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 at BlizzCon.

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 on November 6th and 7th at BlizzCon, 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 1 st ranked players from each Regional Championship to a unique group. Then all 2 nd rank players from each Regional Championship will be randomly assigned to a group that is different from the 1 st rank of their fellow regional player. Finally the 3 rd /4 th rank players will be randomly assigned to groups that don’t already contain any players from their region.

ranked players from each Regional Championship to a unique group. Then all 2 rank players from each Regional Championship will be randomly assigned to a group that is different from the 1 rank of their fellow regional player. Finally the 3 /4 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 a 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 24 th seed, unless their points would provide them a better seed instead.

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 25 th -40 th spot based on their Hearthstone World Championship points.

-40 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

to verify fairness and then it may be added to this list: 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

to verify fairness and then it may be added to this list: 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, Spain, South Africa, 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!

When is the deadline for submitting Hearthstone Cups? August 21, 2015

