UPDATE: William Barton wins Hearthstone gaming competition
March 28, 2016
This past week, William “Amnesiac” Barton traveled down to Hollywood, California to compete in the Americas Winter Championship for the video game he plays: Hearthstone. Since our last article on him, he has become $25,000 wealthier.
“Rationally, I thought I was favored [to win the tournament],” said Barton, “but it’s still kind of like a card game, and there are a lot of pretty good players, so it was pretty up in the air.”
While Barton won the tournament, his record shows that it wasn’t easy. After losing in a preliminary match, Barton worked his way out of the consolation bracket and found himself back in the running for the top award, a championship mug.
“I got pretty unlucky, losing to the guy when I got knocked out,” said Barton. “The guy I lost to actually ended up making it to the top eight as well. In order to make it back in the tournament, I had to win three more, and I did, beating two professionals in the process.”
At 15 years old, Barton is the youngest professional Hearthstone player in the world, and the youngest to win the Americas Winter Championship.
“I don’t really think anything about my age and about the ages of the other players I play,” Barton said, “I don’t think my age plays a role in my success either. I guess I’m just good.”
Barton’s win earned him an automatic bid into the Worlds Hearthstone Tournament that will take place in California this coming November. In Worlds, Barton will be competing against Hearthstone players from around the globe with the hope to win the grand prize of $400,000.