After the success of its first two events last year, DreamHack is expanding its offering of Hearthstone Grand Prix tournaments in 2016.
As well as staging events at DreamHack Summer and Winter once again, the $27,500 open events will also take place at DreamHack Valencia and DreamHack Austin—DreamHack’s first event in North America.
Up to 200 spots will be available in the event’s opening swiss rounds, with the top 16 qualifying for single elimination playoffs in the conclusion of the three day events.
DreamHack Summer and Winter 2015 featured a $40,000 prize pool each, so the individual pot for each event has been reduced—but with double the number of events and $2,500 up for grabs in side events for eliminated players, the total money up for grabs this year will be $120,000.
The announcement makes no mention of Hearthstone Championship Tour points, but with the tournaments being fully open each would qualify for “major” status.
Last year’s Hearthstone Grand Prix events were met with widespread acclaim, and were won by two of the very best Hearthstone players in the world—Wang “TiddlerCelestial” Xieyu and Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root.
The first of the events, DreamHack Austin, takes place May 6 to 8. The event will also feature a $100,000 Counter-Strike tournament and a stop on the Capcom Pro Tour.
Update 25/02/16 7:00am CST: DreamHack’s announcement originally listed the side tournaments as $5,000, rather than the correct prize of $2,500. The story has been updated to reflect this.
