The last week of the first phase of Grandmasters is upon us, and after last weekend's matches the points situation is wide open. 16 players from each region started with Swiss on Wednesday hoping to secure their place in Division A, but only 8 players will have made it at the end of the week. You can find everything you need to know below.
This Week's Format
This week will continue in a similar fashion than in previous weeks.
- The usual Conquest format has returned with a twist - 10 decks with 6 bans!
- 7 Swiss rounds will be played off-stream on Wednesday and Thursday with top 8 of each region advancing.
- Top 8 will be divided to two groups, which play through a double elimination bracket, top 2 from each group advances.
- Top 4 play through a single elimination bracket to decide the winner.
Players will be gaining points based on their performance, and at the end of next week Grandmasters will be divided to Division A and B based on these points. You can check the current point standings here.
For the entire competition format, check out the spoiler below.
Quote From Blizzard Weeks 1-3: Swiss into Group Stage
During weeks 1-3, players will compete in matches in a Swiss format on each Wednesday and Thursday to earn placement in the weekend Group Stage. Points from these weekend rounds will be used to determine two Divisions in each region for round-robin weeks. Different gameplay format each week.
- The 16 players in each region will compete against each other off broadcast in 7 Swiss rounds during the week.
- On Thursday, after Swiss play has completed, the field is cut in half based on standings and the Top 8 per region will play in a dual tournament format live on YouTube across Friday and Saturday, with the top-4 finals played out on Sunday.
- Gameplay format changes every week:
- Week 1: Conquest with 1 Ban
- Week 2: Four Deck Last Hero Standing with 1 Ban
- Week 3: Ten Deck Conquest with 6 Bans
Weeks 4 - 7: Round Robin
Weeks 4 –7 will consist of round-robin group play within the two divisions in each region—much like the previous seasons of Grandmasters.
- Following weeks 1-3, players will be sorted into two divisions based on their points standings. Division A is comprised of the top-8 point-earning players, and Division B will be point total ranks 9-16.
- The two divisions compete in round-robin group play over four weeks. The standings at the of conclusion of these weeks will determine who will go on to compete in Playoffs, and who will be relegated from Season 1.
- The format will stay consistent during round-robin weeks:
- Bo5 Conquest (4 decks, 1 ban)
Week 8: Season 1 Playoffs
Round-robin weeks lead into Week 8 Playoffs, which will qualify one player per region to the World Championship at the end of the year, while three players from each region will be relegated.
- Top 6 from Division A automatically make it into Playoffs.
- Top 4 from Division B compete in a play-in round to determine who will join the top 6 from Division A in a dual tournament bracket for Playoffs.
- The 7th- and 8th-placed players in Division B at the close of round robin are automatically relegated from Season 1 of Grandmasters.
- Final relegation will be determined via a 3-match Play-In involving the 7th- and 8th-placed from Division A, and 5th- and 6th-placed from Division B.
- The winner of Playoffs from each region will qualify to the Hearthstone World Championships later this year.
Stream Schedule
If they're keeping the schedule from last week, the stream should begin as follows:
West Coast PDT (UTC-7) | East Coast EDT (UTC-4) | Europe CEST (UTC+2) | Korea KST (UTC+9) | |
| May 1 | 2:00 | 5:00 | 11:00 | 18:00 |
| May 2 | 2:00 | 5:00 | 11:00 | 18:00 |
| May 3 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 13:00 | 20:00 |
Please note that there might be some downtime between regions depending on how the matches progress.
You can find all the matches, results, and decklists on the official tournament site.
Asia-Pacific Grandmasters
Alutemu
blitzchung
Che0nsu
DawN
Flurry
FroStee
glory
kin0531
posesi
Ryvius
SamuelTsao
Shaxy
Staz
Surrender
Tom60229
Tyler
Europe Grandmasters
BoarControl
Bozzzton
Bunnyhoppor
Casie
Felkeine
Jarla
Kolento
Pavel
Rdu
Seiko
SilverName
Swidz
Viper
Zhym
Americas Grandmasters
Eddie
Empanizado
ETC
Firebat
Fr0zen
Gallon
Justsaiyan
languagehacker
Monsanto
Muzzy
Nalguidan
PapaJason
PNC
Purple
Zalae
Watch Live
You can watch all the action on the official Hearthstone Esports Youtube channel. If you want more Grandmasters content, check out the shorter videos about last week's matches made by the casters.
Recap of the weekend with Raven.
Top 5 moments with Darroch.
Mulligan decisions with Jia.
Hot Takes with TJ and Sottle.
Comments
I am curious, why in the world is this not on Twitch? I do not really recall watching these types of events on YouTube... has there been some move away from using Twitch for some reason? Haven't seen any articles or posts on this, just wondering if there is a story here?
Blizzard moved all its esports to YouTube, likely getting a good amount of Google money for the move. We had an article about it when the move was announced but that was months ago so easy to not remember.
Thanks! Any chance you or someone could link me to the article, or give the date so I could find it? Definitely missed it, would love to read the details.
Sure (even though I did already have the link hidden in my last post): https://outof.cards/hearthstone/735-say-goodbye-to-free-hearthstone-packs-via-twitch-drops-esports-moves-to-youtube
Update of the Grandmasters' situation after the group stage for the final day regarding the Division split:
Now I'm quite confident about my maths here since the casters have been telling the same stuff over the weekend than what I wrote in my last post. It's nice to see that there are still something to fight for in all regions until the last day.
I get such a kick out of a number of these pictures. People posing like they are UFC fighters looking tough... lolz. You play a card game on the internet.
Ryvius is the only one who seems like he's trying to look tough. Everyone else seems pretty chill and aware of the stakes.
Would you look at this intimidating mug ^^
This format is hilarious. Shaman and Paladin are so far behind the other classes it's insane.
At least Paladin's got its first EU win in the first game of the first match of the day. Shaman, I guess we'll see.
Nearly all of Shaman's wins are in mirror matches :)
i agree after galakrond got nerfed shaman hasnt been the same
For those who are curious how things look for the Grandmasters after the Swiss portion regarding the Division split:
I hope I mentioned every player there. Also, since the maths behind this has been made by me, there's a solid chance for horrible mistakes. The guaranteed "not-making-it"s should be correct, and I'm also confident of the guaranteed "made-it"s.
Thanks for that, that is great info that is hard to find anywhere (including the tournament site, which is absurd)
Well, I must just say that for someone who's '' too lazy to think through all the possible iterations '', you did a pretty neat recap & list of possible scenarios, just not an exhaustive one ^^