BlizzCon 2018 is a stacked affair. With World Championships on-the-line in WoW Arena, Heroes of the Storm and Starcraft 2, plus the Overwatch World Cup and WoW Mythic Dungeon Invitational All-Star and Hearthstone Global Games event, BlizzCon 2018 is set to offer fans of all Blizzard games and genres something to dig into.
The main action starts on Friday, November 2nd just after the BlizzCon opening ceremony, but action has already got underway. The HoTS Group Stage has kicked off, while the WoW Arena event has already finished its first round of games and is set to continue alongside BlizzCon on Friday.
With all that hype out the way, we thought we would give a brief game-by-game rundown of what’s going on and when over the three main days of BlizzCon esports competition.
BlizzCon takes place over 3 days from November 2nd till November 4th. All below times are in GMT (+0 UTC)
Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Finals
It’s clear, even based off just prize pool alone, that HGC is Blizzards marque esport title at BlizzCon. While the Overwatch League gets most of the attention, BlizzCon should shine a light on Blizzards MOBA darling.
Teams: Gen.G, TheOne, HeroesHearth Esports, Team Liquid, Dignitas, Tempo Storm, Miracle, Tempest
First day matchups: Gen.G v TheOne – HeroesHearth Esports v Team Liquid – Dignitas v Tempo Storm – Miracle v Tempest
Daily schedule: Day one – 7 pm to 3 am – Day two – 4:30 pm to 2:15 am – Day three – N/A
Prize pool: $1m (£750,000)
Overwatch World Cup
The Overwatch world cup returns for BlizzCon 2018. Eight nations from around the world battle it out and the action begins right after the opening ceremony on Friday at 8 pm.
Teams: United Kingdom, USA, Australia, South Korea, China, Finland, Canada, France
First Day Matchups: UK v USA – Australia v South Korea – China v Finland – Canada v France
Daily schedule: Day One – 7:15 pm to 3:14 am Day Two – 4:30 pm to 1:30 am – Day Three – N/A
Prize Pool: $128,000(£100,000) – $16,000 (£12,000) per team regardless of finish. $90,000(£70,000) was also on the line at each group.
Starcraft 2 World Championship Series Global Finals
The legendary RTS is alive and kicking at BlizzCon 2018, with the World Championships being decided at BlizzCon.
Players: Maru – sOs – SpeCial – Stats – Rogue – TY – Dark – Serral
First Day Matchups: Maru v sOs – SpeCial v Stats – Rogue v TY – Dark v Serral
Daily schedule:: Day one – 7:30 pm to 1:30 am (Starcraft remaster exhibition match at 1:30 am) – Day two – 9 pm to 3 am – Daythreee – N/A
Prize pool: $700,000 (£530,000)
World of Warcraft Arena World Championships
The WoW Arena event returns, with a familiar set of names returning for the first finals played on WoW’s latest expansion: Battle for Azeroth.
Teams: Upper Bracket – Method Black, The Gosu Crew, Method Orange, Skill Capped EU – Lower Bracket – Tempo Storm, Super Frogs, Making a Movie, Reformed, Pen and Paper, Cohesion Dreams, Unitas, ORDER.
First day matchups: Upper Bracket – Method Black v The Gosu Crew – Method Orange v Skill Capped EU. Lower Bracket – Tempo Storm v Super Frogs – Making a Movie v Reformed – Pen and paper v Cohesion Dream – Unitas v ORDER.
Daily schedule: Day one – 7:15 pm to 4:15 am – Day two – 9:15 pm to 2:45 am – Day three – N/A
Prize pool: $280,000 (£220,000)
World of Warcraft Mythic Dungeon Invitational All-Star
The WoW MDI was a huge success in 2017 and it returns to BlizzCon for another year. This time around as an All-Star event rather than an invitational. Will a good showing at BlizzCon 2018 see it return in a bigger way in 2019?
Teams: exceL’s Angels, Free Marsy, Method NA, Method PogChamp
First day matchups: exceL’s Angels v Free Marsy – Method NA v Method PogChamp
Daily schedule: Day two – 4:30 pm to 9 pm
Prize pool: $100,000 (£75,000)
Hearthstone Global Games
Blizzard premier card game will once again show off one of the best stage designs in esports as it focuses on teams, rather than individual players for BlizzCon 2018.
Teams: Group A – Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand, China. Group B – Bulgaria, Brazil, Norway, Singapore.
First day matchups: Group A – Spain v Hong Kong – New Zealand v China. Group B – Bulgaria v Brazil – Norway v Singapore.
Daily schedule: Day one – 7:15 pm to 4:15 am – Day two – 4:45 pm to 10:45 pm Day three – N/A
Prize pool: $410,000 (£320,000)