Locations
Weeks like this are when I wish I could feature someone a second time.
If you took my advice and decided to follow Art Halavais when I wrote him up a while back, you’ll know that he is absolutely blowing up Twitter this week with quality. It’s actually amazing to watch. You’re actually just going to get a bonus Who to Follow this week because if you’re not following Art Halavais, I’ll make it really easy. Go here. Solid plan; I like where you’re head’s at, readers.
If you are following him, you know what I’m talking about, but if you’re not yet, I’ll give you an idea.
#MTG #Rules Tip: If you kill (or Turn) a creature in response to Monstrosity, the "Becomes Monstrous" trigger won't happen.
— Arthur Halavais (@ahalavais) September 10, 2013
#MTG #Rules Tip: Monstrosity can be activated any number of times, but only has an effect the first time. (Somebody will make this mistake.)
— Arthur Halavais (@ahalavais) September 9, 2013
#MTG #Rules Tip: if you Whip of Erebos Obzedat or Aetherling onto the battlefield and then use their ability, they'll come back as normal.
— Arthur Halavais (@ahalavais) September 10, 2013
The best part is that no one even asked these questions—he just preempted them with an answer. Because he is all of the value.
Following judges in general seems like all of the value. I’ve done one modest judge installment, but I’ve also profiled a ton of judges for other things. Because why pigeonhole anyone as one thing or another? Still, there is real, obvious value to following judges on Twitter and other social media, and I’ve found some more judges to follow so you can get your learn on. It’s time for another installment, and this one is going to be value with a capital V. Strap in for “Who to Follow – Judges, Part 2”.
Jeph Foster
Where You Know Him From: Almost reaching Platinum status for Frequent Flyer miles
Current Title: Level 2 Judge, Player, Venerable Degenerate
Social Media:
Just two of my favorite people hanging out. NBD
If all Jeph Foster had done in his entire life was scour Yelp for great sushi restaurants in the Indianapolis area and stumble across Sushi Club, the actual best place to eat in Indianapolis (sucks to your hoity-toity shrimp cocktail), he would go down in history as perhaps Magic: The Gathering’s greatest hero.
However, he’s provided so much more than that. For example, he reacted to a player having Notion Thief played in response to a Jace Brainstorm activation in the best way possible, and he was rewarded by being immortalized in meme form.
A solid player on top of being a great judge, Jeph is also just a genuinely great person in general. He likes Pokémon a lot more than you’d expect from an adult, but come on. You played it, too. We all did. Get over yourself.
The judge community can be pretty tight, and Jeff happily joined in when #RobCastellonFacts was trending after Rob’s insane play at the Pro Tour.
When Rob Castellon plays Two-Headed Giant, he grows a second head. #RobCastellonFacts
— Jeph Foster (@Rhythmik) May 19, 2013
Jeph took a minor break from tweeting, but he is all over Facebook, and he hasn’t forgotten about Twitter by any stretch of the imagination. In fact . . .
Got a shit load of PAX Blitzcrank and Hecarim skins. RT/Follow for a chance to win one tomorrow. Also, I'm back on Twitter, boys.
— Jeph Foster (@Rhythmik) August 31, 2013
Give Jeph a follow. You’ve seen him at events—introduce yourself. He’s great value, and you never know what kind of wacky adventure you’re going to become embroiled in by sheer virtue of your proximity to him. That’s half the fun.
Chad Havas
Where You Know Him From: Judging, silly
Current Title: Level 2 Judge
Social Media:
Some days, I really wish Chad still wrote for QuietSpeculation. Most of his writings there are behind the paywall, but I found an unlocked one for you. Most of his recent contributions have been to the twitterverse, as he is no longer writing Magic articles, but that’s just fine considering his contributions to the twitterverse are worth checking out.
@mtgworth I wish i could easily just buy/sell a deck. So unintuitive to people who do this easily in paper every PTQ season.
— Chad Havas (@torerotutor) August 22, 2013
Good deck. Probably built this wrong. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/BG97JuC8MT
— Chad Havas (@torerotutor) August 10, 2013
Also, anyone else experiencing the *insanely* late Air Servants? In 3 packs I always see one later than 2nd, which has to be wrong.
— Chad Havas (@torerotutor) August 8, 2013
Chad’s a genuinely great person, and I finally was able to meet up with him at Grand Prix Las Vegas after interacting online only for about a year. Hit him up on Magic Online for a game—or chess.com even. I tend to find myself falling in line with his instincts about a Limited format, I think he’s a great writer who should come back to it when he finds the time, and I think he recognizes that people genuinely like what he has to say on Twitter. In fact, I’m sure he knows.
Apparently I need to be more active on twitter. This will be happening.
— Chad Havas (@torerotutor) September 9, 2013
You can never know too many people who know the rules inside and out and who are still active enough in the game to know what’s what. Give Chad a follow, and you’ll see what I mean.
Zak Whyte
Where You Know Him From: I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t know him. It’s weird.
Current Title: Level 2 Judge
Social Media:
I’m serious—everyone knows this guy.
@JonathanDMedina @meredithamedina thanks for letting me play Ascension with you guys :-)
— Zak Whyte (@zakman86) September 1, 2013
Even he knows it.
@MTGJudgeDan @mtgRikipedia well, everyone knows me... Crap.
— Zak Whyte (@zakman86) September 5, 2013
When he’s not serving in the Air Force, he’s usually either playing in a Legacy event or judging. A man after my own heart, he’s still slugging it out with Maverick despite people trying to tell him he’s wrong. He’s not wrong, dammit. If Goblins is allowed to be a thing, so is Maverick. And so is Legacy, for that matter, and he’s a strong advocate for the format in a day and age where everyone seems to want to let it die.
@HeleneBergeot @JMJACO @nouveaux @beanaman @jcdarran @MTGKoby @W4ldm3nsch Biggest non-limited GPs are still Legacy.
— Zak Whyte (@zakman86) September 8, 2013
Sometimes he loses heart, though.
@ASmallX I'm not sure Maverick and playable go in the same sentence anymore :(
— Zak Whyte (@zakman86) September 6, 2013
@norbert88 @AllSunsDawnLoL @Chosler88 Realizing you're bad is the first step to getting better.
— Zak Whyte (@zakman86) September 10, 2013
That last one was about League of Legends, but let’s not pretend it doesn’t apply to Magic.
Zak has his rules knowledge down, he’s a serious gamer, and he’s always willing to throw down whatever game is being played, and for someone everybody knows, he should have a few more Twitter followers. That’s where you all come in.
That does it for me this week. Join me next time when I’ll be finding you even more value than your faces can handle and slipping it to you smooth like a palmed twenty-dollar bill hitting the hands of a nightclub bouncer. Not that twenty bucks is more value than you could handle. The metaphor really breaks down at that point—that much is obvious.
