The first Grandmasters season of 2021 drew closer to its end with Week 7 last weekend. While some players battled were reaching for a Playoffs spot, others found themselves in the middle of a relegation fight. You can re-live the action with our spoiler-free post below.
Finalists' Decklists
These were the players that reached the final 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 - che0nsu vs Alan870806: VoD
- Group B Decider - tom60229 vs blitzchung: VoD
- Group C Decider - GivePLZ vs Hi3: VoD
- Group D Decider - lambyseries vs DawN: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- Group A Decider - Warma vs Seiko: VoD
- Group B Decider - Viper vs Jarla: VoD
- Group C Decider - Frenetic vs AyRoK: VoD
- Group D Decider - Leta vs xBlyzes: 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 tom60229: VoD
- Quarterfinal 2 - Alutemu vs lambyseries: VoD
- Quarterfinal 3 - Shaxy vs Alan870806: VoD
- Quarterfinal 4 - Surrender vs GivePLZ: VoD
———- Europe ———-
- Quarterfinal 1 - Bozzzton vs Viper: VoD
- Quarterfinal 2 - Thijs vs AyRoK: VoD
- Quarterfinal 3 - Felkeine vs Warma: VoD
- Quarterfinal 4 - Bunnyhoppor 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
Anduin stayed as the players' most trusted ally for this all important week, although APAC and Europe appreciated Valeera nearly as much. Warrior rounded up the popularity top 3 with a clear margin to the rest. Shaman got companion from Hunter at the no-play club, although Warlock would've also joined the crew if APAC players were to decide. Can the Mini-Set shake things up next week despite the minimal playtest time at the competitors' disposal?
Congratulations are in order for this week's winning trio, but once again we have more important things to discuss, so let's jump right into looking at the relegations without further delay.
The winners of Week 7.
In APAC, Tyler's destiny was already sealed before this week and he kept losing 3-0 as so many weeks before. The second player to fall was the newcomer Hi3, who may still return next season thanks to his current Masters Tour points. A fellow newcomer lambyseries shared the same fate as he narrowly lost to Alutemu, but he seems even more certain to return via re-promotion. Lastly, Posesi's 3-0 victory over tom60229 on Saturday meant that yet another World Champion was forced to leave the competition, the last one remaining from the pre-Grandmasters era.
In Europe, Zhym and Swidz's last places in their respective groups meant that they were relegated regardless of other results. This was a tough result especially for Swidz who won Europe's Week 3 tournament, but was only able to gather 2 additional points from the other six weeks. A third Frenchman joined the group of relegated players as AyRoK, who had struggled throughout the season, took another emotional loss. The final relegation spot was filled when xBlyzes beat Bunnyhoppor on his way to sneaking into the Playoffs despite starting the week as one of the relegation candidates. However, like the APAC duo Hi3 and lambyseries, Bunnyhoppor is still holding onto a re-promotion spot based with his Masters Tour points although it would be hopeful to say he didn't need to perform at Masters Tour Dalaran to keep it.
In Americas, Briarthorn and Impact made it to Friday's Decider matches to keep their hopes alive but were eventually relegated after their respective losses. Tincho shared Swidz's fate of winning a weekly tournament (Week 2) and getting relegated regardless as muzzy managed to reach the final day and grab enough points to not only overtake the newcomer, whose surprise promotion after justsaiyan's retirement did not last long, but to reach the Playoffs as well.
To end things with a positive note, the top 8 of each region secured their well-deserved spots in the regional Playoffs next week, where they will be battling for a spot at the World Championship later this year. To reward the players performing the best during these initial 7 weeks, the top two players from each region will start on the Winners' bracket of their respective groups while the players finishing 7th and 8th will start on the Losers' bracket.
| APAC | Points | Europe | Points | Americas | Points |
| posesi | 17 | Jarla | 19 | NoHandsGamer | 21 |
| blitzchung | 16 | Rdu | 17 | lunaloveee | 19 |
| Alutemu | 16 | Thijs | 17 | Nalguidan | 18 |
| glory | 15 | Warma | 17 | Eddie | 17 |
| Alan870806 | 15 | Bozzzton | 14 | Rami94 | 16 |
| GivePLZ | 14 | Viper | 13 | DreadEye | 14 |
| Shaxy | 14 | xBlyzes | 12 | Fled | 13 |
| Surrender | 13 | Frenetic | 12 | Muzzy | 11 |
| TIZS | 12 | Leta | 12 | killinallday | 11 |
| Bankyugi | 12 | Felkeine | 9 | Monsanto | 11 |
| che0nsu | 10 | Casie | 9 | languagehacker | 10 |
| DawN | 9 | Seiko | 8 | Fr0zen | 9 |
| lambyseries | 9 | Bunnyhoppor | 8 | Tincho | 8 |
| Hi3 | 8 | Swidz | 7 | Briarthorn | 6 |
| tom60229 | 8 | AyRoK | 7 | Impact | 5 |
| tyler | 1 | Zhym | 6 |
The Season 1 of Grandmasters 2021 will conclude next week with Playoffs! Don't forget to tune in!
Comments
Sorry to be the corrections guy, but luna is listed twice in the Americas column. I believe the second instance with 11 points is supposed to be killinallday. Cheers dudes!
That is correct, fixed.
Honestly, and this might just be me, but what's the appeal of watching any of these tournaments after the first week? The game mode might change up sometimes but it's always he same predictable decks every single time. LMK what you guys think.
I think its less about the decks and more about the players. They have fanbases
For newbs like me I try to learn sth of this e.g. how to win as rush Warrior vs Priest
I unironically watched Blitzchung's last hero standing matches to learn how to play Token Druid