Dates

• Week 1 – July 22 – 24
• Week 2 – July 29 – 31

Bye Week – Enjoy the release of Murder at Castle Nathria on August 2

Masters Tour: Murder at Castle Nathria – August 12 – 14

• Week 3 – August 19 – 21
• Week 4 (Playoffs) – August 26 – 31
  

Broadcast Start Time

FRIDAY: GROUP A/B: 2 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. CEST / 6 p.m. KST

SATURDAY: GROUP C/D: 8:15 a.m. PDT / 5:15 p.m. CEST / 12:15 a.m. KST

SUNDAY: TOP 8: 3 a.m. PDT / 12 p.m. CEST / 7 p.m. KST

Casters: Each pairing will cast a third of all matches each day

Week 1 Pairs:

• Amy Chen & Jia
• Raven & Sottle
• Edelweiss & TJ

Prize Pool: Global prizing of $150,000 (USD) and an invite to the 2022 World Championship to the season champion

Language Streams on YouTube:

• English
• Japanese
• Korean
• Portuguese (LATAM)
• Spanish (LATAM)

During weeks 1-3, players will be separated into four groups for dual-tournament play. Unlike in previous GM seasons, all matches will occur live on broadcast. The two winners of each group will then play on Sundays. Players will receive points based on total number of wins each week, which will determine final standings before the Playoffs. The new weekly groups will be posted to the Hearthstone Esports twitter!

• Groups A and C will play first on days 1 and 2 and will always feature Asia-Pacific competitors.
• Groups B and D will play last on days 1 and 2 and always include the Americas competitors.
• The two winners of each group will form a top 8 that will play single-elimination matches to determine the weekly winner.

Gameplay format changes every week:

• Week 1: Best of 5 Conquest
• Week 2: Trio
• Week 3: Last Hero Standing
• Playoffs: Best of 7 Conquest

Players:

Murder at Castle Nathria Drops

You can earn up to 8 total packs as you watch Grandmasters! On any of the above YouTube channels, watch two total hours to receive one pack and two more hours for your second. Time watched is cumulative within each of the four reward blocks, so even if you can’t watch for the entire four hours in one sitting, your time will still count toward earning the Drops.

• Grandmasters Week 1: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Week 2: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Week 3: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)
• Grandmasters Playoffs: Murder at Castle Nathria (max 2 packs)

Connecting Your Accounts

Before you can receive rewards, you’ll need to link your YouTube and Blizzard Battle.net accounts. Here’s how: 

• Log in or create an account on YouTube. 
• Navigate to Account Sharing under “Connected Apps” in Settings. 
• Select “Connect” next to Battle.net.
• Follow the simple prompts to finish connecting accounts. 
• When connecting accounts, be sure that you’re currently logged into the Blizzard account on which you’d like to receive your Drops. 
• Click here for a complete set of official rules for Hearthstone Grandmasters: Last Call YouTube Drops.

The post It’s Last Call for Hearthstone Grandmasters! appeared first on Esportimes.

Details

• Dates: Friday, October 22 – Sunday, October 24, 2021

• Day 1: Swiss Rounds 1-4
• Day 2: Swiss Rounds 5-8
• Day 3: Round of 16, Top 8, Semifinals, & Finals

• Broadcast Start Time: 2:00 p.m. BST
• Prize Pool: $250,000 (USD)
• Format: 4-deck, best-of-5 Conquest with a ban
• Casters: TJ “Azumoqt” Sanders, Darroch “Darroch” Brown, Jia “Jia” Dee, Neil “Lorinda” Bond, and Alex “RavenCasts” Baguley
• Language Streams on YouTube:

• English
• English (HearthstoneEsports)
• Japanese
• Korean
• Mandarin
• Portuguese (LATAM)
• Spanish (LATAM)

How It Works

Masters Tour Stormwind will be played in the 4 deck, best-of-5 Conquest with a ban format. The top 32 players that don’t already have invites will receive one for Masters Tour Undercity.

• Day 1: Four rounds of Swiss.
• Day 2: Four rounds of Swiss.
• Day 3: Top 16 single-elimination playoffs + Masters Tour Champion Reveal

YouTube Drops Return!

You can earn up to two Year of the Phoenix card packs as you watch Masters Tour Stormwind. On any of the above YouTube channels, watching two total hours will give you one pack and two more will give you a second one. Time watched is cumulative throughout the weekend, so even if you can’t watch for the full four hours in one sitting your time will still count toward earning the Drops.

Connecting Your Accounts

Before you can receive rewards, you’ll need to link your YouTube and Blizzard Battle.net accounts. Here’s how:  

• Log in or create an account on YouTube.  
• Navigate to Account Sharing under “Connected Apps” in Settings.  
• Select “Connect” next to Battle.net.
• Follow the simple prompts to finish connecting accounts.  
• When connecting accounts, be sure that you’re currently logged into the Blizzard account on which you’d like to receive your Drops. 

You can also keep up with all of the latest Hearthstone esports news and content on the official Hearthstone Esports website, Twitter, and YouTube.

The post Hearthstone Masters Tour Stormwind Details appeared first on Esportimes.

In Mercenaries, players will assemble Parties of six heroes from among their roster and set out to complete single-player Bounties—a randomly generated series of battles which culminate in a bout with powerful Bounty Bosses. Every hero on the team will gain experience after each successful battle, increasing in power and gaining access to new abilities as they level up. Upon completing a full Bounty, players will earn a cache of treasure that includes Mercenary Coins, which they can use to craft additional heroes, or upgrade ones they already own.

The roster of Mercenary heroes—which includes over 50 at launch—was designed to encourage players to get creative when building teams, with countless powerful synergies for players to discover. Players can also bring their most formidable teams to the Fighting Pit, where they can square up against other players and earn experience, achievements, and other rewards.

“Mercenaries provides an experience that feels completely new, but embodies the fundamental spirit of Hearthstone,” said Mike Ybarra, co-leader of Blizzard Entertainment. “The team has opened up a whole new chapter for Hearthstone that captures its unique spirit, with a fresh mode full of strategic depth. I can’t wait to see the strategies our players will unleash on the world.”

Players who start their journey will earn their first eight Mercenary heroes just for completing the prologue and introductory missions. All other Mercenaries can be obtained from simply playing the campaign or via other in-game rewards. Starting today, players can also buy Mercenaries packs for 100 in-game gold each, or purchase pack bundles of different sizes from the Blizzard Shop. Mercenaries packs contain five Mercenaries items, which can include Mercenary Cards, Mercenary Portraits, or Mercenary Coins, which can be used to craft or upgrade Mercenaries. Each Mercenaries pack contains at least one Rare or better Mercenary Card.

The post Hearthstone Mercenaries Update is Live! appeared first on Esportimes.