Hearthstone Grandmasters will see 15 new players join the league due to promotion. What do we know about Hearthstone Esports for 2022?
Masters Tour Undercity closed the promotions season to Hearthstone Grandmasters 2022 and 15 new players will be joining the league. Actually, not all of them are new, some are returnees. Who are they? What do we know about Hearthstone Grandmasters 2022? All you need to know, in this article.
Hearthstone Grandmasters Promotion system
Hearthstone Grandmasters is the Tier 1 competitive esports league for Blizzard’s popular card game. 48 of the world’s top Hearthstone players divided into three regions compete for nearly $500.000 in prizes per season and spots in the World Championship. But how does the promotion system work?
Players who qualify for Hearthstone Masters Tours can earn and accumulate points towards a Grandmaster promotion. There were six Masters Tour this year, with Undercity being the last one of the cycle. Players earn points depending on their performance on the Swiss stage and playoffs performance.
The top earners for each region will get their promotion to Hearthstone’s top league replacing the bottom 4 players from Grandmaster’s previous season. With many players retiring from Hearthstone Grandmasters last season, aspiring players enjoyed some extra slots this time.
Hearthstone Grandmasters Promotion
Americas Region
During the second season, Muzzy and Eddie announced their retirement from competitive play. Since Muzzy dodged relegation, an extra promotion spot opened in Hearthstone Grandmasters. On top of them, Rami94, Eggowaffle, and CaelesLuna got relegated due to points. This results in 5 open spots for 2022. According to promotion standings, these are the players that will be part of Hearthstone’s prime league.
Pun, from the USA, lead the Hearthstone Grandmasters promotion standings after a Top 8 in MT Stormwind and two 6-2 runs in Silvermoon and Undercity. Pascoa and LeandroLeal, two Brazilian talents, will join him next year. GamerRvg from the USA will be filling Muzzy’s spot, and CaelesLuna, relegated from Hearthstone Grandmasters, made enough points to promote back to the league.
European Region
The most stacked region by far is Europe, and there were only 4 spots available despite Thijs retirement. The four relegated players for season two were Thijs, Floki, Warma, and Bozzzton. The Hearthstone Grandmasters promotion standings after MT Undercity were the following:
FuryHunter (MaxTeam) dominated the Hearthstone Grandmasters promotion standings for Europe after winning MT Stormwind and getting points in Ironforge and Undercity. Floki was another case of a relegated-promoted player, however, his Ironforge and Orgrimmar points expire in 2022, so he better step up his game. SuperFake from Portugal holds third place in Hearthstone Grandmasters promotion standings thanks to his good results in Dalaran, Silvermoon, and Stormwind. The last spot goes to ZloyGruzin from Russia, thanks to his Top 4 finish in Undercity.
APAC Region
In the Asia-Pacific region, there were 6 spots for the take with the retirements of Surrender and TISZ. On top of retirements, the four relegated players were Che0nsu, Trahison, Blitzchung, and Dawn. However, as we have seen in the previous regions, relegation sometimes is not definitive.
The promotion standings for APAC show Trahison (Japan) and Che0nsu (South Korea) making a comeback. Dragonman (Hong Kong) dominated by quite a lot after being MT Undercity runner-up. Without spikes, but backed up by consistency, Mighty from India got 18 points and promotion to Hearthstone Grandmasters 2022. The last two spots went for Dolgallery (South Korea) and MegaGliscor (Japan).
What will happen to Hearthstone Esports in 2022?
Despite speculations about the Hearthstone Grandmasters program not continuing in 2022, the confirmation of promotions gives us some clarity on the matter. However, we don't know much about how the system will work next year. Some days ago Abar and Eric Elliott, members of the Hearthstone Esports team, teased the community talking about Battlegrounds becoming part of the competitive ecosystem.
What we know for sure is that January ladder results will count towards Hearthstone Esports in 2022. Blizzard will release the full announcement on December 18, during the Hearthstone World’s Championship. Until then, stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Hearthstone news and updates. See you next time, in the tavern.