Blizzon eSports Events Kick Off, Championships Coming This Weekend

If you're a fan of Blizzard games, this is a big week with Blizzcon coming at the end of the week. However, building up to the annual convention are a number of esports events across many of Blizzard's games including Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, Starcraft and World of Warcraft. 

Hearthstone

With the Hearthstone Championship Tour World Championship taking place in early 2018, we have a new adventure to impart upon 12 of Hearthstone’s most fearless adventurers at BlizzCon on November 3 and 4 in Anaheim: The Hearthstone Inn-vitational!

Theirs will be a multi-stage journey that will test their knowledge of the wild, their ability to build and execute strategy and to take down opponents in the face of the unknown.

The 12 challengers will be divided into four groups to face each other in each of the three challenge modes: Wild, Standard, and Sealed Pack. Each team’s players will gather around the hearth (desk) and make decisions together while they play, and viewers can listen in to their comms. The Inn-vitational’s matches will be played in round robin format, with three games per match. Each player on a team will play one game per match.

Head to the Hearthstone Esports website to learn more about the players, the challenges, and the match-ups.

Heroes of the Storm

BlizzCon Opening Week for the Heroes Global Championship (HGC) starts Thursday, October 26, and runs through Sunday, October 29.. All 16 teams will play through a seeded dual-tournament stage, the first of which will be the offline Group Stage in the Blizzard Arena. The top two teams from each group will advance into a single-elimination bracket that will be played out on the global BlizzCon stage in Anaheim for the HGC trophy—and the lion's share of the $1,000,000 USD prize pool.

For information on the Group Stage assignments, casting talent and the full schedule, check out the Destination: BlizzCon blog.

Starcraft II

BlizzCon Opening Week for the StarCraft II World Championship Series starts Friday, October 27, and runs through Sunday, October 29. Like HGC, all 16 competitors, 8 from WCS Korea and 8 from WCS Circuit will play through a seeded dual-tournament stage, the first of which will be an offline Group Stage in the Blizzard Arena. The top two players from each group will advance to the single-elimination bracket that will be played out on the global BlizzCon stage in Anaheim.

Matches will play out from a pool of seven maps which will challenge competitors as they vie for the WCS trophy and the lion's share of the $700,000 USD prize pool.

For information on the Group Stage assignments and the full schedule, check out the StarCraft II Esports page.

World of Warcraft

BlizzCon Opening Week will draw to an epic conclusion on Monday, October 30 with the World of Warcraft Arena World Championship Group Stage at the Blizzard Arena. Twelve teams have fought their way to the group stage from their respective regional playoffs. At the group stage, 10 teams will earn their spot on the global stage in Anaheim, while the other two will see that dream cut short.

Head to the BlizzCon.com website to view the full Monday Schedule.

More information on the tournament, including brackets and casting talent, will be forthcoming; keep an eye on the Warcraft Esports website.

Overwatch

What started as a field of 32 global teams is now down to the top 8 heading into the Overwatch World Cup Playoffs at BlizzCon on November 3-4 in Anaheim.

The path for the top eight teams began with four group stages that took place in Shanghai, Sydney, Katowice, and Los Angeles. To recap the journey for these teams, starting today through Friday, October 27, there will be a video recap of all the Group Stages. Videos will be posted at 10:00 a.m. PT each day in a special playlist on the Overwatch YouTube channel.