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Category: Hearthstone

Masters Tour 2021 Orgrimmar Preview – Revival Time?

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Hearthstone hasn’t been looking too hot recently. Indeed, in our recent Tier List, it sunk a little. Regardless, we’re still very excited for the esport – especially with the Masters Tour 2021 Orgrimmar on the way! Read on for a quick and concise event preview!

Masters Tour 2021 Orgrimmar – Quick Facts

Credits: Hearthstone Esports Twitter
  • Date: 30th April to 2nd May
  • Format: Conquest
  • Platform: Online
  • Prize: $250,000

The Masters Tour Orgrimmar is kicking off the second season of the 2021 Masters Tour. Unlike the Grandmaster events where the top of the top are invited, here in Masters the Open format is embraced.

Furthermore, this is emphasized in the exciting Conquest format. With each BO5, across Swiss Rounds followed by Playoffs, new and young talent will fight tooth and nail to get to the top. Yes, there’s a prize pool, but making a name for yourself is a big part of these types of events too.

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Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

Regardless, these youngsters will be put up against the current Grandmasters too. That’s what makes every match so exciting – can this unknown name take on an established Grandmaster?

Otherwise, you can check out viewership details here on esportsguide or visit the Hearthstone YouTube channel. Whatever happens, viewership definitely needs to improve for the scene in general.

For more esports news, please visit here: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

$100,000 Hearthstone Crossroads Inn-vitational event announced

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Blizzard have announced that they are hosting a $100,000 Hearthstone Crossroads Inn-vitational event. Here is everything you need to know:

Tournament Format for the $100,000 Hearthstone Crossroads Inn-vitational event

All participating members are to assemble a 30-card standard deck. This deck must consist of at least 10 cards from Forged in the Barrens before playing in 2 best of 3 rounds against different players in the opposing team. 1 team point will be given for each game victory within a round, regardless of who wins in the end. In the case of a 2-0 clean sweep, 3 team points are awarded.

After this stage of the event, each team plays in a 3rd round, called the “Barrens Blitz” round. Here, the format is a best of 5, and all players require the Nozdormu the Eternal in their decks. For each individual game victory, they will be receiving 1 team point, and where there is a 3-0 sweep, 5 team points are awarded.

When a player loses a round for the first time, they become Frenzied for the next round. This means that any team points earned by that particular player are doubled.

Teams/Players Participating

20 Hearthstone content creators will split into two teams named as the Northwatch Hold, and the Camp Taurajo. Here are all participating members, sorted by their teams:

Northwatch Hold:

  • Brian Kibler
  • Alliestraza
  • Kripp
  • Dekkster
  • FenoHS
  • Thijs
  • Flurry
  • Kranich
  • Tom60229
  • Sinedd92

Camp Taurajo:

  • Firebat
  • Trump
  • Dog
  • RegisKillBin
  • Solary (Pilou)
  • RDU
  • DDaHyoNi
  • BasarCos
  • Nuj
  • Nayara Sylvestre

Schedule & Broadcast:

The Crossroads Inn-vitational event is set to start on the 21st of April, starting at about 10:00 am PDT. As mentioned in their blog, the event will stream on their official Twitch and Youtube channels.

Be sure to visit www.esportsguide.com for all your important esports news!

How to Watch Grandmasters 2021 Season 1: teams, format, schedule, streams, predictions

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Indeed, the Grandmasters is the highest level of competition for competitive Hearthstone. Accordingly, the Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 event is finally back after an off-season hiatus. Taking place across three regions, we’ll be offering all of the viewership details for our viewers here on esportsguide. Read on for the full scoop!

Event Background

Screenshot e
Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

As I’ll reiterate, this is the Premier League of Blizzard for Hearthstone. Specifically, this is an opportunity for the best players in the region to enjoy a competitive framework. Indeed, these events are designed to decide the best of the best. All three events for the America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific will take place online. More similarities include a prize pool of $11,500 and a start date of 9th April, finishing up on the 6th of June!

Now, we’ll be listing the participating players per region below. Do note that each region is hosting the 16 top players:

  • Americas – lunaloveee, Briarthorn, Eddie, Fled, Impact, DreadEye, Fr0zen, Tincho, killinallday, lnguagehackr, Monsanto, muzzy, Nalguidan, NoHandsGamers, Rami94, Zalae
  • EMEA – AyRoK, Frenetic, Bozzzton, Bunnyhoppor, Casie, Felkeine, Jarla, Rdu, Seiko, Leta, Swidz, Thijs, Viper, Warma, xBlyzes, Zhym
  • APAC – Alan870806, Alutemu, Bankyugi, blitzchung, che0nsu, DawN, GivePLZ, glory, Hi3, posesi, lambyseries, Shaxy, Surrender, TIZS, tom60229, Tyler
hearth
Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

Beyond the prize pool, teams are competing for future seeds. With first place earning a spot at the Hearthstone World Championship2021. Meanwhile, everyone up to 12th place earns a spot at the Grandmasters Season 2 event.

Format

Luckily, the format for each of the three events is precisely identical. Overall, there are three main stages of competition:

  • 1-7 Weeks – every week dual tournaments to sort out a top 8 each week who will then engage in Playoffs to compete on Sunday. Each weeks, placements will give you points to earn towards the final Playoffs. To note, each week will enjoy a specific gameplay format change.
  • Week 8 – after 7 weeks, the top 8 players over the 7 weeks earn a spot in the Playoffs, with the bottom four relegated
  • Playoffs – single elimination for the top 8, where each match will be a BO5 match to determine your regional champions

Schedule for the Grandmasters 2021 Season 1

At this point in time, the schedule is not available – stay tuned for details!

Watch the Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 on esportsguide

You can also watch the Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.

The Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 America
Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 Europe
Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 APAC

Predictions

Thumbnail for Masters Tour Montreal 2020
Credits: Blizzard Entertainment

Bearing in mind that this is the first season of 2021, we’ll have to consult last year’s events for some accurate predictions. Accordingly, I’ll be listing the top 5 players from each region, including any player which may not be present at these future events for proper context:

  • AMERICAs – 1(Monsanto), 2(ETC), 3(muzzy), 4(killinallday)
  • EMEA – 1(Jarla), 2(Thijs), 3(Seiko), 4(Casie)
  • APAC – 1(Bankyugi), 2(tom60229), 3(Surrender), 4(che0nsu)

Other than that, predictions are difficult to make bearing in mind that with the weekly format changes – certain players might be favoured in different weeks. Beyond that, the game of Hearthstone is continually changing on a competitive level and it will be exciting to see what the competitors bring to this event. Yet, it’s a marathon and not a sprint; players will have to maintain weekly consistency in order to make a break for the top placings.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

2021 Masters Tour Ironforge Event Preview – Diving Back into Grandmasters

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Here at esportsguide, we’ve missed the competitive Grandmasters Hearthstone events from last year. Well, the wait is over thanks to the 2021 Masters Tour Ironforge event! Indeed, as we stand days away from all the action kicking off, here’s a quick esportsguide event preview!

2021 Masters Tour Ironforge Fact Sheet

  • Dates: 12th March up to 14th March
  • Prize Pool: $250,000
  • Number of players: 400
  • Format: total of 9 Swiss Rounds followed by a Single Elimination Playoff bracket
  • A Tier 1 event
Credits: Hearthstone Esports Twitter

Indeed, this event is the first season the 2021 Masters Tour series for this year’s iteration of the Grandmasters framework. This framework is designed to host the best Hearthstone players in the world as they go at each other’s necks.

With 400 players diving into this event, predictions are awfully difficult to make. However, here’s a list of the top 4 players from our last event back in October of last year at the Masters Tour Madrid event:

  1. Xc
  2. Alutemu
  3. Gaby
  4. J4YOU
Credits: Hearthstone Esports Twitter

Yet, it’s not the same game as it was back then, and a new victor in this fresh season is likely.

Streams? Don’t worry, you can keep up to date right here at the esportsguide event page with updated analytics and streams!

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

ESL partner with Blizzard for Hearthstone events

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

With ESL recently revealing their plans for competitions in 2021, today they announce that they are will partner with Blizzard to host Hearthstone events. Here is their statement:

ESL partner with Blizzard – What does this mean?

This is huge news for all Hearthstone competitors and fans. With this partnership, ESL are going to impact the Hearthstone scene by storm. As  they will host events like the Grandmasters or the Hearthstone Masters Tours. These type events will consist of a huge amount of $3,000,000 in total prize pool money per calendar year.

ESL already holds a close partnership with Blizzard when it comes to Starcraft II and Warcraft III events, but this affiliation will only strengthen their current bond.

Senior Vice President Game Management at ESL Gaming, Michael Van Driel said this about the partnership:

“We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Blizzard through this two year Hearthstone  partnership. Operating the game ecosystem is a great move for ESL and Hearthstone, fans around the world can look forward to an exciting two years ahead.” 

Partnerships like these are what create the huge esports scenes we have today. With ESL being one of the biggest and main tournament operators, it only goes up from here for Blizzard and Hearthstone Esports.

Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your important esports news!

Hearthstone World Championship 2020 Recap – A New Champion

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As we head to the end of 2020, many esports scenes are wrapping up. Namely, the competitive Hearthstone community is just recovering from the epic hosting of the Hearthstone World Championship 2020. Accordingly, the following is a concise recap for anyone who missed out on the card-dealing action!

As we previewed, 8 global superstars were put into the ring for the $500,000 prize. Running from the 12-13th December, excitement ran rampant in the scene.

Everything kicked off at the Hearthstone World Championship through the two groups. Resultantly, here’s how they turned out ahead of the bracket:

Hearthstone World Championship Group Play
Credits: Liquipedia

Straight from the start, surprises hit the event. Specifically, most of them came in the hands of glory who managed to beat the favourites of “XiaoT” and “bloodyface” for a spot in the Playoff bracket. This was a sign of things to come.

Indeed, teams were seeded into the Playoffs based on their group stage performance. Let’s see how the bracket turned out:

brackeths
Credits: Liquipedia

With “glory” rising from the shadows, another dark horse in the form of “Jarla” was also putting in some work. The two players both won their respective semifinal and naturally, it boiled down to an epic showdown between the two players.

Hitting hard and early, Sato “glory” Kenta made sure to claim his rightful spot as the new Hearthstone World Champion.

Now the competitive Hearthstone community anxiously awaits for next year.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Hearthstone World Championship 2020 – How to Watch: teams, schedule, streams, predictions

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

Event Background

All year long, competitive Hearthstone has thrived through multiple layers of competition. Accordingly, we’ve been covering both the Grandmasters and Masters Tour for 2020. Now, it’s finally time to preview the largest event of the year – the Hearthstone World Championship 2020! Read on to learn How to Watch the event!

This year, Blizzard announced Grandmasters 2020 as the newest Premier League for the scene. Multiple months later, there’s no doubt that Blizzard made the right choice. With $500,000 on the line, the event will be running from the weekend of the 12-14th December.

Credits: Hearthstone Twitter

Indeed, the top 8 players in the world have been gathered. Here they are from all around the globe:

  • glory – Asia-Pacific Season 1
  • Bankyugi – Asia-Pacific Season 2
  • bloodyface – Americas Season 1
  • Monsanto – Americas Season 2
  • SilverName – EMEA Season 1
  • Jarla – EMEA Season 2
  • Syf – China Season 1
  • XiaoT – China Season 2

Let’s dive right into the format to see how a global championship will be crowned.

Format

The entirely online event will kick off on December 12th through a Group Stage. Note that all games will be played on Standard Mode, Conquest.

Back to the Group Stage, two groups of four have been seeded randomly. Here’s how the groups look like:

Group 1

  • bloodyface
  • glory
  • Jarla
  • XiaoT
Credits: Hearthstone

Group 2

  • Syf
  • Bankyugi
  • SilverName
  • Monsanto

Reaching the Playoffs will require players to fight through a Single Elimination format. Basically, only two teams will make it out of each group after winning at least two games. Accordingly, a 2-0 or 2-1 scoreline is required to continue in a smaller bracket format to advance – the bottom two are eliminated.

Once in the Playoffs, matches will be high stakes in a Single Elimination format – one loss and it’s over. Matches here will be BO3 for the semifinals, with the final extending to BO5.

Credits: Hearthstone Twitter

After all this, the inaugural winner of the Hearthstone World Championship 2020 will be crowned.

Schedule for the Hearthstone World Championship 2020

According to Blizzard, the event will be running across the three days, focusing on two game days. Here are the times for each day:

World Championship – Day 1 (Start–>Finish)

  • December 12th – 5:00PM CET
  • December 13th – 3:00AM CET

World Championship – Day 2 (Start–>Finish)

  • December 13th – 5:00PM CET
  • December 14th – 1:00AM CET

Watch the Hearthstone World Championship 2020 stream on esportsguide

You can also watch the Hearthstone World Championship 2020 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.

Predictions

This is tough as all attending are star studded competitors – but who has the best shot? Anyone can win, but few step up when they need to. One thing I’d like to note, is that from last year’s Grandmasters 2019 – Global Finals the only returning player is none other than bloodyface, who placed second at that event.

Credits: Hearthstone Twitter

Bearing this in mind, I would pin him as the favourite. However, Hearthstone has changed since then and a rising prospect such as Jarla is on everyone’s mind too.

Another thing to note is the tenacity of the Chinese region, renowned as one of the toughest regions for competitive Hearthstone – players from here are always expected to leave an impact on the tournament.

Overall, it’s all rather up in the air and we cannot wait to see who wins

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news

Hearthstone Masters Tour 2020 Madrid Recap

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

This past weekend we saw the Hearthstone Masters Tour 2020 Madrid take place. The event was packed with non-stop card action, and we saw the first chinese player to ever win a Master Tour. And that champion is none other than Invictus Gaming’s Zheng “Xc” Qianhao.

Finals Standings + Winnings (Top 8)

  • 1st – $32,500 – Xc – Invictus Gaming
  • 2nd – $22,500 – Alutemu
  • 3rd-4th – $15,000 – Gaby – Uniti E-Sporting
  • 3rd-4th – $15,000 – J4YOU
  • 5th – $11,000 – Hi3
  • 6th – $11,000 – GivePLZ
  • 7th – $11,000 – batupaksoy
  • 8th – $11,000 – MM78

Hearthstone Masters Tour 2020 Madrid – How did Xc win the event?

Out of 304 players that were participating in the Madrid Hearthstone Masters Tour, Xc dominated the entire event. In the final stages of playoffs he beat South Korean player, Hi3, 3-2 in the Quarterfinals, French player Gaby 3-1 in the Semis, and won the Finals 3-1 over Japanese player Alutemu. He has certainly made his country proud, especially because no other Chinese player had ever won a Masters Tour.

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Credits: Blizzard

What’s next for Hearthstone esports?

The Hearthstone Masters Tour 2020 Madrid was the final opportunity for players to earn a seed in the Grandmasters in 2021. The players which had the best achievements/placements (per region) at the six Master Tours of 2020 will be invited to the event. Here below is an image showing which players qualified for the Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021:

Grandmasters
Credits: Blizzard

Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Masters Tour Montreal 2020 Recap – Frenetic On Top

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

As we previewed, Masters Tour 2020 Montreal was an incredible event. Indeed, acting as the fifth season of the 2020 Masters Tour, the event offered considerable momentum to the scene. Here’s a quick recap of the tournament.

With $500,000 on the line, the Online Tier 1 event wasted no time. Kicking off on 11th September, a whopping 159 competitors piled into the Swiss group stage. By 13th September, only 8 players would make it to the Playoffs stage to battle for the majority of the prize pool.

Accordingly, here’s how the single elimination bracket boiled down:

Masters Tour 2020 Montreal Bracket
Credits: Liquipedia

Just like that, the community celebrates a new champion at the Masters Tour 2020 Montreal. Indeed, “Frenetic” finally had his shot at glory and claimed it. He did so in a dominant fashion, as demonstrated in the above bracket. Clean 3-0 sweeps are present for the most part.

Currently, the Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 is live, while for the Master’s Tour, Madrid is the next stop for October. We’ll be keeping an eye for Madrid and previewing the event accordingly and recapping the Grandmasters events.

It’s safe to say that Hearthstone has successfully made the switch to online with minimal hiccups.

What’s next for competitive Hearthstone?

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.

Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 – Americas Update

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

The Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 – Americas event kicked off on the 14th August. Accordingly, the event looks to run up until the 11th October. With a total of 16 of the best Hearthstone players in the world, let’s take a quick mid-event peek to see how things are developing.

Indeed, so far, the first stage is already complete. Here, three weeks of a Swiss Group Stage sorted teams into two divisions – A and B. Overall, first stage of the Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 – Americas unfolded as follows:

grandmasterss
Credits: Liquipedia

The top 8 teams made it into Division A, where the top 6 will make it to Playoffs. Meanwhile, Division B fight for less spots to join them. Playoffs will be single-elimination, BO5 matches. The following is the current state of the Divisions:

division
Credits: Liquipedia

So far it’s been an incredible event. Note that the players involved are not only competing for a $100,000 prize pool, but for a seed into the Global Finals 2020 and spots into next year’s season. Everything is on the line at this event.

We’ll be keeping a watchful eye on how the event progresses and we’ll be sure to recap it once it’s done.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.