Team Archon's founder and IEM Shenzhen champion Jason "Amaz" Chan will put competitive Hearthstone aside just for three days as he takes the role of a tournament organizer. The inaugural The Pinnacle tournament will have eight players vying for serious cast right after Christmas.
Scheduled for Deceember 26-28, The Pinnacle has invited renowned Hearthstone names such as Rdu, Savjz, Dtwo, Hyped, TidesofTime and world champion Firebat. Those will be joined by two players coming from the qualifiers. Unlike other premilimaries which are generally open to everyone, however, the ones for The Pinnacle will have a strict entry requirements.
Not only are players required to have a legend rank, but they must've placed top 16 in some of the ladder seasons or have played in a grand final in a "relevant Hearthstone tournament". 32 players will be selected out of all applicants and the qualifiers will then be given start.
The main event also has some format twists. The group stages are in dual tournament format, but three players instead of just two will advance to the playoffs - the 2-0's will get seeded directly in the semi finals while the players with 1-1 score will start their run in the Ro6. Additionally, Amaz is introducing the so called "coup" deck ban system. Once per series, a player can use a coup to ban an enemy deck after seeing the match-up. "For example, if you are bringing a Mage and your opponent uses a Hunter in Game 1, you could use a coup to eliminate their deck from the series and force them to change to another deck to face your Mage," read the manual.
Amaz and StrifeCro will be providing the commentary for all three days.
The Pinnacle invites:
Rdu
Savjz
Dtwo
Firebat
Hyped
TidesofTime
