Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021 Announced – New Season Starts On April 9

After recently announcing 2021’s Hearthstone Masters Tour with some notable changes compared to last year, Blizzard is back to share more details about Grandmasters 2021. Hearthstone’s most competitive league is back once again, with its first season of 2021 starting on April 9.

Read more details in the official blog post below:

We’re excited to share details on the next two seasons of Hearthstone Grandmasters! Ahead of Season 1, we’ve made a few changes to the overall format and to the path to qualify for the 2021 World Championship. For the first seven weeks of each season, players will compete in individual Weekly Dual Tournaments (details below) to earn points based on total wins. Following the conclusion of Week 7, players will be ranked based on their total-points-earned to determine if they will advance to the Playoffs, survive to the next season, or be relegated out of Grandmasters. Be sure to catch the start of Season 1, only on YouTube, starting on April 9!

Weeks 1-7: Weekly Dual Tournaments

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.
• 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

Week 8: Playoffs

The Dual Tournaments lead into Week 8 Playoffs, which will qualify one player per region to receive an invite to the World Championship at the end of the year, while four players from each region will be relegated.

• Top 8 players advance to Playoffs.
• Players 9 – 12 are safe from Relegation but are finished with tournament play for the season.
• Bottom 4 players in each region are automatically Relegated.
• The winner of Playoffs from each region are given a chance to compete in the 2021 World Championship. Season 1 champions retain their invites to the World Championship if they are not Relegated in Season 2. Relegated Champions have their invites passed down to the next eligible player, in their region, from Season 1.

Ahead of Season 2, the four open slots per region will be filled by the top points earners from the 2021 Masters Tours. You can follow along with the top players on the new Road to Grandmasters page. Players hoping to earn a spot in Grandmasters and their shot at the World Championship can register for Masters Tour Ironforge Qualifiers on Battlefy. Good luck, have fun, and we’ll see you in the Tavern!

Source