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Playing card games in the real life is always enthralling. As for Hearthstone, this game has already become the digital revolution for the traditional card games. After the launch of the game in 2014, a lot of great Hearthstone bookmakers have entered the market of online sports betting. Hence, Hearthstone has joined the army of popular esports and is played by professionals coming from different parts of the world. To tell the truth, Hearthstone is not smaller in scale in comparison to major Poker tournaments. According to the official data for the year 2016, there are more than 50 million registered users at Hearthstone.
The genre of Hearthstone can be defined as Collectible Card Game or CCG in short. The full name of the game sounds like Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The name is not accidental, because Blizzard Entertainment used the lore of the World of Warcraft for Hearthstone classes and cards. What are the meanings of these terms in Hearthstone? We will explain further.
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The typical match in Hearthstone is played by two people. At the beginning of the game, players withdraw from 3 to 4 cards from the pool. The player which has the first turn has three cards at the start, whilst the second player gets four (1 is extra). Basically, the deck in Hearthstone consists of 30 cards in total. The main condition to win the Hearthstone match is to reduce the opponent’s health from 30 points to 0. Your strategy has to be ingenious in all aspects, as you cannot allow the enemy to burn down your health points.
Cards comprise the fundamental part of the game, so it is important to fully understand them. There are 3 types of cards in Hearthstone:
Minions are the creatures that are put on the board to fight for their hero. Minion cards have Health and Attack numbers displayed on each card, so they are easily recognizable. On the other hand, spell cards are used to trigger the particular effect or the ability which is described on the text of each spell card. They expire immediately after being utilized. Lastly, weapon cards allow dealing instant damage stated in the card description in exchange for 1 Durability point. Once Durability goes to 0, the weapon is destroyed then.
Additionally, cards in Hearthstone are categorized on the basis of a rarity. Overall, there are 5 levels of the card rarity: 1) Basic (accessible for free); 2) Common; 3) Rare; 4) Epic; 5) Legendary. There is also the possibility to cosmetically augment the cards by updating them to the Golden version. There are also so-called Uncollectible cards, which cannot be owned by the players – they are only available in the match.
Finally, cards belong to different hero classes. This aspect is important to consider whenever you place each Hearthstone bet. In Hearthstone, there are 9 classes for cards available. Each class has its own peculiarities and buffs, e.g. Priests focus on healing.
A small remark here. Only Druids, Mages, and Priests can use the spell cards, while all other 6 classes are allowed to use the weapon cards.
Pro players in Hearthstone choose cards wisely for the tournaments because they need to generate the best card combos to counter the opponent’s strategy. Patches in this game are released frequently, Hearthstone has a constantly changing meta. This means that a great variety of unique strategies appear and new popular cards emerge with the release of the Hearthstone updates.
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In the main menu of the game, all the collections of the cards can be observed at “My Collection” section. Once the game is launched, Hearthstone grants the newcomer the collection of the basic cards. So how to get new and exciting ones to beat the opponents? There are several ways to do it.
The first one is by getting new levels for the heroes. This is done by winning the matches and gaining experience points. Another method is to complete special quests which reward the player with some cards. Similarly, players receive cards for defeating bosses in Hearthstone “adventures”. As an alternative, it is possible to craft the cards at Arcane Dust, the option available in My Collection.
Perhaps the most controversial part of the game is the ability to buy the card packs with real money, though in-game money “Gold” can be used for purchasing cards too.
How did Hearthstone manage to become the leading CCG game in the world? First of all, Hearthstone is free-to-play, which positively contributes to the increase in the number of registered users each day. In addition, Hearthstone has almost no barriers to entry. The game is not punishing beginners for making mistakes. Moreover, whenever the new player launches the game for the first time, the interactive tutorial is instantly opened. The tutorial consists of several practice matches where AI is the player’s counterpart. During the matches, all of the Hearthstones basics are clarified.
In addition to this, Blizzard has released the mobile version of Hearthstone. It allows playing the game on various smartphones and tablets with no limits of functionality. Such a step of the developer was accepted by the game audience quite well.
Despite some skepticism regarding CCG genre, Hearthstone was marked with immense success. This fostered the entrance of Hearthstone to esports with a well-established pro scene. Hearthstone tournaments flood the Internet. There are different types of competitions in Hearthstone, which can be separated into: local, regional and global.
Hearthstone is also great from the perspective of social integration, as it allows to organize local tournaments. They can be interesting for placing Hearthstone bets. There is the term known as “Fireside Gatherings”, which indicates live gatherings of people to play Hearthstone at the predetermined date. The only prerequisites are to find the people interested in such an event and the place to hold it, e.g. Internet cafe or coffee house. The person responsible for arranging the Fireside Gathering is called Tavern Host and he has to receive Blizzard’s approval for the event. All the Fireside Gatherings are supported officially and there is even a specially created league for these events. The winners of the local tournaments can then test their skills in the Fireside Gathering Championship Qualifier.
In order to become officially recognized and sanctioned by Blizzard Entertainment, the event should be organized following the “Conquest Format”. Let’s see which conditions have to be fulfilled.
Firstly, all matches on the event are required to be held as BO5. This implies that in the best-of-five series, the first Hearthstone player to win 3 times against another one is moving forward in the standings. Additionally, all-pro player decks have to be presented in time, meaning that before each stage of the competition the player has to submit the decks with the specified 3 classes. The last significant rule is that the pro player cannot win more than one game using the same deck. Thus, he has to use each of the three decks in the tournament. After the player got the victory with the particular deck, it then automatically becomes retired.
If Fireside Gatherings are held in accordance with the conditions provided above, then each qualified winner of the event will be able to compete against other Fireside Gatherings champions coming from the particular regions. Just to explain the nature of the tournament, the Championship Qualifier is held in “Conquest Format” and also has single elimination brackets. When qualifiers are finished and the publicity knows 4 names of the leading pro players, it is the right time to speak about the actual Fireside Gathering Championship in the context of Hearthstone betting.
Winning the qualifier means that the four most proficient players from each region will be able to compete against each other for solid money prizes. Preserving the Conquest format, the tournament grants the following awards to the winners:
On top of that, the player who got first place becomes eligible for participating in the Regional Qualifier. However, the Regional Qualifier tournament does not start straight away. Prior to intense Regional Qualifier matches, there is the obligatory Last Call Tournament. This tournament is held for the Legendary card pack owners. These players have to go through the series of games in BO3 format (known as the Last Hero Standing) and also take part in the single elimination matches. In the same manner as Fireside Gathering Qualifiers, the player is requested to submit the 3 classes and the decks for the chosen class. Interesting is the fact that the decks for players participating in the first match are picked randomly. The winner of the match has the privilege to keep his desk, while the loser is obliged to choose one of the other two for the remaining matches.
This tournament seems to be rather significant for players and for those who want to bet on Hearthstone. The best 16 players from the Last Call Tournament will then able to access Regional Qualifier with so-called seeding format.
Now let’s define how the Regional Qualifier is organized for Hearthstone players. Well, this part of the tournament consists of 40 players coming from all regions around the globe to fight in the double elimination mode. To provide the best schedule of matches, players in the Regional Qualifier are seeded based on the amount of Hearthstone Championship Tour points that they have earned. On a side note, in order to accrue the HCT points, the player has to participate in the officially approved game events and/or to attain the Legend rank in the Standard Ranked Play. So, at the Regional Qualifier stage the first 8 best players with the biggest amount of points are excluded from taking part in the first two rounds. For the sake of balance, these top players will join their region for the round of 16.
The winner of each region’s Fireside Gathering Event is then seeded 24th in the tournament. Again here, the total number of Hearthstone points can help players to be seeded higher in comparison to others. Finally here, the whole rest of the tournament participants will encounter the Last Call event winners.
Once all the regional competitors are identified in the standings, the tournament can then start. This stage is the most spectacular for Hearthstone gambling. We should outline the total number of players from each region allowed to participate in the Regional Championship:
The Hearthstone World Championship (HWC) is the largest and the most prestigious tournament for Hearthstone professional players. It is held annually at the special Blizzard Entertainment event commonly known as BlizzCon. In order to reach this tournament, the top 4 players from each region have to compete with each other in the group stage. This is the last preparation before the main event begins.
The first round of the group stage qualifying matches consists of four players in each predefined group. The format here is the single-elimination bracket. As soon as the leading two players are determined in every group, they will be able to join the major tournament.
In the year 2016, the prize pool for the Hearthstone World Championship has reached $1,000,000. This is even bigger than CS:GO ESL New York, where the amount of prize money was $250,000. All attention of Hearthstone best betting sites is drawn to the matches of the World Championship, so let’s see the structure of this esports event further.
The tournament is divided into two rounds. The first round is the group stage that features 4 groups comprising of four players. The first and second place in the group ensures participation in the second decisive round of the tournament.
The last round has 8 players competing for the title of the Hearthstone World Champion. The round is played in the single-elimination bracket format and it consists of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the grand final. As for the matches in the second round, all of them are BO5, i.e. 3 wins to advance in the tournament. Unlike the Last Call tournament, in the HWC the winner in the match has put aside his current deck, whilst the loser has the right to keep it.
The winner of the Hearthstone World Championship became the Russian professional player with the nickname “Pavel”, who received $250,000 prize for getting first place in the tournament. The final was watched by more than 200,000 viewers on Twitch, which is the record high among card games.
Hearthstone as one of the top-rated games is appealing for those who like to place wagers on esports. However, many players are curious where to bet on Hearthstone and which options for betting are available. Bets on esports are accessible at the great variety of online sportsbooks, although Betway definitely stands out among them.
Predictions, e.g. name the first player which is going to damage the other one, define who is going to place the Legendary card for the first time or mark the highest damage which can be taken from one card in the match and many others
Instead of using cash, bettors can also access one specific type of betting. This is possible with the help of items in the Steam inventory. Taking into account that all the in-game content in the inventory is tradable has a real money value, this is can be a great deal for Hearthstone betting. One of the biggest sites that host this type of betting is called GosuGamers. The feature of this bet type is known there as ValueBet.
To make profits with esports betting, you should understand how the game is played. This is advice is applicable to all games, including Hearthstone.
It is not easy to grasp the playstyle of the pro player. As one of the basics, the bettor should understand all ins and outs of the in-game classes, their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it is important to check the current metagame and see what strategies are in favor of players right now. All these aspects allow the bettor to determine the odds for the particular pro player to win the match in betting Hearthstone.
Let’s get straight to the point. There are different types of decks employed by the players. For example, if one pro player has chosen the control decks (which has the potential to crush any deck in the late game with strong cards – mage, warrior, or warlock), while the other one has rush decks (aggressive playstyle like hunters), then the player with the rush has higher probability to win.
To analyze Hearthstone effectively, we recommend the bettors to study all the relevant information about the players on the competitive scene. Many Hearthstone expert analysts outline the skill level of pro players and their typical decision-making in the match. If you want to do it on your own, it is advisable to track the streams of Hearthstone pro players.
We may also outline one website which can be handy to get pertinent Hearthstone betting tips. It is called Liquidhearth. There you can a lot of different content, such as the latest news in esports, patch notes, learn about future tournaments, and read the history of past events. Although Blizzard published some guides for Hearthstone, if the bettor is willing to get the in-depth guides into all aspects of the game, Liquidhearth will assist.
Popular MOBAs such as Dota 2 and LoL are played with teams, which is not specific to Hearthstone game mechanics. For this reason, it is required to learn about the game from the beginning, though any experience or understanding of games like poker can be useful.
The decision-making process for the bettor can be substantially facilitated by acquiring knowledge about the Hearthstone competitions, pro scene, current status and form of each player, and so on. Generally, Hearthstone is the game of probabilities and it is not always easy to make the correct decision in Hearthstone betting.
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Hearthstone regularly updates patches. Therefore, the deck, which previously gave a good result, next year may be unpromising. By collecting information, the gamer will determine the advantages of different characters and their disadvantages. Experts recommend monitoring the latest updates and the audience’s reaction to them.
Contenders can choose their own tactics of fighting. The right of the first move determines the lot. The outcome of the confrontation is unpredictable in the prematch. However, in live betting, bookmakers take bets on Hearthstone for the outcome of the match, allowing the punter to earn good money. Some features of the virtual game allow increasing the chances of payment. Rapid destruction of the opponent and the advantage of the power guarantee strong deck cards.
Proper use of the deck and a good strategy choice often allow the gamer to win. The games are held in two formats – bo5 or bo7. The first option involves a duel of up to three wins in five games. The bo7 format involves four wins in seven matches. In rare cases, bo3 is used.
