Blizzard’s hit digital card game, Hearthstone just celebrated its 10 year anniversary but despite its age, the game is doublign down on its esports scene in 2025 with a revamped esports circuit.
Players familiar with the esports structure will find while some things have stayed the same, the pathway to becoming a world champion looks a bit different. Here is a complete breakdown of how Hearthstone Esports will work in 2025.
The Path to the World Championship consists of three qualifying periods. The first two are seasonal championships labeled Spring and Summer. Spring will consist of the March and April months, while Summer will consist of June/July. The third period, known as Last Chance Qualifers, will take place in September and October.
There will be two seasonal championships that will give out invites directly to the World Championship. Masters Tour Spring Championships and Masters Tour Summer Championships will consist of the highest placing players from around the world in a global event.
The Masters Tour Championship will happen twice this year with one in the Spring and one in the Summer. Each Masters Tour Championship will bring together the top 16 players during their respective qualifying season, which will consist of the top 2 players from each of the three regional Masters Tour Playoffs along with the top 2 competitive point earners from each region alongside the four highest point earners remaining across all regions.
The top four players at each Tour Championship will qualify directly to worlds while the 12 other players will earn an invite to the Last Chance Qualifer at the end of the year.
To get to the Masters Tour Championships, most players will have to go through the Masters Tour Playoffs. These are regional-level events that will determine who represents their regions at the two seasonal championships.
At the time of this article’s publishing. These Masters Tour Playoffs will be by invitation only for the 50 highest point earners during the qualification period, as well as the four highest-placing players from the new Open Qualifier event. The top 2 players from each Masters Tour Playoffs will move on to the Masters Tour Championship for a shot at a World Championship invite.
Ranked Ladder
The primary way players will be able to qualify for the seasonal championships will be through Ranked Ladder play. Players will be rewarded for their monthly grind through Legend. The top-placing players on the ladder will receive valuable competitive points. Players will earn points for placing in the top 100 of their server’s ranked ladder each month, with one point given to players who place from Rank 76-100 up to a total of seven points given to the player who claims Rank 1 at the end of each Qualifying Period month.
The Top 50 point earners at the end of each qualifying season will be invited to play in the new Masters Tour Playoffs.
Open Qualifiers
This year, the Open Qualifier system gives players who don’t have time to grind the ranked ladder day in and day out a chance at making a name for themselves. These regional-level events are locked to those regions’ players only. They can be entered by any player in their region with the goal of placing into the top four. A top-four finish in an Open Qualifier nets you an invite to the Masters Tour Playoffs.
The first of the Open Qualifiers is scheduled for the weekend of March 21-23. Dates for other events have not been made public at the time of this article’s publishing.
The Last Chance Qualifier
After the two Masters Tour Championships for Spring and Summer comes the Last Chance Qualifier. This is truly the one final opportunity for players to get a spot at the 2025 Hearthstone World Championship and the process is brutal.
The LCQ is open to the top 50 combined point earners globally across all qualifying periods, all Top 4 finishers from the LCQ Open Qualifers from all three regions and all players who have competed at a Masters Tour Championship that have not qualified already.
This 64+ player tournament is one final global tournament to determine one last player that will compete at the 2025 Hearthstone World Championship.
There has not been any listed Prize Pool outside of the Masters Tour Championships and World Championship. The Masters Tour Championship carries a $50,000 prize pool while the World Championship carries a $500,000 prize pool
The winner of the 2025 Hearthstone World Championship will walk away with $100,000.
