Grandmasters circuit is opening with its first 2021 season this weekend. 48 players from around the world will compete in Hearthstone’s competitive series over the course of 8 weeks. Best players from each region will then fight in play-offs, and the winner will qualify for Hearthstone 2021 World Championship.
Find all of the necessary information below!
General Information
- Where: Online Event – YouTube
- When: Every Friday-Sunday, between April 9 and June 6 (exact start times below)
- Players: You can find a full list here.
- Format: Changing every 2 weeks, read more below.
- Prize Pool: Global prizing of $486,000 (USD), split between $64,500 (USD) each tournament for Weeks 1 through 7, and $34,500 (USD) for the playoffs. (GMs are also paid on match by match basis)
- Casters: TJ “Azumoqt” Sanders, Darroch “Darroch” Brown, Dan “Frodan” Chou, Jia “Jia” Dee, Neil “Lorinda” Bond, Alex “RavenCasts” Baguley, and Simon “Sottle” Welch
YouTube Drops – Free Packs!
Update: It might take up to 48h to get your packs, so don’t worry if you have been watching the stream for couple of hours and still don’t have anything! Here’s a full guide for YouTube Drops.
I know that most of you are here for that, so let’s start with it before going for more details on the tournament.
After waiting for this long, drops are finally back for Hearthstone Esports event! Viewers will be able to earn a total of six packs throughout the entire Grandmasters 2021 Season 1. However, the packs are spread and you can’t earn them all at once:
- Grandmasters Week 1: 2x Year of the Phoenix Pack
- Grandmasters Weeks 2 – 7: 2x Year of the Phoenix Pack
- Grandmasters Playoffs: 2x Forged in the Barrens Pack
During each of those periods, watch official streams for 2 hours to get your first pack, and 2 more hours (4 in total) to get the second one. Your time is cumulative, which is especially useful during the second period. For example, between Week 2 and 7, you might watch it only for an hour each week and you will still get your packs.
But first, in order to be eligible, you need to link your Battle.net account to YouTube account. Be sure to do it before you start watching Grandmasters for the drops. You also have to watch the stream through a web browser or the official mobile YouTube app – any third-party apps, TV apps etc. won’t work.
Learn more here, including how to connect your Battle.net and YouTube accounts.
Format
During weeks 1-7, players will compete in a Weekly Dual Tournament format, starting each Thursday, to earn placement in the weekend Top 8 Stage. Players will receive points based on total number of wins each week, which will determine final standings before Playoffs.
- All 16 players in each region will compete against each other off-broadcast in Dual Tournament Group play on Thursday.
- Group play will be randomized each week. With only 15 players in Americas, one player will randomly receive a Bye in their first Thursday match. No player can receive the Bye more than once.
- On Friday, the 4 Decider Matches will be played to determine who joins the Top 8 per region, live on YouTube.
- The Top 8 players compete in a single-elimination tournament on Saturday, with the Top 4 advancing to Sunday.
- Gameplay format changes every other week:
- 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
- Playoffs: Conquest
Playoff winners from each region will be qualified to Hearthstone 2021 World Championship, happening later this year!
Where to Watch
Here’s a full list of streams in different languages. Remember that a while ago, Blizzard has moved all of their esports to YouTube. It means that there will be no Twitch broadcast.
- English (Hearthstone)
- English (HearthstoneEsports)
- Japanese
- Korean
- Mandarin
- Portuguese (LATAM)
- Spanish (LATAM)
Each day will start with Asia-Pacific, then Europe, and finally Americas Grandmasters. Keep in mind that if the earlier games take longer, the later ones might get delayed, which means that while the starting time for Asia-Pacific is usually correct, Europe and especially Americas might get delayed. So if you want to watch a specific match, you might have to check out periodically. Still, here are rough starting times for each region:
- Asia-Pacific: 2 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. CEST / 6 p.m. KST
- Europe: 7:00 a.m. PDT / 4:00 p.m. CEST / 11:00 p.m. KST
- Americas: 12 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. CEST / 4 a.m. KST
More Information
If you want to learn more about the event, visit the official tournament page!
Got my Youtube account linked – question. If i am watching the Youtube stream through the desktop Battle.net app, will that count or does it have to be desktop Youtube?
I still haven’t gotten my packs.. anyone still having this issue?
Day 4… Still no signal about the packs…
still on 4/13
I have not recieved any packs even though I watched way over 4hrs. Anyone else not get them?
not yet as of today. You?
Even with the drops. The viewer amount of YT still very low. Very very low. LMAO.
When will they learn to change this back to Twitch again, and just cancel the ‘colaboration’ with YT.
I mean, the ‘promises of drops’, since it’s been 48 hours and I haven’t get any pack yet.
this is why I hate the uncertainty of drops from newly created feature.
I assume I can watch the tournament for any region and still get the drops. Let me know otherwise.
still no drop.
I think the drop function is not working.
The drops can take up to 48 hours to arrive
Exactly, when pack arrive in youtube? I have reach more than 4 hour but still nothing… and yes i have connect the account.
Me too, I hope it’s not bugged like the rest of the game
Good question, I should have mine too, but I still don’t have them. I don’t see any indicator that I got them, unlike Twitch, where I get a notification…
So I’m not sure. It’s the first time I’m using YouTube drops functionality. We’ll see.
They have started saying on the chat that it will take up to 48 hours for the drops to be received
Okay, so then we should get the packs by next week I hope.
Good to know, I was watching it when working and I don’t read chat. I’ll post about it on social media so people know.
48 hours by the last direct stream i think, https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/z6/Z6752S3TQH711617247865823.pdf point 5
I still don’t get it. So the earliest stream will be at 2 AM PDT, 9th April?
Man, I need to get used to this youtube drops, since there’s no telling how long have I watched or have I got the drops or not.
*confused screaming*
Yay drops !