Blizzard Entertainment has just started up this year’s iteration of the Hearthstone Global Games. Teams from 32 eligible countries and regions will clash against each other in a four-week tournament. A $75,000 prize pool and bragging rights are split between the top teams, with two players on each roster.
2019 Hearthstone Global Games
This year’s Hearthstone Global Games is the third edition and began on Nov. 15. Unlike the 2018 version, the number of teams has been lessened from 48 to 32. Each team consists of two players, with the first being that country or region’s highest earner from the 2019 Masters Tour for Las Vegas, Nevada; Seoul, South Korea; and Bucharest, Romania. The second player is determined based on lifetime earnings, contributions to the Hearthstone community, and more.Â
While the base prize pool is $75,000, the 2018 Hearthstone Global Games boasted almost $410,000 in the prize pool. This is because the prize pool included bits from Twitch Cheering. This program allowed players to support their favorite teams and unlock in-game cosmetic rewards.
The tournament will be sectioned off into two group stages, with the playoffs in the end over a two-day period. The first group stage between Nov. 15 – 24 sees eight groups of four teams each compete in a dual tournament, with the top 2 of each group advancing. Then four groups of four teams will battle it out again, with the top 2 teams in each group qualifying for the playoffs. While last year’s event was held at BlizzCon, this iteration will be fully online due to unforeseen circumstances in the past few months within the Hearthstone community. Two groups of four teams each will then compete during the playoffs, with the top two proceeding to the grand finals. However, the grand finals stage will consist of single-elimination matches instead.
At the moment, 1st place takes $20,000, 2nd place $10,000, and 3 – 4th $7,500. No news has been published yet surrounding whether the cheering system will make a reappearance. Fans interested in viewing the 2019 Hearthstone Global Games schedule or other updates can do so on the website.
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