The brightest diamonds are often found in the unlikeliest places. Competitive Hearthstone is relatively young, but already rife with examples of players emerging seemingly from nowhere to become big names. In 2014, James “Firebat” Kostesich hoisted the World Championship after spending much of the year under the radar. Two of last year’s best players were Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk and Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall, both of whom began their careers grinding in the relative obscurity of community cups before finding fame and fortune.

In order to break out like they did, it’s not enough just to be good at the game. Hearthstone’s history shows that the best players needs total discipline and dedication, plus a dash of left-field thinking. Those are subtle qualities, which may not be apparent from watching a player in a tournament or on stream, which is why Hearthstone’s brightest prospects are often hard to pinpoint. Nonetheless, as the 2016 season gets underway, these are six of the players who we think have the potential to join the game’s professional frontrunners...