About two weeks ago, Blizzard changed the location of the Hearthstone Master Tour Indonesia. That announcement altered the location of the event from Bali, Indonesia, to Los Angeles. Today, however, Blizzard announced that it will now hold the entire Masters Tour Los Angeles online instead.
Travel reimbursement for Masters Tour Los Angeles
Unlike the previous change in location, this time around, Blizzard will provide up to $1,500 in reimbursements for non-refundable travel arrangements. In addition to this, the more than 300 qualified players can compete in the tournament online, automatically qualifying them for the minimum prizes of $850.
The dates and times of the event have not changed. The tournament begins Mar. 20 at 8:00 a.m. PT/ 11:00 a.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. CET. The first and second days will play using the swiss structure. The competitors will play a total of five swiss rounds on day one. Those who manage to win three or more series on day one will qualify for the second day of the event.
On the second day, four more swiss rounds will be played to decide the top 8 of the event. On Mar. 22, the top 8 playoffs begin, with the tournament finals closing out the weekend.
The fear of the coronavirus
As the coronavirus spreads around the world, many events have been canceled. Just today, TwitchCon Amsterdam, the 2020 Pokémon Europe International Championship, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive canceled their events. Also, the 2020 LEC Spring Finals moved from Budapest to the Berlin studios. It is hard to say how many more events will be affected by the coronavirus. However, we can expect that the Hearthstone Master Tour is not among the last to see a change in its schedule.
Today’s announcement also added the following:
For players qualified for Masters Tour: Jönköping and beyond, we advise booking flexible travel plans as well as obtaining travel insurance. We will continue to monitor the evolving coronavirus situation and will provide updates on future events at a later date.
With this in mind, it’s likely that players should prepare for them to cancel the Masters Tour Jönköping as well. We will still have to wait, though, to see what the solution will be for the upcoming event in Sweden, and others throughout the year.
