Over on Twitter, Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk announced the end of his Hearthstone Grandmasters journey. The announcement arrived during the final weekend of Hearthstone Grandmasters before the playoffs.
A difficult decision
Thijs wrote that it has been a tough season for him and he didn’t want to share it publicly prior to the post. He said he already made the decision, even if he didn’t end up being relegated.
“I have been enjoying and competing so much over the last [eight] years and I still do,” he wrote in a Twitlonger. “But in the last seasons[,] Grandmasters started to feel more like an obligation to me than that I was really enjoying it.”
Thijs acknowledged that the start of Hearthstone Grandmasters was fun for him as a competitor. However, in the last two seasons, he didn’t feel the satisfaction he needed to continue in the series.
He added that he plays the game to be the best and that he plays it for the public. The move of Hearthstone Grandmasters from Twitch to Youtube, as well as the tournaments becoming online events, made this difficult.
Thijs then revealed that he made this decision during the previous season.
“I wanted to give it one more try this season and see if it was a feeling that would maybe just vanish away,” Thijs said. “But [I’ve] realized the feeling actually got even stronger and decided it’s better for me to not continue in GM.”
Hearthstone memories
Thijs recalled becoming the winner of the 2015 Hearthstone European Championship in a stadium packed with people. He also remembered winning the CN vs. EU Championship 2018 tournament and driving the Aston Martin vehicle.
Don't mind me just celebrating my EU vs CN win one more time pic.twitter.com/yJa2HOzDXk
— Thijs (@G2Thijs) October 9, 2018
“These are just only a few of them,” Thijs wrote. “Competing at the highest level has given me so many memories that I will never forget [and that] made me who I am now.”
Thijs said that the decision still hurts because he’d wanted to become the Hearthstone World Champion for a long time. He noted that he was close to this victory in the 2015 Hearthstone World Championship, when he competed in the semifinal against Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall.
The Hearthstone community
“Will this be the end of my career? Definitely not as a person in Hearthstone,” Thijs wrote. “I love the game, the community, everything.”
He added that he lives for competing in events but that Hearthstone Grandmasters is not the one for him due to a combination of its direction and his personal reasons.
Thijs shared that he wrote the announcement message while in tears, and he thanked his supporters for being a part of his Hearthstone journey.
