Nvidia announces Pro/Am Hearthstone Tournament with $25k prize pool

"That's a nice Ysera you've got there. Be a shame if something happened to it…"

"That's a nice Ysera you've got there. Be a shame if something happened to it…"

Nvidia is holding its very own Pro/Am Hearthstone tournament, which will run over an eight-week period from the end of March to the middle of May. There's a total prize pool of $25,000 up for grabs, and the top players will earn qualification points for the 2015 Hearthstone World Championship.

The tournament will be split into two separate divisions, one for pro players and one for amateurs. The Professional Division will see 16 invited players facing off in round-robin play, two matches per week, in a single, global conference that will determine playoff seeding. Players in the Amateur Division will play one match per week in a Swiss-style format across three regional conferences, with the top 16 players advancing to the playoffs as well.

The first place winner will take home $10,000 and 100 World Championship qualification points. Second place will earn $5000 and 50 points, third and fourth will earn $1500 and an indeterminate number of points, fifth to eighth will receive $750 and points, and ninth to 16th will get $500 but no points. On top of that, all players who make it into the playoffs will be given an Nvidia Shield tablet.

Registration for the Nvidia Hearthstone Pro/Am is open now and will remain so until March 19. Tournament play will begin on March 26 and run until May 14, while the global grand finale takes place over May 30-31. Rules, signup links, and other such details may be found at Nvidia's GeForce E-Sports page.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.