Blizzard has revealed that the Hearthstone Masters Tour is growing this year, since there are twice as many Masters Tours events, including six with at least $250,000 USD in prizing, as well as crowdfunding initiatives to bolster this figure.
Las Vegas, Seoul, and Bucharest hosted the action last year, but now Hearthstone Esports is teaming up with ESL and DreamHack for the following events:
Masters Tour #1 - Arlington, Texas - 1/31/20 - 2/2/20
Qualifying Period: 10/3/19 - 11/24/19
Masters Tour #2 - Bali, Indonesia - 3/20/20 - 3/22/20
Qualifying Period: 12/12/19 - 1/26/20
Masters Tour #3 - Jönköping, Sweden - 6/12/20 - 6/14/20
Qualifying Period: 2/6/20 - 3/29/20
Masters Tour #4 - TBD Asia-Pacific Location (July/August)
Qualifying Period: 4/2/20- 5/24/20
Masters Tour #5 - Montreal, Canada - 9/11/20 - 9/13/20
Qualifying Period: 6/4/20 - 7/26/20
Masters Tour #6 -Spain Location (December)
Qualifying Period: 8/6/20 - 9/27/20
As for Grandmasters and relegation, the Grandmasters seasons will start in April and August, with each season featuring eight weeks of play. For the first four weeks, however, the format with rotate, with all 16 players in each region (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific) competing against each other, earning points based on placements which will then decide two divisions in each region.
Weeks five to seven will then feature a round-robin format within the two divisions, with the playoffs hosted in week eight, qualifying one player from each region to go to the World Championship.
Three players in each region will be relegated at the end of season three, with the top three prize money earners from the first three Masters Tours of the year replacing them, so the stakes are still high this year.
Do you like these changes?