Blizzard raises stakes on Hearthstone with $1.9m prize pool

Blizzard today announced their plans for Hearthstone eSports in 2016, including an inflated prize pool of $1.9m.

The World Championship tour of Blizzard’s eSports card game will culminate next year in a $1m global final at BlizzCon 2016.

Prior to that final stage, three seasons of $100,000 championships will be held in each of the three competitive regions, Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, bringing the total to $900,000 in the year.

The increase is four-fold compared to this year’s $250,000 BlizzCon prizes, the majority of which was awarded to Swedish Na’Vi player Sebastian "Ostkaka" Engwall after taking first place.

In addition to the inflated prize pools, changes also mean there will be no byes for invited players at major tournaments throughout the season, along with more live events and better points allocation for players.

The play mode of tournaments, Conquest, is also set to receive a shake up as the three-deck blind choice is replaced by a four-deck pick and ban style system, which should ensure fairer matches.

The 2016 season begins this weekend at DreamHack Winter in Jnkping, Sweden.