The Hearthstone Championship Tour: Asia-Pacific Winter Playoffs
The Hearthstone Championship Tour Winter Playoffs returns for the final time this weekend for the Asia-Pacific region! On February 24 and 25, the top 8 Tavern Heroes will join 64 of the best-ranked Hearthstone players from that region to try and secure one of four spots moving on to the Bahamas for the Winter Championship.
In case you missed it, we have the results and decklists for the European Playoffs and Americas Playoffs here.
The Championship Tour 2017
The format for the Hearthstone Championship Tour has changed from the previous year. Instead of regional championships, there are now three global championships featuring players from all regions.
The first, Winter Championship will be held in the Bahamas starting March 23rd. There, the top four players from each region will fight for a portion of the $250,000 prize pool as well as qualification for the World Championship in January 2018.
Season Playoffs
The Winter, Spring, and Summer Playoffs take place toward the end of their respective seasons and determine who moves on to the Season Championships.
Season Championship
Sixteen players comprised of the top four players from each region will face off in the Season Championship to compete for a portion of a $250,000 prize pool and a spot in the Hearthstone World Championship.
World Championship
The Hearthstone World Championship will take place in January 2018. In this final showdown, the top 4 winners from each of the Seasonal Championships as well as the top overall Hearthstone Competitive Point earners from each region will compete for a piece of the $1 million prize pool and the fourth title of Hearthstone World Champion.
Casters
A familiar line-up of casters
Frodan
Brian Kibler
TJ Sanders
Sottle
Raven
Thats Admirable
Lothar
CoraNotable Players
Among the participants that have secured enough points to participate in the playoffs are a lot of well-known players from the region. For the full list of players please see the APAC HCT Standings, where the top 64 players are sure of qualification.
ahqRoger 
NaviOOT 
Yulsic 
Where To Watch
Starting Friday, February 24th at 6pm PST the 7-round swiss brackets will be streamed live on the official PlayHearthstone Twitch channel in English. Followed by the Top 8 the next day, Saturday February 25th at 7pm PST.
Attend in Person!
Apart from watching online, it is also possible to attend the playoffs in person at a location near you. All players are required to play from one of the official locations and they are all open to the public. To see if there is one near you please see the official website. Attending an official Blizzard e-sports event like this will award you with the Power Core card back!
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Posted Feb 23, 2017 (Gadgetzan)It is really awesome of Blizzard to keep their website updated with all the relevant information like where the venues are located. Sigh.
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)NaviOOT looks so lonely in that section
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)One day before the actual Winter Playoffs start there will be a Tavern Hero tournament from which the top 8 players will advance to Playoffs. Both Europe and Americas Playoffs had the same event.
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Reading the official rulebook (ugh, so much text) it seems like you need to win a Fireside Gathering that has been designated as Tavern Hero Tournament first in order to be able to enter the regional Tavern Hero tournament. But as far as I know everyone can go to those Fireside Gatherings.
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)The best thing about the APAC prelims is that right after it we will receive the long-awaited pirate nerf.
Thank the gods (the old and the new ones) the prelims are this weekend. I can't wait to see Buccaneer and Spirit claws nerfed.
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Saturday and Sunday PM means Sunday and Monday AM in Shanghai. Is this truly accurate? The facebook page seems to suggest a different start time, but I'm not great at figuring this stuff out. ;)
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)This schedule should show you your local time: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/esports/schedule/. 4AM for me...that's Saturday and Sunday 3 AM CET which should mean that it's Saturday and Sunday for China too. Will be fixed Soontm (I don't have the power to do it myself).
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Cant seem to find the link for the official site talking about the playoffs for asia pacific. I keep getting redirected back to us.battle.net any direct links?
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)I haven't found one either. Only time I have seen it being mentioned was the first Winter Playoffs-blog where they talked about all regionals: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20517651/winter-playoffs-are-coming-2-3-2017.
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)NaviEra
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)naviTankUp double Gorehowl
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Where ma boy Hamster at
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Posted Feb 21, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Hamster is a Chinese player, which is not counted as a part of Asia-Pacific and instead as their own region
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Posted Feb 22, 2017 (Gadgetzan)Also, the Chinese lineup for Winter Championships is already known and Hamster didn't make it this time. It's up to someone else to provide us with Hunter and Paladin now.