We need a Pan-European tournament and we need it soon!

Netrunner General
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There have been talks of organizing a Pan-European tournament since the game was released yet it has never come to frutition. I think it’s time to change that.

Players are open to it. Many of us have already travelled for National tournaments and the tournaments in Germany and the Benelux often have more foreigners than locals. With good planning a Pan-European tournament shouldn’t be much more expensive than those. I think we can do it.

So let’s use this thread to try to make it a reality. I think what we need are two things:

  1. What we need the most is a place for it. Let’s not debate whether it would be better in this or that country, let’s find a place to do it first and then see if we can do it there.

  2. Let’s gather a group of volunteers that can actually look into this beyond a forum post. People who are willing to send messages and partake in the actual organization.

C’mon guys, let’s do this :smiley:

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What’s wrong with the Euregio tournament? I think the next installment is the fifth.

Sure, it isn’t as cutthroat as Nats and Regionals(imho), but at least it’s a start

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Are you thinking an open? I’m totally up for being part of an organisation crew. I don’t want to take it on myself.

(I was in charge of BABW last year)

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I had no idea this kind of tournament existed. How have past editions been? Would it be possible to expand it? When is the next tournament held?

Yes, an open. It would be really cool if you could lend a hand, specially if you already have organizatorial experience.

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@MasterAir ran the BABW series very well, and I’m sure at times that was a frustrating and thankless task. You’ll be glad to have him on board.

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I think I know a good venue for such event.

http://www.en.zamek.wroclaw.pl/

  • a city-owned, non-profit organization, so it might be possible to be allowed to use their space at cost, or at least way cheaper than a commercial venue,
  • they organize quite a lot of fantasy or gaming conventions, so they wouldn’t roll eyes when someone asks them for space for 200+ people playing cards (in fact a few years ago this was venue for Warhammer: Invasion European Championships which IIRC was a 150ish people event),
  • I’d be contacting them next week anyway as I’m thinking about hosting SCs there, so I’ll get to know someone there
  • plus we’d get to use all the benefits of Wrocław - located in Central Europe so food/accomodation way cheaper than in Western Europe, quite a big local airport + in driving distance from Berlin
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@hsiale

That looks like the kind of thing we need, actually! It’s difficult for us Spaniards to go to Poland, though (We have to go to Varsovia and then to Wroclaw because direct flights are too expensive).

But yeah, ask around and report your finds:)

@MasterAir You were from Britain, right?

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Gonna preach for my own church but Benelux I’d usually a nice central place when it comes to proximity in EU :stuck_out_tongue:

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Personally, I think it is a great central place. The cheapest flights are to Amsterdam, Brussels and London and it allows people to get there by car.

But yeah, let’s look into it. Try to find a local and we’ll consider it :slight_smile:

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Let’s go for Poland then. :stuck_out_tongue:

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+1 for the Euregio tournaments.

its in Germany , so pretty central for most. it has had 4 or 5 editions (don’t quote me on that). I wasn’t able to make it last time because of personal reasons. The guy to go bother about this is Falko, defacto german head Judge. Krystian probably can also give a good idea on what the idea was and why it was born.

Theres also the whole Eurogrid thing we had going that could be used in some way for this. Snatching all the mail adresses of the guys involved and mailing them might be a good way to reach out to all of them. They don’t all read Stimhack / BGG / Reddit / Facebook all damn day. (Some of them do.)

I’m all for more cohesion between the European players. I don’t know if we need another event though. We could band together and make a existing event even bigger. Euregio is something excisting , with donated prize support in really nice locations.

@Calimsha , If Outpost Brussels is to be believed , they once housed 250 players for a Kotei , so they should have place for that many netrunner players. You could check with Bernardo, but they probably won’t mind. Your last Nationals Judge was a total asshole though.

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Yes, I’m from the UK.

That event centre seems great While obviously the first one needs sorting before future editions, I’d like Euros to move around both to disperse the burden of hosting and to make it available to more players who aren’t keen enough to want to travel internationally for a children’s card game.

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[quote=“magaruis, post:11, topic:6410”]+1 for the Euregio tournaments.

its in Germany , so pretty central for most. it has had 4 or 5 editions (don’t quote me on that). I wasn’t able to make it last time because of personal reasons. The guy to go bother about this is Falko, defacto german head Judge. Krystian probably can also give a good idea on what the idea was and why it was born.[/quote]
I mean, that’s perfect for me! I just don’t think any Spanish players knew about this or anything like that. But if the infrastructure is there, we can simply organize groups, check for accomodations and go there next time it’s held which is easier than organizing an event elsewhere.

So yeah, I’m totally open to turning it into this kind of even if you guys see the interest in it.

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Sounds a great idea.

Dan did a sound job on BABW, so +1 for his support.

I’d only combine with another event if there are benefits. If the union doesn’t provide any (or indeed throws up barriers or challenges) then it’s not a good thing - worth checking with organisers of such things and getting their view, but don’t hamstring yourself!

Venue should be appropriate, but also bear in mind for international travel, both accessibility of an airport and also decent, inexpensive accommodation is a strong draw for people willing to travel.

It can be worth making a weekend of it and having a more casual ICE Breaker, draft or other activity (or several) the day / night before the main event.

I can offer advice and support, but I don’t want to actually do anything! :wink: I do that kind of thing in many other arenas of my life and Netrunner is the thing I get to just turn up and play at.

London, Brussels and Amsterdam all sound viable, just be aware of getting a decently priced location may mean being inconveniently placed for other facilities. On the other hand, if you pick somewhere near one of the cheap airlines that problem might solve itself (e.g. Brussels Charleroi is far outside Brussels itself, but that might make it cheaper for accommodation and venue, while still being relatively convenient to fly to).

I’m aware more continental Europeans can just drive somewhere, so my views may be slightly tainted by being based in the UK!

FFG aren’t going to have a 2nd Worlds in Europe or anything, but they might be interested in prize support if you contact the organised play. Similarly, once a location is decided upon it’s worth contacting the distributor for the region to talk about prize support. Crowd-sourcing among the community for prizes is also viable (Chaos Theory or Ken Tenma anyone?).

I definitely think there’s scope for a European Tournament and getting some branding or more more professional looking trade dress round it and making it an annual thing.

The tricky bit might be getting the right date!

Good luck. Happy to throw things in from the peanut gallery as and when.

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Around what size that would be ?

I suggest Bruxelles, Paris or Berlin, because of two things : 1 - there is direct train going there from most of Europe and 2 - these are central places in Europe.

Paris would have an advantage for UK/Spain and maybe Italy, Germany would have an advantage for all western Europe, I guess.

Brussels would have an unfair advantage for beers :smiley:

London is good for big events I think.

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Online ?

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For Berlin, count me in! I know some good locations for bigger tournaments :stuck_out_tongue:

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Ok so let’s recap.

We have the Eurogio Tournament. However, we still haven’t contacted the organizers. Anyone know them? I’ll talk with them.

We have a possible place at Wroclaw, @hsiale said he would look into it.

@MasterAir has said he might be willing to look into a local in London.

Any more suggestions?

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I just sent this thread to the organizer. Let’s see what he thinks.

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Fred was nice enough to sent me the link to this thread. Why did he summon me?
I am the organizer of the euregio tournament, an int. Series of events in germanies western edge.