The second Grandmasters season of 2021 came to its end with Playoffs this past weekend. 24 players battled it out in the Stormwind meta, and three regional champions were crowned. You can re-live the action with our spoiler-free post below.
Finalists' Decklists
These were the players that reached the final in each region and the decks they brought this week.
VoDs
Here are the links to individual match VoDs in spoilers below.
Day 1 - Group A Matches
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
- #1 Initial Match - AlanC86 vs Surrender: VoD
- #2 Winners' Match - Winner of #1 vs posesi: VoD
- #3 Losers' Match - Loser of #1 vs Shaxy: VoD
- #4 Decider Match - Loser of #2 vs Winner of #3: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- #1 Initial Match - xBlyzes vs Bunnyhoppor: VoD
- #2 Winners' Match - Winner of #1 vs Gaby: VoD
- #3 Losers' Match - Loser of #1 vs Rdu: VoD
- #4 Decider Match - Loser of #2 vs Winner of #3: VoD
———- Americas ———-
Day 2 - Group B Matches
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
- #1 Initial Match - GivePLZ vs glory: VoD
- #2 Winners' Match - Winner of #1 vs Alutemu: VoD
- #3 Losers' Match - Loser of #1 vs grr: VoD
- #4 Decider Match - Loser of #2 vs Winner of #3: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- #1 Initial Match - Seiko vs Jarla: VoD
- #2 Winners' Match - Winner of #1 vs Frenetic: VoD
- #3 Losers' Match - Loser of #1 vs Felkeine: VoD
- #4 Decider Match - Loser of #2 vs Winner of #3: VoD
———- Americas ———-
Day 3 - Semifinals and Finals
Results
The results in full can be found here.
Discussion
There was, perhaps surprisingly, a lot of variation between regions for classes brought this weekend. In APAC, everyone brought Rogue, almost everyone brought Demon Hunter, and no one trusted Priest or Shaman. In Europe everyone brought Druid, almost everyone brought Rogue, and no one trusted Priest, Warrior, or Mage. In Americas there was no single top deck, with 6 players bringing Demon Hunter, Hunter, and Warlock, and all 10 classes seeing play once again. Special mention to languagehacker who brought a very similar lineup than Monsanto did last week.
In APAC the top 4 was a repeat from last week, as the "old guard" of the Japanese GMs matched against AlanC86. While Alan was able to take home the Week 7 victory, this time glory was able to stop him in the final and grab another World Championship spot for himself. The result means that glory now has a chance of becoming the first back-to-back World Champion, as well as the first two-time World Champion, this December.
Europe had an equally stacked top 4 compared to APAC. The final took place between last year's World Championship runner-up Jarla who was looking to join glory for a second round, and the young points king Gaby who turned out to be unstoppable and claimed the spot for himself as a crown for an amazing first season in Grandmasters.
In Americas another newcomer emerged victorious as McBanterFace took the third spot available this weekend. Having reverse-swept Nalguidan's OTK Demon Hunter in the semifinals, he earned another hard-fought 3-2 victory against muzzy in the final, denying him one last chance at World Championship glory before his retirement.
The regional champions heading to World Championship 2021.
The esports year will continue with Masters Tour Stormwind in two weeks! Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Sad to see Alutemu and Monsanto didn't make it, but damn happy Gaby did. The kid is a Hearthstone prodigy, winning world's would cement him as the GOAT no doubt