Home Gaming Hey, Blizzard took note – South Africa is finally getting a Hearthstone Spring Preliminary!

Hey, Blizzard took note – South Africa is finally getting a Hearthstone Spring Preliminary!

2 min read
26

The-Grand-tournament

Every World Championship Blizzard have hosted over recent years has included qualifiers in regions like America, Asia, Europe, and even Australia/New Zealand. Basically, everywhere but Africa.

I’ve always found it rather annoying that we in South Africa in particular get left out. Even though we don’t have the biggest gaming community, we have one, and one filled with talented gamers at that. Besides, how can something be dubbed a World Championship if an entire continent isn’t even given the chance to compete in the first place?

The situation has swung around though it seems. Yesterday, an email found its way into my inbox from a local Hearthstone player, Francois Mouton. He told me how since the very inception of Blizzard’s card game, local tournaments have been taking place with the hope of getting somebody from South Africa qualified for the World Championships. This in itself was a difficult task, especially without official backing from Blizzard.

But it looks like all the hard work by our local Hearthstone community over the past few years has finally paid off. Wei Yue, the Associate Program Manager for Hearthstone – somebody directly employed by Blizzard – recently joined the South African Hearthstone Facebook page. He saw that we were hosting small tavern hero tournaments in attempt to get somebody qualified. Subsequently, he has brought two organisers on board, and essentially invited us into the international scene.

What this means, ladies and gentlemen, is that South Africa has finally been recognised. We are finally getting our very own Hearthstone Spring Preliminary! Here are all the details

We have the absolute pleasure in announcing that for the first time in the history of South African eSports, Blizzard in association with Weekly Level Up and SYOS, will be hosting a Spring Tavern Hero Tournament and Preliminary alongside 30 other European regions. This will be held on the weekend of the 13 – 15 May 2016 in the beautiful city of Cape Town.

If you’re a local Hearthstone player, I urge you to find your way to a local fireside gathering, which serves as a qualifier for the Cape Town preliminary above. There are two happening in Gauteng this weekend – one in Johannesburg, and one in Pretoria. Then, on the 30th of April, there will be events happening in Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth too.

This is a massive opportunity, and one I’m sure our local Hearthstone community are incredibly grateful for. Hell, I’m not even the most competitive player, and I’m over the moon with this news. Thanks Blizzard!

[Thanks to Francois Mouton for the tip]
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Last Updated: April 20, 2016

26 Comments

  1. Nice one Francois!

    Reply

  2. Loftus

    April 20, 2016 at 09:15

    So both Heartstone players in SA are going to compete in this?

    *runs

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      April 20, 2016 at 09:18

      Hey we have a big community here 😛

      Reply

      • Kromas untamed

        April 20, 2016 at 09:19

        All the MTG players who can’t afford booster packs anymore. 🙂

        Reply

      • Loftus

        April 20, 2016 at 09:29

        just teasing you Matt buddy 😛

        Reply

        • hairyknees

          April 20, 2016 at 09:32

          YOU’RE SO MEAN!

          Also, when are you playing Hearthstone so we can ramp that player count from 2 to 3? 😛

          Reply

          • Loftus

            April 20, 2016 at 09:34

            I tried it once, but yelling snap and trying to take all the cards didn’t work….

          • VampyreSquirrel

            April 20, 2016 at 09:38

            HAHAHA! Go fish with your murloc!

          • hairyknees

            April 20, 2016 at 10:19

            LOL xD

          • Ottokie

            April 20, 2016 at 09:47

            I will add you tonight 😛
            Pre ordered the new Wispers of the old gods, so busy theory crafting decks for Standard mode

  3. Fafa

    April 20, 2016 at 09:53

    We actually have quite a big community and I would say we have about ~20 – 30 top level players. You can find the community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hearthstonesouthafrica/

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      April 20, 2016 at 10:00

      I will bookmark this to keep an eye on some of the events.

      But I do not own a Facebook account, so I will just be lurking 😛

      Reply

      • Francois Mouton

        April 20, 2016 at 10:03

        Due to the large hype of the upcoming event, CPT, DBN and PE are hosting another event on the 30th April. I have requested that the organisers of these events come and post links to them 🙂

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          April 20, 2016 at 10:07

          I have seen on the main site last weekend on the 16th a Fireside for “WLU League Hearthstone Tavern Hero Qualifier”. Was this organised by one your members?

          Reply

          • Francois Mouton

            April 20, 2016 at 10:10

            Yeh, this was one of the events organised by the community. At this event Dylan ‘d1b’ Brown took first place (out of 25 participants) and has subsequently qualified for the Tavern Heroes Tournament on the 15th of May in CPT.

            His road to victory can be seen in the brackets here: http://weeklylevelup.challonge.com/WLUTavernHeroQ

          • Ottokie

            April 20, 2016 at 10:13

            Thanks for the info 🙂

            And good luck to you all, I am still to much of a casual to start any competitive play.

        • hairyknees

          April 20, 2016 at 10:18

          Oooooh! Will update the article accordingly 🙂

          Thank you so much for the heads up on this news by the way <3

          Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        April 20, 2016 at 10:03

        Creepy bastard

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          April 20, 2016 at 10:04

          *Now with facecam included!

          Reply

  4. Lara Ayerst

    April 20, 2016 at 10:15

    Durban will be having their second qualifier for the region on the 30 April 2016. For details, please visit the Hearthstone South Africa Facebook

    Reply

  5. PenguinZA

    April 20, 2016 at 11:12

    AND HERE IS THE PE EVENT!!! https://www.facebook.com/events/975265065923527/?active_tab=highlights
    SORRY NOT SORRY FOR CAPS!!!

    Notice us senpais of Hearthstone in PE!

    Reply

    • hairyknees

      April 20, 2016 at 11:21

      Thank you! Will update article accordingly 🙂

      Reply

  6. Niieru

    April 20, 2016 at 13:53

    For those looking for a last chance to qualify for this, here’s the link to the Cape Town event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1569577670007932/

    Reply

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