Intel Extreme Masters Shenzhen Hearthstone Tournament Day 1 kicks off today: will Asia dominate Europe and North America?

The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Shenzhen Hearthstone Tournament will begin tonight. It will feature some of the biggest names in the brand like the Dreamhack Summer 2014 winner: RDU and its runner-up: Amaz. Also, the winner of the IEM World Championship: Gnimsh, will make his debut under Cloud 9’s brand. There are also great news for the fans of Team Solo Mid, as one of their players: Massan, was invited to the tournament as well. It will be the first time Massan takes a part in an official tournament as a professional Hearthstone player.

We are also going to see a big bunch of players from Asia, the most popular one undoubtedly being Amaz. Three of them qualified through the Gold Open Shanghai qualifier, while the fourth one got through the Japanese qualifier. However, IEM did not release the 7 remaining players, so these contenders are still shrouded in mystery to the public.

(See: Intel Extreme Masters Shenzhen: Hearthstone, League of Legends, Starcraft II)

The prize pool is pretty large for a 16-man tournament as it is a whole $10,000 with $4,000 going to the champion, $2,000 to the runner-up, $1,000 to the 3rd and 4th place finishers, and finally $500 to the remaining four players that make their way to the round of eight.

The event will be livebroadcasted at IEM official site and casted by a very popular caster/host: Dan “Frodan” Chou. It will last for 3 days, from June 16 to June 19. Day 1 begins at 9:30 AM CST, 10:30 AM KST, 3:30 AM CET and 6:30 PM (June 15!) PDT. It will be quite the feast for Hearthstone fans and players across the globe, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Tell us who will you be rooting for in the comments!