Hearthstone tournament ends in controversy, as winner is accused of cheating

The Dreamhack Summer Hearthstone Championship final took place last night, proving (temporarily) who is the best at internet wizard cards. The tournament was ultimately won by Radu "Rdu" Dima, who walked away with $10,000—to date, the largest prize in professional Hearthstone. But the event wasn't without controversy. During the game, Rdu was informed of the contents of his opponent's hand by someone on his friend list. The moment was captured on the final's livestream, prompting accusations of cheating.

After the event, and amid theories and speculation over how intentional these messages were, various pro-gamers came out in support of Rdu. His opponent, Amaz, posted a video in which he states that, in his opinion, Rdu was "definitely not cheating".

In addition, fellow pro Artosis also lent his support to Rdu. "This was greatly discussed amongst all of the top pros, and not one thinks he cheated," Artosis wrote on Facebook . "The game was already over. The information had no chance of helping RDU, because he was definitely going to win no matter what at that point. RDU looked very upset when this happened, and we even saw him call over an admin immediately after the game."

But while Rdu's victory isn't in doubt, there have been calls for Blizzard to better support e-sports games. Specifically, there have been renewed requests for a tournament mode that would disable Battle.net messaging, ensuring players could face-off without potential interference. At this point in Hearthstone's life-cycle, it would seem an essential addition. While Blizzard perhaps didn't anticipate the game's pro-scene, the studio is more than aware of the life an e-sports community can bring to a game.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.