The Masters Tour returns this weekend for Masters Tour Online: Jönköping! We recently announced the decision to restructure this tournament into an online-only Masters Tour in order to protect the health and well-being of all players and staff. More than 350 players from over 50 countries will be competing for the Masters Tour trophy, a chance to become a Grandmaster, and their share of the USD $3,000,000 total prize pool for 2020!

Following last weekend’s conclusion of Grandmasters 2020 Season 1, there are now nine open spots available to be filled by the top Masters Tour competitors. The top three players from each region, based on total earnings from Masters Tour Arlington, Masters Tour Los Angeles, and Masters Tour Online: Jönköping, will be invited to join Grandmasters when Season 2 begins this August!

Details

• Venue: Matches held online
• Dates: June 12 – 14
• Broadcast Start Time: 6:00 AM PDT each day
• Casters: Alex “Raven” Baguley, Dan "Frodan" Chou, Darroch “Da...

Grandmasters 2020 Season 1 has come to an epic end, and three players are heading to the Hearthstone World Championship later this year!

In Americas, Brian “bloodyface” Eason went into Playoffs at the top of the standings, receiving only one loss in Season 1. After beating David “justsaiyan” Shan, bloodyface took on new Grandmaster Guillermo “Empanizado” Tolosa in the Semifinals. Facing Eddie “Eddie” Lui in the Final, bloodyface came out victorious 3-1 and gained another chance at joining the Hall of Champions after falling to Li “Liooon” Xiaomeng during the 2019 Global Finals.

In Asia-Pacific, Sato “glory” Kenta fought his way through the playoffs defeating Dasol “Ryvius” Sim and Yashina “Alutemu” Nozomi to secure his spot in the final match. He squared off against Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo, besting him 3-2 in the Season 1 Playoffs.

In Europe, despite an initial loss to Joffrey “Swidz” Cunat, Vladislav “SilverName” Sinotv fought his way to securing his spot at this year’s World ...

The Felfire Festival is nearly here! The festivities begin on June 9 with the release of patch 17.4, which welcomes a salty new crew of minions to the Battlegrounds—Pirates! On June 17, the Trial by Felfire Solo Adventure will unlock, followed by Trial by Felfire Challenges on June 24. Beyond that, we’ve got some special Tavern Brawls and legendary quests lined up to mark the occasion.

Check out the full Felfire Festival announcement here!

Battlegrounds Shifting Minion Pools

At the start of each game of Battlegrounds, five of the six currently available minion types (Beasts, Demons, Dragons, Mechs, Murlocs, and now Pirates) will form the recruitment pool for that game. The active minion types will be displayed while you’re selecting a Hero—you can also check anytime during the Recruit phase by hovering over Bartender Bob’s deck. To keep things fair, Heroes designed with synergies around a specific minion types will sit out if their corresponding minion type is unavailable. 

P...

The Felfire Festival of Music and VENGEANCE promises* to be the greatest show on . . . what’s left of this planet! Anyway, you’re coming. Scope the headliners:

JUNE 9 - PIRATES x BATTLEGROUNDS

Pirates take headbanging to the next level and good C’Thun, can they carry a tune! Dropping on June 9, this update includes 17 new minions and 3 new Heroes!! We even convinced Patches to come out of retirement (with a new hero power).

Read the patch notes for full details. ARGGHH MATEY!!! 

JUNE 17 - TRIAL BY FELFIRE STORY ADVENTURE

The Tavern gets a makeover for the free five-chapter Trial by Felfire Solo Adventure, available June 17!  Follow the story of Aranna Starseeker on a journey of self-exploration, taking up arms with the Demon Hunters and teaming up with Illidan to take on the twisted architect of the rusted legion itself: MECHA-JARAXXUS! Furthermore, Aranna will enter Battlegrounds as a new hero on the same day. Check the patch notes for deets!

The story adventure is pretty ep...

Following the recent announcement that DreamHack Montreal has been postponed to 2021, we are restructuring Masters Tour Montreal to an online-only event. Beginning today, players wanting to earn an invite will be able to sign-up for the Masters Tour Online: Montreal Qualifiers. Invited players will compete for their share of the US $3,000,000 total prize purse for 2020 from the comfort and safety of their own homes!

Ready to try your hand at competing in a Masters Tour? Here are some of the ways you can snag an invite to Masters Tour Online: Montreal:

• Win one of 90 online Masters Qualifiers between June 4 and July 26 on Battlefy.
• Finish with at least a 7-2 record at Masters Tour Online: Jönköping and Masters Tour Online: Asia-Pacific.
• Place within the Top 8 of a Masters Qualifier for Masters Tour Online: Montreal 5 times.
• Place top 16 Legend on the in-game Ladder in the months of June and July (see official Masters Qualifiers rules for details).
• Be a Hearthstone Grandmaster...

On May 18, we’ll be releasing a 17.2.1 balance patch that includes updates for a dozen cards in Standard, as well as a bug fix for [[Ethereal Conjurer]].

Balance Updates

[[Aldor Attendant]]:

Old: [Cost 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: [Cost 1] 1 Attack, 3 Health.

[[Torrent]]:

Old: [Cost 5] → New: [Cost 4].

[[Shattered Rumbler]]:

Old: 4 Attack, 6 Health → New: 5 Attack, 6 Health.

[[The Lurker Below]]:

Old: 6 Attack, 3 Health → New: 6 Attack, 5 Health.

The 8 cards below will be eligible for a full dust refund until June 1.

[[Priestess of Fury]]:

Old: 6 Attack, 7 Health → New: 6 Attack, 5 Health.

[[Crimson Sigil Runner]]:

Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health → New: 1 Attack, 1 Health.

[[Scavenger's Ingenuity]]:

Old: Draw a Beast. Give it +3/+3. → New: Draw a Beast. Give it +2/+2.

[[Shadowjeweler Hanar]]:

Old: 1 Attack, 5 Health → New: 1 Attack, 4 Health.

[[Blackjack Stunner]]:

Old: Battlecry: If you control a Secret, return a minion to its owner’s hand. It costs (2) more. → New: B...

We’ve added a lot of card backs to Hearthstone over the years, 143 to be exact! As a special treat, we thought it would be fun to walk you through the creation process for the September Monthly Card Back. Senior Concept Artist Luke Mancini will stream the entire card back creation process live, from concept to completion, in a 3-part series on Twitch.tv/PlayHearthstone!

Part I: Concept

• When: Monday, May 18 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. PT
• What to expect: We’ll go through the ideation and rough sketch bit, using 3 potential concepts for the new card back. By the end of the stream, we’ll have committed to our favorite option.

Part II: Progress

• When: Wednesday, May 20 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. PT
• What to expect: We’ll get the pieces in place to start on our design, fleshing things out with color and hard lines.

Part III: Finalizing

• When: Thursday, May 21 from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. PT
• What to expect: We’ll dot our i’s and cross our t’s and walk through the rest of ...

The 17.2 patch includes three new Heroes and a new minion for Battlegrounds. We’ve also added the ability to rearrange your decks, a new visual aid for end of Season rewards, and more!

As a note, we’ve restructured assets in 17.2 so the data download for this patch will be similar to a fresh install. Pardon our dust!

Battlegrounds Updates

• Dire Wolf Alpha has been removed from the minion pool.

NEW MINION

Rabid Saurolisk

• [Tier 1, Beast] 3 Attack, 1 Health.

After you play a minion with Deathrattle, gain +1/+1.

NEW HEROES

Players with Battlegrounds perks will have immediate access to playtest these three new heroes before they are fully unlocked on May 26.

Lady Vashj

• Evolving Electricity [Passive]: After you upgrade Bob’s Tavern, replace his minions with ones of a higher Tier.

Maiev Shadowsong

• Imprison [Cost 1]: Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 2 turns, get it with +1/+1.

Kael’thas Sunstrider

• Verdant Spheres [Passive]: Every third m...

Below are the Arena leaderboards for February 26, 2020 – April 7, 2020. Arena rankings reflect players’ best 30 consecutive runs throughout a season. The players featured below have exhibited top-notch deckbuilding skills, in-the-moment decision making, and unyielding dedication to achieve a most noteworthy feat!

For an Arena run to be included in this season, its end time must have been between February 26 at 10:00 a.m. and April 7 at 9:59:59 a.m.

Dynamic ladder rankings are now also available for the Standard and Wild ladders.

• Arena

It’s time for the Outland Inn-vitational! Taking place on April 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PT, the Outland Invitational will split 20 well-known Hearthstone personalities evenly into two groups—the Feisty Fiends and the Salty Satyrs!

The Outland Inn-vitational will use a new format we’re calling Demon Hunter Duel-fest, where both teams play against each other through 4 rounds of best-of-three matches. Each player will represent one of the ten classes and play as that same class in every match. However, on rounds 2 and 4, one full team will play as the Demon Hunter!

Here is how Demon Hunter Duel-fest scoring works:

• The winner of each best-of-three match will earn points for their team.
• Winning a match earns a team 2 points.
• At the end of four rounds, the team with the highest point total wins.

With $100,000 in prizing on the line, each member of the winning team will take home a cool US $6,500 while everyone else will still walk away with US $3,500. Additionally, the t...

Hearthstone Grandmasters is back in action for 2020! Season 1 kicks off globally on Friday, April 17, and will run every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through June 7. Not only will the best Hearthstone players in the world be battling it out every weekend live on YouTube Gaming, but you can also catch the new Demon Hunter class in competitive play for the first time! 

Seven new competitors have advanced to Grandmasters this season—a season which introduces new format changes to test our players more than ever. Here’s everything you need to know to keep up with this year’s Grandmasters action! 

Details

• Venue: ONLINE – join us in the chat!
• Dates: Friday, Saturday, Sunday - April 17 – June 7, 2020
• Broadcast Start Time: Broadcast days kick off with the Asia-Pacific region playing at 2am PDT / 11am CEST / 6pm KST on Friday, April 17
• Casters: 
  • AMERICAS: Dan "Frodan" Chou and TJ "Azumo" Sanders 
  • ASIA-PACIFIC: Jia “Jia” Dee and Darroch “Darroch” Brown
  • EUROPE: Simon “Sot...

Following three exciting Masters Tour events in 2019 in Las Vegas, Seoul, and Bucharest, seven players proved to be the best in their respective regions and earned a promotion to Grandmasters.  With the imminent launch of Grandmasters 2020 Season 1, we are excited to introduce the newest Grandmasters competing for a spot at the Hearthstone World Championship this fall.

Americas

Guillermo “Empanizado” Tolosa, Mexico

Ever since joining Team Mexico in the 2017 Hearthstone Global Games, Empanizado has been a staple of the Latin American competitive scene. Later that year, he went on to reach Top 8 at the HCT Summer Championship, only falling to Surrender who went on to win the event. After qualifying for Masters Tour Seoul in 2019, the community held a fundraiser to cover his costs to travel to the event. He rewarded this effort by finishing in 11th place, picking up $3500 and qualifying for Bucharest in the process. In Romania he once again finished in the top 32, which was enough ...

ASHES OF OUTLAND IS NOW LIVE!

Outland has been razed by an unstoppable force for destruction known as the Rusted Legion! Now, the denizens scavenge to survive in the ashes of the war-torn realm. The Black Temple stands as the last bastion of civilization, where the self-proclaimed lord of Outland, Illidan Stormrage, and his army of Demon Hunters fight to take back their world.

Journey beyond the Dark Portal and enter the fray—Ashes of Outland is now live worldwide!

New Class: Demon Hunter

The Year of the Phoenix introduces Hearthstone’s first new class since launch: the Demon Hunter! The fearsome Demon Hunter features an in-your-face playstyle—cutting down foes with weapons and claws, or crushing them with enormous Demon minions. Demon Claws, the class’s Hero Power, is a one mana-cost boost to the Demon Hunter’s Attack, designed around robust synergies with its class cards.

The Demon Hunter hero class is free and can be unlocked now by completing ...

In light of the ongoing global COVID-19 situation, we have decided to hold both Masters Tour Jönköping and the next Masters Tour in Asia-Pacific online to ensure the health and safety of all players and staff. To maintain the global integrity and fairness for all competitors, Masters Tour Online: Jönköping will still take place June 12 – 14 during Central European Time, while Masters Tour Online: Asia-Pacific will take place July 16 – 19 during Korea Standard Time.

The Masters Tour is built around the principal of a global community of players coming together to compete, and the relationships forged at each event are core to Hearthstone esports. While combating the current health crisis has required these events to be held remotely this online structure is the exception. We will keep tracking the global situation and are excited to hopefully get back to coming together in-person for both Masters Tour Montreal and Masters Tour Madrid later in the year.

While the chance to qualif...

Hearthstone is partnering with Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. in the United States to commemorate the release of Ashes of Outland and the Demon Hunter! Quench your thirst for victory with an exclusive Hearthstone cup when you place a drive-through or carry out order for a large fountain drink from March 25 – April 21 at all Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants* in the US!

Carl’s Jr. delivery offerings:

• Postmates: Free delivery with the code CARLSJRNOW, through April 6, 2020.
• UBER Eats: Free delivery through the app through the end of March 2020, where available.
• Doordash: Free delivery with the code CARLSJRNOW, through the app through the end of March 2020, where available.

Hardee’s delivery offerings:

• UBER Eats: Free delivery through the app through the end of March 2020, where available.
• Doordash: Free delivery through the app with code HARDEESDELIVERY through the end of March 2020, where available.

*While supplies last.

In light of the ongoing global health risks associated with in-person gatherings, we are cancelling official Fireside Gatherings for the near future and disabling the ability to create public events. Additionally, any existing public events will be converted to private events.

We do, however, want individuals at home to have an opportunity to partake in the upcoming Pre-Release weekend, so we’ll be keeping private event functionality intact. Players can register their own one-person event to enjoy opening Ashes of Outland card packs the weekend of April 3–6.

Over the next week we’ll be implementing this transition of currently scheduled events to private status. Thank you all, innkeepers and patrons, for understanding.

Private Fireside Gatherings will:

• Be eligible to receive Nemsy Necrofizzle if they fulfill all hosting prerequisites. This means having an established Tavern - Learn more about how to establish your tavern here.
• Be eligible for the Fireside Gatherings card back....

Zakarya “xBlyzes” Hail is the champion of Masters Tour Los Angeles and the first champion to win more than one Masters Tour! A powerhouse out of France, xBlyzes bested Wan “TNCAnswer” Maozhi in an insane 3-2 matchup, taking home another championship trophy and $32,500, while securing a European spot in Grandmasters Season 2.

Following his victory at Masters Tour Arlington, xBlyzes was the player to beat this weekend. With a strong Top 8, which saw the defeat of three Grandmasters and the 2019 Global Finals champion, xBlyzes and TNCAnswer faced off in an unbelievable championship match. The competitive final match went the distance, culminating in a round 5 face off. Despite being down 2-0 early in the match, xBlyzes triumphed with his mastery of Rogue over TNCAnswer’s Paladin, a class he is considered the master of in the Chinese scene, following a dramatic reverse-sweep.

2019 was a difficult year for xBlyzes and he went into the 2020 Masters Tour season striving to be one of...

The Top 8 for Masters Tour Los Angeles are locked! After two days of Swiss Rounds, these 8 players have come out on top over almost 350 other competitors. You can watch Top 8 of Masters Tour Los Angeles compete live on YouTube.com/HearthstoneEsports!

• Facundo “Nalguidan” Pruzzo (9-0)
• Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk (8-1)
• Zakarya “xBlyzes” Hail (8-1)
• Kevin “Casie” Eberlein (8-1)
• Xiaomeng “Liooon” Li (8-1)
• Luke “NoHandsGamer” Kooken (8-1)
• Poramet “Bankyugi” Putchakan (7-2)
• Wan “TNCAnswer” Maozhi (7-2)

This Top 8 will prove to be the most competitive lineup seen in the final rounds of a Masters Tour so far. Securing their spots are 3 Grandmasters, 1 former Masters Tour champion, and the 2019 Global Finals champion. Following a single-elimination Day 3, the last standing champion will earn the Masters Tour Los Angeles trophy and $32,500.

While the Swiss Rounds of Day 1 and Day 2 could not be broadcast, we are thrilled to confirm that Dan "Frodan" Chou, TJ "Azumoqt" Sanders, Erik "DoA...

We dropped a mountain of information about all the exciting changes to Hearthstone alongside today’s patch notes, including a deep dive on the new Demon Hunter class! When you’ve finished reading about the Year of the Phoenix, check out the rest of what we’ve got going on:

• Introducing the Demon Hunter Class
• Announcing Ashes of Outland
• 16.6 Patch Notes

We’re ready to share with you a host of major changes coming to Hearthstone in the immediate future, as well as a roadmap of what we’ve got coming to the Tavern in the months to come!

Where We've Been and Where We're Going

The Year of the Dragon started with Rise of Shadows, where we introduced the League of E.V.I.L. and Arch-Villain Rafaam’s sinister scheme to commandeer the magical floating city of Dalaran. We then saddled up with the League of Explorers in Saviors of Uldum to stop E.V.I.L. from unleashing Uldum’s ancient secrets upon Azeroth. In the final act, Descent of Dragons, the League of Explorers put the ki...

UPDATE: For the overall safety and well-being of our staff and casters, and in alignment with California’s statewide ‘stay at home’ order, we are canceling the broadcast portion of Masters Tour Los Angeles. Matches will still take place online as previously scheduled. It is our intention to find a solution to showcase the Top 8 matches on Sunday and we will share those details as soon as we have more information. Best of luck to all of the competitors this weekend.

The Masters Tour returns this weekend for Master Tour Los Angeles! To protect the health and well-being of all players and staff, we recently announced the decision to restructure this event into an online-only Masters Tour. Over 300 invited players from over 40 countries will be joining us online as they compete for the Masters Tour trophy, a shot at becoming a Grandmaster, and their share of the USD $3,000,000 total prize purse for 2020!

While the matches will be played online, join Dan "Frodan" Chou, TJ "Azumo" Sand...