Hearthstone Masters: Here comes the new Hearthstone eSports ecosystem

Over the past few hours, Blizzard has officially announced the new paths that will be taken in the context of the vast eSport world linked to Hearthstone. The announcement came with a long and detailed press release readable below:

Late last year, we revealed that we were working hard on evolving Hearthstone esports to become more sustainable, fun, and accessible for all. Today we are happy to share all the details on theHearthstone Masters: Take a look below for a quick insight and visit our blog for more information.

The Hearthstone Masters Tour events will be very familiar to the contenders. There will be plenty of stations connected with ethernet cables, ideal for players who want to prove their worth in Swiss and single-elimination rounds over the course of these three days. If the $ 250.000 prize pool isn't enough for you, the title of is also at stake Hearthstone Grandmaster, on which we will provide more details shortly. Players can qualify for the 2019 Masters Tour events in a variety of ways, including:

• By winning an online Masters Qualifiers event (hosted by Battlefy and open to all players).
• Finishing in the top four of a Ranked Play Qualifier.
• By obtaining an invitation through official tournaments organized by third parties.
• Concluding a previous Masters Tour event in first place.
• Qualifying through the China Gold Series.
• Concluding the Year of the Raven with at least 120 Hearthstone Competitive Points.

The first stop on the Hearthstone Masters Tour will be in Las Vegas from June 14th to 16th. After that, the Masters Tour will head to Asia and Europe, with further stops scheduled for 2020.

We will give the final farewell to the Conquest format with theHearthstone World Championship 2019, to be held this April. This format will be replaced by a new one, which we have called Specialist. Here's how it works:

• Players choose three decks of the same class.
• Players designate one deck as the main deck, while the other two will be the second and third decks.
• The second and third decks can have up to five cards different from the main deck. Duplicated cards in the main deck list count as two separate cards.
• Both players must use the main deck in the first game of each match.
• From the second game onwards, players can decide whether to continue using the main deck or move on to the second or third deck.
• The choice of decks for the second and third games, if necessary, is done at the beginning of each game simultaneously and the players remain unaware of the choice of the opponent.
• All Masters Qualifiers and Ranked Qualifier matches will be best of three matches. Matches of Masters Tour events will also be best of three games, with the exception of best of five finals

Finally, we have the Hearthstone Grandmasters! We're not ready to share all Hearthstone Grandmasters details yet, but please note that you may receive an invitation by placing yourself at the top of Masters Tour events.