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4 Posts
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24243865/esports-at-blizzcon-2026-blizzard-classic-cup-wow-awc-and-mdi-overwatch-world-cup-and-hearthstone-masters-tour
"From edge-of-your-seat battles to unforgettable wins, esports have always been a part of BlizzCon’s DNA, uniting our community in the thrill of competition as we cheer on our favorite teams and the most skilled players from around the world. At BlizzCon 2026, competition reaches a fever pitch across programs from World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and our newest addition: the Blizzard Classic Cup.
Blizzard Classic Cup
The Blizzard Classic Cup is a cross-title team showdown celebrating the rivalries, personalities, and high-stakes moments that define Blizzard Esports. Across both days of BlizzCon, iconic players will once again face off—this time under the banners of two captains—competing for pride, legacy, and their share of a $100,000 USD total prize pool.
The Blizzard Classic Cup spans four titles:
- Heroes of the Storm
- StarCraft: Remastered
- StarCraft II
- Warcraft III: Reforged
The Captains
Last week, we announced Nick “Tasteless” Plott and Dan “Artosis” Stemkoski as the Classic Cup captains.
For nearly two decades, “Tastosis” have been at the center of Blizzard Esports history. Their chemistry, passion, and connection to our community make them the perfect duo to help bring the Classic Cup to life.
Tasteless and Artosis won’t just be behind the desk: they’ll be leading their own teams into battle. Across four Blizzard titles, the captains will draft their teams, testing their recruits’ preparation, adaptability, and fortitude. More information on that draft to come!
In addition to captaining their teams, “Tastosis” will be stepping in to cast select matches, alongside a fantastic roster of talent that we’ll be sharing in the coming months.
Across both days at BlizzCon, you can expect a curated mix of:
- Legacy Matchups: running back one high-stakes rivalry per title that helped define an esports era.
- Entertainment Matches: showdowns in StarCraft: Remastered, StarCraft II, and Warcraft III: Reforged, featuring some of our favorite personalities in unexpected combinations.
This isn’t a traditional bracket, as there’s no elimination tree. Instead, every match contributes points to each team’s total. The scoreboard is live all weekend and every match shifts the momentum.
Legacy matchups carry the most weight and the biggest stakes. Here’s how points are earned:
Heroes of the Storm: 3 Legacy points
StarCraft: Remastered: 3 Legacy points, 1 Entertainment point
StarCraft II: 3 Legacy points, 1 Entertainment point
WarCraft III: Reforged: 3 Legacy points, 1 Entertainment point
At stake is a prize pool of $100,000 USD total. Each Legacy Match features a $20,000 USD bounty awarded to the competitors in that matchup. At the end of the weekend, the team with the most total points will be crowned Classic Cup Champions, lifting the Classic Cup trophy on stage and earning a $20,000 USD team bonus.
More to Come: The Road to BlizzCon
In the lead-up to BlizzCon, we’ll be sharing more details on the team draft and individual matchups.
The Blizzard Classic Cup is not to be missed at BlizzCon 2026. For those tuning in from home, keep an eye out for how you can earn special in-game viewership rewards!"
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i can't fucking wait to see the SC:R line up
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United States33578 Posts
Honestly, it's hard to suss out the format from just this post... There's somehow a draft, but there's also fixed high-stakes rematches from each game?
Anyway, I wonder what the best possible matches could be for each game that would still be entertaining in present day.
Honestly, SC2 doesn't have an apex rivalry that really stands out above all others—Serral vs Korea and soO vs gold were the closest we ever got. I think I'd go with Clem vs Serral for being a pretty solid rivalry and also having two in-prime players in a popular match-up. However, I think they will end up picking Maru vs Serral (Maru has shown he can actually make it a competitive series lately, but historically it's not much of a rivalry).
Brood War has two obvious apex rivalries to pick from in Boxer vs Yellow and Flash vs Jaedong. Anything else is a clear second choice. However, we've seen in the past that top SOOP streamers can easily turn down the money Blizzard has to offer, so I worry this will be more about who's available/willing to travel than anything else.
As an old-head who stopped watching War3 in the 2000's, I'd want something like Moon vs Sky... ...fans who have kept up for longer, please correct me. No idea what match would balance out historical significance vs having an actually good series in 2026.
For Heroes of the Storm, the logistical hurdles of getting TEN people back for a reunion match feels like it could be really tough. But I suppose it would have to be MVP Black vs Dignitas if everyone is free in September? But off the top of my head, the HotS GOAT Rich is already going to be a scratch because the competitive LoL season will still be ongoing at the time.
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Yeah! they are celebrating the thing that they killed
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On March 19 2026 03:37 Waxangel wrote:
As an old-head who stopped watching War3 in the 2000's, I'd want something like Moon vs Sky... ...fans who have kept up for longer, please correct me. No idea what match would balance out historical significance vs having an actually good series in 2026.
Grubby vs. Moon would be the prime-rivalry, basically Serral vs. Maru: Battle of the GOAT-candidates, West vs. Korea, 4K vs. MYM - all the good stuff. Grubby however would have to do a lot of catchup, considering that he is not a "competitor" anymore, unlike Moon. So it might not be balanced enough.
Grubby vs. Sky is another great rivalry that is not as historically significant as the first one, but is more balanced, as both are retired.
Happy vs. Moon, old vs. new GOAT would be interesting, but has zero "historical relevance" beyond that, because Happy wasn't in the same category as Moon, Grubby etc. in 2005-2010.
A match that could be balanced and that I would pay good money for, but that is very unrealistic, would be Sky vs. Creolophus, like a rematch of the greatest upset in WC3 history.
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I certainly hope its not nostalgia, but rather celebration of what's contemporary, what's hot right now.
Less Boxer, more soma. Less Grubby, more Happy.
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United States33578 Posts
On March 19 2026 07:13 Puosu wrote:
I certainly hope its not nostalgia, but rather celebration of what's contemporary, what's hot right now.
Less Boxer, more soma. Less Grubby, more Happy.
Given the political situation, how realistic is it for Happy to competein a US event? Not sure how severe travel restrictions are currently, not to mention that Blizzard probably doesn't want any PR controversy regardless.
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I can't wait this sounds awesome! $20,000 for a competitor for winning a match? Did I read that correctly?! WOW! Blizzard is really supporting esports. I fully expect to see Serral vs Clem or Serral vs a big name Korean. It's not a traditional world championship with no elimination match, but with the best players and $100,000 prize for team + more it sounds like for pre-selected game defining matchups, can we call this world championship-like? I'm so hyped! Blizzcon has a special aura for me still around it. Big production, the buzz in the arena is awesome. I can not wait! I want to go watch!
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Well this explains why sc2 isn’t in EWC. Blizzard used the $$ to fund this event over EWC. Can hardly blame them since everyone would rather promote their own products over EWC
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Netherlands4519 Posts
Nice, I can't wait to see the SC:Remastered matchups.
Flash vs Jaedong would actually be a top matchup right now, both are in amazing shape.
Soulkey, Snow, Soma, Bisu, Light or Rush would be great picks as well.
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And for this they blocked EWC?
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On March 19 2026 10:46 CicadaSC wrote:
I can't wait this sounds awesome! $20,000 for a competitor for winning a match? Did I read that correctly?! WOW! Blizzard is really supporting esports. I fully expect to see Serral vs Clem or Serral vs a big name Korean. It's not a traditional world championship with no elimination match, but with the best players and $100,000 prize for team + more it sounds like for pre-selected game defining matchups, can we call this world championship-like? I'm so hyped! Blizzcon has a special aura for me still around it. Big production, the buzz in the arena is awesome. I can not wait! I want to go watch!
You can't be serious?
First, it's 100k capped. 4 x 20/ legend game + 20k for winning team.
Second world championship wtf? It's a showmatch. Nothing else. WardiTV or PiG Festival or HSC are 1000 times more deserving of crowning a "world champion" than this BS
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United States1916 Posts
Time to not watch three of the four games and lose interest in SC2 before the end of the first match.
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The "helped define an esports era" statement is very vague.
I'd be more excited to see (as an example) IdrA vs. HuK than anything LotV has to offer. LotV has been incredibly bland in terms of hype. People who weren't around during WoL don't understand how vibrant the scene actually was back then, especially when compared to how flat it is now.
I know, I know, rose-tinted glasses, old man yells at clouds, get off my lawn, whatever...
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Everyone has different opinions, the point is it's a $100,000 tournament they didn't have to do. Can't we be appreciative of that?
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On March 19 2026 19:07 CicadaSC wrote:
Everyone has different opinions, the point is it's a $100,000 tournament they didn't have to do. Can't we be appreciative of that?
I can appreciate that it is better having it than not having it. That's about it. I don't want to be overly critical here but like someone else said, they are celebrating that they succesfully killed these games. Yay Blizz
This is NOT supporting esports, this is NOT a world champion, this is NOT even a real competition
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Legacy matches will be funny in SC2 if they pick big WoL players who have not played much of LotV. The same is true with any player who has not played much in the past couple of years. Weird choice, really. Maybe they do not want to focus too much on the current state of these games. After all, they are classic games for Blizzard.
The point distribution suggests that SC2, BW, and WC3 have 4 Bo1s, while HotS could have a Bo3. Even Bo3s could take too much time for the event when everything needs to be done in a couple of days, with other things going on.
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On March 19 2026 19:07 CicadaSC wrote:
Everyone has different opinions, the point is it's a $100,000 tournament they didn't have to do. Can't we be appreciative of that?
For SC2 it's a $20.000 tournament. I don't care about these other games
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Hot damn, came here to see what negativity you guys managed to spew and you did not disappoint. Never change, TLNET
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For the "Iconic Matchups" they are going to predetermine, who do you guys think it will be? For me the most obvious choice I'd have to say it would have to be Serral vs Maru. Both fought for GOAT contention, Korean vs Foreigner, and the most fan-favorite matchup ZvT. ^^
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Northern Ireland26405 Posts
On March 19 2026 03:37 Waxangel wrote:
Honestly, it's hard to suss out the format from just this post... There's somehow a draft, but there's also fixed high-stakes rematches from each game?
Anyway, I wonder what the best possible matches could be for each game that would still be entertaining in present day.
Honestly, SC2 doesn't have an apex rivalry that really stands out above all others—Serral vs Korea and soO vs gold were the closest we ever got. I think I'd go with Clem vs Serral for being a pretty solid rivalry and also having two in-prime players in a popular match-up. However, I think they will end up picking Maru vs Serral (Maru has shown he can actually make it a competitive series lately, but historically it's not much of a rivalry).
Brood War has two obvious apex rivalries to pick from in Boxer vs Yellow and Flash vs Jaedong. Anything else is a clear second choice. However, we've seen in the past that top SOOP streamers can easily turn down the money Blizzard has to offer, so I worry this will be more about who's available/willing to travel than anything else.
As an old-head who stopped watching War3 in the 2000's, I'd want something like Moon vs Sky... ...fans who have kept up for longer, please correct me. No idea what match would balance out historical significance vs having an actually good series in 2026.
For Heroes of the Storm, the logistical hurdles of getting TEN people back for a reunion match feels like it could be really tough. But I suppose it would have to be MVP Black vs Dignitas if everyone is free in September? But off the top of my head, the HotS GOAT Rich is already going to be a scratch because the competitive LoL season will still be ongoing at the time.
Yeah I’m similarly confused
It feels awkwardly posed with the prize pool and whatnot. It feels what they’re going for is a love letter to various games.
Which is fine but pick a lane
Serious tournament with top players or fun tournament with fan favourites. Either I’m fine with but this seems a weird halfway house
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Northern Ireland26405 Posts
On March 19 2026 18:13 MJG wrote:The "helped define an esports era" statement is very vague. I'd be more excited to see (as an example) IdrA vs. HuK than anything LotV has to offer. LotV has been incredibly bland in terms of hype. People who weren't around during WoL don't understand how vibrant the scene actually was back then, especially when compared to how flat it is now. I know, I know, rose-tinted glasses, old man yells at clouds, get off my lawn, whatever...
Plz no
It was a great rivalry of two people of conflicting personalities, who at the time were in the running for best non-Korean player.
That was the rivalry, some random showmatch now when both haven’t played in forever lacks all of what formed the rivalry in the first place.
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On March 20 2026 06:22 sc2turtlepants wrote:
Hot damn, came here to see what negativity you guys managed to spew and you did not disappoint. Never change, TLNET
lol man, i feel you - but on the other hand - what is this? Whats the format gonna be? How will this be entertaining? I dont know man...
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I don't love this format (to the extent I understand it), but something is better than nothing!
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the more starcraft the better. I thank Blizzard for doing an event
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EPT
