Hearthstone Masters Tour and Qualifiers receive invite and broadcast updates

Today Blizzard announced adjustments to the Hearthstone Masters Tour Qualifiers  ahead of the remaining two Qualifier seasons of the year. Players who win a Masters Tour Qualifier will still get an invitation to Masters Tour Stormwind or Undercity.

Meanwhile, players can earn a Masters Tour invitation based on their overall match win rates throughout each Qualifier season. This is a change from the top eight placements system.

Masters Tour Qualifiers

This change will begin with the Masters Tour Stormwind Qualifiers, with the top 50 players in terms of their win percentages getting a corresponding Masters Tour invitation. These players must also compete in at least 20 Qualifiers without getting first place.

“The number of Qualifiers players were having to compete in was proving too high,” Blizzard noted in the announcement. “On average, players consistently achieving top-8-based invites were playing around 47 separate Qualifiers to earn a Masters Tour spot.”

The update is also looking to reward deserving Hearthstone players while not requiring them to make that type of time commitment. Another goal is to let players find more balance between their competitive endeavors and other goals outside of Hearthstone.

Hearthstone Masters Tour updates

As for the remaining three Hearthstone Masters Tour events of 2021, Blizzard is implementing two changes to improve the broadcast experience for viewers and competitive aspect for players.

During broadcast matches, players have to compete with their webcams on, and those who refuse to do so will receive a game loss for the round. According to Blizzard, this would improve the viewer experience and let players better connect with fans. Exceptions for this can be made by contacting the admins before a Masters Tour event, allowing time for a ruling on the exemption.

Next, Hearthstone Masters Tour events will now feature eight rounds of swiss as opposed to nine of them. On the first day, four swiss rounds will be played, followed by four more rounds on the second day. The top 16 Hearthstone players and the top eight matches will be part of the live broadcast on the third day.

“Our goal here is to reduce the physical fatigue players have experienced during long days of swiss play while also creating a cleaner cutoff for reaching the top 16 than a nine swiss round model offers,” Blizzard explained. “The awarding of points toward Grandmasters qualification will be adjusted to account for the one fewer swiss round.”

Players can register for the Masters Tour Stormwind Qualifiers on Battlefy. Meanwhile, fans can look forward to Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021 Season 2, which will kick off on Aug. 13. The action can be watched over on the game’s official YouTube channel.