Get ready to step Into the Emerald Dream! Blizzard announced that both Theorycrafting streams and the pre-release Tavern Brawl will return for the upcoming expansion. Furthermore, Twitch Drops will be enabled for the streams, allowing you to get up to 2 packs from Into the Emerald Dream. Finally, Community Days allow you to get up to 10 packs just by watching Hearthstone Streams, and E-sports are returning in March.

For the Theorycrafting Streams, players will need to have at least 10 cards from the new expansion in their deck. Here's the stream schedule for each region:

  • NA/LATAM/EMEA players will play on March 13, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (PDT)
  • APAC players will play on March 14, 2:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. (PDT)

For the pre-release brawl, players will need to pay to participate. The first entry is free, but after that you'll need to pay 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones to participate. You'll play until you have 6 wins or 3 losses and win rewards according to your performance. Here's a breakdown, courtesy of Blizzard:

The card pool will be a lot more limited compared to the last time we saw this brawl. You'll have access to Into the Emerald Dream, The Great Dark Beyond (excluding the mini-set), the Core Set, and the Event Set (cards that were given for free last year). The brawl will take place between March 18th and 22nd.

Community Days will give you the opportunity to get more packs just by watching Hearthstone. Watch any participating stream for 2 hours per drop (so 6 hours total) and you'll get the following:

  • 1st Drop: 3 Year of the Pegasus Packs
  • 2nd Drop: 3 The Great Dark Beyond Packs
  • 3rd Drop: 4 Into the Emerald Dream Packs

Finally, esports qualifiers are happening between March 21st and 23rd. Check out our dedicated article or Blizzard's blog post for more information.

Quote From Blizzard

The Year of the Raptor fast approaches as we enter the final days before the launch of Into the Emerald Dream. Brew up some decks, watch your favorite creators, check out upcoming balance changes, and join in the fun yourself in the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl; we’re planning quite the slumber party!

Theorycrafting Streams with Drops (March 13-14)

Join your favorite content creators as they take their first steps Into the Emerald Dream and theorycraft the new expansion. Featured players will be streaming their participation on their own personal streams, so make sure you’re following your favorite creators when they go live!

  • NA/LATAM/EMEA players will play on March 13, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (PDT)
  • APAC players will play on March 14, 2:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. (PDT)

All participants need to include at least 10 Into the Emerald Dream cards in their decks (that can be 10 individual cards, 5 duplicates, or anything in between).

It’s a recurring dream! Your favorite casters will be returning for their Theorycasting stream on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. Join them as they watch our theorycrafters dream up their creations, casting over games across participating players.

  • Sottle, Lorinda, Edelweiss, and PocketTrain will be Theorycasting on March 14, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PDT)

Twitch Drops will be enabled category-wide from March 13, 9:00 a.m. to March 14, 9:00 a.m. (PDT), so you can watch any Hearthstone stream you’d like to earn up to 2 Into the Emerald Dream packs (make sure you link your Twitch and Battle.net accounts so that your viewing time counts towards the drops). On top of that, participating streams will have Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes to give away to their audiences during the event!

Pre-Release Tavern Brawl Returns (March 18-25)

Starting with Patch 32.0, slip Into the Emerald Dream early in the returning Pre-Release Tavern Brawl. Open your Into the Emerald Dream packs early, build a deck, compete in a mini-competition, and earn prizes from the new expansion!

All players will get one entry into the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl for free. After that, each entry will cost 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. On each run, lock in a deck and play until you get either 6 wins or 3 losses and earn more new cards based on how well you do!

In this second iteration of the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl, we are adjusting the eligible card pool to be the Core Set (pre-rotation), the Event Set (pre-rotation), The Great Dark Beyond (without the Heroes of StarCraft Mini-Set), and Into the Emerald Dream.

Dev Comment: This card pool was selected after feedback from the first Pre-Release Tavern Brawl told us you wanted to explore the new cards more and see less of the older cards. At the same time, we want to make sure that you have enough eligible cards to build complete decks—even if you didn’t buy any Pre-Purchase Bundles—so we didn’t want to fully remove all non-Emerald Dream cards from the event, either. We excluded the Heroes of StarCraft Mini-Set because its cards tend to be used together in bunches. We used the pre-rotation versions of the Core Set and Event Set because it avoided confusion and technical issues stemming from two versions of those sets being live at once. In our testing, this felt like a good balance of those competing interests, but we’ll keep listening to feedback and iterating on this event until we find what works best, so let us know what you think!

Community Days and More Drops (March 18-22)

Community Days return with free packs you can use in the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl! From March 18, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) to March 22, 10:00 a.m. (PDT), you can get up to 10 packs just for watching any Hearthstone stream (2 hours per drop)!

  • 1st Drop: 3 Year of the Pegasus Packs
  • 2nd Drop: 3 The Great Dark Beyond Packs
  • 3rd Drop: 4 Into the Emerald Dream Packs

Tune in to your favorite streamers or host your own slumber party in this category-wide celebration of the Hearthstone universe!

The First Esports Open Qualifiers (March 21-23)

Hearthstone esports is already underway! From March 21-23, you can participate in the year’s first Open Qualifier events. For some players, this could be the first step to the World Championship! Sign-ups are now open:

  • Americas Region: March 23, 9:00 a.m. (PDT)
  • EMEA Region: March 22, 5:00 a.m. (PDT); March 22, 1:00 p.m. (CET)
  • APAC Region: March 21, 5:00 p.m. (PDT); March 22, 9:00 a.m. (KST)

The Open Qualifiers will use the Standard format at the time of the event (meaning after the Patch 32.0 changes, but prior to the new Into the Emerald Dream cards and rotation). See all rules and program details in our dedicated esports blog.

Are you excited for the Theorycraft streams? What are you planning to play at the pre-release Brawl? Let us know in the comments below!