On Sunday, September 13, 2026, six teams fight for the world arena title on the WoW stage in Hall C at Anaheim. The AWC BlizzCon finals, World of Warcraft’s world 3v3 arena championship, hadn’t been held on a BlizzCon stage since 2019. It returns with a combined prize pool of $600,000, shared with the MDI, the world Mythic dungeon speedrun championship played the day before. The format changes too. Cross-region matchups between Europe, North America and China are back, one of this edition’s biggest adjustments. Here is the bracket, the schedule converted to Paris time, and what’s worth watching this weekend.
The AWC BlizzCon 2026 bracket: six teams and two byes
Six teams made it through an entire year of qualifiers to get here. Three AWC Cups, the Midnight Season 1 finals, then the AWC Gauntlet sorted out the top of the pack, according to esports.gg.
That leaves Echo, Streamerzonegg, Gator’s Back, F Tier, One Lun Travel and Guild Bean, split between Europe, North America and China. F Tier (North America) faces Guild Bean (Europe) in one quarterfinal, Streamerzonegg (Europe) faces One Lun Travel (China) in the other. Echo (Europe) and Gator’s Back (North America) sit this round out. They wait directly in the semifinals for the two teams that just survived a BO5 quarterfinal.
Two quarterfinals settle four teams, two semifinals follow, then the final. It all happens in a single day, on the WoW stage in Hall C at Anaheim, esports.gg notes.
What the format actually changes this year
Every quarterfinal and semifinal is played as a BO5, a format where the first team to win three games advances. The final, though, switches to a BO7, four wins needed out of seven possible games, according to Blizzard. This mid-tournament format change isn’t cosmetic. A BO7 leaves more room for comp adjustments between games and rewards the team that goes the distance, not just the one that lands a favorable pick.
This bracket is single elimination, no second chances. Lose a match and you’re going home. A first-round bye is anything but a symbolic gift, then. Echo and Gator’s Back reach the semifinals without playing a single game, while their opponents come out of a BO5 that already showed part of their game plans. In 3v3, that kind of edge reads as a free scouting round, the same logic that pushes teams to build a composition built to last a whole season rather than a pick that peaks for one week.
The return of cross-region matchups between Europe, North America and China also changes how the bracket reads. F Tier faces Guild Bean, Streamerzonegg faces One Lun Travel. Blizzard is billing the return of inter-region matches as one of this edition’s selling points.
The schedule from Paris, quarterfinal by quarterfinal
The detailed schedule, published by Blizzard, lists times in Pacific time (PDT) and British time (BST). For Paris, just add one hour to the British time. Here is the AWC BlizzCon schedule converted match by match for Sunday, September 13.
First quarterfinal at 7:45 PM Paris time (10:45 AM PDT, which Blizzard’s schedule rounds to 7:00 PM BST), F Tier versus Guild Bean. Second quarterfinal at 9:00 PM (12:00 PM PDT), Streamerzonegg versus One Lun Travel. The semifinals follow at 11:00 PM (2:00 PM PDT) for Echo’s match, then at midnight Monday (3:00 PM PDT) for Gator’s Back’s. The final kicks off at 2:00 AM Monday, Paris time, for 5:00 PM PDT.
The trophy ceremony follows at 3:30 AM, still Paris time. Across five matches between 7:45 PM and 2:00 AM, an all-nighter is the price of admission for anyone who wants to watch AWC BlizzCon live instead of on replay.
Where to watch AWC BlizzCon, and with whom
The broadcast runs through Warcraft’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. New this year, several creators are commentating via costream, a parallel stream where each one calls the same match live, this time from the BlizzCon show floor, according to Wowhead. For Sunday’s AWC BlizzCon final, Pikaboo, Kimuh, Absterge and Xaryu commentate in English and German from Anaheim. The day before, for the MDI, Zerator commentates in French, alongside Kimuh, Maximum, Megasett and Hopeful. You can also set up your own watch party through Blizzard’s 2026 costream form.
Watching also earns in-game rewards. Twitch Drops automatically unlock loot after a certain amount of time spent watching an eligible stream, with nothing else required besides staying tuned in. According to esports.gg, the pool includes 200 Trader’s Tender, a Cuddly Blue Grrgle house decoration, the Fluffy Comfy Flying Quilt mount and the Venomous Champion’s Illustrious Banner toy. Twitch Drops run from September 12 at 9:30 AM PDT to September 27 at 10:00 AM PDT. YouTube Drops end earlier, on September 13 at 7:00 PM PDT, right after the final.
If you’ve never followed a BlizzCon live before, the guide to following it for free covers the essentials before you pull up one of the streams this weekend.
A packed weekend around the arena
The day before, Saturday September 12, the MDI takes over the same stage. Four teams face off in a BO3, best of three games, before a BO5 final on the new Season 2 dungeons, with tougher key levels than usual, according to Blizzard. The runs kick off at 9:45 PM Paris time (12:45 PM PDT), Dignitas versus Big Lucky to open, then Liquid versus Mandatory.
The same weekend, BlizzCon is packed with announcements about the game’s future. The « What’s Next » panels run at 9:00 PM and 11:45 PM Paris time on Saturday, then a « Deep Dive » follows on Sunday at 7:00 PM, even before the first AWC BlizzCon quarterfinal. The official BlizzCon schedule lists every other event of the weekend, from the opening ceremony to esports announcements.
BlizzCon’s closing ceremony, meanwhile, falls at 2:20 AM Paris time, twenty minutes after the AWC BlizzCon final’s scheduled start on the WoW stage.
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