Blizzard is gearing up for a big weekend of competitive Hearthstone with the first Masters Tour of 2020 about to begin. Taking place at Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington Texas, the first Masters Tour for 2020 will see 360-invited players competing for $250,000 USD. The prize pool is set to increase with the launch of the crowdfunding Dragon Masters pack.
In addition to being the first Masters Tour of 2020 and with plenty of cash on the line, the Masters Tour Arlington also sees players having to deal with 19-new cards available across Chapters 1 and 2 of Galakrond’s Awakening.
Blizzard has stated that competitors are able to customise and change their decklists right up until the tournament starts. This will give them plenty of time to come to grips with the new cards and what they can do.
Hearthstone Masters Tour Arlington
On top of new cards, the first event of the year and the prize money, the Hearthstone Masters Tour Arlington will also be the debut of YouTube as the “broadcast home for Hearthstone esports.” Fans will be able to tune in at the Hearthstone Channel.
Full details of the Hearthstone Masters Tour Arlington are;
- Venue: Esports Stadium Arlington
- Dates: 31 January – 2 February CST (1-3 Feb AEDT / NZDT)
- Broadcast Start Time: 9:00 AM CST (2:00 AM AEDT / 4:00 AM NZDT) each day
- Casters: Dan “Frodan” Chou, TJ “Azumo” Sanders, Simon “Sottle” Welch, Erik “DoA” Lonnquist
- Prize Pool: $250,000 USD in base prizing
- Format: 4 deck, best-of-5 Conquest with a ban
- Language Streams on YouTube:
As stated above, the tournament format is a 4-Deck, best of 5 Conquest with a ban. Any players who achieve a 7-2 result in Arlington will qualify for Masters Tour Indonesia and Masters Tour Jönköping.
January 31 will see five rounds of Swiss. February 1 will see players with three or more wins play four more rounds of Swiss and finally, on February 2, the top 8 players will advance to the single-elimination bracket.
Dragon Masters Bundle
Blizzard has also announced the Dragon Masters Bundle. The bundle will crowdfund the prize pool for all six Masters Tour events in 2020. The pack costs $26.95 AUD and includes 25 Year of the Dragon card packs and a random Descent of Dragons Legendary.
Half of the profits from sales of this pack will go towards the prize pools, up to a maximum of $1.5 million USD. The additional prize money generated from sales of the pack will be split across the six tournaments in accordance with the tournament rules.
This weekend’s Arlington Masters Tour will be included in the additional prize money boosting.
To purchase the Dragon Masters bundle head to the Blizzard shop.
Make sure you tune into the Masters Tour this weekend.
