Shots from the 1999 Cologne Netrunner Classic Prerelease tourney
To the left, you can see everything set for the Netrunner Classic-Prerelease tourney on November 13, 1999, in Cologne, Germany. Because the "three-judges" system endorsed by WotC was used, I was able to play despite functioning as head judge. Expectantly fiddling around with the first booster, I'm about to set the big stop "watch" on our "judging table" for the first round of playing. On the table, two Classic displays stand still unopened. To the left of them, there's Axel's tourney laptop computer he uses to keep track of the Magic tournaments that usually happen in the cellar. I made do with paper score sheets this time, however. Neon lights and concrete walls were not exactly cozy, but added to the cyberpunk atmosphere. No use having cookies and milk on the table when playing Netrunner! :-)
Here, you can see me together with Axel Dreyling, owner of the TCG shop The Outpost at the streetcar station Heumarkt in Cologne. Axel was kind enough to let us use the cellar of his shop as a tourney location, and - recently turned an enthusiastic Netrunner player himself - joined in on the fun. To the right, seated at the table, Alexander Schmalz is already examining a booster.
15 of the 18 participants can be seen on the picture to the left. They are: Front row, left to right (kneeling): Michael Barth, Raymond Pieper, Eric Rehorst (from Eindhoven, the Netherlands), Alexander Schmalz.
Back row, left to right (standing): Matthias Linder, Nils Kreutzer (winner of the tourney) in front of Alexander Rotter, Frank Crins (also from Eindhoven), Elke Jonen (it was her birthday that day!) in front of Frank Gerolstein, Mathias Neuendorf, Axel Dreyling, Sven Jeurink, Peter Polderman (also from Eindhoven) in front of René Illger. Not present: Sven Hoffmann and Mirko Schröder (who dropped in the final round), and myself (since I took the picture).