2015 Hearthstone World Championship build up begins

Blizzard has outlined how players will be able to qualify for the 2015 Hearthstone World Championship.

Widely expected to take place at Blizzcon in the autumn, entry will this year be decided by a qualification points system. Four players from each region (Europe, The Americas, China and Asia-Pacific) will now qualify for the finals.

Note that Australia and New Zealand will this year be included in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 16 finalists will be selected from the regional qualifiers and regional championships.

The overall winner will scoop a $100,00 reward, with the runner-up receiving $50,000. Third and fourth will get $15k, fifth through eighth $7.5k each and ninth through 16th $5k each.

As of this month all Hearthstone players will be eligible to collect qualifying points from ranked play, tournaments and Blizzard-sanctioned Fireside Gatherings tournaments. Points are awarded based on results and performance. After the 23 players with the highest points total have been selected for regional qualifiers, all those who achieved a minimum of two points by the end of July will be eligible for their regional Last Call Tournament, which feeds into their corresponding Regional Qualifiers.