Blizzard has decided to make some changes to preserve the long-term sustainability of the Hearthstone competitive scene and make it more interesting. The game, which has a worldwide fan base, is becoming a place where anyone can participate in tournaments. More awaits us in 2022, including a much more interesting World Championship, upcoming seasonal Masters Tours, and Battlegrounds events.
The company not only announced new tournaments but also shared the 2022 tournament prizes.
World Championship
Blizzard wants to make it much easier for all players around the world to access the World Championship in 2022. Stating that this question is often voiced by the community, the company seems to understand how impossible it is sometimes for even the best Hearthstone players to participate in the tournament. With the changes that will come in 2022, it is aimed to solve this problem.
The top 16 players from the hall of champions will fight for the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool. From now on, everyone will be able to participate in the championship, not just the players who are GrandMasters. Among the players who will participate in the world championship throughout the year, 4 players from the GrandMaster rankings, 4 players from the China region, and finally the best 8 players who participated in the Master Tours will have the chance to become the world champion.
We will see together how all these changes will affect the 2022 World Championship.
Master Tours & Masters Seasonal Championships
Blizzard is ramping up the competition in the esports scene in 2022 with its new tournament series called the Masters Tour. A total of 150 players from the Leaderboard will be invited to this event and will be played over 3 weekends. Players will constantly rise with the matches they win and fight for the Master Season championship ticket.
Players will compete in 6 Masters Tours in total, and the players ranked in the first 3 Tours will qualify for the Masters Summer Championship, and the players ranked in the last 3 Tours will qualify for the Masters Fall Championship. The top 16 players of each Tour and the 13 players who have won the most matches overall will compete for the World Championship ticket in the Masters Seasonal tournaments. Additionally, players will compete for a prize pool of $50,000 per event. Players will be able to check their progress on the updated Masters Tour Points page.
The first Masters Tour of the 2022 season will take place on February 18-20. The company stated that more information will be announced later.
If you want to participate in this tournament, check the things below!
- Win one of 60 online Masters Qualifiers between January 7 and January 23 on Battlefy.
- Have a Top 50-win rate over 10 Qualifiers without winning.
- Top 32 finishers at Masters Tour Undercity that don’t already have an invite.
- Place Top 50 Legend on the in-game Ladder in January within Americas, Asia-Pacific, or Europe (see official Masters Qualifiers rules for details).
- Be a Hearthstone Grandmaster.
All 2022 Masters Tours will be held as online-only tournaments. All 2022 Masters Rounds will be run as online-only tournaments. But Blizzard is preparing to meet the audience with a much bigger event such as the Masters Seasonal Champions. The bad news is that due to the pandemic, the company does not know what to do about it. The company said that they will share more precise information on this subject in the coming days.
Grandmasters
While it was initially thought that the Grandmasters represented the best players, over time it became clear that this was not so true. Especially in the last two years, it has been highly criticized that players who have only reached these levels have the chance to show themselves in tournaments. Blizzard will also be bored with this situation, so it does what it knows best and starts trying a new system. Grandmasters will compete in two final seasons next year.
The first season will take place in February and March. In total, 48 Grandmasters will compete for 4 weeks, and the winner of each region will advance to the 2022 World Championship. The remaining players will try their luck in the next tournament, while the top 4 players from each region will be qualified to compete in the second season.
They will fight for the final World Championship ticket!
GrandMasters: Last Call will be the second season. The top 4 players in their region from the first season, the top 4 on the Masters Tours Leaderboards, and the top 4 players from the first three and last three Masters Tours will form a global player group of 16. These players will compete for 4 weeks for the final world championship ticket. Blizzard has stated that it will reveal more information regarding the GrandMasters seasons as we approach February.
Battlegrounds
The brand new Battlegrounds: Lobby Legends system, completely different from the competitive scene, was introduced. Players will be able to compete for a prize pool spread over one-time events with a total prize of $500,000. Even if Lobby Legends looks new, I’m sure it will improve with the feedback from the players.
The new system will be a global event featuring top Leaderboard players from the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and China. Day 1 will be the group stage, where players score points in each match based on their final ranking. The best players from each group will advance to the second-day qualifiers.
We’ll have more details on specific event dates and qualifier schedules in the coming months!
With all these changes, the community will be even more hyped for the upcoming season. Because Blizzard seems to want a very active esports scene in 2022.
