We showed you the promotional card for the upcoming Global Celebration tournaments last week. So when did we start making promo cards for events?
Dirtcowl Wurm was the very first "prerelease card," given out at the Tempest prerelease tournaments in October of 1997.
The card was not "foil;" it was simply a normal version of the card with the word "Prerelease" and the Magic "M" stamped in gold leaf on the type line.