We are just under two months away from the 2025 Netrunner World Championship, which means it’s time to announce the prizes and format details!

If you missed any of our previous posts about this year’s World Championship, all of it can be found under this tag. Don’t forget that you can join the Worlds 2025 Discord server, where you can find information about side events, order from the Artist Colony and find resources about travel to Edinburgh.

Early Birds and ALL General Admission Pass Holders

To our incredible surprise, tickets sold out so quickly that in order to guarantee we had enough passes set aside for our volunteers and Run Together applicants, we had to put a pause on sales about a month after sales went live. Since then, quite a number of folks have signed up for the waitlist during what we initially advertised as the early bird period. As a result, we have decided to award all of the early bird loot to all General Admission pass holders as well as those first purchasers. 

Thank you all so much for your overwhelming enthusiasm for Worlds this year!

All early bird and general admission pass holders will receive a Worlds 2025 hard enamel pin and a foil full art of Byte! (Illustrated by Cat Shen)

Netrunner World Championship Main Event

This year, players will be competing in 14 single-sided swiss rounds followed by a double elimination top cut of 16 players. While playing just 14 rounds with the expected player count might result in top placings being decided by tiebreakers more than we would ideally like, adding an extra round presents significant scheduling challenges for a two day main event. We’ve decided to avoid adding a 15th round – we don’t want to stretch how much Netrunner folks can play in a single day, and it will help to simplify event logistics. We are investigating improved solutions for high player counts in future years.

The first 11 rounds will be played on Saturday, after which all card prizes will be awarded based on those standings. Only players who have the potential to make the top cut will continue to play in the final 3 rounds on Sunday, which will be followed by the top 16 cut. The requirements to qualify for Sunday will be communicated in-person and on Discord on the day of the event.

Main event prizes: 

• 1st Place: Title of ‘2025 World Champion’. Opportunity to work with Design and Development on a Champion Card. One-of-a-kind Maglectric Rapid playmat (Illustrated by Matheus Calza).
• Top 8: Wooden Deckboxes (by Russell Mortishire-Smith)
• Top 16: Vovô Ozetti’s Big Hug Mug with Worlds 2025 branding, 3 additional side event prize tickets 
• Top 32: Bigger Picture Playmat (Illustrated by Mia Siergiejew)
• Day 2 players: 2 additional side event prize tickets
• Top half, including strength of schedule ties: Runner Avatar IDs from the Liberation cycle (Illustrated by Ferenc Patkós)
• 15 points: Winchester alternate art card (Illustrated by Lucius Felimus)
• 9 points: Into the Depths alternate art card (Illustrated by Adam S. Doyle)
• 3 points: Rising Tide alternate art card (Illustrated by Anthony Hutchings)
• Participation: Greasing the Palm alternate art card (Illustrated by Dimik)

Side Events

Following feedback from last year’s side events, we are making all events outside of the Main Event on Saturday into side events. Furthermore, all side event cards can be obtained through participation alone. We want players to have a good time and not feel pressured into certain formats or events just for extra alt arts. We also want to ensure that if you are at the event all weekend it’s reasonably possible to obtain all side-event prizes without having to strategically plan out your event participation.

If you participate in a side-event of any kind, you will get one prize ticket. Events that require time commitments of at least 3 hours, including those run officially by Null Signal Games, will award a total of two tickets for participating. A prize ticket can be brought to tournament staff and exchanged for a full playset (3 copies) of any given side event card.

You can find what side events there are or organize your own in the side event planning discord channel. If you are organizing a side event, talk to tournament staff before it starts and we’ll provide you with prize tickets to award your players! 

Here are the cards you can get in exchange for prize tickets:

Side event prizes: 

• Offworld Office alternate art card (Illustrated by Krembler)
• Neurospike alternate art card (ft. 2024 startup champion Stephen Lee, Illustrated by Benjamin Giletti)
• Carmen alternate art card (Illustrated by Cat Shen)
• Gourmand alternate art card (Illustrated by Cobcris)
• Your Digital Life (Illustrated by Júlio Rocha)

NSG-Run Side Events

The side events you know and love from past years return. We’re also debuting new side events: Eternal and a cosplay contest. As mentioned above, there will NOT be any exclusive card prizing for a given side event. However, there will be limited access to the top 16 prizing from the main event, which is Vovô Ozetti’s Big Hug Mug. For details on each of these events, please see the side event planning discord channel.

Friday

Crown of Servers

The classic team event! Teams of 3 compete with no repeating factions amongst teammates. Table talk is strongly encouraged.

• Winning team: Big Hug Mug (1 mug per team member)
• Participation: 2 side event prize tickets

Cosplay Contest

Come out and cosplay as your favourite Netrunner or Netrunner-related character! Given the potentially high material and time cost to make a costume, we are giving some extra prizing to reward folks for their hard work and creativity.

• Best cosplayer: Work with Organised Play to have your likeness featured in an official alt-art which will be released by Q3 2027.
• Best 3 cosplayers: Big Hug Mug
• Participation: 2 side event prize tickets

Sunday

These side events will be organized by members of their respective curation teams, so come out and show some love for your favourite non-standard formats!

Startup

• Winner: Big Hug Mug
• Participation: 2 side event prize tickets

Eternal

• Winner: Big Hug Mug
• Participation: 2 side event prize tickets

Volunteers

We want to say thank you to all of the wonderful people who are traveling and helping make worlds the event that it is. As thanks, all volunteers will be receiving: 

• The early bird loot (Worlds 2025 enamel pin and Byte! full art)
• A playset of Open Market alternate art cards (Illustrated by Oliver Morit)
• Cards and side event prize tickets that they might have missed out on during their time volunteering
• A choice of thank you gift, specified in volunteer applications:
  • Bigger Picture Playmat (Illustrated by Mia Siergiejew)
  • Vovô Ozetti’s Big Hug Mug with Worlds 2025 branding