The fourth Masters Tour online competition of the year - themed after the faraway city of Silvermoon where Blood Elves hail from - has arrived rather fashionably late. For those of you well versed in the modern lore of Azeroth, or having fond memories of the stunning vistas that greeted us while visiting there during our early World of Warcraft MMO journeys, the location should be more than familiar. But to somebody mainly experiencing this world through Hearthstone's very specific lenses - perhaps not so much. Just like Orgrimmar before it, its usual region loyalties tend to fall with the Horde.
It's quite fitting then that the Qualifiers period for Silvermoon itself (running from June 3 to July 18) spanned the second half of Forged in the Barrens expansion. And that's where we will step back for a moment. And yes, since the actual associated Masters Tour event is only happening now in late August with another expansion having already been released, we are even further detached from the current timeline. That's the curious Hearthstone Esports schedule for you, something that shouldn't be too surprising anymore if you've been following along this year.
The roads leading to Silvermoon were full of obstacles, as expected. Most participants had to reach very specific goals in order to earn their entry rights: from securing top ladder finishes to battling it through the ever demanding Qualifiers. Only the chosen few (Grandmasters and top performers from preceding tournaments within the Masters Tour circuit) could count on receiving those highly coveted direct invitations.
Into the Wailing Caverns
Unless you are a passionate fan of Hearthstone Esports or even an occasional tournament participant, the world of such qualifications might seem rather strange. Players that do take part - from relative unknowns to a number of recognizable names - still tend to make their impact on the competitive Hearthstone scene as a whole. And sometimes even help inspire those deck choices you might've seen on Standard ladder. So let's take a closer look back at what's been going on during the time period where 120 Silvermoon Qualifiers took place over on the Battlefy platform.
It began just right as the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set for the Barrens expansion saw the light of day. So everyone embraced their Mutanus the Devourer as the ultimate card tech of choice. Archdruid Naralex as well, just to a lesser extent. Primal Dungeoneer and Wailing Vapor gave all the firepower to Elemental Shaman as we know it. Deathrattle Demon Hunter got a staple addition with Felrattler. Warriors tried to do something with Kresh, Lord of Turtling, while Druids put their hopes in Lady Anacondra.
There wasn't anything terribly impactful besides that (we couldn't yet know how "bannable" Stealer of Souls might become), especially when classes like Mage got useless 'frozen' synergies and Paladin a forgettable selection of cards. But since that latter class was still being viewed as too strong, it was also treated with a couple of nerfs. We also took a week off for Masters Tour Dalaran and saw the arrival of Flightmaster Dungar - not that it made any impact on the final qualifying weeks. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful meta.
Go See The Sunwell
Naturally, the Masters Tour event during this weekend is going to be different from its respective Silvermoon Qualifiers, as we are now firmly in United in Stormwind meta. New decks, new Questlines, loved or hated combo interactions and off-board battles. It shows us how quickly things can change. Somebody being proficient with certain lineups a couple months ago might not feel nearly as comfortable nowadays.
Currently we barely even see one of the most common Qualifiers deck which was leading towards Silvermoon - that is one famous Rush Warrior. Interestingly enough, the other popular archetype from that era - Tempo Rogue - started seeing some play again, with pretty much no new cards. And the same could be said for Lady Anacondra Druids. So perhaps there is going to be at least some sort of overlap between then and now.
As you can see on the graph above, the current Qualifiers system is so far ahead that we are already reaching the end of tournaments for Masters Tour Stormwind - even though we are not going to have the chance to fully delve into that one until the end of October. It can be quite confusing to keep track of all these dates. And that's not everything - as far as this year is concerned, the Silvermoon Qualifiers were actually the last time we had this "earn 4x top 8 finishes" rule in effect. There is a slightly different system in place now, more focused on the general winrates.
So who made it in for the ongoing Silvermoon Masters Tour just by doing very well in these small tournaments of the past couple months? Let's have a look at the usual suspects.
Silvermoon Visitors
It seems like the man always makes the news - and so the story continues for Orange's hopeful supporters. This time he actually meant to take it easy and avoid Qualifiers alltogether (it's a grindy stressful system that can burn out a person), but just couldn't resist giving it a go. Turns out the stars aligned once again.
The very first Qualifiers victory has actually belonged to another familiar name: okasinnsuke. Even earning that special shoutout from the official HS Esports account:
Quote From HSesports Congrats to @okasinnsuke_hs, who has been doing great, winning a #MastersTourSilvermoon invite on his 1st attempt
But wait, isn't okasinnsuke actually an APAC Grandmaster now who would get a default direct invite anyway? That is indeed the case, but because Masters Tour Dalaran and thus the final point calculations for season 2 of GMs only took place after June 18-20, this wasn't yet certain at the time. In short - the usual mess HS Esports gets into by having its Qualifiers so detached in time from their respective Masters Tours (something always worth pointing out). For what it's worth, that invite was just passed down to somebody else later on.
If you thought that might've been the only weird situation emerging from this particular set of Qualifiers - you should know better by now. Several former Grandmasters actually went on to win their respective tournaments and secure MT spots, only to later find out that... their season 1 GM presence granted them a free pass to Silvermoon anyway. Kind of messy, on top of poor official communication. At least that confusion seems to have been resolved, and the invites were then given to deserving people who had originally ended up as runner-ups. If there was one funny upside to this entire situation, it would've been that precious tweet by Ayrok as he was heading back into the grind not knowing what awaits.
Official Twitter shoutouts continued, this time for a known old-timer trying to make it back into Grandmasters:
Quote From HSesports Test your skills and become an esports star!
Congrats to @ryvius_hs, who has been doing a good job and won a #MastersTourSilvermoon invite on his 1st attempt
In a twist of fate, D0nkey went one step further this time and secured a firm qualification (while referencing the lineup of another successful contender, Norwis) - and that's in addition to gathering all the relevant data for his own website plus helping out Vicious Syndicate.
This time around, Nayara Sylvestre didn't have to aim for the usual 4x top 8 finishes, as third time was the charm. We also witnessed the arrival of the other two MT stalwarts from that region, with Rase and Pascoa making it in.
A handful of players who made a big splash during the recent DreamHack Beyond's featured Three-Headed Dragon Challenge series of tournaments have also secured their Qualifier spots along the way - which makes it very fitting. Hypnos was the EU Dreamhack runner-up, while Jimon won the APAC one. UnholyMurloc and Mikolop both made top 8 for Americas Dreamhack.
As for the final HS Esports highlight:
Quote From HSesports Qualifiers in Silvermoon City are over! To get to the top you need to be persistent and @1danProK knows that very well! Congratulations for never giving up and securing a winners' invite & an impressive 63% Win Rate!See you in the city again by the end of August! #HSEsports
If you follow some of the less known streamers, you might've been glad to learn that one Goofy Ronak showed how it's done. Persistent competitor Faeli has thankfully made it by collecting 4x top 8s, which always takes a good deal of effort. Silvors, Tredsred, Maverick, and Athanas took the same route.
While Dizdemon qualified through winning an early Qualifier, NPH Pasca had this juicy tidbit to share:
are the only players to have played in all 12 @HSesports Masters Tours so far without ever being in Grandmasters.
@Furyhunterhs, 
@Maverick_HS, 
@MegaGliscor_HS, 
@DeadDrawHS, 
SNJing and 
@DizdemonHS
That kind of consistency and determination is certainly impressive.
As always, there are still even more names out there that would be worthy of at least mention - they might not be particularly known to Hearthstone players who don't follow closely or participate in the lower echelons of the competitive scene, but they all have potential to make it far in a Masters Tour. Wrapping up, there are also a few regulars we're not going to see during this weekend - to only mention Paradox, TheTeacher, and Reliquary - yet it's certain they will be trying to come back with a vengeance for the next round of competition.
That Was a Curious Decklist
While the decks from that past Wailing Caverns meta have relatively little relevance to what's being played now (except a couple of notable examples that were mentioned above), we could always take a casual stroll down the memory lane to point out certain trends or unique takes that helped those competitors secure their Qualifier spots. One might always find some interesting player that's worth keeping tabs on. Or if you'd simply like to remember how it was to fight for the board in a more back-and-forth manner.
For example Orange going all the way with what was known as Jambre Druid was certainly worthy of special headlines:
Good ol' Face Hunter seems to be there for most every Qualifiers meta. Back then Cult Neophyte wasn't as common, and it was always nice to see Ace Hunter Kreen doing the good work.
Back when everyone was making fun of Warlock's weaknesses against any class that wasn't Priest and nobody dreamed of the untold power of The Demon Seed, some still put their faith in Tickatus to be rewarded.
We might've been all about Rush Warrior back in the day, with nearly identical lists propagating everywhere - but then folks like Jimon secured their success with a far more methodical approach.
This one probably brings back nightmares from the recent period where Control Priest was what everyone feared and everyone banned. Most lists involved N'Zoth, God of the Deep and friends, but Faeli's was among the more inventive takes. So he gets at least a partial pass.
Remember that Rogue deck that almost always stayed the same throughout the various Barrens metagames? It was just as common through many lineups qualifying for Silvermoon. And maybe we will even see it resurface again for the coming months in Stormwind.
Useful Resources
For anyone wishing to further explore on their own, there are several valuable sources that help us keep an eye on all relevant developments within the competitive Hearthstone scene:
- Twitter, where people like tireless NPH Pasca offer tons of valuable updates, and Paradox covers Masters Tour Qualifiers Metas
- Off Curve website, showcasing winners, Top 8s, bans and everything else across neatly arranged tables
- d0nkey.top, as advertised by many for deck codes and relevant Masters Tour data; even often linked to by HSEsports
It's a wealth of options available for just about anyone with enough patience and interest to dig through everything of note. In that regard, D0nkey also had some extra information to share about the entirety of Silvermoon Qualifiers: if you ever wondered about the average number of players or game durations per region, it's worth taking a look.
Have a Good Time in Silvermoon
Hopefully the current event will still prove to be a memorable one, and not be all about Warlock domination. Even if you don't particularly enjoy playing within the Standard meta as it is now, surprisingly it can be a lot more watchable - give it a chance and see if that's true for yourselves. At least you won't have to personally suffer from any deadly combos!
As usual, we will check back in a few days to see who will have managed to climb all the way this time and earn the top honors. We already know to expect a couple nerfs for one particular class after this Masters Tour concludes; now it's a matter of finding out just how much its presumably overpowered status is justified once everything is said and done.
Have you tried your own luck with any of the Qualifiers, or intend to sometime? Know somebody who might have? Any particular favorite players or lineups that stood out to you? And will you also be watching their efforts closely in this ongoing Masters Tour Silvermoon struggle? Let us know your thoughts!
Comments
Great overview as always Aesan! Although it's weird looking at those decklists from months ago trying to figure out how weird they actually were, lol
Thank you (as always)! And hah, yeah - it's such a weird sensation trying to recall the metagame as it was over a specific time period, and then see what stood out on top of that. I keep hoping they come up with a better schedule for the next year, for a better overlap between Qualifiers and their corresponding Masters Tours. Would make it easier for that handful of us who care.