Play With Your Boomsday Cards Early - Attend a Boomsday Pre-Release Event on August 4/5!
Traditional card games are no stranger to dedicated pre-release events, and now Hearthstone is joining in on that fun too!
August 4th and 5th, Blizzard is running some Fireside Gathering events designated as a pre-release event. Attending an event allows you to open your Hearthstone packs early and play with your cards in a special Fireside Brawl against other players at the event.
- The special brawl is only available at Fireside Gatherings.
- You can only use cards in the brawl that you open from your own card packs.
- No cards can be disenchanted or crafted until the expansion launches.
This means that we're going to see a client patch before August 4th with the new cards (no Saturday patches). This is going to be one short reveal schedule.
Event Locations
North America
Join in the Pre-Release parties happening across this continent! Open your packs ahead of time and take part in special Fireside Brawls—there will be tons of fun for everyone!
- Esports Arena - Santa Ana, CA
- Alley NYC - New York, NY
- The Wall Gaming Lounge - Las Vegas, NV
- The Cave Gaming Center - Fairfax, VA
- Vigilante Gaming Bar - Austin, TX
- Meltdown Toronto - Toronto, Canada
- Meltdown Quebec - Quebec, Canada
Brazil
If opening your packs early isn’t enough of a draw, maybe a special drink themed after The Boomsday Project and a Hearthstone burger might be? Pick up some sweet event-only collectibles like the lab flask your drink comes in at Brazil’s only Pre-Release party, which will be themed around Boom Labs!
- Taverna Medieval - São Paulo, Brasil
Russia
Open your packs early at Russia's only official Pre-Release parties in Moscow and Saint Petersburg!
- Cyberspace Arena - Moscow, Russia
- Playloft GaGa - Saint Petersburg, Russia
Europe
- Meltdown Brussels - Ixelles, Belgium
- Meltdown Caen - Caen, France
- Meltdown Lyon - Lyon, France
- Meltdown Rennes - Rennes, France
- Meltdown Toulouse - Toulouse, France
- Meltdown Troyes - Troyes, France
- Meltdown Madrid - Madrid, Spain
- Meltdown London - London, UK
- Kawiarnia Hex - Kraków, Poland
- Gecko-Bar Hamburg - Hamburg, Germany
- Meltdown Bordeaux - Bordeaux, France
- Meltdown Grenoble - Grenoble, France
- Meltdown Montpellier - Montpellier, France
- Meltdown Strasbourg - Strasbourg, France
- Meltdown Tours - Tours, France
- Meltdown Budapest - Budapest, Hungary
- Meltdown Valencia - València, Spain
- Esports Game Arena - Alphen aan den Rjin The Netherlands
- Löwen - Niederglatt, Switzerland
- Moviatics s.r.o - Prague, Czech Republic
Taiwan / SEA
Join in the Pre-Release parties happening across this continent! Open your packs ahead of time and take part in special Fireside Brawls—there will be tons of fun for everyone! More events will be announced soon.
- Thailand Esports Arena - Bangkok, Thailand
South Korea
Meet and play against Blizzard developers, open card packs with your favorite local Hearthstone stars, and witness an invitational tournament with some of the country’s most popular players! The South Korea Pre-Release party will also have lucky draws and Fireside Brawls for you to play in. Participation is via lottery.
- Inven - Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Japan
Open your packs with fellow fans at Pre-Release parties in two major cities! You’ll also have the opportunity to take part in interactive minigames! Don’t forget to take your selfies at The Boomsday Project’s special photo booth.
- E-sports Square Akihabara - Tokyo, Japan
- Pumpkinrocks - Osaka, Japan
Australia
Enjoy The Boomsday Project Pre-Release with the community and pro players alike! You’ll get to pick up some lucky draw loot and build your very own meta-shaking decks with attending pros. This event will require you to pick up a free entry ticket beforehand—click on the location name to find out how!
- Good Games Top Ryde City - Ryde, New South Wales
Blog Post
Quote from BlizzardOpen your packs early and revel in some Fireside fun prior to The Boomsday Project’s official launch—only at a Pre-Release event near you!
What’s Pre-Release?
Pre-Release events are special Fireside Gatherings where you can open any packs you have from the upcoming Hearthstone expansion early—and play with them in unique Fireside Brawls! That means you’ll be able to open the packs you pre-purchased, as well as any others you may have earned via Tavern Brawls or other events.
How Exciting!
Opening new packs is always exciting, but Pre-Release events take that excitement even further by allowing you to actually play with the cards you’ve opened before the expansion’s official release in two different Fireside Brawls.
- There’s Your Basic Boomsday Brawl, a deck-building brawl that will allow you to construct decks using the cards that you open during the Pre-Release event.
- And then there’s also A Scientific Recipe, a pre-constructed brawl that will have new deck recipes from the upcoming set for you to play with!
Your newly-opened cards will be viewable in the Collection Manager, though they’ll only be playable at an official Pre-Release event prior to launch. You also won’t be able to disenchant or craft cards until the expansion’s official launch.
Where Can I Go for Pre-Release?
In celebration of The Boomsday Project’s impending launch, we’ve put together a ton of Pre-Release events for you to enjoy across the globe! All of these events will take place over the weekend of August 4–5 in local time unless otherwise stated. Click on an event name below for more details!
Finally, don't forget to pre-purchase your card packs for The Boomsday Project's Pre-Release!
Pre-Purchase
Mega Bundle
This bundle includes 80 The Boomsday Project card packs, 1 random Golden The Boomsday Project Legendary card, the Mecha-Jaraxxus card back, AND a new Warlock Hero to add to your collection: MECHA-JARAXXUS, EREDAR LORD OF THE MEGA BUNDLE!
You can get both The Boomsday Project pre-purchase AND the Mega Bundle, though each is only purchasable once per account. You can use your new card back and Warlock Hero right away, but you’ll have to wait for official Pre-Release events to arrive before dissecting your packs.
We can't wait for you to try out the new cards, so look for a Pre-Release event closest to you and get in there! Additional locations will be added in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned. We'll see you in the tavern!
is it just me or is it just the stupidest idea ever? this whole thing makes certain people (who bought the pre order!!!!) gain an extreme advantage by playing with the cards way before and know what's actually good... what's the reasoning of this? you can't buy the pre order anymore in order to play early with the cards so what are blizzard gaining from this other than making most of the playerbase feel incredibly jealous??
i know it may be a stupid argument but they do these kinds of things overlooking a large part of the playerbase so often. like what they did to eu in the past and such.
It doesn’t give much of an advantage for players who preordered to try the cards first. I got to try out the new cards at the event, and I didn’t gain much experience from it. The brawl was limited to Basic and Boomsday cards ONLY. Play testers were only able to test out new cards, not new meta decks. The reason that Blizz is doing this is to promote the new expansion and get a response and reaction to the new cards before launch. If I’m being honest, I think it is not unfair that Blizz is rewarding people who spent money on the preorder by giving them essentially limited early access.
Entrance fees will depend on the location. Typically you pay per hour you spend at one of these locations (check venue details for more info). The only way to open Boomsday packs is from the preorder (you can’t buy extra packs, craft, or disenchant). I’m assuming that the fireside brawl is just play mode confined to a fireside brawl so one can try out the new cards.
It says that they host it on August 4th and 5th, but some of the events only say they're hosting it for either 4th and 5th. But.. which is it? Are the events hosting it for both days? Or are they only doing it for one only?
Just for clarification, i wont be able to get cards from the shop while i am at the event location right? Its a bummer, because i dont prepurchase, but have some gold stored and i would really enjoy open my packs with others. I could really appreciate if they make the shop also available at this event.
How is it all France dude? There are other countries in EU you know...
Pretty sure for events like this you need to be on the local network to join the Fireside Gatherings, so this most likely won't work unless you can also emulate the location's wifi.
Please add a midwest USA location.... Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Columbus....
wouldnt attend if it was a block away from my home. I know a lot more people with the same sentiment. Who really cares. you get to see the crads early and use them..... the meta will be defined ina bout 10-12 days anyway and maybe sooner. you got three months of that. why on earth would you even care to play 3 days early......
lol same thats why i would rather play MTG over this game because idk how they plan these things.
Before you complain about the number of locations, read the very last line of the blue post please:
We can't wait for you to try out the new cards, so look for a Pre-Release event closest to you and get in there! Additional locations will be added in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned. We'll see you in the tavern!
As a former MTG player, this is what I've been waiting for! This was always the most fun I had in that ga...
*looks at locations*
Never mind.
PC Android Emulator, Set location to any of those place, and open your packs 2-3 days earlier...
Is this Blizzard's way of celebrating France winning the WC?
Nothing for scotland :(
Anyone know whether the location altering hack that many people used to get Nemsy will work for this as well? I really doubt it, because the number of people that would be "present" would probably flood the event and crash it.
Though i love that they're trying to do pre-release event much how magic the gathering does.
I do think thats very few locations for firesides just in the US, i know it says somewhere they will get more locations, is a bit silly.
I think the reason theyre making exclusive ones because THEY dont want people to make spoof ones. Problems with a digital card vs
a physical one.
Maybe if some people can open their packs ahead of time it will reduce to server load on launch day.
Then again with millions of players I guess not a significant percent would actually be attending the gatherings unless spoofing works.
I'll just wait until launch day to avoid going outside which is too scary!!! :P
Honestly, I feel like (popular opinion btw) they should have made the prerelease events available at every fireside gathering and not just specific ones in major cities. I live basically in the dead center of the States and I can’t get to one of these events without having to buy a plane ticket. I also empathize with Mexico along with other Latin and South American countries as their best bets are to either go to Brazil or Texas. Also, I have a feeling that these events are pay to enter for an event that should be free. All in all, this is going to be a nightmare but Blizzard has to learn from it if they want this to be the new norm for themselves.
Not all the world. From Europe there is only 9 countries from 50!