Tournament Watch: TeSPA’s Collegiate Hearthstone Open

by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Blizzard Entertainment’s official presence at PAX East 2014 was only just made public and widespread as of yesterday. While Hearthstone fans already had much to anticipate in the way of seeing how far along iPad development has come since it was first unveiled, almost a year ago now, there is even more being added to the hype docket. The eSports Association (TeSPA) has just announced their latest endeavor to support the competitive Hearthstone scene with a North American collegiate tournament, aptly named the TeSPA Collegiate Hearthstone Open. TeSPA is self-described as “…a network of the top collegiate talent in esports & gaming. Composed of Local Chapters linked by a national board of graduated students, TeSPA aspires to cultivate communities capable of hosting Lone Star Clash caliber experiences at every university and high school in the nation.”

The official Hearthstone site picked up their press release, which I have reposted here:

Attention all card-slinging college students! Got a Hearthstone deck you’re particularly deadly with? Now’s your chance to show it off by entering TeSPA’s Collegiate Hearthstone Open! Free to compete in by all North American college students, this Hearthstone tournament will test your deck-building skills and card-playing strategy as you and other college students battle to be one of the last four left standing. Why the last four, you say? Because the four top players will be flown to PAX East to face off in a live finals event! The epic showdown will be broadcast live from the Twitch stage on Saturday, April 12!

As if ultimate Hearthstone glory weren’t enough, the tournament also features $5000 in cold, hard scholarship prizes. Which college will put forth a champion? Which hometown hero will prevail? Head over to http://compete.tespa.org/ to learn more and sign up!

(Source)

This all sounds pretty good, yes? Let’s dig into the details with some highlights from the tournament information page:

• Registration is currently open, available, and requires a valid school email address to complete
• Prize Pool – $5,000 in scholarship money [1st: $2,500; 2nd: $1,500; 3rd: $500; 4th: $500]
• There will also be 10 players, selected at random, that receive 5 packs of Hearthstone cards [500 gold value]
• Online Play takes place March 29th and March 30th, 2014 from 12:00 p.m. PDT to 6:00 p.m PDT
• Live Finals at PAX East 2014 in Boston, MA on April 12th from 3:00 p.m. EDT to 6:00 p.m. EDT

The actual rules and regulations are further detailed at the link noted above, with everything you need to know about deck regulations, time limits, and actions that may disqualify you from the tournament and future TeSPA events.

For any aspiring North American player that has been looking to make a splash in the competitive scene, this is a major opportunity, as it’s a pretty safe bet that there will be tens of thousands of eyes glued to the Twitch stream when the final matches are streamed at PAX East. I will be in attendance and reporting back and would love to interview the final four competitors, so, just in case you needed some extra incentive, get registered and start honing those decks!

Let me know in the comments if you’re excited about this opportunity and planning to participate.