Battlegrounds Early Access is Live! Pick Your Team in “Battlegrounds Brawl”!

Hearthstone Battleground’s early access just went live. If you’re wondering how to get it, there are currently three ways:

• Be an owner of BlizzCon 2019 ticket (virtual is enough) – if you got one, Battlegrounds early access was one of the rewards!
• Pre-purchase a Descent of Dragons bundles – there are two pre-purchase bundles, one with 60 packs and the other with 100 packs (and Deathwing Hero). Get either (or both) of them to earn early access.
• Tune in to one of your favorite streamers on Twitch! Twitch drops are now active, and you can earn early access by simply watching Hearthstone streamers. But first, you need to connect your Twitch and Battle.net accounts (if you haven’t done it already, you can find instructions in the official blog post below).

Another fun news is that Battleground Brawl event is coming soon! But what it is, exactly?

• First of all, visit the Battlegrounds Brawl page and pick one of the four teams you want to support. You can do it until November 12. Just by doing it you earn one Descent of Dragons card pack!
• When Battlegrounds Open Beta launches November 12, simply play the game. Every time you finish in Top 4, you earn points for your team! If your team will earn 250,000 points in total by November 19, they will earn a guaranteed $25,000 in prizes.
• Then, on November 21, all four teams will battle against each other. There will be an official stream with commentary, but you will also be able to watch the event from perspective of any of the participants through their personal streams. If the team you picked won, you earn additional Descent of Dragons card pack (and of course, the right to brag that you’ve picked the best team)!

Cool, right? You can already pick your team here, but remember that your top 4 finishes for the sake of picked team will only starting counting November 12!

Learn more about Hearthstone Battlegrounds with our guide!

Prepare your minions, coins, and heroic bravado – early access to Hearthstone’s newest game mode, Battlegrounds, is now live! Starting 10 a.m. PT November 5, and continuing until 12 a.m. PT November 12, BlizzCon attendees, BlizzCon Virtual Ticket holders, and players who have pre-purchased a Descent of Dragons bundle can jump right into the fray!

Battlegrounds Brawl:

We’re also celebrating the upcoming launch of Battlegrounds with a special event that starts today – welcome to the Battlegrounds Brawl! Join up with your favorite streamers in a quest for tavern glory while earning Card Packs along the way. The event will conclude on Thursday, November 21 with an epic finale—a $200,000 Battlegrounds tournament live on the Inn-vitational stage! We’re splitting this event into three phases:

Choose Your Team

First things first, you’ll need to pick a team! Our sixteen fearsome competitors are split across four teams: Rust Buckets, Mega Fins, Rabid Rangers, and Doom Bringers. Only one team can get your pledge, though, so choose carefully! Declare your team allegiance by November 12 and you’ll receive a Descent of Dragons Card Pack for participating. Ready to pick a team? Head on over to the Battlegrounds Brawl event page.

Now that you’ve chosen a team, it’s time to join the fight! From November 12 – 19, your wins in Battlegrounds (4^th place or better) will also count towards the total wins of the team you’ve pledged to – if a team reaches 250,000 total wins by the end of this phase, they’ll unlock an additional $25,000 guaranteed prizing! You can follow your team’s progress with daily total win updates from the @PlayHearthstone Twitter.

Additionally, Legendary Quests to play Battlegrounds will be available during this period, rewarding one Card Pack from every Year of the Dragon expansion!

To close out the event, all four teams will gather to compete in our very first Battlegrounds competition! The format will run through ten rounds of play, each with two games happening simultaneously. The broadcast will kick-off at 10 a.m. PT, November 21, on Twitch.tv/PlayHearthstone. You’ll also be able to follow the perspective of any competitor through their personal stream. Mark your calendars and get ready to cheer on your team – if they win, you’ll receive an additional Descent of Dragons Card Pack!

Early Access Twitch Drops

Lastly, from 10 a.m. PT November 5 until 11 p.m. PT November 11, watch any Twitch stream under the Hearthstone category for a chance to receive Battlegrounds Early Access as a Twitch Drop! To be eligible, you’ll need to link your Twitch.tv and Blizzard Battle.net account. Here’s how:

• Log in or create an account on Twitch.tv.
• Navigate to the Settings menu by clicking your account name in the top-right corner of the home screen.
• Navigate to the Connections tab of the Settings menu.
• Find the Battle.net section, then follow the instructions after selecting a region and clicking Connect.
• When connecting accounts, be sure that you’re currently logged into the Blizzard account on which you’d like to receive your rewards.

A note for streamers – be sure to enable Twitch Drops on your channel during this time (it will be disabled by default)!

You can read the official rules for Twitch Drops here.

Pull up a chair and join the fun! Battlegrounds can be accessed in-game through the new Modes section, but before you jump into your first match, head here for a refresher of the basics: Introducing Hearthstone Battlegrounds