Grandmasters' second season of 2020 continued with Week 2 last weekend. The field was again cut in half during midweek off-stream Swiss rounds, and the remaining 24 players entered the weekend hoping to earn more points towards 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.
bloodyface's Decks
Eddie's Decks
languagehacker's Decks
Monsanto's Decks
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:
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
———- Europe ———-
———- Americas ———-
Day 2:
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
———- Europe ———-
———- Americas ———-
Day 3:
Results
The results in full, including the preceding off-stream Swiss rounds, can be found here.
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Discussion
Whether it was the effect of Kael'thas nerf or players judging the class to be less suitable for Last Hero Standing, Druid's popularity took a hit from last week, making it fall to third place with 29 picks. Warrior filled the void left behind, and only Surrender chose not to bring it. Priest continued as the runner-up in popularity (44 in total), which makes you fear for next week's Specialist matches as endless Priest mirrors aren't often considered as top tier entertainment. While APAC started to trust Mages more, other regions did not; Europe's 16 Mages were whittled down to 7 this week.
Status quo has been restored: Shamans and Paladins were not brought this week. Other less popular classes were able to maintain their bring rates with the exception of Demon Hunter, whose strong performance on Week 1 was rewarded with 17 picks compared to the 4 from last week.
This week was a great showing of consistency from some of the Grandmasters, as over half of the Top 4 players achieved the same last week as well, all but guaranteeing themselves a place in the Division A. In APAC, Surrender and Tyler found themselves in the semifinals again, and while Tyler couldn't reach the final this week either, Surrender was able to better his record and take home the victory. In Europe, everyone but Bunnyhoppor had been at the top 4 the previous week as well. In a repeat match from last week's final, Rdu was able to take revenge and beat xBlyzes before beating Bunnyhoppor in the final. In Americas, the finalist duo was very familiar. Unlike in the Playoffs Final of Season 1, it was Eddie who triumphed over bloodyface.
The back to back final appearances of Rdu unsurprisingly makes him the global points leader with 14 points. However, Surrender, xBlyzes, and Eddie are only one point behind him. In every region, the top 3 has surpassed the 10 point limit and are allowed to feel fairly confident of getting that Division A spot. With only 3-4 points separating the 16th player from the 8th, depending on the region, no player has lost their chances yet as a victory will award 8 points.
For full points standings, visit the official site.
Grandmasters will continue next week, and the format will switch to Specialist. Don't forget to tune in!
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