Editorial

by Jens Kreutzer

There has been a rather long hiatus, and this new issue of the Top Runners’ Quarterly will most likely come as a surprise to many. It has been three years since the last issue, and the “quarterly” part now is closer to meaning not “four times a year”, but rather “once every fourth year”. Still, I will keep the name, for recognition value and because “Top Runners Sporadically” doesn’t cut it. As you might suspect, a full-time job plus two children tend to make short work of leisure time, but I have not given up on the TRQ.

Netrunner’s tenth birthday in 2006 has come and gone without much fanfare, but despite many ups and downs (like the GatlingEngine episode or Zvi Mowshowitz’s laudable efforts of reviving it), it is not on the way out by any means. Surprisingly — well, no: unsurprisingly, Netrunner still enjoys one of the best reputations among trading card games. I am referring to the website boardgame-geek.com, which offers an incredible wealth of information on all sorts of games, but also has a nice forum on Netrunner. Here is the direct link to the Netrunner page.

Boardgamegeek.com has a ranking system for games. Of 4642 ranked games at the moment, Netrunner is rank 149. But if you look solely at trading card games, only Magic: The Gathering (at 131) is ranked higher, even though Netrunner has been out of print for a little eternity while Magic is still a topseller! Netrunner really is that popular among connoisseurs.

You can also play Netrunner online now, on Malhavoc’s Magic Workstation site, as you can read below. Good times.

Keep on running,
Yours,
Jens Kreutzer
(TRQ Editor)