Here’s the details and explanation on the Level 2 advancement process in the “New New World Order“. We would like to give a huge shout-out to all the judges who provided comments on forums or informal chats at Grand Prix, Conferences, or in private. We specifically want to give a special thank you to:



Bryan Prillaman

Daniel Kitachewsky

Edwin Zhang

Fabian Peck

Julio Sosa

Sean Catanese

Sebastian Pękala

Yoshitoki Sakai

and all Regional Coordinators



They were deeply involved in the development of the following document and they are part of a new permanent project responsible for looking after the Level 2 definition, goals and responsibilities: The Level 2 Philosophy, Definition, and Implementation.

Before going into details, let’s have a look at the requirements, test and maintenance of Level 2:

The following section is also hosted in the Official Resources site.

Level 2 — Competitive REL Judge

A Level 2 judge has been certified to run events at Competitive REL. They are responsible for PPTQs and represent the bulk of judges on the floor of a Grand Prix and other large-scale tournaments. They are expected to mentor and test Level 1 candidates. They may get the certifications to mentor and test Level 2 judges and to team lead at day 2 of Grand Prix.

The requirements for this level reflect the expectation of greater diplomacy and involvement for someone who will often be moving from location to location, judging for multiple Tournament Organizers and sharing their knowledge of rules and tournament practices with other judges. They may also choose to become involved in global projects as they learn more about the Judge Program.

Pre-test Requirements

Judge six sanctioned events in the previous six months.

Recommendation Review from judging together at a Competitive REL Event written by a Level 2 or Level 3 Judge in the previous 12 months. See template here.

Enter reviews of two different judges into the Judge Center in the previous 12 months.

An article, a conference report, or a written tournament report from an event with multiple judges in the previous 12 months.

A score of 70% on a Level 2 Practice exam in the previous 12 months.

Any of these requirements can be suppressed for an specific Level 2 candidate by his or her Regional Coordinator under exceptional circumstances.

The L2 test will consist in:

A passing score on the Level 2 judge exam, incorporating IPG, MTR and CR.

Interview and recommendation from a judge certified to test Level 2s. This interview should check the candidate’s:

Diplomacy with players, judges and Tournament Organizers.

Basic investigations understanding (help the candidate to understand when an investigation is appropriate and conducting the investigation).

Willingness to mentor and certify other judges.

Regional community involvement.

Maintenance Requirements

At the end of each natural year (excluding the year the judge certified for Level 2), the following requirements have to be fulfilled to maintain the Level 2 certification.

Judge two Competitive REL tournaments.

Enter one review of another judge into the Judge Center.

Demonstrate maintenance of rules and policy knowledge through yearly exams. Low performers will be referred to their Regional Coordinator for followup.

The exact way and deadline to provide proof of those requirements to maintain will be set up by each Regional Coordinator. If a Level 2 judge fails to fulfill or submit those requirements his or her Regional Coordinator will provide the judge a path to solve the issue, if appropriate. If not solved properly or if, at the Regional Coordinator’s discretion, the issue is too big to fix the judge will be demoted to Level 1.

Retest Interval

A candidate who fails the Level 2 exam can attempt recertification in three months.

Welcome back! Now let’s have a look on the reasons for each item in the list and their philosophy:

Pre-test Requirements

Judge six sanctioned events in the previous six months.

When a judge becomes a Level 2 the entire MTG community expects a level of practical experience in tournament operations. Six events is the minimum experience required to get familiar with the procedures and have been able to face a few different situations.

This requirement expires in 6 months because a Level 2 judge is expected to have frequent judging activity.

Recommendation Review from judging together at a Competitive REL Event written by a Level 2 or Level 3 Judge in the previous 12 months.

A Level 2 judge is expected to be able to Head Judge PPTQs, to do this, they must demonstrate their ability to handle themselves well at competitive REL events. This must be checked, at a real event, by a Level 2 or 3 judge. The template review form covers the basic elements the recommendation has to be based on. It is encouraged to write a full proper review on top of the basic template, but it isn’t required (to prevent delays on the certification process).

Enter reviews of two different judges into the Judge Center in the previous 12 months.

The development of judges in the judge program is based on peers’ feedback and mentoring. Level 2 judges are the visible leaders for most of the Level 1 candidates and players. A Level 2 judge must be able to evaluate and provide constructive feedback on other judges. This is proved by the reviews written.

An article, a conference report, or a written tournament report from an event with multiple judges in the previous 12 months.

For the same reasons stated in the previous paragraph a Level 2 judge must demonstrate his or her capacity to share their knowledge in a written form. The candidate can choose what fits him or her better: the article, the conference report or the tournament report.

A score of 70% on a Level 2 Practice exam in the previous 12 months.

Level 2 judges are required to pass a written test. By taking and passing the Level 2 Practice beforehand both the candidate and the tester will be able to evaluate the real rules knowledge of the candidate and determine if the candidate is ready to test or further study is necessary.

Any of those requirements can be suppressed for a specific Level 2 candidate by his or her Regional Coordinator under exceptional circumstances.

In one hand the Level 2 is an standard of quality that must guarantee the quality of the judges, but in the other hand the Judge Program is a worldwide community and the specific circumstances of each individual judge are countless. It will be impossible to cover all of them in a written document.

Level 2 should indicate that the judge possesses certain skills. The bar we’ve set guarantees that skill level and we expect it to work in most areas of the world. In the corner cases where the circumstances make impossible or extremely difficult for a candidate to fulfill the requirements the Regional Coordinator is the most capable person to evaluate the case and adapt the procedure.

The Level 2 test will consist in:

A passing score on the Level 2 judge exam, incorporating IPG, MTR and CR.

Level 2 judges will be Head Judging PPTQ and other events and they must prove a solid knowledge of rules and policies.

Interview and recommendation from a judge certified to test Level 2s. This interview should check the candidate’s:

Diplomacy with players, judges and Tournament Organizers.

A Level 2 judge is the highest judge level most of the players and Tournament Organizers will regularly interact with. Level 2 judges are the ambassadors and the visible face of the Judge Program. They must be able to act diplomatically with all members of the MTG community.

Basic investigations understanding (help the candidate to understand when an investigation is appropriate and conducting the investigation) and disqualification reporting.

A Level 2 judge will regularly be the Head Judge of Competitive REL events; during the interview the interviewer must go with the candidate through the basic elements of an investigation, to make sure the candidate has the tools to conduct an investigation, and is aware of how to enter a Disqualification into the Judge Center.

Please note we’re not testing the candidate investigations skills as a Level 2 candidate probably has never handled a Disqualification before.

Willingness to mentor and certify other judges.

Level 2 judges are responsible for developing their local communities. They don’t need to have experience doing it but they must have a positive approach to it.

Regional community involvement.

The judge program is organized as a community where peers help each other to improve. Each region has its own communication channels and projects. A Level 2 judge must have, at least, a minimum involvement in the community.

Maintenance Requirements

At the end of each natural year (excluding the year the judge certified for level 2), the following requirements have to be fulfilled to maintain the Level 2 certification.

Those requirements will be checked every year from January to December. The Level 2 judge doesn’t need to fulfill those requirements the year they certify for Level 2.

Judge two Competitive REL tournaments.

This is the minimum activity required to be considered active as a judge. A lower level of activity will result in the judge getting rusty and his or her judge quality can’t be guaranteed.

Enter one review of another judge into the Judge Center.

Level 2 judges must permanently provide feedback and mentor their fellow judges. Even if more than 1 review a year is strongly recommended, this is the minimum activity required from an L2.

Demonstrate maintenance of rules and policy knowledge through yearly exams. Low performers will be referred to their Regional Coordinator for followup.

Level 2 judges are the Head Judges of most of the Competitive REL events and need to keep up to date with the rules and procedures. As we are already more than halfway through the year, we don’t feel there is sufficient time to roll out this test globally and have it apply for this year. The exact structure of this test will be rolled out in early 2017.