After being a lot criticized during Season 1, Blizzard decided to change the card format for Season 2 of the Grandmasters league. Master Tour Seoul will be the last tournament to use the Specialist format, which has finally last least than one year. To replace it, Blizzard announced that Conquest Format will return with some modifications: a Bo3 Format instead of the Bo5 that was previously used and a "Shield Phase".
Also, starting with Season2, Grandmasters will now risk relegation if they're ranked in the last two spots of their respective regions.
Specialist Format
- Players bring three 30 card decks to bring to the tournament.
- All decks must be from the same class.
- The decks are designated as Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.
- The Primary is the main deck that you are bringing to the tournament.
- The Secondary and Tertiary decks must have 25 cards found in the Primary deck, with the remaining 5 being your choice.
- For the first game, both players must use their Primary deck.
- In the following games you are free to choose your Secondary or Tertiary decks or continue using the Primary.
- Your opponent will not know which you choose.
New Conquest Format (Best Of 3)
- The two battling players bring four decks, each from a unique class.
- The match starts with a Shield Phase where both players choose one of their own decks to “protect” that cannot be banned.
- Each player will then ban one of their opponents’ decks, removing it from the pool.
- Each player then selects which of their eligible decks they would like to play first, then begins their first game of the match.
- After the first game has concluded, the winning deck is removed from the pool before both players pick which of their remaining decks they would like to play next.
- If after the second game one player is 2-0, then the match is over!
- If the score is 1-1, then the winning deck from the second game is removed from the pool and both players will choose their third and final deck to decide the series.
The second leg of the Masters Tour took place in Seoul from August 16 to 18. Facing his compatriot Martin 'Zhym' Prête in finals, the French player Theo 'Felkein' Dumont eventually prevailed and snatched the final victory of the tournament!
