The road to the Hearthstone World Championship begins anew! Starting January 31st, players are eligible to collect points from Ranked Play, Fireside Gatherings, tournaments, and more to earn themselves a spot in the 2015 Hearthstone World Championship.
About
The Hearthstone World Championship is the largest Hearthstone tournament in the world, where 16 exceptional players from around the globe come together to duel for glory, prizes, and the esteemed title of World Champion. This massive tournament is preceded by months of Ranked Play seasons, invitational tournaments, community tournaments, and Fireside Gatherings where players compete to earn points in their bid to secure a coveted spot in a Regional Qualifier event.
World Championship
The Hearthstone World Championship will take place in late fall 2015, featuring 16 of the world’s best players. The Hearthstone World Championship tournament format is as follows:
- Deck lists are submitted to tournament administrators prior to the event and each player’s class compositions will be made public prior to the first round of play.
- The First Round of tournament play will be structured as 4 dual-tournament groups of 4 players each. The top 2 players from each group advance to the Second Round of play in an 8-player single-elimination bracket.
- Group seeding is prepared by randomly assigning the 1st ranked players from each Regional Championship to a unique group. Then all 2nd rank players from each Regional Championship will be randomly assigned to a group that is different from the 1st rank of their fellow regional player. Finally the 3rd/4th rank players will be randomly assigned to groups that don’t already contain any players from their region.
- For additional details, please see the official rules.
Regional Championships
The Hearthstone Regional Championships decide the 4 players from each region who will make up the 16 players attending the Hearthstone World Championship. The Americas, Europe, China, and Asia-Pacific regions will each have Regional Tournaments where 8 of the most talented players from their respective regions will compete for 4 representative spots at the Hearthstone World Championship. The Americas region consists of eligible countries from within North America and Latin America, while the Asia-Pacific region includes eligible countries from within Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The Hearthstone Regional Championship tournament format is as follows:
- Deck lists are submitted to tournament administrators prior to the event and each players’ class compositions will be made public prior to the first round of play.
- The First Round of tournament play will be structured as 2 dual-tournament groups of 4 players each. The top 2 players from each group advance to the Second Round of play in an 4-player single-elimination bracket, and already qualify for the World Championship.
- Group seeding will be randomized with consideration to keep equal regional representation in each group where possible.
Regional Qualifiers
The Hearthstone Regional Qualifiers will take place just before the Regional Championships. Players from eligible countries within the regions of North America, Latin America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan will duel at regional 40-player double-elimination tournaments. The top players who emerge from the tournaments victorious will clinch a spot at their corresponding Regional Championships. Players will be seeded into the 40-player tournament based on their standing in the 2015 Hearthstone point structure.
- Deck lists are submitted to tournament administrators prior to the event and each player’s class compositions will be made public prior to the first round of play.
- The full Regional Qualifier will be a double-elimination tournament.
- All seeding will be based on each player’s Hearthstone World Championship points.
- The top 8 point earners will be awarded two round byes (i.e., these players will begin the double-elimination tournament from the upper bracket round of 16).
- The regional Fireside Gathering Champion will be seeded as the 24th seed, unless their points would provide them a better seed instead.
- Each Regional Qualifier will have an associated Last Call Tournament open to any players from the region who have earned at least 2 points during the qualifying period. The top 16 players from the single-elimination Last Call Tournament will advance to the Regional Qualifier and be seeded in the 25th-40th spot based on their Hearthstone World Championship points.
- The double-elimination bracket is played out until the regional representatives are determined.
- United States & Canada: 6 players
- Latin America: 2 players
- Europe: 8 players
- China: 8 players
- Taiwan: 2 players
- Korea: 2 players
- Australia & New Zealand: 2 players
- Southeast Asia: 1 player
- Japan: 1 player
- In regions with only 1 representative, the player entering the Grand Final from the lower bracket will be required to win two best-of-5 matches against the upper bracket player, while the upper bracket player will only be required to win one of the two matches to advance to the Regional Championship.
2015 World Championship Match Format – “Conquest”
- All matches will be best-of-5. The first player to win 3 games within the match is considered the winner of the match and advances.
- Each player must submit decklists from three unique classes prior to each stage of the event. Players may submit new decks prior to each stage of the event.
- A player must win one game with each of his three decks to win the match.
- When a player wins a game, the deck used by the winning player cannot be used for the remainder of the match.
- The losing player can keep the same deck used or switch to a different one of their choice.
- Players will be told what classes their opponent has available, but they won’t know which class is picked until both players have picked.
Point Structure
Players are able to obtain 2015 Hearthstone World Championship points through Ranked Play seasons as well as through Blizzard-sanctioned tournaments. Points received are based on performance, with better results awarding more points. Players who achieve a minimum of 2 points by August 31 will be eligible for their regional Last Call Tournament, which feeds into their corresponding Regional Qualifiers. The 23 players per region with the highest point totals will receive advanced seeding in their Regional Qualifier and do not need to play in the Last Call Tournament in order to qualify. Any event that will receive points must follow the below criteria and submit all information to the Blizzard eSports team for review and acceptance. Any event that will receive points will be posted on PlayHearthstone.com no later than 2 weeks prior to the first round of play.
| Point Giving Events | Hearthstone Cup | $10k+ Tournament | $25k+ Tournament |
| Organizer Experience | Organizer must have operated 2 prior successful and documented Hearthstone events | Organizer must have a fully executed license agreement with Blizzard | |
| Video requirements | VOD of the Top 4 matches | Commentated Stream and VOD of the Top 16 matches | ENGLISH Commentated Stream and VOD of the Top 16 |
| Minimum # of Players in the event | 32 | 16 | |
| Minimum Player registration cap | 128 | None for main event | |
| Maximum Invites | No invites can be extended except for seeding preference | 50% of the Top 16 need to be able to qualify from open qualifiers. Players can't be invited beyond Round of 16 | |
All events must also follow these criteria to be eligible for awarding points:
- Player Eligibility: Events must be open to all eligible players from a published region or set of published regions. If a player is invited to participate in the tournament, all other players from the home region of the invited player must also be allowed to participate in the open signup portion of the event.
- Match Formats: Tournaments must follow a pre-approved match format to be eligible for awarding points. If a tournament is planning to use a different format, please contact esportsteam@blizzard.com to verify fairness and then it may be added to this list:
- Last Hero Standing
- Conquest
- Blind-Pick Best-of-5
- Tournament Format: Tournaments must be structured with an overall format that is considered fair. If a tournament is planning to use a different format, please contact esportsteam@blizzard.com to verify fairness and then it may be added to this list:
- Group play
- Single-Elimination
- Double-Elimination
- Swiss
- Round-Robin
- Any combination of the above formats organized into distinct rounds
- Event Sponsors: Events must not advertise, present, or contain logos or mentions of organizations that contain Pornography, Alcohol, Tobacco or Cigarettes, Firearms, Gambling websites, or any company that is detrimental to Blizzard's business (ex. hacking, gold services, account selling, key sellers). This includes all announcements, promotional material, and broadcasts.
- Announcement Requirements: Event must be officially approved and announced, including designation of how many points will be awarded, at least 2 weeks prior to the first match for the event to be awarded points.
- Required Reporting: The tournament organizer must submit a bracket including all Battletags and a description of any issues, including all walkovers, to esportsteam@blizzard.com prior to points being awarded.
Fireside Gatherings
Select Fireside Gathering events will host Blizzard-sanctioned Hearthstone tournaments. The winners of these tournaments will be entered into the Fireside Gathering Championship, and the Grand Champion will be awarded a seed directly into their corresponding Regional Qualifier.
Residency Requirements
In order to compete in a Regional Championship, Regional Qualifier, Last Call Tournament or regional Fireside Gathering Championship, all participants must be a resident of a country within the home regions for Regional Qualifiers. All participants will be required to verify their Battle.net account and proof of residency:
Eligible Countries and associated home regions:
North America: The United States and Canada
Latin America: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Ukraine, Turkey, and The United Kingdom
China: People’s Republic of China
Taiwan: Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan
Korea: South Korea
Southeast Asia: Indonesia, India, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
Australia & New Zealand: Australia and New Zealand
Japan: Japan
Battle.net account verification:
- The country of residence in each player’s Battle.net account must show an eligible country within the region they wish to compete before a player can begin participating in the Last Call Tournament or Regional Qualifier.
- The player’s BattleTag must match those of their public persona and be pre-approved by tournament administrators before tournament entry.
- Participants are required to play all tournaments matches from the country listed on the account during the tournaments. Blizzard will check IP connections at its discretion.
- Participants that need to travel outside of their country of residence during the tournament will be required to provide details to Blizzard for review.
Proof of residency verification:
Eligibility for Citizens: If the player is a citizen of an eligible country for the Hearthstone World Championship, the player must provide a copy of a valid photo ID with a current address within the country.
- Examples of acceptable identification
- Government-issued driver’s license
- Military photo identification card
- Passport
- Health card with photo (Canada, Australia, New Zealand)
- Voter registration card with photo (Mexico)
- Health card (Denmark)
- Young Scot Card (Scotland)
- Family book (Spain)
- Bank card with owner’s signature and picture on reverse (Norway/Sweden)
- Examples of non-acceptable identification
- Expired identification
- School-issued photo identification card
- Gym membership card
- Library card
- Public transportation cards
- Private ID cards
Eligibility for non-Citizens: If the player is a foreign resident of an eligible country for the Hearthstone World Championship, the player must submit a copy of their passport along with a valid resident visa for the eligible country for an evaluation of their residency status. The visa must be acquired before the start of the Last Call Tournament or Regional Qualifier and is only considered valid if it allows the player to stay in the region, work in the region, and earn prize money in the region.
- Examples of acceptable identification
- Professional athlete visa
- Work visa
- Student visa
- Examples of non-acceptable identification
- Expired visa
- Working holiday visa
- General tourist/visitor visa
Players Training Outside of Their Home Region: Players who are a citizen in a country within a Hearthstone World Championship region will be allowed to participate in that region’s Last Call Tournament and Qualifiers regardless of their current residency status.
If you have any questions about the residency requirements, email esportsteam@blizzard.com, and we can begin the verification process.
FAQ
The Road to the Hearthstone World Championship promises to be action-packed, offering players the chance to forge their own unique stories at the dueling tables. Climb the Ranked Play ladder, duel at tournaments both online and in-person, and secure your spot at the Hearthstone World Championship!
- Can I compete with two different BattleTags in Ranked Play?
- The terms of the Battle.net EULA must be followed at all times. If an individual has two eligible BattleTags, each BattleTag earns points individually. Points earned in sanctioned tournaments or cups will be awarded to the BattleTag that was used in that competition. When it is time to check for eligibility in the Last Call Tournament or Regional Qualifier, an individual player may only compete with one qualifying BattleTag and will use the points earned by only that BattleTag.
- My country is not listed in the eligible countries list, what can I do?
- If the country where you are a citizen or the country you currently reside and work in is not eligible, then you unfortunately cannot compete in the Hearthstone World Championship this year. Our legal team is constantly evaluating which countries can be included.
- I’m a citizen in one eligible country and have a valid work visa in another eligible country. Where do I compete?
- The Regional Qualifier that you will compete in corresponds to your Battle.net account’s country. If this is not set to the country you wish to compete in, you must update the Battle.net account’s country of residence prior to competing.
- I have moved countries since I created my Battle.net account. How do I update it?
- Please contact our customer service team to begin the process of updating your Battle.net account credentials.
- Can I compete in Ranked Play from a region that isn’t where players of my country normally play?
- Yes, you can compete in any Ranked Play to earn points for your BattleTag. For each season, you will earn points based on the best ranking in any region that you placed in the top 100. You will not be able to earn points from two or more regions in the same season.
- I’m from Australia and my collection is on Americas, but I will compete in the Asia-Pacific Championship. How will I compete with players from Korea using different collections?
- At onsite events, to provide an even playing field for all competitors, players will be provided accounts that include all currently available cards for that tournament.
- I’m a Hearthstone event organizer. How do I make sure my event can award points to players?
- Email us! We can also provide assets to help support your broadcasts and share additional insights so that your event can be as successful as possible.