After more than a year, Hearthstone esports made its return to China, with mlYanming securing victory for his country at the 2024 Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship.
The winner of the 2024 Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship is mlYanming! Read on for the final results plus the details of why this is a significant victory.
"I lack the words to describe it, but you know, sometimes you have a hole in your heart, but you don't realize it's there until it gets filled again? You don't know what you were missing until you experience it again after all this time."
Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship crowns mlYanming
With a 3-2 victory over Frederik "Furyhunter" Møller, mlYanming claimed $100,000 USD and earned the title of World Champion. He also cemented China's return to the Hearthstone esports scene.
For context, Hearthstone wasn't available to players in China at the start of January 2023. This was due to expired licensing agreements involving Blizzard and NetEase. Then, after more than a year, Hearthstone returned to the country.
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China returns to Hearthstone esports and wins the gold
Hearthstone's return to China arrived with an increased prize pool from $350,000 USD to $500,000 USD. More importantly, it gave players in China the chance to compete again, showcasing interesting decks such as mlYanming's Armor Warlock and Control Warrior at the 2024 Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship.
Hearthstone esports caster Alexander "Raven" Baguley acknowledged the power of these players. Despite some of them being unfamiliar to viewers, their dominant performances in the Group Stage advanced them further into the competition.
Fellow caster Simon "Sottle" Welch also acknowledged China's return to the scene. To him, China filled the void in recent tournaments. The rivalry between China and Europe also became a standout — only further emphasized by the mlYanming versus Furyhunter match in the 2024 Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship Grand Final.
"I lack the words to describe it, but you know, sometimes you have a hole in your heart, but you don't realize it's there until it gets filled again? You don't know what you were missing until you experience it again after all this time," Sottle said. "We've had some great tournaments over the last year or so, and I didn't realize I felt like something was missing. But the China players add so much as an experience to these events."
He continued, "There is a reason I haven't just been saying it for fun — China versus Europe was really the standout rivalry that was developing in Hearthstone esports. [Furyhunter] called it out himself when he got to speak to us in interviews, [saying] that Europe versus China was the way the finals felt like they should be, and it absolutely was."
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