The journey towards the Hearthstone World Championship 2016! The Hearthstone World Championship is the world's premier Hearthstone tournament, in which 16 exceptional players from around the globe compete for glory and a share of the million dollar prize pool, and of course, the coveted title of champion. of the world. This tournament is preceded by months of ranked play seasons, on-site tournaments (majors) and online trophies in which players earn points that will guarantee them a place in one of the seasonal leagues, with a $ 100.000 prize pool each.
The first event of the 2016 Hearthstone Championship Tour to award points will take place at DreamHack Winter 2015, November 26-29. Players can again earn points through ranked play starting in December, to reach the Hearthstone World Championship at the end of the year.
What's new?
Based on community feedback on last year's tournaments, Blizzard has made the following changes for 2016:
- More local champions. Four tournaments (three seasonal championships and one “Last Call” invitational tournament per region) throughout the year will determine invitations to the Hearthstone World Championship.
- No automatic shift switching for Hearthstone Majors. Players have a reserved seat, but they will start in the same round as all other players, to ensure that everyone starts on the same level.
- More money! We've raised the Hearthstone World Championship prize pool to $ 100.000 million, with $ XNUMX in prize money for each of nine seasonal championships in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
- More on-site events. Thanks to the numerous Hearthstone Rallys that prepare the Season Preliminaries leading up to the Seasonal Championships, there are more opportunities for everyone to attend a local event, compete with their heroes, or support them.
- Points matter a lot more. With points forfeiting after each season's championship, and qualification with the “Last Call” invitational tournament based on your accumulated points total, collecting points allows you to join the competition at any time.
- The scoring system has been recalibrated. The best players from each individual event will receive fewer points, while those who finish lower in the leaderboard will receive more. For ranked play, this includes awarding points to any player who reaches Legend rank in an eligible season.
- More flexible match and tournament formats. This year's new structure allows for the change and improvement of the match format from one seasonal league to another, encouraging organizers of other events to be creative with their match and tournament formats, as long as they encourage fair competition.
2016 Hearthstone Championship Tour match format
Each seasonal league can have different rules - come back here after each season to find out the match format of subsequent events! The Winter League will use a modified Conquest format with an override: each player will bring four decks of unique classes for the Season Preliminaries and, again, for the Season Championship. At the beginning of each series best of five, each player will inform the opponent of the four classes he has brought with him. Players will tell the organization which opposing deck they want to ban. Afterwards, players will face off in a standard Conquest format using the three remaining decks.
Point structure
Players can earn points to qualify for the 2016 Hearthstone Championship Tour across seasons of Ranked Play and Blizzard-sponsored tournaments. Points received are based on performance: better results give more points. In each season championship, 128 of the players with the most points per region will be invited to participate in their respective seasonal preliminary tournaments. After the Preliminary Tournament, the points will forfeit and start accumulating again to determine the best players who will advance to the next Season Preliminary. The performances of the players during the year will be used to evaluate the 8 participants in each regional "Last appeal" tournament by invitation, just before theHearthstone World Championship. Any event that awards points must follow approved criteria and submit all information to the Blizzard eSport team for acceptance. All events that award points will be posted on the PlayHearthstone.com blog called “Upcoming Events”.
Hearthstone Meetings
Blizzard-sponsored tournaments will be held during Hearthstone Gatherings. The winners (Heroes of the Inn) of these tournaments will participate in their region's seasonal preliminaries along with the 128 players invited via the leaderboard.
Season Preliminaries for the Americas and Europe
The Americas Championships include North America and Latin America. Hearthstone Seasonal Preliminaries will be held prior to each seasonal regional championship. Ai Hearthstone Seasonal Foreplay i will be invited 128 players with the most points in their region, along with the Tavern Heroes from each Hearthstone Gathering. The Season Preliminaries will be played simultaneously in multiple on-site Hearthstone Rallys in the double elimination format. Players can participate in the place they see fit, but each of them will be assigned an opponent regardless of where they come from. The top eight players with the most points of each season preliminary will get a refund on their travel expenses. All players must participate in one of these live events in order to enter the tournament.
Seasonal Championships
Each season championship will include the top 8 players from each regional preliminary, with a prize pool of $ 100.000. Players will be divided into two groups of 4 who will participate in the group stage in the double tournament format. The top two players from each group will advance to the single elimination four-player group, until the region's seasonal champion is named. Travel expenses will be covered for all season championships and the “Last Appeal” tournament by invitation.
The Hearthstone World Championship, in which the 16 best players in the world will clash, will be held in the fall. Three players from each region will be invited directly to the World Championship. the next 8 best players from each region will participate in the invitation-only tournament "Last appeal" region, to get the final spot and a chance to compete for the million dollar prize pool.
