Hearthstone 2021 World Championship Happening This Saturday

By Jason Nieva @jnievaplayerone Published 12/15/21 EST

The Hearthstone 2021 World Championship is almost here. On December 18, the world’s top eight Hearthstone players will go head-to-head in the latest Fractured in Alterac Valley expansion. The one standing on top claims the title of World Champion and brings home $200,000.

Here’s a rundown of the eight competitors:

Kyle “McbanterFace” Spigelman (US)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 2
  - Hand–Reading: 4
  - Class Variation: 3
  - Flexibility: 4
  - Meta Knowledge: 5
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Ironforge Top 16
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 2 Americas Champion
David Neila “Frenetic” Quiñones (Spain)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 5
  - Hand–Reading: 3
  - Class Variation: 3
  - Flexibility: 4
  - Meta Knowledge: 4
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Montreal Champion
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 1 Europe Champion
Sato “Glory” Kenta (Japan)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 3
  - Hand–Reading: 4
  - Class Variation: 4
  - Flexibility: 3
  - Meta Knowledge: 5
- At a Glance
  - 2020 World Champion
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 2 Asia–Pacific Champion
Facundo “Nalguida” Pruzzo (Argentina)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 3
  - Hand–Reading: 4
  - Class Variation: 5
  - Flexibility: 5
  - Meta Knowledge: 4
- At a Glance
  - Top 4 finish at 2015 IEM Katowice
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 1 Americas Champion
Gabriel “Gaby” Jeanne (France)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 5
  - Hand–Reading: 5
  - Class Variation: 4
  - Flexibility: 3
  - Meta Knowledge: 5
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Orgrimmar Champion
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 2 Europe Champion
Wataru “Posesi” Ishibashi (Japan)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 4
  - Hand–Reading: 3
  - Class Variation: 4
  - Flexibility: 5
  - Meta Knowledge: 3
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Orgrimmar Champion
  - 2021 Grandmasters Season 2 Europe Champion
Huang Dehui “Xiaobai” Dehui (China)
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 4
  - Hand–Reading: 3
  - Class Variation: 3
  - Flexibility: 3
  - Meta Knowledge: 3
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Ironforge Champion
Zhu “Tianming” Xinyu
- Stats (out of five stars)
  - Speed of Play: 4
  - Hand–Reading: 4
  - Class Variation: 4
  - Flexibility: 4
  - Meta Knowledge: 3
- At a Glance
  - Masters Tour Undercity Top 4
  - Masters Tour Orgrimmar Top 8

Tournament Format

The tournament is divided into two phases. The first is the Group Stage where the players are placed in two groups of four players each. It’s a Dual Tournament with all matches being in Bo5. The top two players of each group move to the Playoffs. The Playoffs follow a single-elimination format with all matches in Bo5.

The groupings are: