by JR Cook - 13 years ago     show comments

Someone has played a secret in the Arena of life and, despite HearthPro’s best efforts to test it – we played our minions, gave them Charge, and sent them to attack possible sources, all to no avail – it has not been revealed yet. Well, not fully anyway.

This story started to break Sunday evening when popular streamer and 2nd place finisher at the inaugural Innkeeper’s Invitational held at Blizzcon this year, Kripparian, hinted at a clandestine Heartstone meeting set to take place in Berlin this week.

Many questions were left unanswered, however, and the rumor mill was set buzzing with what could be coming down the pike.

On Monday, Ekop, one of Europe’s more prolific Hearthstone streamers, retweeted the following:

Ekop, Gnimsh and Me will be in Berlin from December 11 – December 15. We will do something Hearthstone related! @Ekop1337 @GnimshTV

— Max Siebel (@MaxNyhx) December 9, 2013

As if working in conjunction with one another, pieces of the puzzle started to build on themselves with each community member doing their part to chip (or chirp) in. At this point, four  Hearthstone players had been revealed and on their way to Berlin at the same time to do…something. It wasn’t until this morning that Artosis, the winner of that same Innkeeper’s Invitational mentioned earlier, spilled a bean or two on what exactly was happening.

Here’s a summary of the most current information:

• A “super secret” tournament is being held at an undisclosed location by an undisclosed tournament organizer in Berlin.
• The format is a team tournament 4 vs. 4, with a similar rule set to what was used at the Innkeeper’s Invitational.
• The two teams are essentially broken down by continent/server: Team Dogehouse represents the EU faction with Ekop, Nyhx, and Gnimsh leading the way plus Artosis thrown in on their side for good measure. The currently unnamed NA team will include Twitch.tv favorite, Trump, along with Strifecro, Monk, and the ever-loved Kripparian.
• The tournament will take place sometime between Thursday, December 12, 2013 and Sunday, December 15, 2013. The footage will not be live however, as the plan is to make a proper production of it and release a delayed broadcast at some point after the tournament has concluded.

This is still a developing situation, as further questions remain unanswered. What is the exact purpose of this tournament? Who convened these players? On the back of Rongar’s article

 yesterday, this could be a great chance for ESGN TV to do some promotional work before they kickoff their new venture. Will there be prize money? Will the players be compensated for their travel arrangements and stay in Berlin? The answers to these questions in particular could set important precedent for the future of the professional Hearthstone scene. If an event like this generates great interest and viewership, similarly styled tournaments will be able to refer back to this tournament for what possible advertisement and sponsor revenue exists when considering competitive Hearthstone.

It’s also worth mentioning that a similar tournament just wrapped up this weekend: The 2P.com NA vs. CN Server Championship

. This tournament was significant for not only taking on the challenge of cross-server play arrangements and employing the team format, but for also putting up a substantial prize purse that totaled almost $5,000 USD. If this “super secret” tournament represents anything similar in its entry to the tournament scene, then all competitive players should have no fear in Hearthstone being more than well on its way to establishing a veritable and profitable eSports scene.

Lastly, the tournament arrives at an interesting time with the latest patch to the closed beta having just been implemented earlier today. As such, this will be the first major tournament to operate under the changes to many cards that were being used in successful constructed decks. Whether these players continue to use the cards or make last minute changes to their decklists will serve as an early indication as to whether the developers’ intention of turning these cards from “must-includes” into “maybes” was successful or not.

No matter what happens, this tournament stands to be an exciting entry into the hallmark of innovation stemming from Hearthstone. Please stay locked into HearthPro as we scrounge up more details for you in the coming days!