| Collegiate Hearthstone Open [edit]
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| League information | ||
| Organizer: | The eSports Association (TeSPA) | |
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| Event type: | Online and offline | |
| Start date: | 2014-03-29 | |
| End date: | 2014-04-12 | |
| Links: | Website | |
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The Collegiate Hearthstone Open is a Hearthstone tournament run by The eSports Association (TeSPA). The tournament is open to all North American college students, and is entirely free to enter. Prizes come in the form of $5000 USD in scholarships, card packs, and the title of "College Hearthstone Champion". The tournament is in association with Twitch and Blizzard, and has been featured through blogs on the official website.[1]
Rules[]
- Players will compete in a 2048-person single elimination bracket.
- Each series will be a BO3. Once a player loses with a deck, a new deck of a different class must be played for the following game and the losing deck may not be used for the remainder of the BO3 series. The winner must continue to play a deck until it has been defeated.
- Example:
- P1 (Hunter) vs. P2 (Mage), Hunter wins. P2 must chose a non-mage deck to play next. P1 must play the same deck.
- P1 (Hunter) vs. P2 (Rogue), Rogue wins. P1 must chose a non-hunter deck to play next. P2 must play the same deck.
- P1 (Priest) vs. P2 (Rogue), Rogue wins. P2 wins and submits score online.
- Decks may not be edited once the BO3 series has begun. Players are not allowed to leave the challenge screen once a BO3 series has begun. If your opponent edits his/her deck between matches, take a screenshot of them in the deck editor. This may result in disqualification.
- Screenshot should show opponent Browsing the Collection or Making a Deck.
- Screenshots should show the time
- Players may edit decks between rounds of the tournament. For example, decks can be changed between the RO128 and the RO64, assuming you are not late to your next series.
- Players may come to the tournament with as many complete decks as they desire, but may not play with multiple decks for the same class in a series.
- The winner must report the results of the match online within 10 minutes of the conclusion of the match. Failure to report match results will disqualify a player from future events.
- Please screenshot and save each victory screen, in the event of a match dispute these will be used to determine the winner!
- All disconnects will result in a loss of that game. (Unless otherwise agreed upon by both players)
- No practice games are allowed with your opponent. There should also be no game remakes unless explicitly agreed upon by both players.
- All matches should begin promptly at the designated time. If a player does not show up within 10 minutes of the designated start time, the player will be disqualified. If your opponent is a no show, take a screenshot of the offline player in your friend’s list with the time showing.
- One hour will be allotted for each series.
- Players should make every effort to complete turns within 60 seconds. We will rely on the honor system to enforce this, but ask that players report opponents that repeatedly take excessive time to carry out turns.
- There are no card restrictions.
- All games should be played on the NA server.
2014[]
The 2014 Open featured competition between around 1800 college students from more than 750 colleges across North America. The Open offered prizes in the form of $5000 USD in scholarships ($2500, $1500, $500 and $500), and sets of 5 card packs awarded to 10 random participants.
On 29th and 30th March 2014, the initial pool of competitors did battle online until a final four remained. These four players were flown to the PAX East expo for live finals and semi-finals on April 12th, broadcast online by Twitch. The matches were commentated by Kevin Knocke and ChanmanV.
Finalists[]
The four finalists were:
- Johnny “RisingVirtue” On (University of California, Berkeley)
- Spencer “Zeph” Huynh (University of Oklahoma)
- Dylan “DarkAngel” Bryan (Rutgers University)
- Tommy “ZRusheR” Zhang (Broward College)
The finalists were interviewed in the official Player Spotlight blog.
Results[]
| Place | Name | College | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
 1st
|
ZRusheR | Broward College | $2500 |
 2nd
|
RisingVirtue | University of California, Berkeley | $1500 |
 3rd
|
DarkAngel | Rutgers University | $500 |
| Zeph | University of Oklahoma | $500 |
Bracket[]
Semifinals[]
ZRusheR won his semifinal against DarkAngel 3-0, using a very effective handlock deck. RisingVirtue lost his first two games against Zeph's handlock, before switching to a rogue deck for a 3-win streak that carried him to a 3-2 victory.
Finals[]
The first match of the finals saw RisingVirtue's druid set against ZRusheR's hunter. With the board stacked against him, ZRusheR was able to pull off a last minute 
Starving Buzzard/Unleash the Hounds/Timber Wolf combo to win the first match. The second match was a swift and close battle between ZRusheR's reigning hunter and RisingVirtue's aggressive rogue. The battle took only 9 rounds to conclude, with RisingVirtue using Eviscerate, rather than a minion attack, to claim victory, narrowly evading ZRusheR's Misdirection, which would have spelt defeat for the rogue. The third match saw ZRusheR's handlock narrowly defeat RisingVirtue's rogue, while the fourth match saw RisingVirtue's hunter execute a Starving Buzzard/Timber Wolf/Unleash the Houndsx2 combo for a solid win over ZRusheR. After evenly trading the first four games, the final match saw ZRusheR tenaciously claim the tournament with his druid. After soaking up the hunter's secrets, ZRusheR's 3-health druid used Soul of the Forest to finish off RisingVirtue for a close finale.
Notes[]
- The Open initially hoped to draw 512 competitors, but after gaining more than 700 applicants in the first day, the tournament was expanded to nearly four times that number with around 1800 participants.
- ZRusheR used the Legend card back during the tournament, marking one of the first times a non-default card back had been used in a major tournament. At that time, the Legend card back was the only alternative card back available to players.
- Competition between the final four predominately featured 'handlock' warlocks and Unleash the Hounds combo hunters, as well as some druids, with the handlock by far the most successful of the deck types represented.
References[]
- ↑ Aratil (Blizzard) (2014-04-07). Hearthstone™ Collegiate Open: Player Spotlight. Retrieved on 2014-04-07.