The year 2020 came with many surprises and the gaming industry was not exempted. Earlier this year, Blizzard announced that it has canceled BlizzCon for this year because of the covid-19 pandemic. BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchise including hearthstone. However, all hope is not lost in the Esports industry as Blizzard has announced December 12th — 14th as the date for their final championship round for Grandmasters.
The Grandmasters is the biggest Hearthstone tournament in the world and this year, it will be online. In this article, you will find out everything you should expect from the 2020 Heartstone world championship from the schedule, players, the prize, and how to watch it.
Top eight players from around the world would compete in the tournament for their share of $500,000 and a chance to earn the title of World Champion. In the first stage, the eight players will compete in two groups with four players against the other four. Only four of them would progress from the group stage and then the remaining players would be grouped into a single-elimination bracket to determine the world champion.
The schedule for the initial groups for the tournament is as follows.
Group one:
- The American player from season one would compete against the Chinese player from season two.
- The Asia-Pacific player from season one would compete against the European player from season two.
Group two:
- The Chinese player from season one would compete against the Asia-Pacific player from season two.
- The European player from season one would compete with the American player for season two.
In the single-elimination game, only the best two teams would make it out. Each team must win at least two games. That is, a score of either 2–0 or 2–1 is required while the bottom two are eliminated.
The names of the players and the group they fall into are as follows:
Group one:
- Bloodyface (USA)
- XiaoT (China)
- Jarla (Czech Republic)
- Glory (Asia-Pacific)
Group two:
- Bankyugi (Asia-Pacific)
- Monsanto (Canada)
- SilverName (Russia)
- Syf (China)
According to Blizzard, the event would last from 12th December till 14 December. The first day from start to finish is scheduled as December 12th — 5:00 pm CET, December 13th — 3:00 am CET. The second day from start to finish is scheduled as December 13th — 5:00 pm CET, December 14th, 1:00 am CET.
The eight players would compete for their share of the $500,000 prize pool and no player would go home empty-handed. Here is the breakdown of how the $500,000 prize would be shared among the players. The world champion would go home with $200,000 while the second place would go home with $100,000. The two semifinalists would be awarded $50,000 each and the other four players who do not advance past the group stage would all receive $25,000 each.
The initial schedule was for theWorld Championship to be a live event but it is now fully online. The live broadcast is on the Hearthstone Esports channel on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/HeartstoneEsports.
