Winter Playoffs are Coming

February is action packed with Hearthstone competitions—the Hearthstone Championship Tour’s Winter Playoffs will take place over three consecutive weekends! Players will soon head to their local taverns to compete for their share of the $25,000 USD prize pool, as well as a chance to escape the cold and punch their ticket to the sunny Bahamas for the Winter Championship. Read on below for details on where the Winter Playoffs will take place, where and when you can watch, who’ll be calling all of the action, and what you can earn for attending. The Europe Winter Playoffs kick things off next weekend from February 11–12. Will defending World Champion Pavel continue his incredible reign? Can Thijs make another deep run to claim a third Europe Championship and make an unprecedented third appearance at the World Championship? Follow along as the story unfolds next weekend! The following weekend will see the Americas Winter Playoffs play out from February 18–19. The top 8 Tavern Heroes from the Winter Tavern Hero Tournament will join the 64 top-ranked players from the Americas to compete for one of the four available spots at the Winter Championship. Hearthstone prodigy Amnesiac seeks to advance to two Championships again and take another shot at the World Championship . . . but can the steady Canadian Cydonia continue his success from recent tournaments in China? Tune in to see who will represent the Americas at the Winter Championship next month. The final weekend will feature the Asia-Pacific Winter Playoffs from February 24–25. These playoffs now have the same structure as the Europe and Americas Playoffs and include a Tavern Hero Tournament. Could Handsomeguy repeat his amazing performance from last year when he reached the finals of all three Asia-Pacific Championships, winning the last two back-to-back? Will Cheonsu show that he can make another top 4 run at the World Championship? Stay up late on this weekend to find out who will round out the Winter Championship roster. All of the below-listed venues will be open to the public, so come along and watch the action unfold, have a duel or two with other fans, and enjoy some of the side events lined up for attendees to earn yourself a Power Core card back. Venue Locations Venue Location eBash Video Game Center (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Indianapolis, IN The Dragon's Lair (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Wallingord, CT GameWorks (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Seattle, WA eSports Arena (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Santa Ana, CA The Cave Gaming Center (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Fairfax, VA The Grid: Games and Growlers (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Mesa, AZ Level Up Games and Hobbies (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Knoxville, TN Doc's Comics & Games (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Dallas, TX Pastimes (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Chicago, IL Canvs (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Orlando, Florida The University of Utah Entertainment Arts & Engineering Bldg 72 (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Salt Lake City, UT Raiders Esports Centre (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Toronto, Canada Centre de jeux l'Expédition (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Montreal, QC AFK Gaming (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Cartago, Costa Rica Taberna Hearthstone Perú (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Lima, Peru Sede eSport Colombia (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Cali, Colombia El Baúl del Enano (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Quito, Ecuador Salon Calabria, Hotel Da Vinci Santiago, Chile Local Strike Offices (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Buenos Aires, Argentina Stomp Esports Bar (Tavern Hero, Day 1, Day 2) Sao Paulo, Brazil Player vs Player Brasilia, Brazil Livestream Details Unable to attend in person? No problem! The event will be livestreamed on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel in English. Europe Saturday, February 11 – Swiss Rounds – 6:00 a.m. PST Sunday, February 12 – Top 8 Bracket – 2:00 a.m. PST Americas Saturday, February 18 – Swiss Rounds – 8:00 a.m. PST Sunday, February 19 – Top 8 Bracket – 9:00 a.m. PST Asia-Pacific Friday, February 24 – Swiss Rounds – 6:00 p.m. PST Saturday, February 25 – Top 8 Bracket – 6:00 p.m. PST Casters: Dan 'Frodan' Chou, Brian Kibler, TJ 'Azumo' Sanders, Simon 'Sottle' Welch, Alexander 'Raven' Baguley, Nathan 'ThatsAdmirable' Zamora, Cora ‘Songbird’ Georgiou, Jakub "Lothar" Szygulski Good luck to all of the competitors, and we hope to see you at one of the events or in our stream! Additional Events and Rewards for Attendees In addition to showing and hosting the Tavern Hero Tournament and Americas Winter Playoffs from February 18–19, the venues listed above will also host various side events for attendees. That means loot and prizes will be available, so be sure to join us in person if you can! If you visit any of the above-listed locations during the event, you’ll be able to add the Power Core card back to your Hearthstone collection*. Additionally, all participants in the Tavern Hero Tournament and Americas Winter Playoffs will receive this unique esports card back. *In order to receive the Power Core card back, attendees must simply participate in one of the side events at their location—winning in a side event is not required. /* Normal Lightbox */ .imgborder { -moz-border-radius:4px; -webkit-border-radius:4px; border-radius:4px; -moz-box-shadow:0 0 20px #000000; -webkit-box-shadow:0 0 20px #000000; box-shadow:0 0 20px #000000; border: 1px solid #372511; padding: 1px; } .imgborder:hover { border: 1px solid #CD9000; } /* Borderless PNGS */ .imgnoborder { -moz-border-radius: 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 0px; border-radius: 0px; -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0px tranparent; -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0px tranparent; box-shadow: 0 0 0px transparent; border: 0px solid transparent; padding: 0px; } .imgnoborder, .imgnoborder:hover { border: 0px solid transparent; } /* HearthstoneDividerFiligree */ #blog .detail hr.filigree { width:100%; height: 50px; background:url('https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/79C1M3XMY0L31401477381292.png') center center no-repeat; border: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; } /* HearthstoneDividerWood */ #blog .detail hr.wood { width:100%; height: 50px; background:url('https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/79VCDJZ6362M1401477381334.png') center center no-repeat; border: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; } /* HearthstoneDividerManaCrystals */ #blog .detail hr.mana { width:100%; height: 50px; background:url('https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/AYRLNZFG7ZCY1401477381322.png') center center no-repeat; border: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; } /* StandardDivider */ #blog .detail hr.standard { width:100%; height: 100px; background:url('https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/5e/5EATP35KLFOG1454297371918.png') center center no-repeat; border: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; }