The Round Robin matches continued with Week 6 of Grandmasters 2020 Season 2. The weekend was filled with dramatic matches where players' hopes were rekindled and crushed as the players battled for their survival and the Playoffs spots. 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.
Flurry's Guardian Druid
The tournament lists of Guardian Druids seem to have a wide variety of tech options these days: Omu, Kael'thas Sunstrider, Exotic Mountseller, amount of Survivals, and, like in Flurry's list, King Phaoris. However, Flurry didn't get a chance to actually play the deck as it was banned in both of his matches.
Warma's Control Warrior
Warma took a page from che0nsu's book by bringing similar lists of Druid, Priest, and Warrior to counter Europe's Bomb Warrior infestation this week (in addition to Turtle Mage instead of Shaman). Like Flurry's Druid, the Warrior was banned in both of Warma's matches.
Eddie's Libroom Paladin
Eddie was one of the brave individuals to try out Paladin this week and opted for a non-Pure Libram version. The deck did its job in his sole match of the week, beating NoHandsGamer's Malygos Druid in a clean 3-0 sweep.
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
No big changes in class distribution compared to last week. Druid kept rising, and now only two players opted not to bring it. With Warrior's small decline and Mage's small rise, the two classes were tied as the runner-up in popularity. Warlock's fall continued as the class joined Shaman in the zero pick club, whereas FOUR players decided to finally bring Paladin. The class performed rather well this weekend (in those few matches it had); will it properly enter the tournament meta next week?
Asia-Pacific
Things are looking quite even in APAC, if we exclude Surrender's clear lead and a guaranteed Playoffs spot. After falling to a 0-4 record with his Bomb Warrior countering lineup last week, che0nsu took two crucial victories and put himself right into the mix with pretty much the rest of Division A.
Key matches this week: tom60229 vs Tyler, DawN vs glory, Bankyugi vs che0nsu.
In Division B, things are a bit more clear, as kin0531 and Ryvius are is big trouble and guaranteed to be involved in relegations in some way. Alutemu is in the biggest risk of joining them, but he has an ace up in his sleeve: his runner-up finish at Masters Tour Asia-Pacific makes him the current prize money leader in APAC, which means that relegation would very likely lead to a re-promotion.
Key matches this week: Alutemu vs kin0531, Alutemu vs Ryvius, Alan870806 vs posesi.
Europe
In Europe, much like in APAC, Division A is very even. Viper needs a small miracle to get out of the relegation spots, but otherwise, almost anyone else can still find themselves joining him. Big week ahead.
Key matches this week: Thijs vs Viper, Viper vs xBlyzes, Jarla vs xBlyzes.
Given that there are five French players and three relegation spots in the eight-player Division B, it should be likely that at least one of them gets eliminated, but the Frenchmen seem to disagree. SilverName seems destined to share the fate of Feno: winning on Season 1 and getting relegated on Season 2. BoarControl needs a very specific set of results to dodge the direct relegation, and AyRoK will have to play some relegation matches even if he doesn't drop to the bottom two.
Key matches this week: Silvername vs Swidz, AyRoK vs Warma, BoarControl vs Warma.
Americas
It seems to be a universal phenomenon that Division A is very even, and Americas is the closest of them all. Pretty much every match has an impact for the Playoffs spots as the tiebreakers of other players will keep changing with each match win. Monsanto seems to be the player in biggest danger as all other 2-win players have a game in hand, but he's also the owner of the same "get out of jail"-card than Alutemu.
Key matches this week: bloodyface vs languagehacker, languagehacker vs Monsanto, justsaiyan vs NoHandsGamer.
Americas' Division B is yet another dictionary definition of a tight contest. Even though Firebat and the LatAm crew are currently residing on the bottom half of the group, no player can yet feel safe as they all have two matches left. Nalguidan has acquired the same safety net than Alutemu and Monsanto, but for all others, the relegation would be a free fall. A dramatic finish incoming.
Key matches this week: Firebat vs Nalguidan, Nalguidan vs Rami94, Empanizado vs Rami94.
The final matches of the Round Robin phase take place next week. Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Come on Firebat!