The first Grandmasters season of 2021 continued with Week 4 last weekend as 48 players battled in the Specialist format to gather some all-important points to reach the Playoffs. You can re-live the action with our spoiler-free post below.
Top 4 Decklists
These were the players that reached the final day in each region and the decks they brought this week.
VoDs
Here are the links to individual match VoDs in spoilers below.
Day 1 - Initial Group Decider Matches
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
- Group A Decider - glory vs Shaxy: VoD
- Group B Decider - che0nsu vs DawN: VoD
- Group C Decider - Alutemu vs Alan870806: VoD
- Group D Decider - GivePLZ vs Surrender: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- Group A Decider - Leta vs Bozzzton: VoD
- Group B Decider - Jarla vs AyRoK: VoD
- Group C Decider - xBlyzes vs Frenetic: VoD
- Group D Decider - Swidz vs Rdu: VoD
———- Americas ———-
Day 2 - Quarterfinals
The spoiler below uses results from Day 1 games in naming matchups, so watch those first if you want no spoilers!
———- Asia-Pacific ———-
- Quarterfinal 1 - posesi vs che0nsu: VoD
- Quarterfinal 2 - blitzchung vs GivePLZ: VoD
- Quarterfinal 3 - TIZS vs Shaxy: VoD
- Quarterfinal 4 - Bankyugi vs Alan870806: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- Quarterfinal 1 - Zhym vs Jarla: VoD
- Quarterfinal 2 - Thijs vs Rdu: VoD
- Quarterfinal 3 - Warma vs Bozzzton: VoD
- Quarterfinal 4 - Seiko vs xBlyzes: VoD
———- Americas ———-
Day 3 - Semifinals and Finals
Results
The results in full, including the preceding off-stream games, can be found here.
Discussion
The upcoming 15 card changes are very welcome as things are getting stale in competitive Hearthstone. This week saw the players bring 18 Mages and 17 Priests, with the other classes combined reaching only 12 picks. In addition to the never-played Shaman, Demon Hunter, Paladin, and Rogue were also left out of the action this week. Each region brought only 4 different classes which meant that mirror matches were common, especially in the Mage-infested Europe where seven out of the nine Mage players made it to top 8.
While APAC had also heard the call of Mage and Priest, it was blitzchung and his Token Druid that once again took the top spot, making his overall tally from the two Specialist weeks a clean 10-0. Shaxy made a back-to-back finals appearance as well but just like his OTK Demon Hunter last week, his Lunacy Mage lost to the power of Nature.
Europe was all about Mages. After countless Incanter's Flows and Decks of Lunacy had been played, Rdu emerged victorious and rose to the top 3 in points standings. Warlock was the surprise package in Americas where 2/3 players bringing it found themselves in top 4, while the same number for Priests was 1/8. However, the ultimate victory went to a Mage as Nalguidan knocked out both Warlocks in top 4.
The winners of Week 4.
We've just crossed the halfway line of the season, so here's another quick look at the top and bottom of the points standings. Tyler better be good at Last Hero Standing or he could be in real trouble.
| APAC | Points | Europe | Points | Americas | Points |
| blitzchung | 13 | Jarla | 12 | NoHandsGamer | 12 |
| GivePLZ | 10 | Thijs | 11 | Rami94 | 11 |
| Alutemu | 10 | Rdu | 11 | Nalguidan | 10 |
| Shaxy | 10 | Warma | 10 | lunaloveee | 10 |
| … | … | … | … | … | … |
| DawN | 4 | Felkeine | 4 | Fled & muzzy | 6 |
| Hi3 | 4 | Frenetic | 4 | languagehacker | 5 |
| tom60229 | 4 | Bunnyhoppor | 3 | killinallday | 3 |
| lambyseries | 3 | Zhym | 3 | Briarthorn | 3 |
| tyler | 1 | AyRoK | 2 | Impact | 2 |
You can find the full standings on the official tournament site (not yet updated with Week 4 results at the time of writing).
Grandmasters will continue next week with another format change - time for Last Hero Standing! Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Are free packs not given on specialist weekends ? I ve got them for watching the other formats but not on both specialist broadcasts. I haven't found any information about it. Can anyone assist me ?
If you already got two packs during week 2, you won't be getting more until the Playoffs. They do not refresh every week.
Thanks
Didn't watch much this weekend, because Specialist is the most boring format ever conceived, but it's nice to see Blitzchung's and Rami's off-meta deck choices being rewarded with a lot of points. Also big props to Rdu for once again showing the world that he's more than just a malding battlegrounds player.
In terms of point standings, APAC is the big surprise here, with Glory and Surrender both not being in top 4. Also, Tyler should honestly be ashamed of himself for the absolute lack of effort he's putting into his preparation and performance. I understand that he prefers being a battlegrounds player now, but if he's no longer interested in Constructed he should've done a Justsaiyan and retired instead of occupying a spot belonging to a more deserving player just for the easy paycheck. In EU, it'svery surprising to see Warma in top 4 after his abysmal showing last season, he's really growing into his role as a GM. I hope that Frenetic manages to get himself out of relegation range, mainly because else he would automatically get promoted back into GM. It's already unfair enough how hard it is to get into GM as a European player without there basically being one less promotion slot. In America's I really hope Monsanto manages to make play-offs.
Anyway, the coming two weeks should be very interesting. LHS is the most skill-testing format, which will be a great change from the worst format we've had for the last two weeks. I expect the veteran players who already have a lot of experience in the format, like Thijs, to do relatively well. Hopefully the balance changes will also shake things up a bit, although I feel bad for the GMs that they get very little preparation time with it again.
I would like to point out that Blizzard developed the current tournament structure in cooperation with the Grandmaster players, and they all said that they were OK with Specialist as long as it wasn't the only format for the season. So calling it "the worst" and "the most boring" format is very subjective.
Personally, I like the addition of a sideboard, and the various ways the players are using it: as intended (to adjust to their opponent), but also as a red herring or even a psychological deterrent. This gives us some insight into their thought process and personality, which I find fascinating.
It's also interesting to see how the different regions reacted -- I don't think the differences would be quite so apparent with another format.
Objectively, it's also led to some of the shortest matches ever at this level; blitzchung and shaxy played a full 3-game match in about 15 minutes, which is probably a record.
What is everyone talking about, there is no problem with mage </sarcasm>
It's only fair. Mage is the only class that can't win by playing Crabrider on 2, so they have Incanter's Flow instead :^)
Perfectly balanced, like all things should be.