Hearthpwn

Season Two of this year's Grandmasters starts tomorrow, Friday the 13th of August. The tournament features a continuation and further adaptation of the revamped format that we saw last season. We have recapped it 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 - August 13th - October 10th
• Prize Pool: $500,000 USD
• Stream Times: Broadcasts begin at 2AM PT/5AM ET/11:00 CEST w/ the Asia-Pacific Region. Followed by the EU Region at 7AM PT/ 10AM ET/ 16:00 CEST. We close the day with the Americas Region starting at 12PM PT/ 3PM ET/ 21:00 CEST.
• Casters: We know that Dan "Frodan" Chou will no longer help host GMs.
• TJ “Azumoqt” Sanders
• Darroch “Darroch” Brown
• Jia “Jia” Dee
• Neil “Lorinda” Bond
• Alex “RavenCasts” Baguley
• Simon “Sottle” Welch

Free Packs

Drops will be returning for Grandmasters Season 2. 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 - United in Stormwind (max 2 packs)
• Weeks 2-7 - Year of the Phoenix (max 2 packs)
• Playoffs - United in Stormwind (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 - Last Hero Standing
• Week 3 - Conquest
• Week 4 - Last Hero Standing
• Week 5 - Conquest
• 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.

The Grandmasters

16 players from each of the three regions will compete. Three will advance to the World Championship, while four from each region face relegation.

There are already 3 Winners from Season 1, who will compete at the World Championship, assuming they don't relegate in Season 2, they are Nalguidan (Americas), Posesi (Asia-Pacific), and Frenetic (Europe).

Americas

Europe

Asia-Pacific