This year’s Asian Games is featuring Hearthsone as a part of its esports demonstration event. The medals will count towards the official event at the next Asian Games at China in 2022. This event gets esports one step closer to the Olympics. On top of this, we get to see lesser known Asian Hearthstone players on a grand stage. These eight players will get to show the world what they are made of at the Hearthstone Asian Games event.
The Competition
The first match will be between Tirth “Gcttirth” Mehta from India and Akasaka “Tredsred” Tetsuro from Japan. The Indian scene isn’t well known globally, but Gcttirth has some prior experience. He played back at the International e-Sports Federation World Championship in 2016. Tredsred is a player with experience under his belt, making a few major appearances this year, so he is a strong contender to make a run for the gold medal.
The second match has Lo “Kin0531” Tsz Kin from Hong Kong taking on Mukashov “Gambit” Artur from Kyrgyzstan. Kin is another player with Major experience this year taking on a player no one knows too well. This could be the opportunity for Gambit to make his way into the international scene.
The third of the first round battles features Werit “Disdai” Popan from Thailand against Hendry “Jothree” Koentarto Handisurya from Indonesia. Disdai got his first taste of Major competition earlier this year and looks to continue to improve. Jothree is an old RTS competitive player that started up his Hearthstone career in 2015. He hopes to make his mark in Hearthstone to add to his resume.
The last two competitors are Mosa Fouad H Alkaltham from Saudi Arabia and Nguyen “Tuan” Anh Tuan from Vietnam. Tuan hasn’t made any major tournament appearances to this point and Alkaltham seems to be unknown. This could be the kick start for either one of their careers.
Optimized Tournament Play
The best format for spectators has to be the current Tour Stop format that the Asian Games has opted to use as well. The format for Hearthstone Global Games would confuse spectators, and the pick/ban phase isn’t even shown anyway.
The format is simple. Players bring four classes, with one being banned out in each match. Matches are a best of five set, and are single elimination. Qualifiers were previously played so no need for more than that.
The format means that Hearthstone’s time slot during the Asian Games should be relatively short, and this is good for demonstration purposes. No one really wants to see 40 minute Fatigue Warrior mirrors, especially spectators that are brand new to Hearthstone.
Good luck to the competitors at the Asian Games and hopefully they put on a good showing for Hearthstone in the eyes of all sports spectators. All the action can be caught on the Asian Games livestream on August 31.
Images courtesy of Asian Electronic Sports Federation and Blizzard Entertainment via their official websites.
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