Grandmasters' second season of 2020 kicked off last weekend. The field was already cut in half during midweek off-stream Swiss rounds, and the remaining 24 players entered the weekend hoping to gain foothold for a spot at Division A. You can re-live the action with our spoiler-free post below.


Top 4 Decklists

These were the players that made it into the final day in each region, respectively.

Asia-Pacific Top 4 Decklists

Bankyugi's Decks

0 1390013900 415 0
0 1588015880 626 0
0 2002020020 636 0
0 98209820 473 0

Che0nsu's Decks

0 78807880 520 0
0 70407040 956 0
0 1520015200 506 0
0 2008020080 628 0

Surrender's Decks

0 82608260 509 0
0 82008200 605 0
0 1882018820 379 0
0 84408440 781 0

Tyler's Decks

0 1234012340 385 0
0 1138011380 396 0
0 84008400 654 0
0 63606360 1255 0

Europe Top 4 Decklists

Jarla's Decks

0 1112011120 720 0
0 1234012340 416 0
0 84608460 824 0
0 1138011380 581 0

Rdu's Decks

0 98209820 643 0
0 1002010020 672 0
0 82808280 896 0
0 1540015400 732 0

Seiko's Decks

0 1234012340 374 0
0 54205420 360 0
0 1108011080 574 0
0 98209820 488 0

xBlyzes's Decks

0 1096010960 649 0
0 1234012340 502 0
0 83408340 348 0
0 98809880 632 0

Americas Top 4 Decklists

Eddie's Decks

0 97409740 457 0
0 85608560 968 0
0 1806018060 531 0
0 79407940 475 0

Firebat's Decks

0 83608360 664 0
0 86208620 678 0
0 91209120 649 0
0 83608360 714 0

languagehacker's Decks

0 1190011900 557 0
0 1084010840 712 0
0 1180011800 392 0
0 82408240 316 0

Muzzy's Decks

0 62806280 855 0
0 84608460 401 0
0 95209520 462 0
0 1138011380 358 0


VoDs

Here are the VoDs from the three days of competition. Links to individual match VoDs have been provided in a spoiler below the video if you're only interested in certain matches.

Day 1:

Day 1 Match VoDs

———- Asia-Pacific ———-

  • che0nsu vs Surrender: VoD
  • Flurry vs glory: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

———- Europe ———-

  • Seiko vs Swidz: VoD
  • BoarControl vs Jarla: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

———- Americas ———-

  • justsaiyan vs Fr0zen: VoD
  • muzzy vs Eddie: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

Day 2:

Day 2 Match VoDs

———- Asia-Pacific ———-

  • posesi vs blitzchung: VoD
  • Tyler vs Bankyugi: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

———- Europe ———-

  • xBlyzes vs Rdu: VoD
  • Bunnyhoppor vs Thijs: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

———- Americas ———-

  • bloodyface vs Firebat: VoD
  • languagehacker vs NoHandsGamer: VoD
  • Winners: VoD
  • Elimination: VoD
  • Decider: VoD

Day 3:

Day 3 Match VoDs
  • Asia-Pacific Semifinal #1: VoD
  • Asia-Pacific Semifinal #2: VoD
  • Asia-Pacific Finals: VoD
  • Europe Semifinal #1: VoD
  • Europe Semifinal #2: VoD
  • Europe Finals: VoD
  • Americas Semifinal #1 was not played.
  • Americas Semifinal #2: VoD
  • Americas Finals: VoD

Results

The results in full, including the preceding off-stream Swiss rounds, can be found here.

Swiss Results for All Regions

Asia-Pacific Top 8 Results

Group A

Group B

Top 4

Europe Top 8 Results

Group A

Group B

Top 4

Americas Top 8 Results

Group A

Group B

Top 4


Discussion

Poor Uther. After spending the entirety of last Season on the sidelines, Paladin's good early performance in Scholomance gave hope for increased involvement but eventually only seven players decided to include it in their lineup. Warlock reached the same popularity, while the previously popular Demon Hunter and Hunter fell down to 4 and 3 picks, respectively. No Shamans were seen this time either.

On the other end, Druid was the most popular pick with 44 players giving it a go. Priest was not far behind with 42 picks, and Mage got to a respectable 36 selections as well. The latter was especially popular in Europe where everyone brought it. Whereas other regions had a lot of variety in their lineups, Europe was quite unanimous in their picks beyond Mage as well: Druid, Priest, and Warrior could also be found in almost every lineup.

Result-based Discussion

So, how did the newcomers fare this weekend?

In APAC, Alan870806 got the questionable honor of becoming the first player with a positive win-loss ratio (4-3) who didn't make it out of the Swiss. Another newly promoted Taiwanese TIZS wasn't able to do any better, and he was left out of top 8 as well. The third new Grandmaster Bankyugi, on the other hand, had a dream debut as he was able to take home the victory with an "old meta" inspired lineup that included Highlander Mage and Galakrond Rogue. Che0nsu came close to beating him in the final with a lineup that included Soul Fragment Demon Hunter as its most curious inclusion, but was not able to get a win with his Highlander Priest.

In Europe, AyRoK had a debut to forget as he was left last in the Swiss with a mere 1-6 record. Warma fared a little bit better in his first steps in the competition, finishing with a 3-4 record and 10th place overall. Their fellow debutant and compatriot xBlyzes had a more upbeat weekend, as he was able to live up to the high expectations and crown himself as the Europe's winner of the week, blasting through his turns with confidence. Even though Rdu lost the tightly contested final, he can be very pleased with his performance this week considering that he failed to make it out of the Swiss phase every week during Season 1.

Despite having one more new Grandmaster compared to the other regions, Americas wasn't able to make it a weekend full of debutant triumphs. If AyRoK's debut in Europe wasn't successful, the same can be said about Briarthorn who failed to record a single win, and also found himself at the bottom of the table. Another newcomer killinallday got only one place above him, and Rami94 wasn't far from them either. NoHandsGamer was able to make it out of the Swiss but got knocked out in the group phase. In the end it was muzzy who secured the first place with a win over languagehacker in the final. Both players had some curious selections in their lineups, with muzzy having a low-curve but yet not outright aggressive Rogue deck, and languagehacker having the less popular Galakrond Warlock in addition to the only Big Warrior of the weekend in his arsenal.

The biggest talking point of the weekend, however, was the game that was not played. Firebat was disqualified from top 4 and a 3-0 match win awarded to muzzy as he failed to be present when the match began due to it being ahead of the expected schedule. He was also fined $1,000 from his winnings in accordance to the competition rules. The official check-in time was before the match began, but as fellow Americas GM Eddie (who almost also missed his semifinal due to the first semifinal being cancelled) pointed out on Twitter, the check-in times are rarely realistic when compared to actual match times. According to Sottle, extensive efforts were made to reach Firebat but to no avail as he was assumably still sleeping after his very late 5-game Decider match the day before against bloodyface.


Grandmasters will continue next week, and the format will switch to Last Hero Standing. Don't forget to tune in!