Hearthpwn

Week 5 of the 2020 Grandmasters starts tomorrow. 48 players will compete -- including 7 brand new Grandmasters for a total of eight weeks. Prizing for the Season includes $500,000 and of course the right to compete at this year's Hearthstone World Championship. We're into the second week of Round Robin matches after previously completing three weeks of Swiss. This portion of the tournament will last a total of four weeks with each player meeting all other competitors once.

Points totals from the first three weeks were used to split the field into two Divisions per region. The bottom two players in Division B will face automatic relegation. The next two lowest finishers from Division B and the bottom two finishers from Division A will compete in a 4-man Relegation bracket to determine the third contestant to be relegated at the end of the Season.

Featured Match-ups This Week

We've chosen one must watch match-up from each region this week. While the weekend is sure to be packed with action, these are the matches you'll definitely want to make time for!

Gallon vs. justsaiyan - Saturday - 3:00pm PDT

Two of the top tournament performers in the Americas region square off on Saturday. Gallon won last year's Masters Tour: Las Vegas and was the winner of the second stage of this year's Grandmasters. Justsaiyan's resume includes a win at HCT Montreal, a second place finish at HCT Oslo, and 1st place at HCT Americas 2018/19.

Pavel vs. Kolento - Saturday - 11:00am PDT

A former Hearthstone World Champion goes up against a highly respected top-tier opponent. Pavel is the 2016 Hearthstone World Champion and the winner of both the Winter and Summer European Championships in 2017. Kolento is one of the most storied competitors in Hearthstone with top finishes at Dreamhack, StarLadder, HCT, and Global Games.

tom60229 vs. SamuelTsao - Saturday - 9:00am PDT

Two highly regarded players from the Asia-Pacific region will also face off Saturday. Tom60229 is a former Hearthstone World Champion and the winner of Season 2 of the 2019 Grandmasters tournament. SamuelTsao has become one of the most familiar competitive players out of his region with showings in World Championships, HCT events, Masters Tour events, and the Grandmasters.

Format

Weeks 1-3: Swiss/Group Stages

• Each Region will compete in 7 rounds of Swiss off stream earlier in the week.
• The Top 8 finishers from each Region will play in a dual tournament format Friday-Saturday, with the Top-4 being played Sunday.
• Format changes each week:
• Wk. 1: Conquest w/ 1 Ban
• Wk. 2: Four Deck Last Hero Standing w/ 1 Ban
• Wk. 3: Ten Deck Conquest w/ 6 Bans

Week 4-7: Round Robin

• After the first three weeks, players will be split into two divisions per Region based on point accumulations. Division A will consist of the Top 8, while Division B will consist of 9-16.
• The two divisions will compete in Round Robin style play over the four weeks. Standings from this four week period will determine playoff participants.
• Format for the Round Robin will be Five Deck Conquest w/ 1 Ban.

Week 8: Season One Playoffs

• Top 6 from Division A automatically advance to the Playoff portion.
• Top 4 from Division B compete in a "play-in" Round with the winners joining the Division A winners.
• The bottom 3 players from each Region will be relegated from Grandmasters.
• The winner of each Region's Playoff advances to the World Championship.

Standings