Hearthstone World Championship at BlizzCon with $500K prize

The Hearthstone World Championship will take place at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California. Sixteen players will compete for a $500,000 prize pool, with $100,000 awarded to the champion. The tournament opens with a group stage from Sept. 8–10 and concludes with live playoffs on Sept. 12–13.

Group-stage matches begin at 19:00 Kyiv time each day. Matches use a best-of-five Conquest format: competitors register four decks and each match includes a single deck ban. The top eight players from the group stage advance to the single-elimination playoff bracket. Quarterfinals are set for Sept. 12, and the semifinals and grand final will be played on Sept. 13 on the BlizzCon stage.

The field includes recent title holders and top event winners. mlYanming is listed as the 2024 World Champion and Wu XiaoT Jiuwei as the 2025 champion. Other notable competitors expected to take part include Kyle McBanterFace Spigelman, winner of Grandmasters Season 2 and the Masters Tour Summer Championship 2025 (Americas), and Gabriel Gaby59 Jeanne, winner of Masters Tour 2022 Ruins of Alterac and silver medalist at the Masters Tour Winter Championship 2026. Organizers will publish the full list of participants before the group stage begins.

All matches will be streamed on Hearthstone’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. Viewers who watch the broadcasts can earn in-game card packs from the Escape From Violet Hold expansion via Drops. An interactive prediction event titled Choose Your Champion launches on Sept. 3; accurate predictions in that event can also reward additional card packs.

The Conquest format requires preparation of multiple archetypes and adaptation to bans and matchups. Organizers said the $500,000 purse will be distributed among top finishers, with $100,000 allocated to the winner. Tournament schedules and broadcast links will be available on Hearthstone’s official channels ahead of the event.