Finally! We hoped for it ever since Heartsthone Esports moved from Twitch to YouTube, since the functionality already existed on the other platform, and it’s finally there. Drops are coming to Hearthstone Esports on YouTube. The closest opportunity to get them will be Grandmasters Season 1 (starting this weekend, April 9), but they will also be present for Season 2, Masters Tour events, as well as World Championship.
You will be able to earn up to 6 packs during the course of Grandmasters 2021 Season 1:
- Grandmasters Week 1: 2x Year of the Phoenix Pack
- Grandmasters Weeks 2 – 7: 2x Year of the Phoenix Pack
- Grandmasters Playoffs: 2x Forge din the Barrens Pack
During each of those periods, watch official streams for 2 hours to get your first pack, and 2 more hours (4 in total) to get the second one. Your time is cumulative, which is especially useful during the second period. For example, you might watch it only for an hour each week and you will still get your packs.
But first, in order to be eligible, you need to link your Battle.net account to YouTube account. Since there were no previous incentives to do it for Hearthstone players, I assume that most of you don’t have the accounts connected. Be sure to do it before you start watching Grandmasters for the drops.
Update: As Thorn pointed out in the comments, you have to watch the streams from web browsers or mobile app on your Phone. App on TV or “other media devices” won’t count for the drops.
For more information, the list of official channels on which drops will be active and instruction on connecting your accounts, read the official blog post below:
Drops are back! To celebrate the launch of Grandmasters 2021 Season 1, we’ll be activating YouTube Drops during this weekend’s live broadcasts. All you need to do is create a Blizzard account and link it with your YouTube account, then sit back and collect Year of the Phoenix packs as you watch 48 of the top Hearthstone players from around the world compete over eight weeks.
In addition to opening weekend Drops, you’ll have a chance to receive two Year of the Phoenix packs over the course of Week 2 through Week 7, and then two Forged in the Barrens packs during Playoff weekend, for a total of six drops during the first season of Grandmasters. This isn’t just for Season 1: we’re giving packs away all year, with Drops during Season 2, the next five Masters Tours, and the World Championship!
Earning Grandmasters Season 1 Drops
On one of the eligible YouTube Gaming channels, watch two total hours to receive one pack and two more hours for your second. Time watched is cumulative within each of the three reward blocks, so even if you can’t watch for the full four hours in one sitting your time will still count toward earning the Drops.
- Grandmasters Week 1: Year of the Phoenix (max 2 packs)
- Grandmasters Weeks 2 – 7: Year of the Phoenix (max 2 packs)
- Grandmasters Playoffs: Forged in the Barrens (max 2 packs)
Eligible Channels
- English (Hearthstone)
- English (HearthstoneEsports)
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin
- Portuguese (LATAM)
- Spanish (LATAM)
Connecting Your Accounts
Before you can receive rewards, you’ll need to link your YouTube and Blizzard Battle.net accounts. Here’s how:
- Log in or create an account on YouTube.
- Navigate to Account Sharing under “Connected Apps” in Settings.
- Select “Connect” next to Battle.net
- Follow the simple prompts to finish connecting accounts.
- When connecting accounts, be sure that you’re currently logged into the Blizzard account on which you’d like to receive your Drops.
- Click here for a full set of official rules for Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021 Season 1 YouTube Drops.
Stay tuned for more details on Grandmasters Season 1, and remember to Subscribe to the Hearthstone YouTube channel to receive notifications when each broadcast starts. Good luck, have fun, and we’ll see you in the Tavern!
My YouTube acct got grandfathered in as a “brand” account, which is ineligible to link to 3rd party accounts (and therefore earn drops). YouTube support makes it ridiculously confusing how to switch from brand to “personal.”
Switching to a personal account is actually simple but impossible to find in the Support forums. Click on your profile icon (upper right) > Switch Accounts > More Accounts, then select the email on your Google account. My screen showed the current brand account next to the email account. Done deal, then you can link to Battle.net and start logging screentime.
Will this work the same as twitch? I mean with twitch, you can just ignore the video in the background and still get the drop.
Plus twitch has drop counter of how much longer you need to watch, so it’s helping a lot.
For what it’s worth, I hope YT tournament can be popular now seeing how low the viewer interest in the past. Even if I doubt it myself.
It says “Please note that you cannot participate in the Promotion via the YouTube app on TV or on media devices, you will
not be eligible for rewards The foregoing conditions of entry are the “Initial Conditions”. Please note that viewers
on the YouTube app on TVs or media devices, and viewers on any other platform or channels, will not be eligible to
participate.”. Does this mean we need to watch YouTube via the YouTube website as the only way to get the drops, I can’t use the YouTube apps on my devices (apple, android that sort of thing)?
That’s a good point actually, I think that’s true and you need to watch it through web browser. If you watch it from apps, it won’t count.
Woohoo my comment made Facebook I feel important!
Yes, thanks for pointing it out!
However, a quick update: Section 4.3 of the rules state that MOBILE app should be eligible for drops. It’s just TV and “media device” apps that won’t work. At least that’s some good news 🙂
Indeed thanks for checking this out for us, I assume “media devices” are stuff like apple TV and amazon firesticks
I’m in! Thank you again. I just got my other packs from twitch right now 😀
I hope you’ll remind us when the streams actually happen. 🙂
Yes, definitely, we just don’t know when it starts yet 🙂
Edit: Just to be clear, we do have a DATE for GM 2021 Season 1, it starts this weekend (April 9), we just don’t have exact times yet. We’ll post about it when we get official news.