Blizzard Entertainment
The Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) 2018’s Season 1 is almost at an end! This first point-earning season of 2018 culminates in the Summer Playoffs, which lead into the first seasonal championship of the year—the Summer Championship.
If you’ve been gunning to qualify for a Seasonal Playoff this year, we’ve got you covered. Iron out your dates and plan your travel with more information about HCT 2018’s Playoff locations!
Format
HCT 2018 will utilize the Swiss format. Players can expect to compete in seven rounds of Swiss, which will progress into a dual-tournament top eight playoffs. The top two players from each group will move on to play in the Seasonal Championship. The semifinals and finals will not be played.
Matches will be best-of-five with one ban in the Conquest format, and make use of only cards in Standard rotation.
Schedule
| Europe | Americas | Asia-Pacific | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer Playoffs | Playoffs:
May 5 and 6 Deck Submissions: May 1 |
Playoffs:
May 12 and 13 Deck Submissions: May 8 |
Playoffs:
May 19 and 20 Deck Submissions: May 15 |
| Fall Playoffs | Playoffs:
Sep. 1 and 2 Deck Submissions: Aug. 28 |
Playoffs:
Sep. 15 and 16 Deck Submissions: Sep. 11 |
Playoffs:
Sep. 8 and 9 Deck Submissions: Sep. 4 |
| Winter Playoffs | Playoffs:
Jan. 12 and 13, 2019 Deck Submissions: Jan. 8, 2019 |
Playoffs:
Jan. 19 and 20, 2019 Deck Submissions: Jan. 15, 2019 |
Playoffs:
Jan. 26 and 27, 2019 Deck Submissions: Jan. 22, 2019 |
All seasonal playoffs will take place in local timezones.
The HCT Summer Championship will run from June 28 to July 1, while the HCT Fall Championship will take place from Oct. 11 to 14. The HCT Winter Championship will be held in Winter 2019, from Feb. 28 to March 3.
All Seasonal Championships for HCT 2018 will be held in the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles, California.
Venues
Our commitment to 2018 was to maintain the accessible, distributed model for HCT Playoffs, while increasing on-site staffing and infrastructure support for playoff venues. This means we will have fewer playoffs venues per region, but each venue will be built for competitive play, with stable internet connections and a more controlled competitive environment.
Several venues in 2017 had Fireside Gatherings attached to them that also granted the Power Core card back. To keep venue environments competitive, we will be scaling back on official Fireside Gathering activities at playoff venues. If you are interested in spectating Playoffs in-person, please keep an eye out for notice of which venues will have Fireside Gatherings.
Competing in Playoffs
If you’re new to competitive Hearthstone, there are several ways you can qualify for Seasonal Playoffs. You can play on the Ranked ladder or compete at Tour Stops to earn Hearthstone Competitive Points. If you earn enough of these points in a season, you’ll be able to qualify for the Hearthstone Masters program and Seasonal Playoffs.
If ladder climbing and travelling the world aren’t for you, you can also choose to compete in Challenger Cups and at Tavern Hero Qualifiers. Challenger Cups are online cups that progress you into the Challenger Finals, while Tavern Hero Qualifiers are offline events in your local Hearthstone community (hosted at approved Fireside Gatherings). Winning one of those also gets you into the Challenger Finals. From there, the top eight players of the Challenger Finals will move on to compete in the Seasonal Playoffs.
Interested in starting your journey into competitive Hearthstone? Learn more Links below!