Week 2 of the 2021 Grandmasters Season starts tomorrow. The tournament features a drastically revamped format that we've recapped below. 48 players will compete -- including some newly crowned Grandmasters for a total of eight weeks. Prizing for the Season includes $500,000 and of course the right to compete at the World Championship later this year. All the competition can be viewed over on the Hearthstone YouTube Channel.
- Venue: Online
- Stream: the Hearthstone YouTube Channel.
- Dates: Friday, Saturday, Sunday - April 16-18
- Casters:
- Americas: Dan "Frodan" Chou & TJ "Azumo" Sanders
- Asia-Pacific: Jia Dee & Darroch Brown
- Europe: Alexander "Raven" Baguley & Simon "Sottle" Welch
- Prize Pool: $500,000 USD
- Stream Times: Broadcasts begin at 2AM PT/5AM ET/11AM CEST w/ the Asia-Pacific Region.
Free Packs
Drops will be returning for Grandmasters Season 1. Viewers can earn up to six free packs just for watching the action live on YouTube. They will be awarded as follows for watching two hours of the stream. Viewers are required to link their Blizzard and YouTube accounts to claim packs -- directions can be found here.
- Week 1 - Year of the Phoenix (max 2 packs) **Promotion has expired.**
- Weeks 2-7 - Year of the Phoenix (max 2 packs)
- Playoffs - Forged in the Barrens (max 2 packs)
Format
As we mentioned earlier, the format for this year's competition has been revamped. The first seven weeks consist of a rotating format. Players will compete in a weekly Dual Tournament format, beginning each Thursday, to earn placement in the weekend's top-8 tournament. Points will be awarded based on number of wins. Points totals will determine the final standings before the playoffs in Week 8.
- Thursday - Each region competes in an off-broadcast group play tournament.
- Friday - The 4 decider matches are played to determine who makes the Top-8, per region.
- Saturday - Day 1 of the Top-8 single elimination tournament.
- Sunday - The final 4 advance to complete the tournament.
- Rotating Formats:
- 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
The Playoffs - Week 8
The first 7 weeks lead up to the playoffs -- which will qualify one player from each region to compete at the World Championship.
- The top 8 players advance to the playoffs.
- Players 9-12 are eliminated from tournament play, but safe from relegation.
- The bottom 4 players from each region are automatically relegated from the Grandmasters.
- The winner from each region is invited to the World Championship. If an invited player from Season 1 is relegated in Season 2, their invitation is rescinded and given to the next highest finisher.
Standings
The graphic below summarizes prize money and points given for finishing positions each week. We will update with current standings as soon as Blizzard makes the information available.
Oops - forgot about this. Are there any current streams I can watch to claim my packs?
You can watch the streams every weekend the next 6 weeks to get the 2 packs!
I've been watching the tournament at least two hours everytime its live and have gotten 0 packs so far. whats up with that.
You probably haven't connected your Youtube and Blizzard account. But if you have, I recommend you reach out to Blizzard.
It could be 2 packs for each week. Would be great.
Same decks after nerf?
did u guys get first week packs? im still waiting
I am still waiting for it
got the packs when the patch hit
me too
Did not get packs although i did everything correctly. Opened a ticket and got half assed replies. Reported it as a bug along with many other players. Still nothing. Guess i won't be viewboting on behalf of Blizz for 2 packs ever again..
I got my first week packs when the balance patch went live and i also received packs for the second week already (this time as soon as I hit the 2 hours and the 4 hours mark, no 48 hours of waiting)
I mean, if you are such a cool guy, that you have all the Last Year cards - you will get only Barrens cards that you want so badly, cause of Duplicate Protection rule.
So chill, mate! and let us, plebs, enjoy our Year of Phoenix cards in peace :)
Man i was EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED to see BOTH pack were last year packs
What a damn waste of time
Wonder if now we'll have to wait 48 hours after the 7th week ends to get our 2 packs from Drops
I mean, considering how they did it on week 1 it's possible :)
omg please no. I hope we will get our week 2-7 packs at the next tuesday/wednesday at least. (assuming 4h of watchtime this week)