event in an attempt to adapt it to the Championship Series. It seemed to be a combination of the new approach to advertising and the popularity of the Series that allowed us to grow into what we are today. So far in 2017, four out of our five events had 90+ players, and we hope to continue this strong trend in the future.

CL: Probably the most famous judge-related moment from the CTs so far was the Chains of Mephistopheles call, which you ended up being complicated enough for an entire article. What other moments jump out as memorable or entertaining?

MK: The Chains call was certainly the most memorable event I’ve experienced so far, but one of my favorite part at every event is when the Top 8 gets announced. You’ll hear people clapping for their friends as their names gets called, but when the 8th place player hears their name and discovers that their tiebreakers held up, you can’t help but feel happy for them. The same thing goes for the end of the event as the finals concludes. Seeing people so happy about their accomplishments at these events is totally worth the countless hours I’ve invested in the Series.

CL: Looking forward, what are your goals for the judge aspects of the Championship Series?

MK: My favorite judging-related aspect of the Series so far has been the creation of the Judge Rewards Program (tinyurl.com/NRGJudgePoints). This system is not only a way for us to say thanks to the judges that consistently spend their time making our events great, but it’s also a way to encourage judges to continue to work for us in the future.

I’d also like to think that the Championship Series, through both CTs and CTQs, will help to increase the amount of competent Competitive REL judges all over the Midwest.

Max Kahn is the Event Manager for the Nerd Rage Gaming Championship Series and the Judge Manager for all Nerd Rage Gaming events. Casey Laughman is editor of Nerd Rage Gaming. Email comments and questions to claughman@gmail.com.

 

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