Hearthstone announced that the Master Tour Jönköping is now going to be held completely online. The same decision was also made for the upcoming Masters Tour in Asia-Pacific. This is to ensure the health and safety of everyone amidst the current global COVID-19 pandemic. It's not really a surprise considering that the successful Masters Tour Los Angeles was also run online.
For the Jönköping tournament, it’s been renamed to the Masters Tour Online: Jönköping and has been scheduled for June 12 to June 14. Meanwhile, the Masters Tour Online: Asia-Pacific is going to be from July 16 to July 19.
The Masters Tour isn’t just a tournament. It is more of an event where a global community of players get together not just to compete, but also forge friendships, which is the core of every Hearthstone esports event. The current health crisis has meant that the events are going to be held remotely for now. In a statement, Hearthstone said that they will continue to “keep tracking the global situation and are excited to hopefully get back to coming together in-person for both Masters Tour Montreal and Masters Tour Madrid later in the year.”
The qualifiers for the Masters Tour Online: Jönköping have already ended, but there’s still a chance to be part of the Masters Tour Online: Asia-Pacific. Here’s how:
- Win an online Masters Qualifier on Battlefy between April 2 – May 24.
- Finish with at least a 7–2 record at either the Masters Tour Los Angeles or the upcoming Masters Tour Online: Jönköping.
- Place within the Top 8 of a Masters Qualifier for Masters Tour Online: Asia-Pacific 5 times.
- Place top 16 Legend on the in-game Ladder in the months of April and May.
- Be a Hearthstone Grandmaster.
Tournament Format
Both the Jönköping and Asia-Pacific tournaments are going to follow this format:
- The tournament is going to be played over three days.
- Day 1 features five rounds of Swiss pairings
- Players who get three losses are eliminated.
- Players that have at least three match wins qualify for Day 2.
- Day 2 features four more Swiss pairing rounds.
- After the Swiss rounds conclude, the top 8 players advance to a single-elimination playoff.
- Top eight players return on Day 3 to compete in the Playoff.
All matches are going to be played using four-deck, best of five Conquest format with a ban.
