So, you’re in the market for a new betting experience and you’ve heard that eSports are the “next big thing”; well, you’re in luck because we’re experts in the field. In fact, as well as being the best source for the latest Hearthstone betting news, we have all the best odds and offers throughout the year and for good reason: eSports is big business.
Although eSports betting is still a relatively small part of the online betting industry, the competitive gaming world is huge. Depending on the sources you read, the eSports market could be worth as much as $1.23 billion by 2019, while viewership for the top events will hit 214 million by the same date.
Because the market is changing and we’re Hearthstone fanatics, you’ll be at the forefront of this betting revolution when you join us. However, to ensure you keep pace and don’t fall behind the pack, you need to know a few basics about Hearthstone betting. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a quick guide to Hearthstone betting that covers everything from the basics and the best players to a few tips on how to get more from your time online.
Hopefully, once you’ve made it to the end of this article, you should be more than ready to explore our Hearthstone betting markets for the best bets!
The Basics of Hearthstone
Hearthstone is a free-to-play online card game. Players must bring their opponent’s life points down to zero to win. Each deck is built around one of nine different classes. Every class has its own signature cards and powers. Like in Magic: The Gathering, deck styles can vary from Aggressive to Midrange to Control. Players battle for the title of world champion at the Hearthstone World Championship.
Even if you don’t really understand the finer details of Hearthstone or how to play like a pro, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that you understand the basics of the game and how to spot a strong player in the same way you would any other sport.
At its most basic level, Hearthstone is a card game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Two players take turns to lay down cards from a pre-selected deck of 30. Each card contains some form of action or special power (a minion, spell or weapon) and the aim of the game is to use your cards in a strategic manner and reduce your opponent’s health to 0.
The most important aspect of any Hearthstone match is card choice. Before the start of a match, the players will need to choose a selection of cards they think will do best against their opponent. Once these choices have been made, the order in which a player lays down these cards becomes crucial. Knowing when to use certain cards and strike at weaknesses is the key to success and takes a combination of logic, timing and planning.
History
Hearthstone is originally a spin-off from the popular Warcraft and World of Warcraft games. Many characters from the games appear in Hearthstone as cards, as well as nine classes from World of Warcraft. Following its release in 2013, new characters from the Warcraft universe have been introduced as cards in various expansions. 2014 saw Hearthstone’s first open World Championship at BlizzCon.
Sizing Up the Heroes and their Moves
Another important thing to take note of in any Hearthstone match is the hero class a player chooses. In total there are nine heroes to choose from and each will have their own special powers. These powers can, in turn, help swing the match in a player’s favor. There are also class-specific cards, so choosing a specific class will grant you access to using those cards to form your deck.
With this in mind, it’s worth knowing the classes on offer and their relative powers. Here they are, together with the names of the default heroes for each class:
- Mage: Jaina Proudmoore – Hero Power = Fireblast, inflicts Deal 1 damage
- Hunter: Rexxar – Hero Power = Steady Shot, inflicts Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero
- Paladin: Uther Lightbringer – Hero Power = Reinforce, which summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit
- Warrior: Garrosh Hellscream – Hero Power = Armor Up, which gains 2 armor points
- Druid: Malfurion Stormrage – Hero Power = Shapeshift, which adds +1 attack and + 1 armor
- Warlock: Gul’dan – Hero Power = Life Tap, allows player to draw a card and take 2 damage
- Shaman: Thrall – Hero Power = Totemic Call, allows hero to summon a random totem
- Priest: Anduin Wrynn – Hero Power = Lesser Heal, will restore 2 health
- Rogue: Valeera Sanguinar – Hero Power = Dagger Mastery, which equips hero with 1/2 dagger
If some of these names sound familiar, it’s because you may have played some World of Warcraft. Blizzard made Hearthstone to be a WoW-based card game, so all the heroes as well as the cards/minions at play come from the MMORPG’s universe. If you don’t know anything about WoW though, don’t worry – no knowledge of the RPG title is required to even play Hearthstone, let alone bet on it.
Turning Hearthstone into a Betting Opportunity
As you can see, Hearthstone is basically a game of skill and logic played out using a set of cards. This dynamic means that Hearthstone tournaments are much like any other eSports competition, although it’s mostly individual players facing each other rather than teams. In short, a collection of players or teams compete in a knockout competition in which the field is gradually whittled down to just one.
This dynamic is what makes it possible to bet on the outcome of a match and the reason you’ll find hundreds of Hearthstone betting options here at Mobile Wins. In fact, when you look through our selection of odds, you’ll typically be able to wager money on the following outcomes:
- Outright tournament winner
- Individual match winner
- In-play/Live match betting
The Best Hearthstone Events and the Most Badass Players
Once you’ve wrapped your head around the mechanics of Hearthstone and how it’s now a competitive eSport, the next thing you need to know before you place a bet is who and what to bet on. Here at Mobile Wins, we aim to cover all the major events with a wide range of bets. In fact, regardless of whether you want to bet in a traditional currency or Bitcoin, you’ll find odds on matches, players and everything else in between for the following tournaments:
Most Bad Ass Hearthstone Players
Hunterace kicked off 2019 as world champion. Het won the trophy in Taipei over Viper.
ThijsNL is a popular Dutch player and streamer. He won the CN vs EU Championship in Shanghai, along with over $232,000.
Taiwanese player Tom60229 won in January 2018 the World Championship and took home $250,000.
Kripparrian is the most popular Hearthstone streamer on Twitch. He hasn’t played the game competitively since its release, and instead is known for his funny commentary and arena games.
Orange is one of the most successful players in Hearthstone history, with a total of 7 major first places. He won the Titanar Elite Invitational this year but unfortunately failed to reach other finals.
Other top earning players (because next to trophy’s there is simply money to be earned).
- Artem “DrHippi” Kravets
- Ilmook “handsomeguy” Kang
- William “Amnesiac” Barton
- Dima “Rdu” Radu
- Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov
- BunnyHopper
All earning between the $300.000 – $500.000 playing this ‘simple’ card game.
Hearthstone signature decks
What are the top tier decks that famous players prefer to play? There are a few Hearthstone strategies to consider picking up when you want to climb the ladder:
Priest – Amaz
The original Priest was one of the worst classes.. until Amaz revolutionized the standard Priest deck. His Priest prowess started his rise to fame and top finishes.
Miracle Rogue – Kolento
Kolento invented and popularised the original Miracle Rogue deck. This deck revolves around drawing cards with Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Miracle Rogue has seen many variations and is still one of the most popular decks in the game.
Zoolock – Reynad
One of the first strong decks created in Hearthstone was Zoolock by Reynad. The Warlock player aims to flood the board with cheap minions to overwhelm the opponent. Zoolock is still around as a powerful deck type.
Freeze Mage – ThijsNL
Freeze Mage has been one of the most popular and strongest decks since Hearthstone’s beta. The most skilled Freeze Mage player ever is ThijsNL. He heavily relied on the deck in his run to a top 4 World Championship finish.
Big Druid – Ostkaka
Big Druid was originally a ‘fun deck’. The deck revolves around quickly ramping up and summoning the most powerful minions in the game. Ostkaka was the first to have real tournament success with Big Druid. The deck became even stronger with expansions and is now a more common sight.
Top 5 most famous teams of 2019
SK Telecom T1 consists of Xixo, Hoej and Surrender. Hoej and Surrender managed to win the Spring and Summer Championships in 2017, two of the biggest Hearthstone tournaments of the year. Xixo is a veteran who got third place at DreamHack Summer 2017.
Cloud9 featured some of the best and most popular players in the world, including Kolento, TidesofTime, Firebat and Strifecro. Cloud9’s results this year have been less impressive. Firebat and Strifecro also left the team last year.
Tempo Storm mostly consists of streaming personalities who also dabble in professional eSports. Reynad, Eloise and Trump are well-known streamers, while Gaara is the most professional player. Tempo Storm might be the best marketed team in Hearthstone, but don’t expect many championships.
G2 is stacked with top players: Rdu, Neirea, ThijsNL, Lothar and until recently Lifecoach. G2 had a great 2016 and 2018. The team is still one of the strongest in the world.
Best Hearthstone teams of all time
Team Liquid entered Hearthstone by signing three real tournament threats: Savjz, Amaz and Neirea. These players were some of the most expensive in the scene. Amaz and Savjz scored a number of first and second place finishes.
Na’Vi consisted of the three current Planet Odd players Xixo, Hoej and Surrender, plus Ostkaka. Ostkaka, Xixo and Hoej scored ten top four finishes in 2015 and 2016, including four first places. This made Na’Vi arguably the best performing team in the world.
BlizzCon runner-up Tiddler Celestial created Team Celestial in 2015. Its roster is incredibly large with over 40 players. Top Chinese players like JasonZhou, Breath, Zoro and SilentStorm joined the team and achieved many top 2 finishes.
Created by Amaz and Firebat as a player-run team. Team Archon featured top players Zalae, Orange, Amnesiac, Xixo, Amaz and Firebat. The team had a great 2015 but gradually more and more players left for better paying teams. 2016 saw its last top players leave.
Best Hearthstone Betting Events
- Hearthstone Championship Tour 2024– Comprised of Winter, Spring and Summer Championships, this season-long tournament features the top 16 Hearthstone players in the world and ends with the World Championship in January where the top four ranked players compete for the lion’s share of $1 million.
- The Hearthstone Global Games 2024– Starting in April, this is a team event with $300,000 in prize money featuring 48 teams from around the world.
- Regional and Cup Competitions – In addition to the major events, there will also be regional competitions as well as cup matches sponsored by various companies. As long as these tournaments comply with Global Games’ guidelines, players can earn ranking points in these events and, potentially, earn a spot in the Championship Tour.
Hearthstone has a Winter, Spring and Summer Championship leading up to the World Championship at BlizzCon. The top 16 players with the most points qualify. The world champion at BlizzCon earns 250.000 dollar. Other notable tournament series are DreamHack, Hearthstone Global Games and WESG.
A Winter, Spring and Summer Championship, leading up to the World Championship at BlizzCon. This is the most prestigious Hearthstone league with the biggest prize pools. Players earns points throughout the year to qualify for the four Championships.
The famous Swedish tournament series DreamHack hosts Hearthstone at its events. DreamHack has been organising live tournaments since 1994 and might be the oldest tournament series in the world.
Countries play each other in the Global Games, a gigantic 5 month long online tournament. Four players represent each country. Each player plays one game per best of 5 match, plus one ace player for a fifth game.
The premier Chinese series, based in Shanghai. Gold Series features the best Chinese players in Hearthstone. JasonZhou won two Gold Series in the past.
The World Electronic Sport Games is yearly Olympics-like tournament featuring many games. Each country qualifies one player to represent them. Staz won its first edition in 2017.
StarLadder and ImbaTV work together since 2016 to organise the StarLadder i-League. The tournaments feature the best players around the world. StarLadder is also known for its Dota 2 and CS:GO leagues.
World Cyber Arena features the biggest prize pools outside of the World Championship. This ambitious tournament series features 9 eSports. Dota 2 has the biggest prize pool.
A relaxed tournament focused on having fun and connecting pro players and fans in a friendly environment. Orange won Seatstory Cup twice.
A Quick Tip on Hearthstone Betting in 2024
Before you rush off in search of our best bets, here’s a little tip for you to consider: don’t forget that each player in a tournament will have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Remembering this fact will naturally affect the players you bet on. For example, a certain player might be able to perform better against a certain type of opponent due to their contrasting styles. Now, unlike poker where the cards are random, Hearthstone players have a certain amount of control over their deck.
In this sense, one of the most critical stages of a match is when players choose their cards. Players that can do this effectively have a much greater chance of winning, so in this sense it’s good to know if two people have a history of competing against each other. If they have, it’s likely they will know the typical card choices the other likes to make. When this is true, the outcome of the match is, therefore, more likely to depend on the moves each player makes.
If you can use this knowledge in conjunction with our ever changing collection of odds and offers, you should be able to turn a profit in the Hearthstone betting world. Although events can be just as unpredictable as any other sport, a little bit of thought can certainly help improve your results.
Bets
- Match winner. Predict the winner of the match series out of the two teams or players.
Learn even more about Heartstone betting:
So, if you’re just about ready to start betting on Hearthstone, make sure you create your first account with us today and start betting on the most exciting fantasy card game in the world.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Esports Betting
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How are esports tournaments organized?
Esports tournaments are typically organized by esports organizations, game publishers, or event organizers. They can be held online or in-person, featuring players and teams from around the world.
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What are some popular esports games?
Some popular esports games include League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Fortnite, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Valorant.
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What is the role of a coach in an esports team?
The coach of an esports team provides strategic guidance, analyzes gameplay, conducts team practice sessions, and helps players improve their skills to perform at their best during tournaments.
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What are LAN events in esports?
LAN events (Local Area Network) are esports tournaments where players and teams gather in a physical location to compete face-to-face, often in front of a live audience.
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What is the biggest esports tournament?
The biggest esports tournament depends on the game and region, but some of the largest and most prestigious events include The International (Dota 2), League of Legends World Championship, and the Intel Extreme Masters (CS:GO).
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