Following the success of Hearthstone Masters in 2019, Blizzard has announced that the series will be getting bigger and better in 2020. In 2019, three Masters Tours — Las Vegas, Seoul and Bucharest — were held. Competitors numbered in the thousands and Blizzard has now announced that it is doubling the number of Masters Tours in 2020.
That’s right. In 2020 there will be six Masters Tours and each will have at least $250,000 USD in prize money. Blizzard has said that additional money could be available based on the crowdfunding initiatives that are proposed.
In 2020, Hearthstone esports will partner with ESL and DreamHack to run the Masters Tour events.
Hearthstone Masters Tours 2020
As of now, the schedule of the Hearthstone Masters Tours 2020 is as follows;
- Masters Tour #1 – Arlington, Texas – 31/1/20 – 2/2/20
- Qualifying Period: 3/10/19 – 24/11/19
- Masters Tour #2 – Bali, Indonesia – 20/3/20 – 22/3/20
- Qualifying Period: 12/12/19 – 26/1/20
- Masters Tour #3 – Jönköping, Sweden – 12/6/20 – 14/6/20
- Qualifying Period: 6/2/20 – 29/3/20
- Masters Tour #4 – TBD Asia-Pacific Location (July/August)
- Qualifying Period: 2/4/20– 24/5/20
- Masters Tour #5 – Montreal, Canada – 11/9/20 – 13/9/20
- Qualifying Period: 4/6/20 – 26/7/20
- Masters Tour #6 – Spain (December)
- Qualifying Period: 6/8/20 – 27/9/20
We can’t help but notice that there’s an Asia-Pacific location that’s to be determined. Fingers crossed for something in Australia.
In addition to the Masters Tours, Grandmasters will be back in 2020 with two seasons. The first season kicks off in April and the second in August.
Each season will consist of eight weeks of play, but with a new structure. For the first four weeks, the format will rotate with all 16 players in each of the three regions (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific) competing against each other, earning points based on placements. These points will be used to determine two divisions in each region.
Weeks five, six, and seven will consist of round-robin play within the two divisions, much like the previous seasons of Grandmasters. This leads into the Playoffs taking place in week eight, which will qualify one player from each region to the World Championship at the end of the year.
Regarding promotion and relegation: three players per region will be relegated at the end of Grandmasters Season 3, with the top three prize money earners from the first three Masters Tours of 2020 moving up to Grandmasters to replace them.
There’s so much Hearthstone esports going on in 2020, it’s a great time to be a fan or a player.
