With Week 4 behind us, we've entered the main part of the Grandmasters season: Round Robin matches. All 48 players now have the same goal in mind: getting enough wins to reach the playoffs and avoiding the relegation. You can re-live the action with our post below.
Selected Decklists
As this phase of the competition consists of individual matches rather than mini-tournaments, there are no "winners' decklists" to show; instead, we'll showcase some interesting deck choices from selected players.
Bankyugi's Weapon Rogue
Despite Rogues being very popular in APAC this week, only one player, the Thai newcomer Bankyugi, decided to bring the aggressive Weapon-synergizing variant. In his four games piloting the deck, he lost to Bomb Warrior and Zoolock and won against Secret Rogue and Guardian Druid, thus finishing with a 50% winrate.
BoarControl's Aggro Hunter
BoarControl had already tried out Hunter during this GM Season, but it finally got its chance to shine on stream. This extremely low-curve deck went 2-0 during the weekend, beating Malygos Druid and Highlander Priest, so we might see similar decks more in the future.
Fr0zen & Zalae's Galakrond-less Priest
Three players brought Galakrond-less Priest decks in Americas this week, with Fr0zen and Zalae bringing this exact same list. Over their combined three series during the weekend, the Priest got banned twice and won its sole game against Bomb Warrior, so the actual performance of the deck compared to the more usual lists remains a mystery.
VoDs
Here are the match VoDs from the three days of competition in spoilers.
Results & Standings
The individual match results can be found on the official site. Current standings within each Division can be found in spoilers below.
Discussion
Last week's victorious Specialist decks seem to have had an impact on this week's choices. Rogue was the most popular class in APAC (15/16 picked it) a week after two Rogues made it to the top 4. Zoolock was significantly more popular globally after Viper's victory last weekend than it had been in the previous weeks. Eddie's infamous Turtle Mage also found its way to the lineups of six other players, even though Eddie himself chose not to bring it this week. Overall, Mage was the most selected class (39/48), followed by Warrior (34) and Priest (32). Paladin and Shaman were once again at the other end of things with zero picks, while Hunter was only trusted by BoarControl.
While some classes had only one archetype in play, like all Demon Hunters being the Soul variant and all Warlock being Zoolocks, some classes had much more variance. Rogues have evolved into three major archetypes during the past weeks: Secret Rogue, Stealth Rogue, and Weapon Rogue. This week, Secret Rogue was a runaway winner in popularity, while only Bankyugi brought Weapon Rogue. Mages had a similar story to share: Tempo Mage was clearly the king whereas Turtle and Highlander Mages were brought by six and two players, respectively. Priest lists saw some evolution as in addition to the expected Galakronds and Highlanders, there were also lists that shared a good chunk of the cards with the former but had no Galakrond. Even Warriors saw some brave experimentation as Viper brought the Skipper Tempo Warrior, and Empanizado tried out a Control Warrior while the rest of the field made the safe Bomb Warrior pick.
The nerfs are bound to shake the (tournament) meta a bit next week, with Warlocks taking the biggest hit. Will Zoolocks find a way to take advantage of the new Darkglare, will they cut it or just vanish as an archetype? Will Priests and Rogues start omitting Cabal Acolytes and Secret Passages, respectively, or are their effects still too good to ignore? Will Totem Goliath's buff help Shaman back on the menu as an actually playable class? Only time will tell.
Grandmasters will take a week off due to Masters Tour Montreal taking place next week. Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Eddie jebaited everyone with turtles