The Round Robin matches concluded with Week 7 of Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 and with that six players had to say goodbye to the elite competition. 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.
Ryvius' Pure Paladin
Ryvius was the only player this week to bring Paladin, as he continued to put his faith in the light despite being in big danger of getting relegated. He was able to get a relatively easy win on the first try against posesi's Rogue but struggled against Alutemu in some very close matches, requiring the maximum three tries before getting over the line.
Jarla's Galakrond Warlock
The newest piece in the anti-Bomb Warrior puzzle, which also contains the already established Warrior, Priest, and Druid. Jarla did lose to Casie's Demon Hunter, but the deck performed in the matches it needed to, getting two wins against Bomb Warriors in a successful counter strategy.
Firebat's Highlander Hunter
Firebat was once again the only player to bring Highlander Hunter in his lineup, and the only player to even bring Hunter in the Americas. The gamble didn't pay off as ETC beat the Hunter twice before also winning the Demon Hunter mirror, thus relegating Firebat from Grandmasters.
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. Final standings within each Division can be found in spoilers below.
Discussion
Having spent two weeks at the top of the popularity charts, the Guardian Animals nerf successfully sank Druid to sixth place with 15 picks, three of which were GA-less Heal Druids. Mage rose back to power with 37 picks (all Tempo after the downfall of Turtle), but Demon Hunters and Warrior were not far behind, both getting 36 picks.
Warlock was back on the menu with one player from each region (Alan870806, Jarla, and languagehacker) bringing an anti-Bomb Warrior Galakrond Warlock. Six Hunters were part of the weekend with five Aggro Hunters from APAC and a Highlander Hunter from Firebat, and Ryvius was still sporting a Paladin in his lineup. No Shamans were seen, as usual.
Asia-Pacific
It was a Season of struggles for Ryvius, who's known for bringing somewhat unconventional lineups on a weekly basis. He finished in the bottom 3 already in the Swiss phase, and fell even further down during the Round Robin matches, being unable to avoid the direct relegation despite winning his final match as his tiebreakers were not good enough.
A fellow struggler all the way from the start of the Season, kin0531 took his fate into his own hands by beating Alutemu in his first match of the week. His fight for survival lasted all the way to game 5 against TIZS on Sunday, where he was narrowly defeated. As his tiebreakers, much like Ryvius', were inferior to Alutemu's, his year-long stay in Grandmasters came to an end.
Europe
Europe seems to be cursed. Just like last year, when Feno won the Season 1 but was relegated on tiebreakers during Season 2, SilverName took a rather unexpected victory last Season only to finish in the auto-relegating bottom 2 spots. His hopes of surviving were silm (if not non-existent) already at the beginning of the week, and earlier results already confirmed his exit before his Sunday match even started. He could still get his one last hurrah in the World Championship in December.
Another, more inconsistent, curse faced BoarControl, who was the last remaining European T1 player after Feno and Orange were relegated last year. He won his first and his last match of the Division, but suffered a five-match loss streak in the middle, which left him needing other results to go his way. As AyRoK beat Warma on Saturday, he also relegated BoarControl from Grandmasters.
Americas
Empanizado was one of the newly promoted Grandmasters of the year, and won his debut week's Swiss portion tournament right away. After that, his results faded a bit until he once again surged up to finish in the top 4 in Season 1. This Season, however, was more consistently a struggle, without any performance peaks. Like in other regions, two wins in Division B weren't enough to keep him in the competition any longer.
Yet another former World Champion has fallen, as Firebat was also left with only two wins in his seven matches. He entered the all-important weekend with an unusual lineup and paid the price as he failed to win a single game. His relegation-sealing defeat to ETC was swiftly followed by his announcement of retiring from competitive Hearthstone.
The relegated players.
The playoffs and relegation matches will take place in the final week of Grandmasters 2020. Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Firebat's bring is weird... even though Highlander hunter is good right now at high ranks, it is much different version of it that is good, it is more of a face hunter that decided that zephrys and brann are worth it nowadays...
Silvername followed in Feno's footsteps afterall...
I"m super glad to see a Warlock deck do well against Bomb Warrior... especially given that it draws a lot as well