Season 2 of Grandmasters 2020 concluded with final Playoffs and Relegations week. The weekend was full of emotion as three champions were crowned and three more players were relegated from the elite competition. You can re-live the action with our spoiler-free post below.
Top 2 Decklists
The players who made it into their regional Finals, alongside with their decklists, can be found within the spoiler below.
VoDs
Here are the VoDs from the three days of competition. Links to individual match VoDs have been included in spoilers below each video.
Day 1:
——— Asia-Pacific ———
- glory vs Bankyugi: VoD
- Surrender vs Match 1 Winner: VoD
- Alan870806 vs Match 1 Loser: VoD
- Decider - Match 2 Loser vs Match 3 Winner: VoD
- Relegation - Tyler vs DawN: VoD
——— Europe ———
- Casie vs xBlyzes: VoD
- Jarla vs Match 1 Winner: VoD
- Felkeine vs Match 1 Loser: VoD
- Decider - Match 2 Loser vs Match 3 Winner: VoD
- Relegation - Bunnyhoppor vs Viper: Part 1/ Part 2
——— Americas ———
Day 2:
——— Asia-Pacific ———
- blitzchung vs che0nsu: VoD
- tom60229 vs Match 1 Winner: VoD
- posesi vs Match 1 Loser: VoD
- Decider - Match 2 Loser vs Match 3 Winner: VoD
- Relegation - Flurry vs 1st Relegation Match Loser: VoD
——— Europe ———
- Seiko vs Thijs: VoD
- Rdu vs Match 1 Winner: VoD
- Bozzzton vs Match 1 Loser: VoD
- Decider - Match 2 Loser vs Match 3 Winner: VoD
- Relegation - AyRoK vs 1st Relegation Match Loser: VoD
——— Americas ———
Day 3:
- Asia-Pacific Relegation Final: VoD
- Asia-Pacific Semifinal #1: VoD
- Asia-Pacific Semifinal #2: VoD
- Asia-Pacific Finals: VoD
- Europe Relegation Final: VoD
- Europe Semifinal #1: VoD
- Europe Semifinal #2: Part 1 / Part 2
- Europe Finals: VoD
- Americas Relegation Final: VoD
- Americas Semifinal #1: VoD
- Americas Semifinal #2: VoD
- Americas Finals: VoD
Results
The results in full, including the Division B pre-Playoffs matches, can be found from the official tournament site.
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Relegation
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Relegation
Group A
Group B
Top 4
Relegation
Discussion
No major surprises in deck choices for the all-important weekend. Mage and Demon Hunter were leading the way, closely followed by Warrior and Rogue. Both Warlock and Paladin saw some play (two players each), while Hunter and Shaman were left without any picks.
Bankyugi started his first Season in the Grandmasters by winning the week's mini-tournament, and he was able to replicate that success at a more important moment as well. In the semifinals he took down che0nsu, who had been able to turn his horribly started Round Robin phase (0-4 after two weeks) into a top 4 finish, before facing against the former World Champion himself. After a hard-fought series, Bankyugi was able to beat tom60229 in the deciding Mage mirror, and become the first Thai player to reach the World Championship.
Encouraged by his lineup's performance last week, Jarla decided to bring the same Bomb Warrior counter decks this week as well. Only two players in Europe did not bring Warrior, and Jarla naturally had to face both during his run to the final. He had to go into distance against xBlyzes but managed to take a 3-2 victory and a semifinal spot, before beating Seiko in a gruelingly long but impressively played 3-0 sweep against Seiko. He at last found a Bomb Warrior to prey on in the final as Thijs, who had been unable to prepare optimally due to spending some time in the hospital in the week and yet impressively reached the top 2, fell victim to his counter lineup.
Monsanto was the last person to qualify to Division A, and also the last person to qualify to the Playoffs from the Division, but he didn't let that hold him back as he battled his way through to the final with a series of long matches. There he faced ETC, who had just become the only Division B player to reach the regional final by beating muzzy in the semifinals. The final was yet another five-game long match but eventually Monsanto emerged triumphant. Despite his loss, ETC can retire from Grandmasters with his head held high after an impressive season.
The players we'll be seeing in the World Championship later this year.
Despite reaching a positive winrate in Division B (4-3), Flurry found himself in the relegation bracket as his tiebreakers were the worst out of the three 4-win players. The format was familiar to him from last season, when he ended up playing through all three relegation matches before finally earning safety for another season. This time, however, he only got two chances and agonizingly lost them both with narrow margins, which meant that he had to bid farewell to the competition.
Warma shared a similar fate as he seemed destined for safety before losing to the relegation strugglers BoarControl and AyRoK on the last week of Round Robin, not only dooming him to the relegation bracket but also giving him just one shot of getting out of trouble. That chance was not enough as AyRoK was again triumphant against his compatriot, giving the worst possible end to Warma's first GM Season. However, depending on how Blizzard's rules should be interpreted, the very victory that promoted Warma might end up gaining him a swift re-promotion (also depending on the results of the last Masters Tour event of the year).
Out of all relegations of Season 2, this has to be the most surprising. Even though justsaiyan had to face some experienced competitors in bloodyface and Nalguidan along his way down the relegation bracket, his three-match loss streak that cost him his place in Grandmasters* was still an unexpected outcome. Despite the result, he was able to see the funny side of things as he had poked fun of Americas' power level not too long ago.
(*except that he's very unlikely to get relegated unless he chooses to leave the competition: he's the current frontrunner among Americas' promotion candidates.)
The esports year continues in two weeks with the last Masters Tour event of 2020. Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Was actually pretty sad to see justsaiyan go, but then I read that his earnings are high enough to make a comeback anyway.
Its a pretty rough season, especially for europe where big names were up for relegation. Was actually thinking that viper's going to get off, but glad to know that both he and bunny would still be in another season.
Of course fan favourites boarcontrol and firebat got off. Still sad that firebats given up competing, but it was a long time coming anyway. Maybe he would consider casting, which honestly he's pretty good at.
This season seems "off" to me.
Just curious, when does the prize earning reset? Is it yearly?
Blizzard hasn't published the official rules for next year yet but I'd expect them to reset it yearly. I also expected the earnings to reset upon promotion but that might not be the case.
Thijs was admitted to hospital this week, he played this weekend from hospital (it seems) without using cam and did not manage to submit new decks and played the same as last week.