Everything to know about Hearthstone World Championship 2023

Blizzard has officially revealed the lineup for the Hearthstone World Championship 2023 event! Read on for the schedule, prize pool, format, where to watch the event, list of players, how they qualified, and more.

This year's Hearthstone World Championship will kick off on Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. PDT and run through Dec. 17. It will feature eight players bringing four decks into fray and best-of-five matches. A prize pool of $350,000 USD will also be at stake.

The tournament will be played online and livestreamed on Hearthstone's Twitch and YouTube channels. The Hearthstone World Championship will also feature two dual elimination groups. Two players with two match wins before two match losses in their group will earn a place in the semifinals. The winners of the semifinal matches will then face off in the grand finals.

On Dec. 8, Blizzard revealed patch 28.2.1 as a balance update for the 2023 Hearthstone World Championship. Notably, the patch nerfed Sif Mage and Enrage Warrior. It also buffed some underperforming deck archetypes alongside Excavate Treasure buffs.

Ahead of the tournament, Blizzard also revealed the list of competitors. These include PocketTrain, gyu, Lev "levik" Merkulov, uikyou, Tom "Meati" Wayland, hemlock, Franjo "reqvam" Blažević, and CJKaka.

These players earned a spot in the 2023 Hearthstone World Championship by fighting their way to the top on ladder and through events throughout the year. Gyu and PocketTrain, for example, won the Masters Tour Summer Championship and Masters Tour Fall Championship respectively. Meanwhile, uikyou and CJKaka secured spots by dueling and earning points on the Hearthstone ladder.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates!