Celestial Invitational Survival Guide
Celestial Invitational - 2016 NSL Hearthstone Masters
General Information
- Organizer: Celestial, NeoTV(Neo Star League), DouyuTV
Production: NeoTV (the company that produces Gold Series and China Championships)
Broadcast Partner: Twitch, Tempo Storm
Location for Chinese players (Group Stage): MTR City Plaza, Shanghai
Location (Playoffs): TBA
Prize Pool: $60,000 USD
Start Date: 2016-10-18
End Date: 2016-12-??
Number of Players: 12
Prize Distribution
Group Stage
- $30,000 USD for Group Stage.
Winner of each match takes $1,000 USD.
Playoffs
- $30,000 USD for Playoffs.
Format
General rules
- Each match will be Best of 17, using decks from each class.
Group Stage (Phase One)
- Two 6-man groups: Group A, Group B
- Round Robin.
- Each player plays 5 matches in Group Stage.
- Top 4 advance.
The ranking in each group is determined as follows:
- a. Match win-lose difference.
- b. Game win-lose difference.
- c. Number of total Game-wins.
- d. If two players are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, the winner in the group match between the two players concerned is ranked higher.
- e. Tie-breaker match.
Game mode and match format will change after each week.
- Week 1: Last Hero Standing + Standard
- Week 2: Last Hero Standing + Wild (GvG-set banned)
- Week 3: Last Hero Standing + Wild (Naxx-set banned)
- Week 4: Last Hero Standing + Wild
- Week 5: Conquest + Standard
Playoffs (Phase Two)
TBA
Participants
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| Breath | Dog |
| Eloise | JasonZhou |
| Lifecoach | Kolento |
| Rdu | Lovelychook |
| Xixo | Reynad |
| Zhangbo | Thijs |
Quick primer on the Chinese players:
Breath
Won China's Spring Championship, qualifying him for Blizzcon 2016. Won MVP of Hearthstone Team Story Season 1 (China's version of Archon Team League). Plays for Team Celestial.
JasonZhou
Won China's Summer Championship, qualifying him for Blizzcon 2016. Competed in the Americas Winter Preliminaries before moving back to China. Plays for team eStar.
Zhangbo
Won the Gold Series Grand Finals (the equivalent of if all the Dreamhack winners + invited players came together for a Super Dreamhack) in January 2016. Finished 3rd at the Spring Championship and 2nd at the Summer Championship (losing to JasonZhou 3-4. Literally one game from Blizzcon). Plays for team Tongfu.
Lovelychook
Won the 2016 EU vs CN Championship, defeating Naiman, Orange, Breath, SuperJJ, and Kolento along the way. Also won the 2014 Gold Series Grand Finals (in January 2015). Currently teamless.
English Casters
Broadcast (Group Stage)
- English stream: Tempo Storm
- Chinese stream: DouyuTV
- One match scheduled for each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Starts at 19:00 China Standard Time, 13:00 CEST(12:00 CET), 4:00 PDT(3:00 PST). - Two matches scheduled for each Saturday.
Starts at 16:00 China Standard Time, 10:00 CEST(9:00 CET), 1:00 PDT(0:00 PST). - YouTube Playlist (Some of the videos are blocked in some countries because of the music during the breaks. The casters are also doing the production on the English side, so it's a bit of a hassle to edit out, plus I wanted to put the videos up ASAP)
Dates (Group Stage)
Week 1: October 18-22
- Tuesday: Breath vs. Xixo Xixo def. Breath 9-8
- Wednesday: Reynad vs. Thijs Thijs def. Reynad 9-3
- Thursday: Lifecoach vs. Zhangbo Zhangbo def. Lifecoach 9-4
- Friday: Dog vs. Jasonzhou JasonZhou def. Dog 9-5. 0 Shaman wins!
- Saturday: Eloise vs. Rdu Rdu def. Eloise 9-4, Kolento vs. Lovelychook Kolento def. Lovelychook 9-5
Week 2: November 8-12
- Tuesday: Xixo vs. Zhangbo
- Wednesday: Breath vs. Rdu
- Thursday: Eloise vs. Lifecoach
- Friday: Dog vs. Kolento
- Saturday: Lovelychook vs. Reynad, Jasonzhou vs. Thijs
Week 3: November 15-19
- Tuesday: Lovelychook vs. Thijs
- Wednesday: Eloise vs. Xixo
- Thursday: Breath vs. Zhangbo
- Friday: Lifecoach vs. Rdu
- Saturday: Dog vs. Reynad, Jasonzhou vs. Kolento
Week 4: November 22-26
- Tuesday: Breath vs. Lifecoach
- Wednesday: Eloise vs. Zhangbo
- Thursday: Rdu vs. Xixo
- Friday: Jasonzhou vs. Lovelychook
- Saturday: Kolento vs. Reynad, Dog vs. Thijs
Week 5: November 29 - December 3
- Tuesday: Lifecoach vs. Xixo
- Wednesday: Breath vs. Eloise
- Thursday: Rdu vs. Zhangbo
- Friday: Dog vs. Lovelychook
- Saturday: Jasonzhou vs. Reynad, Kolento vs. Thijs
Standings
| Group A | W-L | Games +/- | Group B | W-L | Games +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XIXO | 1-0 | +1 | Thijs | 1-0 | +6 |
| Zhangbo | 1-0 | +5 | Lovelychook | 0-1 | - 4 |
| Eloise | 0-1 | - 5 | Kolento | 1-0 | +4 |
| Lifecoach | 0-1 | - 5 | JasonZhou | 1-0 | +4 |
| Rdu | 1-0 | +5 | Dog | 0-1 | - 4 |
| Breath | 0-1 | - 1 | Reynad | 0-1 | - 6 |
edit: Added information on the Chinese players, added results, and added standings
Posted Oct 19, 2016, 9:55 AM UTC · edited