Hearthstone is returning to ESL Katowice in a big way

The biggest Hearthstone prize pool seen in the West outside of the World Championships is coming to IEM Katowice.

After a small invitational event last year, ESL is gearing up for a significantly bigger Hearthstone tournament in Poland on March 14th, with $30,000 up for grabs. The winner of this weekend’s ESL Legendary Series finals will be the first player to qualify for the Katowice tournament, with seven other players receiving invites. Eight players will qualify for the tournament, with five spaces for Europe and Russia, two for Poland and just one for a player from the US.

Only the top eight will compete in Poland, with the round of sixteen being held as online event prior to IEM Katowice.

In addition to the $30,000, the tournament will award 230 qualification points to the top four finishers for the Hearthstone World Championships—the maximum points available from any one event. Viagame was the first to announce an event with World Championships qualification points on the line—the Viagame House Cup—the ESL Katowice event will be the first to actually award points.

The Hearthstone tournament will be part of the IEM Expo which is held adjacent to the IEM World Championships for League of Legends and StarCraft 2.

Last year saw Hearthstone make its tournament debut at IEM Katowice, with a small four-person tournament won by Marcin “Gnimsh” Filipowicz.

Image via IEM/Facebook