Hearthstone, is a free-to-play card video game which was developed and published by Blizzard in 2014. They are the makers of famous titles such as StarCraft and Diablo. Yes, it is a card game like no other! And not to mention, this particular card game has official e-Sports entries, meaning that this game is big! Are you a fan of “Magic The Gathering” cards?
Let us look into this further and know the difference from the classic card game and this new adventure called “Hearthstone.”
This game as actually pretty straightforward and addicting once you get to know how it works. Good thing that the game has a helpful tutorial in which you would be taught on everything from start to finish.
Hearthstone is a digital card collection game which revolves around a turn-based game match between two players. These players can either be human versus human or human versus computer. Before each round, the game will let you pick starter cards from a random pull out of your own deck. This would be the perfect time to choose early game cards and stay away from cards that require a lot of Mana (magic power) points to summon a card.
Here is a sample card to look at. On the upper left-hand corner of the card, you can see the number 7 written on it. This is the “Mana” points needed in order for you to use the card and throw it on the deck when it is your turn. On the lower left corner of the card, you would have the attack value. This means that this particular card has an attack value of 6, this means that every time this card attacks it will damage 6 out of the targeted card.
Now on the lower right-hand corner of the card, we have the HP (life) value of the card. This means that if your opponent has the same card you have right now and he attacks you, your card will die as well as his card because they have the same attack and HP.
Battlecry: If you played an Elemental last turn, deal 5 damage.
Written in the middle is the card description. This will tell you what this card is about and what it can do to help you win a game. The list of cards can be viewed here.
Understanding Hearthstone
Now you know how to read a card the next thing we need to look into is the board where you are going to play this card game. Or rather, watch a player and bet on them. In the picture shown above, you can see everything labeled properly so that you would know where to find what you are looking for.
The lower part of the board would be your side. The bottom part is your cards on hand, these are the cards that you have currently which you can use on your turn if you have the specific Mana required to summon a card you want to play. On the lower right-hand side of the board, you will see your Mana crystals. The sample picture shows 1/6 Mana, this means that you are only able to play cards with 1 Mana needed.
Aside from hundreds of cards in the game with each of their specific card description and skills, each character you play has a skill that you can use as well. Your hero can be seen in the middle of your side on the board. In this picture, the hero portrait is conveniently colored in purple so that you may see where it is. Beside the hero portrait is the hero skill and its mana requirement to cast.
Everything in the board is mirrored, so what you see on your end is what the opponent sees on their end as well. Below is a video of Hearthstone gameplay so that you would get to see the game for yourself.
Hearthstone and its e-Sport scene
The reason why you are reading this article is that you are interested in Hearthstone’s e-Sport scene so that you can bet your Bitcoins at it, right? Without further adieu let us talk about Hearthstone’s e-Sports.
Hearthstone’s first entry into the e-Sports field is when Blizzard themselves sponsored its very first exhibition tournament way back in 2013, which was called “Innkeeper’s Invitational” with prominent names in the early stages of the game.
Later that year, 2P Entertainment sponsored a tournament with a prize pool of $4,000.00 USD with the best players from the Chinese region versus the best player of the North American region.
It was not until less than a year later when Blizzard announced the first World Championship that would be held in the last quarter of 2014. All the best players from four regions were invited to the said event and this brought together 16 champions to the stage. The first World Championship had a prize pool of $250,000 USD and the winner was the American player “Firebat”, who won $100,000 USD.
The second World Championship was held in BlizzCon 2015 and the winner was a player from Sweden “Ostkaka”, whom also won $100,000. The third World Championship was also in BlizzCon a year later, 2016. The winner was a Russian player named “Pavel”, who won $250,000 USD.
The 2017 World Championship for Hearthstone was pushed a few notches higher and now the prize pool is said to reach 1 Million USD!
You can get updates through this portal below in which you will be redirected to Hearthstone’s official websites showing the current ladder positions.
A little bit of Luck sprinkled with a lot of Skill
Hearthstone unlike any other action e-Sports games out there today requires a lot of skill and a bit of luck. Why luck? Well because the system would draw cards from your deck blindly and you will find yourself screaming for that perfect card to show up on your next move so that you may obliterate your opponent to kingdom come!
An intense knowledge of the card base can get you places when you are a player in Hearthstone but a good tactician with card-knowledge can also be the star of the day. With all that skill in hand, a little bit of luck on your side then you would easily be on top of the leader board.
The hard thing about Hearthstone is that it is a card game. And we all know that card games are mind games, a strategy game in its simplest form. It would be hard to read a players strategy when it comes to high caliber matches as they keep on changing this to manipulate their opponents into losing against them. Even betting in Hearthstone needs a little bit of luck to win a bet with the right player.