Depending on which areas of the Hearthstone-niverse you find yourself wandering in, chances are you've seen some pretty harsh criticisms of the way Blizzard has structured their Hearthstone [Free] esports over the years. Pro players often complained about the uncertainty of what it took to make it into different playoff events, rewards were really top-heavy, and a bunch of other super valid issues. When I've asked Blizzard about these things in the past, the answer is always some variation of, "Just wait to see what we announce for next year." Well, that announcement was here, and once again Hearthstone esports has been drastically shifted around, seemingly for the better. There's an entire visual guide to dig through, but here's the highlights: Aside from shifting the Hearthstone year into three distinct seasons, they're also introducing the "Hearthstone Masters" program, which sounds like taking a stab at the way Wizards handles pro Magic players. Basically, you have a rolling total of the points you earn over the previous three seasons and there's three tiers of point targets which at the bottom include invites to monthly online tournaments with cash prizes and at the top includes appearance fees, invites to seasonal playoffs, and more. The goal seems to be to reward consistent play, which is a great direction to move towards.

I think what will likely have the largest impact on the overall competitive scene is drastically shifting the playoffs prize ...