The purpose of this post is to provide news about Blizzard related tournaments and news about Blizzard properties that Blizzard doesnt promote as widely and hopefully offer more than patch notes and press releases to you podcasters. There is a lot here, far more than any podcast can use, so use what you wish and please consider at least briefly mentioning some Starcraft and other news now and then. Posts will remain for up to a week after expiration due to podcasts schedules.
I intend to update this and the Blizzard Calendar post as often as I come across news and events, so every few days, and will link to WoWhead.com and MMOChampions.com if its something I found particularly interesting.
It's very long. I know. I'm sorry. Please leave comments and suggestions!
<3 Alisaunder
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
March 15: Live Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas on Battle For Azeroth
Join us live next Thursday as we answer your #BattleforAzeroth Alpha questions for our latest Developer Q&A! Submit your questions using #WarcraftQA. 👉 http://blizz.ly/WoWQA
World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume 3 Preview
Amazon has put up some pages of the World of Warcraft Chronicle Volume 3 book as a preview! The book will be released on March 27, 2018 in the US. Author: Chris Metzen https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/7429-World-of-Warcraft-Chronicle-Volume-3-Preview-Blue-Posts-Allcraft-Curse-Hiring
Pg 40 (Map): Whats that island SW of the Maelstrom? Zandalar? And the ones SE of the Maelstrom is what?
Interview with Blizzard Dialogue Team
Take a deep dive into the creation of Blizzard's dialogue in our new interview with @AndreaToyias, @JustinGDye, and @Moorgard! https://t.co/dcX8fkZ23s
https://t.co/rnlu2sLoFp
FOLLOWERS AND MISSION TABLES IN BAZEROTH
https://www.wowhead.com/news=282279/early-look-at-new-followers-in-battle-for-azeroth
Blizzard Making a Mobile RPG According to Another Job Listing
https://gamerant.com/blizzard-mobile-rpg-job-listing/
Warcraft Lawsuit Update, Infringement
https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-winnows-claims-in-warcraft-infringement-saga/
Activision Blizzard Expands Esports Leadership Team
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180315005291/en/Activision-Blizzard-Expands-Esports-Leadership-Team
Contact information below should anyone be interested in interviewing people from the Esports Team, on OverWatch or any other Blizzard ESport.
Said Snow. “I was personally attracted to the strong sense of integrity and commitment to quality here—both of which are reflected in the production and operation of each of the leagues, and which make for a powerful and appealing brand experience for potential new partners.”
Contacts
Overwatch League
Mark Van Lommel, 949-955-1380 x61147
MVanLommel@overwatchleague.com
or
Call of Duty World League
Xav de Matos, 949-955-1380 x66624
xdematos@mlg.tv
or
Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Press
pr@activisionblizzard.com
STARCRAFT
SUMMARY
In current news, The Katovice tournament was won by Rogue, and GSL Code S is continuing with round of 8 this week. I'm behind on it but intend to catch up.
WESG is starting in China. WESG is famous / notorious as it has one of the biggest prize pools in all Starcraft and two tournaments a year. The Ukraine tournament is great but every year the China one , conditions are horrible. This year is no different.
Players are tweeting hotel rooms with live roaches, rats, no water, tea colored water, and some say the hotel is being inspected to be shut down. Other players chose to pay for their own hotel rather than stay there.
At the tournament venue, they are playing on 780p monitors except Snute who brought his own.
This is the tournament that last year put on the Olympics style stage show with contenders led into the stage by nation block with flag girls, and live music numbers between every music set. It was a sight to see.
In non Tournament news, the 20th anniversary of Starcraft is at the end of this month and logging into various games or Twitch is giving prizes and free stuff, see the blog.
Starcraft Caster / streamer / commentator inControl has tweeted that he will be on a panel at PAX talking about a Starcraft announcement of some kind, so more might be coming, hopefully for Warcraft in lieu of the uninspired anniversary the ins, or for Starcraft itself.
Lastly, the fans have voted and our three representatives for NationWars V have been chosen. Representing the USA is Champion Neeb, MCanning and Twitch streamer / troll Avilo who went all out this year urging his viewers to vote.
Known for spending as much time typing disparaging, highly negative comments at his opponent during the game as much as actually playing, everyone is in an uproar and waiting to see if he will bring his show to NationWars, shape up, or if Neeb will let him play at all.
Starcraft Remastered Pro Arrested For Match Fixing
https://compete.kotaku.com/starcraft-remastered-pro-arrested-for-match-fixing-1823809648
An Interstellar Anniversary Approaches. 20 years of Starcraft
Prior to the Grand Finals of IEM Katovice featuring reigning Globals champion Classic and reigning Champion Rogue, Starcraft Dev Team Tim Morton announced "20 years of Starcraft" ( https://clips.twitch.tv/ShakingLazyEelSmoocherZ ) with a new website https://starcraft2.com/sc20 , new 20th anniversary UI skins, new decals, portraits and skins, an anniversary stream Live March 30 and 31st with favorite Starcraft personalities on Twith.tv and Twitch itself will hold some kind of Starcraft event as well. Diablo 3 players will receive the Dominion's Revenge Pet, a Terran battlecruiser in black and gold. OverWatch will see a Kerrigan Ghost Skin for Widowmaker, World of Warcraft will Between March 31 and April 6, /salute one of the following StarCraft-themed companion pets – Zergling, Grunty, Mini Thor, Baneling, or Zeradar – to receive the “Salute to StarCraft” Feat of Strength. Log in to Heroes of the Storm between March 27 and April 7 to receive a 20th Anniversary Portrait for Protoss, Terran and Zerg. Play a StarCraft-inspired Tavern Brawl between March 21 and 25 to receive three Kobolds & Catacombs packs! Read brand-new stories about the past, present and future of StarCraft.
- MIKE MORHAIME ON 20 YEARS OF STARCRAFT ESPORTS https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/21574697
- CHECKING IN WITH THE DEEPMIND STARCRAFT II TEAM https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/21509421
- SCARLETT, NOREGRET, AND THE HOUSE CHANGING STARCRAFT II ESPORTS https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/21509419
- EVOLUTION COMPLETE: REIMAGINING CLASSIC STARCRAFT UNITS FOR STARCRAFT II https://starcraft2.com/en-us/news/21509420
- And something "Coming Soon"
Twitch Rivals Channel Hosts Starcraft II FFA Bounty Brawl https://www.twitch.tv/twitchrivals
8v8 match, 5 matches/day. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/238026123
March 12, 20, 24 EU with retired SC1 pros White Ra and Retjah, and SC2 pros TLO, Stephano, Mana, Hastem, BeastyQT and DeMuslim.
March 16, 25 29 NA with iNcontroL, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ? and ?
Stephano broke out of his base to attack his neighbor Harstem, while Retjah eliminated TLO who had defeted White Ra, but Ret spent the game quietly expanding into the south wall and center while Stephano made and broke alliances along the north wall, BeastyQT Terraned up to Battlecruisers to assault his neighbor to the north DeMuslim, who was fending off attacks by Stephano and Harstem. It was a long slog of alliances and peace deals back and forth, until Stephano attacked Ret, by now holding over half the map and with his Team Liquid allies and fellow Dutchman, Harstem, taking out the remaining players with massed corrupters leaving Harstem to last, but failed to notice one last unit of DeMuslim's hiding deep in his own territory, leaving Retjah the winner of map #1, DeMuslim in 2nd, Harstem third and Stephano 4th.
BeastyQT decimated TLO who tried for a fast expand too fast, Stephano on WhiteRa but let him live, taking out Retjah instead as Harstem was assaulting Ret's corner, the 4 mid bases taking out their nearest corner neighbor all but Demuslim who took out Mana to expand to mid. TLO expanded south into the Retjah bases as BeastyQT took over his. Harstem took those though and in fleeing behind TLOs expansion drew Harstem and White Ra into attacking TLOs new empire and carving it like a cherry pie. Stephano went for Harstem next but the carriers won leaving DeMuslim, Stephano and Harstem, with White Ra's one base patrolling the map underfoot and BeastyQTs last two command centers running silent on the edge. DeMuslim took 3rd after Harstem sniped White R and BeastyQT, leaving Stephano to take first.
Retjah, DeMuslim, White Ra and TLO emerged from the ashes of the first 14 minutes of game 3, Ret feuding with TLO across the South center and White Ra poking into Ret's bases. DeMuslim called for a Team Liquid reprieve and an ascendent TLO agreed, taking out Ret then White Ra. DeMuslim on the NW island had covered it in missile turrets leaving no way for TLO to assault, but TLO took out enough turrets and 4 nydus erupted ferrrying his army across, but it wasnt enough and TLO tapped out.
World Electronic Sports Games 2018 Global Finals
March 13th to 18th in Haikou, China. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/531700-wesg-finals-format-dates-and-groups-announced
WESG Commenced March 12th with another Olympic style march of Champions and ceremonies fitting the StarCraft tournament with the largest prize pool of the year. Players however, began live tweeting almost immediately upon arrival, their hotel including live rats, roaches, no running water, tea colored water, no power, and inspections to shut the hotel down entirely. Several players relocated, the rest were relocated the next day by WESG officials with apologies.
https://www.twitch.tv/wesg_sc2
Starcraft announcement at PAX?
Geoff Robinson @iNcontroLTV
Waiting for confirmation but if you are attending @PAXEAST_2018 I probably will as well! I am on a panel on behalf of Blizzard discussing something related to @StarCraft ... hope to see friendly faces in the audience :)
2018 Penny Arcade Expo - East will begin on Thursday, April 5.
ROGUE WINS IEM KATOVICE (Kat oh veet suh)
The defending BlizzCon champion wins Katovice 4-0 against fellow Korean Classic, the last match by the skin of his teeth. His win surpasses last months total earnings champion SoS, amassing over $546,000 in his Starcraft career and sends him to BlizzCon 2018 along with Finnish WCS Valencia champion Serral.
March 2-4 Finals in Poland. Top contenders in the StarCraft II competition will battle it out for a $250,000 USD prize pool in the largest and one of the most renowned tournaments for the game outside of the StarCraft II World Championship Series. The winner of the tournament will also earn a direct seed to the WCS Global Finals.
The early shocker of IEM Katovice 2018 was to see one of the top Korean players, Stats, taken out by Maru (known as one of the 4 Horsemen of Terran, and one of the Greatest players of all time) and sent to losers bracket where he lost to souL 2-1 and was out of the tournament. souL, a Polish Terran, is an up and coming player (currently ranked 93 in the world) and lost to Korean TY in the 3rd round of the Round of 76, going on to the losers bracket where he eventually lost to Ryung, 2-0 after an impressive showing. Ryung (Ranked 36 in the world and a 3 time Champion) had been taken out by TY as well, and after defeating DnS 2-1 and souL, has advanced into the round of 24.
Scarlett, the female winner of IEM Pyeongchang a month ago, was taken out by Guru 0-2 in the first round, and fought her way through the losers bracket until falling to TRUE 2-1 in Zerg Vs Zerg. Maru, Ryung, TY, Solar, Serral and TRUE advance. 3 Terrans and 3 Zerg. SpeCial (Ranked #4 in the world) should face off against Zest (Ranked 9 in the world), and either could advance. SpeCial the Mexican Terran is undergoing what could be a miracle year after his past 2 years in Korea, while Zest is a former Korean Champion and emerging from his own slump. He and Scarlett have advanced into the Round of 8 in the Korean GSL League, which is on hold for the next two weeks due to Katovice.
Brackets 3 and 4 played Tuesday, with Zest, HeroMarine, Trap, SpeCial, Hurricane and Neeb advancing to the Round of 24 Round Robin. soO the Korean powerhouse went down to EU Protoss Harstem in a complete upset 2-1, but before the Year of Harstem began, but was kneecapped in heartbreaking fashion by Neeb the last standing American. SpeCial livened up his matches with his preferred style of nukes and seige tanks trading blows and devouring the map of its resources against the Korean Terran Bunny and the Norwegian Zerg "King of Queens" Snute. Longtime German Terran HeroMarine was the surprise of the day, against all expectations coming through unscathed against Snute and Kelezhur. Hurricane took out Neeb 2-0, forcing him to qualify through the losers bracket but putting into question his chances when play resumes Feb 28. The 12 that advance into Group Stages will face a revitalized ShoWTimE, Elazer fresh from korea, Nerchio, uThermal and 8 more top Koreans, including INnoVation, Dark, sOs and Classic, who are expected to win Katovice but as every tournament shows, there are always upsets, new princes rise and old kings falter. Despite heated balance complaints, 8 Protoss, 8 Zerg and 8 Terrans have qualified for the next stage of Round Robin matches.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/531622-more-upsets-on-day-2-of-iem-katowice-as-soo-is-eliminated-in-the-open-bracket
March 3rd, Serral from Finland becomes the first player going into the Round of 4, defeating the Korean Trap in a reverse sweep. Serral was down 0-2 and losing match 3 but turned it around to a 3-2 win.
NATIONWARS V http://nationwars.tv/
Voting is underway until March 11 to choose the players. The top 3 vote winners from each nation will go into the Tournament. Anyone can vote for any nations players. Round of 32 begins March 21-24 on the NationWars website as well as the Ogaming Twitch channels. Best of 7. Competing for $50,000 prize. $400,000 prize pool. NationWars is a part of Blizzard sponsored WCS. 32 Nations have entered and dozens of well known GrandMaster players past and present from every region, as well as Starcraft Twitch Streamer and famed Internet Troll, Avilo. Round of 16 March 27-April 1, R of 8 April 7-8, R of 4 April 21 and Grand Finals in Paris April 21st.
2018 GSL SEASON 1 CODE S https://www.twitch.tv/GSL
The Korean Starcraft bracket, a twice weekly months long tournament. Currently in Round of 8, Code S plays every Tuesday and Saturday. March 9, GSL Code S continues in the Round of 8, with female Champion Scarlett facing soO, Classic vs Stats, Zest Vs Dark, and Maru vs sOs. Summary of the R of 16 matches here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/531445-gsl-ro16-concludes-ro8-bracket-set-for-march-9
TESPA COLLEGIATE STARCRAFT SERIES
Feb 17 - Apr 22, 2018. 4 teams will qualify to join our 12 SC2 teams for their share of $35,000 in scholarships & prizing. Brackets at https://compete.tespa.org/tournament/101/phase/1 currently on Round 7 of 15. At the end of the 8 weeks of round robin, the teams will be seeded into our Towers of Doom format with the conclusion being fought out in a single elimination bracket for a chance to earn their share of $35,000 in scholarships and prizing.
STARCRAFT 1: Afreeca Star League Returns for Season 5
Afreeca TV StarCraft League (ASL) will return for its fifth season on March 11. The return of ASL marks the second season of play in StarCraft: Remastered. English stream: http://afreecatv.com/aslenglish ASL Season 5 will run for ten weeks, with games scheduled every Tuesday and Sunday at the Freecup Studio. The round of 24 will be held as a single elimination dual tournament. The twelve players that emerge victorious from the round of 24 will be joined by the top four finishers from ASL Season 4 in the round of 16 for Season 5. The round of 16 will also feature the single elimination dual tournament format, while the semifinals and finals will be best-of-five, single elimination.
ASL is an esports celebration brought to through the collaboration between Blizzard and Afreeca TV.
Legendary player Youngho Lee (Flash), the winner of ASL Season 4, will be joined by fellow top-four finishers Iljang Cho (herO), and HongGyu Lim (Larva), in the round of 16 in Season 5. Bisu, who has recently enlisted in the military to fulfill his mandatory military service, will not be participating and his slot will be determined by a wild card match. The preliminaries for ASL Season 5 will be held on February 24 and 25 at the Seoul and Busan Afreeca TV Open Studios.
WCS Austin June 1-3.
WCS Valencia July 12-14
WCS Montreal Sept 7-9
WARCRAFT PVP
Legion PvP Season 6 Ending Soon!
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/7426-Patch-7-3-5-Hotfixes-March-6-Seething-Shore-Changes
ARENA SEASONAL FINALS FOR NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/esports
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/esports/schedule
EU Cup #3 Play begins February 28 Top 8 broadcast March 3—4
NA Cup #3 Play begins March 7 Top 8 broadcast March 10-11
There will be nine (up from five) Arena Cups in each region (18 total) over the course of the year. A $10,000 (up from $6,000) prize pool will be available for each of the 18 cups. The top 12 (up from six) teams at an Arena Cup event will earn points. New point distribution system will reward consistency
Arena Global standings: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/esports/standings
MYTHIC DUNGEON INVITATIONAL 2018
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/21510318/the-mythic-dungeon-invitational-is-back-get-ready-for-the-proving-grounds
https://raider.io/mythic-dungeon-invitational-2018
March 6 - Proving Ground Week 2 – Teeming, Explosive, Fortified
Americas: March 6 at 7 a.m. PST Europe: March 6 at 11 p.m. PST
China: March 7 at 3 p.m. PST APAC: March 7 at 3 p.m. PST
Proving Grounds ends March 13 at 7 a.m. PST (10 a.m. EST). Your goal is to complete a total of five level 23 Mythic Keystone dungeons over those two weeks. The format will be double elimination, giving teams a chance to regroup after a loss and bounce right back. The Mythic Keystone level will change over the course of the tournament, rewarding teams who can quickly crush easier dungeons and survive tougher ones.
WARCRAFT ALPHA (Spoiler Free)
Potential Story Spoilers will be in yellow. For full Alpha information see below links as I will only post bits I think interesting.
Information from https://www.mmo-champion.com/ and https://www.wowhead.com/
Battle for Azeroth Alpha - Build 26175
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/7427-Battle-for-Azeroth-Alpha-Build-26175
- Gazlowe, Rexxar, Lilian Voss, Princess Tess Greymane, Falstad Wildhammer, and other new followers were added.
- A Male Upright Orc model was added
- Garrison Ability Changes
- RaceTrackBG - Domination. Level: 45-110 Domination. Players: 5-10. Rated players: 10. Map: [TEMP] RaceTrackBG.
- Blacksmiths have been able to create items to assist with lockpicking for a while, and now scribes can as well.
https://www.wowhead.com/news=282559/profession-updates-in-build-26175-weapon-and-belt-enchants-lockpicking-nets
- Monalite Skeleton Key is the lockpicking item for Blacksmiths and Scroll of Unlocking is the lockpicking item for scribes.
CLASS CHANGES THIS WEEK
https://www.wowhead.com/news=282320/battle-for-azeroth-alpha-26131-class-changes
DIABLO
Diablo III Tweet "confirms" Switch?
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/929772/Xbox-One-Nintendo-Switch-PS4-games-Fortnite-news
The rumours started when Video Games journalist Marcus Sellars tweeted: "Fortnite = Nintendo Switch." Asked for more information, Sellars said that it came from a very trusted source and that the port would launch later this year. He also dropped the Diablo 3 bombshell, suggesting that the Blizzard game would hit Switch next year. "Diablo 3 is in development for the Nintendo Switch and should be out early 2019," he tweeted. "They are wanting to implement Local play with multiple switches."
'Diablo III' rumors: Switch port in the works?
"Diablo III" is allegedly hot in development for another console, as the game has been rumored to have a Nintendo Switch version in the works. Fans of the franchise and owners of the Switch might want to take the rumor with a grain of salt since Blizzard or Nintendo has yet to confirm the rumor. This has been reiterated multiple times, in fact, with Blizzard also flat-out saying that there's currently not Diablo 2 or Warcraft 3 remasters because “the games need more work” – they're clearly getting that work now. Blizzard has since denied that a Diablo 2 remaster is in the works. The hosts of Frozen Nerdz podcast, Epic and Kilroy, addressed the Switch last week on their podcast. On their 2017 tour of Blizzard HQ, they saw a room full of every system ever created that can play games, including a Switch. The tour guide told them that Blizzard is fascinated by technology but that was all it meant. True or false, thats the story, and the rumor.
A Blizzard tweet has everyone thinking Diablo is coming to Switch
https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/2/17070788/diablo-3-nintendo-switch-hint-twitter-blizzard
SEASON 13 NOW LIVE
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo3/21557613/season-13-now-live
Season 13 Preview: https://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/21534734/?utm_source=desktopweb-news&utm_campaign=web-us-desktopwebnews&utm_medium=internal&utm_content=21535475
HEROES OF THE STORM
Heroes of the Storm Ranked Season 2
March 6th : Heroes of the Storm Ranked Season 2 begins as soon as the next patch is available.
IN-DEVELOPMENT: HERO UPDATES, ENFORCER SKINS, AND MORE!
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/heroes-of-the-storm/21535472/in-development-hero-updates-enforcer-skins-and-more
UPCOMING SONYA AND MEDIVH GAMEPLAY UPDATES
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/heroes-of-the-storm/21508381/upcoming-sonya-and-medivh-gameplay-updates
Team Dignitas Wins IEM EXPO HGC WESTERN CLASH 3-0 over Tempo Storm
http://www.iem-expo.com/hgc-2018-western-clash
March 2-4 finals, also in Katovice. Prize pool: $100,000.-
Teams: top 8 teams from EU and NA, determined by league rank
The Western Clash will pit the top four teams from North America and Europe against each other. Tournament format: Double elimination bracket. Teams will be competing for an extra spot at the Mid-Season Brawl for the winning team’s region. Last year, it was Team Dignitas who took home the trophy after a thrilling final against Fnatic. Team Dignitas have taken the trophy two years running.
Team Dignitas vs HeroesHearthEsports, Fnatic vs Team Freedom, Method vs Team Twelve, and Tempo Storm vs Zealots make up the Round of 8.
Bracket at https://esports.heroesofthestorm.com/en/schedule?week=11271®ion=NA&year=2018
HEROES OF THE DORM https://heroesofthedorm.com/
Each week, all eligible teams will play one game within their Region and one game outside of their Region. At the end of the regular season, the top performing teams will be seeded into the Round of 64 in the National Championship Bracket, alongside Regional champions.
Feb 8 - March 8. Season Play
March 11. Regional Championships. Week 4: Feb 28 - March 4, Week 5: March 7-8.
Group Standings page at https://compete.tespa.org/tournament/94/phase/1
March 28 – April 19. Round of 64 Bracket play
In a one-of-a-kind broadcast partnership between Raycom and Tespa, Heroes of the Dorm will have a dedicated, nationally-syndicated program during a five-week period of competition from February 17 to March 15. Heroes of the Dorm will have a dedicated, nationally-syndicated program during a five-week period of competition. Raycom will produce the weekly, one-hour Heroes of the Dorm program, featuring schools competing in the tournament’s Atlantic Coast Region. The original series, which will cover competition as well as spotlight player and team stories, will be broadcast across Raycom Sports’ syndicated network of affiliates in more than 50 markets in the United States.
HGC Eastern Clash March 16-18 in Taiwan
https://esports.heroesofthestorm.com/en/schedule
HEARTHSTONE
2018 SPRING HEARTHSTONE COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Matches live streamed at twitch.tv/playhearthstone 5pm PST to 9pm PST every Monday and Tuesday from February 19th to April 3rd. The champions of each region will advance to the live finals in May to play for scholarship prizing.
Current Bracket: https://compete.tespa.org/tournament/97/phase/1
Tespa is launching a varsity Hearthstone tournament region for 2018! Students enrolled in schools that have official varsity esports programs are invited to participate in a region specifically curated for their teams. The university administration have sanctioned a varsity esports program. Teams that recieve scholarships from their school solely due to their involvement in competitive esports are automatically eligible for varsity status.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CAST: HEARTHSTONE EDITION 2018
We’re looking for some fresh faces in our 2018 Hearthstone broadcasts. If you’re a couple of cool commentators, a dynamic duo, or even a terrific twosome who shoutcast high-level Hearthstone on the regular, this is your chance! From now until March 13, try your hand at casting the video below.
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/hearthstone/21553829/so-you-think-you-can-cast-hearthstone-edition-2018 Upload your video to YouTube.
We also want to know more about:
- Your previous experience casting, creating Hearthstone content, or competing, if any
- Your favorite deck, and why it’s your go-to
- Your favorite Hearthstone moments. They can be moments from your own games, or something from a Twitch stream or a Hearthstone Esport event.
- What you’d change about current Hearthstone casting, and why
- What esports you think has the best casters, and why
- Why you want to take the plunge and be a Hearthstone caster!
Starting March 13, we’ll review your submissions and reach out to shortlisted entrants with further instructions. The finalists will move on to cast the Hearthstone Collegiate Championship Playoffs for Spring, which will take place this April 28 – 29 2018.
Video Background: It’s the fifth and final game between North American competitors Azumo and Antreezy in the semifinals of the 2018 Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) World Championship, which means the winner of this game advances to the grand final!
Antreezy is a newcomer who surprised at the 2018 Summer Championship, defeating reigning world champion tom60229. Azumo is an old-school powerhouse player, having won nine tournaments throughout the year. He came into the 2018 HCT World Championship as the top point earner for North America, and is one of the favorites to win it all. The players brought the following decks: Antreezy: Control Warlock, Jade Druid, Murloc Paladin . Azumo: Big Priest, Miracle Rogue, Zoo Warlock
HCT BANGKOK
HCT Bangkok will be a Grand Prix tournament held March 16 through 18. This offline tournament’s top 32 players earn Hearthstone Competitive Points, with additional cash prizes for the top 16 players. HCT Bangkok will have a 256-player bracket. The tournament bracket will be double elimination. All matches will be best-of-five in Conquest format with one ban, so each player must bring four different classes.
March 16: Round of 256, 7:00 p.m. PST (9:00 a.m. ICT). This day is open to participants only. There is no broadcast for the preliminary day.
March 17: Round of 64, 10:00 p.m. PST to 6:00 a.m. PST (12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ICT) This day will be open to the public and will be held in Pantip Plaza Pratunam. It will also have multiple language broadcasts on Twitch.
March 18: Playoffs, 10:00 p.m. PST to 6:00 a.m. PST (12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ICT) This day will be open to the public and will be held in Pantip Plaza Pratunam. It will also have multiple language broadcasts on Twitch.
HCT TORONTO
March 9 to March 11. This Grand Prix Tour Stop will take place in the EGLX gaming convention, which will take place from March 9 to March 11 2018. Bring your own device to this 1v1 tournament and compete in a 256-player Swiss-style bracket that narrows down to a Top 16 single elimination playoffs. HCT Toronto will be played on the Americas server and carries a total prize pool of $15,000. For more information on prizing breakdown, visit their website. You will need a ticket to the convention to access the tournament. Registration is underway.
All matches will be played best-of-five in Conquest format with one ban. Deck lists will be open, and the tournament will be administrated through smash.gg .
WILDFEST IS HERE
Through March 11, Wild cards return to the Arena for the duration of Wildfest. Play this Tavern Brawl celebrating Wild with pre-built decks. Tavern Brawl where you’ll build and lock-in a Wild deck, and then see if you can take it to twelve wins versus other players! Three losses and your run comes to an end. Your first Wild Brawliseum run is free! If you had an Arena run in progress, it was retired automatically, and you were provided with a free Arena ticket.
OVERWATCH
New Support Hero: Brigitte Lindholm
Daughter of Torbjorn, is the newest hero announced for Overwatch. She is a support and tank hybrid who uses a flail and shield to heal, give armor and attack her enemies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_m8fcJb5tE
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/overwatch/21590096/new-hero-first-look-brigitte
March 1: OverWatch Season 9 Competitive play began
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/overwatch/21590097/welcome-to-season-9-of-competitive-play
Interview with Mike Morhaime and Kim Phan
https://www.venturebeat.com/
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/7409-Feb-26-Hotfixes-BfA-Physical-Pre-Purchase-Heroes-PTR-eSports-Interview-OWL-Update
Earn Rewards with the Overwatch League on Twitch
Twitch and Blizzard are providing rewards to players that watch Overwatch League matches. Collect League Tokens by connecting your Battle.net and Twitch accounts. You’ll get one League Token at the end of every live map finish. Some lucky viewers will get 100 tokens for every final map they watch per match . Everyone watching can work together by Cheering with Bits to unlock Overwatch League skins not yet available in game Your own Cheering progress unlocks Overwatch exclusive hero emotes and team-branded loot as well League Tokens can be used to unlock Overwatch League skins, which cost 100 Tokens per skin.
WARCRAFT III
Foggy and Insomnia win WARCRAFT III INVITATIONAL
http://liquipedia.net/warcraft/Warcraft_III_Invitational
A Blizzard two-day event, held in conjunction with the release of Patch 1.29. It took place at Blizz headquarters in Irvine, California February 27-28, 2018. Vods at https://www.twitch.tv/back2warcraft Twelve players were invited to the event, four active players from Europe, four active players from Korea and four retired pros.
Foggy, the current top player in the world, won the overall invitational with Insomnia winning the former pro matches. Insomnia vs Tak3r led off the stream, with Insomnia attacking early and often for the first win, then an 8 man Free For All was played with 4 koreans and 4 non koreans. Grubby, locked in a corner start position went for anti human ground unit techs but his neighbors went hippogryphs and wiped him out with neighbor ReMinD close behind, having weakened himself against the might of Grubby. Each player joined the couch as they were defeated, ending with Hawk and winner Foggy. Lyn however showed proper passion, shunning the GGs and HFs of the other players as the match began, going with "For the Horde!"
Over 21,000 people watched the Twitch Blizzard Warcraft Invitational Day 1 stream. Neo, the host and Pete Stilwell, Senior Producer of the Blizzard Classics team spoke. Pete said that the Starcraft Remastered project slowed the pace of Warcraft III patches since they were announced in 2016. The team priorization focussed on making the game playable on modern computers. A bug patch should be out to the PTR next week and a patch mid to late March. They want to ease into balance changes to eventually be comparable to Starcraft where the balance works and the best players can discover new metas and can evolve without them. After that they want to create a safer play space, as in dealing with map hax and modernization. Add things for map makers like the 24 player map. Improve match making. Reduce wait times. They arent planning to discuss Warcraft III Remastered at this time. They want to focus on the patch last week, that show the community how dedicated they are with more great things to come.
[War III] 1.29 PTR GENERAL DISCUSSION BLUE POST
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/topic/20762056755
BLUE POST: We love and continue to support our Warcraft III community, and we’re excited to see classic competitors like Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen, Park “Lyn” Joon, and Kim “ReMinD” Sung Sik try out all the new PTR changes for themselves—including balance adjustments to many heroes, 16:9 widescreen support, and more – all playable now on the PTR!
Warcraft III's PTR is back and ready for your scrutiny. Join us in testing widescreen support, hero balance changes, and updates to Map Pools for 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and Free-for-All. We've also added some experimental modes like 24 player support for custom games. Mac clients launch on 10.11 and beyond. This will be the last version to support Windows XP. Blizzard has added a ton of changes and improvements to Warcraft III’s in-game editor, which allows players to create custom maps and games. (This editor, you may remember, was the tool used to create the map “Defense of the Ancients,” which would go on to spawn Dota 2, League of Legends, and many many more games.)
OTHER BLIZZARD RELATED STUFF
CHICAGO GAMING COALITION TOURNAMENT March 9th-11th
Chicago Gaming Coalition is holding its first open BYOC LAN party, with numerous events to compete and play in including OverWatch 6v6 ( $360 Pot Bonus ), OverWatch 3v3, Starcraft 2 ( $500 Pot Bonus ), Hearthstone ( $250 Pot Bonus ) and many non Blizzard games. It is a 3-day event, happening on the weekend of March 9th-11th. Included among the various events is an SC2 tournament that will be spanning Friday night and most of Saturday. https://www.lanreg.org/madcitygg/chicagogamingco1
Sources for these news bits include:
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us
http://www.teamliquid.net/
And others.
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