The Road to Blizzcon is becoming more and more narrow, and only eight players remained as the European Qualifiers moved in to the Globe Arena in Stockholm.
But when the players took the stage one thing became obvious: They would be able to see eachothers decks with just a quick glance at the huge screen right next to them, and the arrangers had to improvise and assign ”guards” blocking the players’ view.
– It was an emergency solution, says DreamHack projekt lead Mike van Driel.

When the players gathered for the final day of the European World Championship Qualifiers, they noticed that they would be sitting mid stage right next to the huge screens displaying the whole board. A quick glance would reveal what the opponents had in store for them, and when this dawned on the production team, they had to come up with a quick fix and assigned guards on stage to prevent the players from peeking.
– It was sort of an emergency solution. But if we would have put up some kind of screen, the audience would not be able to see the plays on the jumbotron.

”Their reputation would be demolished”

Other possible solutions were discussed, but the choice fell on the ”guards”. One other possibility was to put the players inside similar boxes as the use in Starcraft 2.
– But then someone in attendance could use hand signals to warn their player of cards the opponent hold. We have a big problem in esports in regards to those kinds of stuff, he says and continues:
– If any player here would be caught cheating, and I find that extremely unlikely, they wouldn’t not just be disqualified from this tournament – their reputation in Hearthstone would be demolished.

The qualifiers are on-going and can be viewed HERE.