The Hearthstone bubble continues to swell, as another organisation is launching a weekly league for the game.
While it’s well-known Archon and Vulcun plan to start their own leagues in the next few weeks, neither has made it official. That makes PVP Live actually the first to formally announce its new league.
16 players will compete in the Hearthstone Pro League (HPL) for a $60,000 prize pool, with eight teams sending two representatives each. The matches will be played out Monday through Thursday every week from June 8 to August 14, with the top eight players advancing to a LAN final in Texas.
The players taking part include Andrew “TidesofTime” Biessener and Jan “Ekop” Palys of Cloud9, David “Dog” Caero and Paul “Zalae” Nemeth.
The organizers invited the teams to send two players of their own choosing, allowing teams to give exposure to some of their less prominent players and spread the load from these new leagues. As such, Archon is represented by Nemeth and Ryan “Purpledrank” Murphy-Root, rather than the likes of world champion James “Firebat” Kostesich.
Fnatic’s second representative will be Harald “Powder” Gimre of Trig Esports, since the team only currently has Jokul “Kaldi” Johannsson on their roster.
Though these leagues represent unprecedented levels of prize money in Hearthstone, some in the community have expressed concern over their large and sudden expansion. They’re guaranteed to overlap—the HPL will run Monday-Thursday, with Archon and Vulcun both looking at at least three days a week according to sources.
Image via PVP LIve
