Warlockguy wins WoW: Forever's $100,000 PvP tournament 3–1, after a weekend of disqualifications and drama

The first big money event of WoW: Forever is over, and it belongs to the Warlocks. Warlockguy won The Forever Open, the $100,000 level 30 dueling tournament, beating fellow Undead Warlock Neepzen 3–1 in a best-of-five grand final on the night of October 18. He takes home the $50,000 champion's prize and the title of Death's Duelist.

It was not a quiet weekend. A big-name streamer was disqualified mid-duel, a contender was barred before the event even started, and admin calls - from boundary rulings to a last-minute food and water decision in the final - were argued over for two days. Here's what happened.

The Forever Open results: Warlockguy beat Neepzen 3-1 in the grand final; Cdewx third and Oddwaffletv fourth — The Forever Open grand final and top four.

The short version

Champion: Warlockguy (Undead Warlock, seed 20) beat Neepzen (Undead Warlock, seed 27) 3–1 and won $50,000.
Top four: Warlockguy, Neepzen, then two Orc Shamans, Cdewx and Oddwaffletv.
Warlocks finished first and second. All four Warlock finalists came through the qualifiers undefeated.
The drama: NoHitJerome's disqualification and apology, Arkaviun's ban before the event, cheating claims from Hydra's stream, and a food and water ruling made on the spot in the grand final.

How the tournament worked

Players had to level a fresh Horde character to 30 on the PvP ruleset before October 17. That day, 1,380 checked-in players were split into 48 pods for six rounds of Swiss duels. The best four of each of the nine classes - 36 players - went through to Sunday's finals, a double-elimination bracket played in Hyjal Crater.

The money was split down the middle. The hosts put up $50,000 and TimTheTatman matched it, doubling the pool to $100,000. The champion took $50,000. The other half paid the best finisher of each class about $5,555, and the four Mage finalists tied and split theirs, about $1,389 each.

The final: Warlock against Warlock

Warlockguy did it the hard way. He won his first four series in the upper bracket without dropping a game, including wins over Lamelol, the fourth seed, and Jázggz, another Warlock seeded fifth. Then he lost the upper-bracket final to Neepzen, 1–2. That sent him to the lower bracket, where he beat Shaman Cdewx 2–0 for a rematch.

Neepzen took the first game of the grand final. Warlockguy answered with three in a row, all inside about 13 minutes, for the 3–1 win. Across the whole finals bracket, he won 14 games and lost 3.

Warlockguy's bracket path: four 2-0 wins in the upper bracket, a 1-2 loss to Neepzen in the upper final, a 2-0 win over Cdewx in the lower final and a 3-1 win over Neepzen in the grand final — Warlockguy's road through the finals bracket.

The upsets came from further down the seeds. Oddwaffletv, seeded 31st, knocked out the second seed Psychapeute 2–0 and finished fourth. Druid Minpojke, seeded 24th, beat the top seed - Warlock Korleone - 2–1 in the upper quarterfinal; Korleone finished 9th–12th.

The drama, part one: NoHitJerome is disqualified

The biggest story of qualifier day had nothing to do with the bracket. Priest NoHitJerome was disqualified during his duel with Savix. According to WoW Forever News, organiser Tips Out and the admins ruled that he had left the duel area while casting Psychic Scream, and counted the boundary breach as a forfeit loss. Jerome disputed the call on stream, the argument escalated, and he was removed from the event. The clip spread fast, and streamers including Asmongold, Pikaboo and Sodapoppin reacted to it.

Later the same day he apologised on X:

yeah i was being a sore loser and after talking to my mom i can say I'm sorry, i said those things in the heat of the moment— NoHitJerome, on X, October 17

There was no route back. The rules say admin decisions are final: "Competitors have no right of appeal." Leaving the duel area on purpose, or fearing an opponent out of it, meant disqualification.

The drama, part two: Arkaviun, admins and cheating claims

Arkaviun was barred from the tournament earlier in the week. On the event stream, Xaryu said Arkaviun had said "some very, very, very, very, very not nice things to the admins". Arkaviun answered in a video, telling Xaryu "you don't know who I am". He denied insulting anyone, said he had asked for his full Discord data to prove it, and asked his viewers not to harass the hosts.

Hydra, meanwhile, showed clips on stream where admins seemed to miss boundary breaks by other players, which started its own debate on the r/classicwow subreddit. A Reddit thread tied to his stream went further, claiming admins handed a duel to a player who was cheating in front of them and that Kasu quit over it. WoWSoD Pro reports the claim but could not verify it, and neither can we.

Two smaller fights ran alongside. Promotion of a paid $30 leveling addon on the main broadcast drew criticism, and so did the gold rules: after suspected gold buying during the leveling phase, Tips Out warned on September 29 that "any explicitly confirmed instances of gold buying during our events will result in immediate disqualification". The qualifier also saw 103 players marked disqualified and 233 withdraw during the Swiss stage, though most of those were never explained publicly.

The drama, part three: food and water in the grand final

Even the final had a disputed call. Warlockguy ran out of water during the series, and a request to trade him food and water was refused before game two. Before game three, the admins gave both finalists a stack each. That ruling was made on the spot, which is why it became the most argued-about decision of the event. Warlockguy won every game after it.

Our take: the stack was given to both players, so it didn't hand anyone an edge, but a $100,000 event should have settled food and water before the final, not during it. Clear written rules on consumables, boundaries and appeals would have avoided most of this weekend's arguments.

Are Warlocks too strong at level 30?

That was the question on every forum on Monday. Threads asking for Warlock nerfs and threads about rerolling Warlock ran side by side within an hour of the result. Icy Veins points to Fear, the Succubus's Seduction, damage over time that stops healing and breaks stealth, and pet sacrifices for extra power as reasons the class is so strong at 30. In the qualifiers, Warlocks were even against Paladins and in mirror matches, and found Mages hardest.

Blizzard has not said anything about tuning after the event, and its rules say duels are not an officially supported Blizzard esport.

Our take: one level 30 tournament with 36 finalists is a small sample, and the top seed was a Warlock who went out early. But a 1–2 Warlock finish with every Warlock finalist undefeated in qualifying is hard to ignore. If you're levelling a Warlock, enjoy it while it lasts - and if you want to see how your character's numbers compare, try Sim DPS.