The tournament is to promote fair legislation and regulation for esports athletes.
A collaboration between the Video Game Votes Network (VGVN) and One Nation of Gamers (ONOG) – the latter responsible for the hugely successful ONOG Hearthstone Circuit in North America – is putting up a $15,000 prize pool to promote better rights for progamers. The press release from VGVN reads:’
“In the eyes of our government, not all games are created equal. Right now, many esports athletes are being denied visas because their game is not considered legitimate. The lack of equality across esports means that professional gamers miss out on major tournaments, diluting their competitiveness and denying gamers the opportunity to watch top athletes compete. What’s more, the reasoning behind these denials often comes down to a simple lack of education and understanding about esports.”
The promotion of the campaign titled “Start Democracy” will see 32 top Hearthstone players compete over the weekend in a single elimination tournament. 30 of the players will be directly invited, with the remaining two spots being given out through an open bracket qualifier, for which registrations are already open. The list of invites includes:
 Firebat | Zalae | Trump | Chakki |
| Phonetap | Frozen | Shoop | Dog |
| Dart | Duhcodda | TerrenceM |  Xixo |
 Hoej |  Kolento |  Ostkaka |  Eloise |
| Sjow | Vlps | StrifeCro | Astrogation |
| SuperJJ | Orange | Th3Rat | Amnesiac |
| Rayc | Muzzy | Nostam | Leadpaint |
Starting at 22:00 CEST on Friday, September 23, and 23:00 CEST on Saturday and Sunday, the Start Democracy Invitational will avoid an overlap with the other major event this weekend, the HCT EU Summer Championships where the third European representative at Blizzcon World Championship will be decided.
