Hearthstone is finally giving us the 2021 roadmap for its esports scene. There’s a lot to go through but one good news is that for this year, there will be six Masters Tours, all of which are done online. Each Tour offers a prize pool of $250,000 and fans can expect to see 400 players take part in each one.
Improvement to the Qualifiers
Blizzard said that one of the issues they found in community feedback was on expanding the chances to get invites to each Masters Tour. This is to be addressed in three ways.
First, each season will go back to having 120 individual Qualifier events. Second, the number of Top 8 finishes needed to get an invite is now four instead of five. According to Hearthstone, lots of players managed to enter the Top 8 four times but had trouble getting a fifth since they were unable to join another Qualifier. And third, the Top 32 players for each Masters Tour who don’t have an invite to the next event will receive that invite.
Here’s the number of invites to be sent to every Masters Tour Qualifiers:
- Grandmasters: 48
Ladder Finishes: 96 - Masters Tour Qualifiers: 120
- Masters Tur Top 32 Without Another Invite: 32
- China Gold Series: 50
- 4 Top 8 Finishes in Qualifying Period: 30
- Third-party Events: 24
Masters Tours 2021
Speaking of Masters Tours, here’s the schedule for 2021:
- Masters Tour Ironforge
- March 12 to 14
- Qualifying Period: January 28 to February 28
- Ladder: January
- Masters Tour Ogrimmar
- April 30 to May 2
- Qualifying Period: March 4 to April 4
- Ladder: February and March
- Masters Tour Dalaran
- June 18 to 20
- Qualifying Period: April 15 to May 23
- Ladder: April and May
- Masters Tour Silvermoon
- August 27 to 29
- Qualifying Period: June 3 to July 18
- Ladder: June and July
- Masters Tour Stormwind
- October 22 to 24
- Qualifying Period: July 22 to September 5
- Ladder: August and September
- Masters Tour Undercity
- November 19 to 21
- Qualifying Period: September 9 to October 31
- Ladder: October
Point System
Hearthstone is also making changes to the Masters Tour Points system. In particular, the Grandmasters invites are to be converted from total cash earnings to total points. With the new system, players now get points based on their wins in each Masters Tour, with extra points added to those who reach the Top 8.
Here’s an idea of the 2021 Masters Tour Points:
- Points Per Swiss Win
- 9 Wins: 9 Points
- 8 Wins: 8 Points
- 7 Wins: 7 Points
- 0 to 6 Wins: 0 Points
- Bonus Points for Top 8
- 1st Place: 15 Points
- 2nd Place: 12 Points
- 3rd to 4th Place: 8 Points
- 5th to 8th Place: 4 Points
Learn more about the 2021 season here.
So, excited yet for the new Hearthstone competitive season?
