DreamHack Hearthstone Championship 2014: Live Stream, Prize Money, Schedule

DreamHack Winter in Jonkoping, Sweden is the place to be for the eSports community on Thanksgiving weekend. Not only it will be the sight of the Grand Final of the StarCraft II tournament, it will also play host to the 2014 DreamHack Hearthstone Championship.

The massively popular game from the Warcraft series has over 20 million registered users worldwide, per Sarah Pine of Joystiq. It has one of the most diverse communities of any title in existence.

The game was released in March, and its popularity has been growing rapidly. The DreamHack Viagame at DreamHack Summer and the European #RoadtoBlizzConn tournaments were huge successes per the event's official website.

On the strength of those two shows, the third major event surrounding the game will begin on Nov. 27 and extend until Nov. 29.

The best of the best will be in Sweden for this competition. It will feature 32 teams competing for a total of $25,000. The tournament invited 24 of the best players based on their year-long results. The other eight had to qualify in online competitions.

Champions like Petar "Gaara" Stevanovic (DreamHack Bucharest NESCafe 3in1 Hearthstone Champion), Javier "Thalai" Dominguez (DreamHack Valencia Hearthstone Champion) and Dima "RDU" Radu (DreamHack Viagame Hearthstone Champion) are just three of the top-notch players who will be competing for all the marbles in Sweden.

James "Firebat" Kostesich is the highest-earning player in the game's short history, per ESportsEarnings.com. He won BlizzCon 2014 and it netted him $100,000. That automatically makes him one to watch in Sweden. He'll go head-to-head with George "Marzito" Marselos in the first match in Group A.

Here's the events official pairings, per the official website of the event:

Group A

Matches start 6:30 ET November 27th

Archon Firebat vs. Razor’s Edge Marzito
Darkwonyx vs. Dignitas Greensheep
ROOT Xixo vs. IHearthU Powder
Cloud9 StrifeCro vs. Archon Hosty

Group B

Matches start 6:30 ET November 27th

Cloud9 Kolento vs. eEriness Esosek
Cloud9 Ek0p vs. Punchline Maverick
Archon Amaz vs. IHearthU Faramir
MYM Rdu vs. Forsen

Group C

Matches start 6:30 ET November 28th

Team Liquid Savjz vs. Punchline Origin
mYinsanity Mirrrari vs. Lucky Draw Lifecoach
Neirea vs. compLexity Dog
Cloud9 TidesofTime vs. Tempo Storm Reynad

Group D

Matches start 6:30 ET November 28th

Tempo Storm Gaara vs. Cipher
SK Gaming Numberguy vs. Samsung Gaming Thalai
Tempo Storm Hyped vs. Fnatic Kaldi
MYM ThijsNL vs. PlanetKey Lothar

Click here to see the schedule for Nov. 28-29.

How to Watch the Tournament and Prize Money Details

The entire tournament will be streamed on Viagame.com, and it will also be available on mobile applications. Here's the breakdown of the prize money. Only the top-eight finishers will earn cash awards.

• First—$10,000
• Second—$5,000
• Third/Fourth—$2,500
• Fifth-Eighth—$1,250

About the Game

Hearthstone is all about one-on-one matchups. It features turn-based gameplay where the players alternate playing cards from their virtual hand.

They can cast spells, equip weapons and bring in help from CPU-controlled minions that attack their foe to weaken them during battle.

Each player in the tournament has chosen a hero from the history of the Warcraft series which dates back to 1994 when Warcraft: Orcs and Humans was released. That hero represents a species in the series, and each has special powers. 

Winning a match is about preserving your character's health, smartly using power-ups and spells and engaging in battle when you have an advantage. The setup is simple, addictive and to have success requires strategy and execution. 

The Hearthstone and eSports community will be watching intently to see who comes away as the winner during the American holiday weekend.

Follow Brian Mazique aka FranchisePlay, the Sports Video Game Journalist