The first Grandmasters Season of 2021 continues! The pressure is on as players aim to gather some all-important points before the relegations take place next week. You can find everything you need to know below.
Update on Last Week's Controversy
In case you missed the discussion section on last week's result post, HSEsports was investigating an incident regarding the quarterfinal match between xBlyzes and Zhym. The former missed the start of the match by 25 mins, which resulted in a default win to his compatriot and practice partner Zhym. As the latter was in significantly greater danger of getting relegated, some players raised concerns of foul play.
Thanks to Blizzard's peerless communication we still do not know if the investigation is fully concluded, but based on xBlyzes' Twitlonger (in French), he seems to have already gotten a punishment: a fine and a deduction of the two points he would've earned with his top 8 finish (Note: this deduction can already be seen on the points standings on the official website). This decision puts xBlyzes right in the danger zone as Zhym, the highest-ranking player in danger of getting relegated, is only one point behind him.
This Week's Format
This year every week will follow the same tournament format, with only the gameplay format changing.
- Best-of-five Last Hero Standing.
- 4 Dual Elimination groups with top 2 players advancing (only Decider matches streamed on Fridays).
- Top 8 play through a single-elimination bracket to decide the winner.
Players will be gaining points based on their performance, and at the end of the seven-week period, top 8 point earners of each region will advance to Playoffs while the bottom 4 will be relegated from Grandmasters. You can find the current points standings here.
For the entire competition format for 2021, check out the spoiler below.
Quote From Blizzard Weeks 1-7: Weekly Dual Tournaments
During weeks 1-7, players will compete in a Weekly Dual Tournament format, starting each Thursday, to earn placement in the weekend Top 8 Stage. Players will receive points based on total number of wins each week, which will determine final standings before Playoffs.
- All 16 players in each region will compete against each other off-broadcast in Dual Tournament Group play on Thursday.
- On Friday, the 4 Decider Matches will be played to determine who joins the Top 8 per region, live on YouTube.
- The Top 8 players compete in a single-elimination tournament on Saturday, with the Top 4 advancing to Sunday.
- Gameplay format changes every other week:
- Week 1: Conquest
- Week 2: Conquest
- Week 3: Specialist
- Week 4: Specialist
- Week 5: Last Hero Standing
- Week 6: Last Hero Standing
- Week 7: Conquest
Week 8: Playoffs
The Dual Tournaments lead into Week 8 Playoffs, which will qualify one player per region to receive an invite to the World Championship at the end of the year, while four players from each region will be relegated.
- Top 8 players advance to Playoffs.
- Players 9 – 12 are safe from Relegation but are finished with tournament play for the season.
- Bottom 4 players in each region are automatically Relegated.
- The winner of Playoffs from each region are given a chance to compete in the 2021 World Championship. Season 1 champions retain their invites to the World Championship if they are not Relegated in Season 2. Relegated Champions have their invites passed down to the next eligible player, in their region, from Season 1.
Stream Schedule
You can find the starting times of each region's streams below. The schedule is the same each day.
West Coast PDT (UTC-7) | East Coast EDT (UTC-4) | Europe CEST (UTC+2) | Korea KST (UTC+9) | |
| Asia-Pacific | 2:00 | 5:00 | 11:00 | 18:00 |
| Europe | 7:00 | 10:00 | 16:00 | 23:00 |
| Americas | 12:00 | 15:00 | 21:00 | 4:00 |
You can find all the matches, results, and decklists (including the off-stream matches) on the official tournament site.
Asia-Pacific Grandmasters
Alutemu
Bankyugi
Che0nsu
DawN
GivePLZ
Hi3
Shaxy
Surrender
TIZS
Tom60229
Tyler
blitzchung
glory
lambyseries
posesi
Europe Grandmasters
AyRoK
Bozzzton
Bunnyhoppor
Casie
Felkeine
Frenetic
Jarla
Leta
Rdu
Seiko
Swidz
Viper
Warma
Zhym
xBlyzes
Americas Grandmasters
Briarthorn
DreadEye
Eddie
Fled
Fr0zen
Impact
Monsanto
Muzzy
Nalguidan
NoHandsGamer
Rami94
Tincho
killinallday
languagehacker
lunaloveee
Watch Live
You can watch all the action on the official Hearthstone Esports Youtube channel. Don't forget that you should be following the games on Youtube while logged in for those sweet pack drops if you didn't do so during the last four weeks already!
Top 5 Moments with Darroch:
The Curve with Raven:
Hot Takes with TJ and Sottle:
Mull It Over with Jia:
Comments
With only a SINGLE point scored this season (he went 0-2 this week... again), Tyler has clearly been slacking off and it seems he is just there for the weekly cheque. I used to be a fan, but not anymore.
For those that wish to see who plays when:
Eliminated on Thursday, no stream time:
Deciders on Friday:
Straight to Saturday by winning initial group:
If the French guys didn't actually cheat, then that's pretty tough for xBlyzes, but dude.... napping through your match? If you can't wake up with an alarm clock, then just have your roommate slap you in the face with a baguette.
As a reminder, here is the schedule of events and rewards:
Grandmasters Week 1 (April 9 – 11) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packsGrandmasters Week 2 (April 16 – April 18) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *Grandmasters Week 3 (April 23 – April 25) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *Masters Tour Orgrimmar (April 30 – May 2) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packsGrandmasters Week 4 (May 7 – May 9) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *Battlegrounds Brawl: Battle of the Boars (May 12) : 2 Forged in the Barrens packsGrandmasters Week 5 (May 14 – May 16) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *(Those marked with an * are shared rewards, i.e. you can only get 2 Year of the Phoenix packs at most from all those weeks altogether)
Play-offs should be interesting if the mini-set is released that week (Personally, I'm hoping for a June 3rd release date)