Masters Tour Ironforge, a premier Hearthstone esports event, will be held from March 12 - March 14 2021. Players from around the globe will compete for their share of the $250,000 prize pool. The event will span 3 days and consist of the following:
- Day 1: 5 rounds of Swiss
- Day 2: 4 additional rounds of Swiss, moving to top 16 single elimination playoffs
- Day 3: Top 8 will compete for the title of Masters Tour Champion
The format for this tournament will be 4 deck Conquest with a ban. Earning a spot in the Masters Tour is a huge accomplishment for any Hearthstone player who wishes to take their game to the next level. There are a number of ways one can earn an invite including:
- Win one of 120 online Masters Qualifiers between January 28, 2021 and February 28, 2021 on Battlefy.
- Finished with at least a 7-2 record at Masters Tour Online: Montreal or Masters Tour Online: Madrid.
- Place within the Top 8 of a Masters Qualifier for Masters Tour Ironforge four times.
- Place Top 32 Legend on the in-game Ladder in January.
- Be a Hearthstone Grandmaster.
Before the upcoming event I wanted to check in with our own Nejiboston, representing Amber Flight Gaming, to see just what it takes to make it to the Masters Tour.
(Q&A)
Q - How many qualifiers did you play in for Masters Tour Ironforge?
A - I played in 54 cups
Q - I've seen a number of complaints about players having a negative experience with some tournament admins. Most people tend to be vocal only when they've had a negative experience. How was your experience with the admins?
A - I had a good experience whenever I was dealing with the admins. They always helped clarify the situation and seemed to have a proper ruling.
Q - How did you go about determining your lineup choices? What factors influenced these decisions?
A - At first, I was trying to make a cohesive lineup of good decks and that had a specific target strategy. That did not work out that well. Towards the final weeks of cups for Ironforge, I switched to using decks that I was comfortable with and that were also fairly good. This strategy was very effective and my win-rate went up by a lot. On Asia, I just brought the same 3 decks that I had the dust to build.
Q - What was your most successful lineup?
A - My most successful lineup was definitely the lineup that got me two top 8's on the final two days of qualifiers, which consisted of Highlander Mage, Highlander Priest, and Whirlkick Rogue.
Q - Playing in a large number of qualifier tournaments can be a taxing experience. How did you regulate the mental aspect of this experience?
A - Yeah the qualifiers can get pretty exhausting. I found that going for walks in between rounds really helped to reset my mental focus. Honestly, just doing anything that isn't Hearthstone during the breaks in rounds is a good idea, in my opinion
Q - How do you plan to prepare for MT Ironforge?
A - I plan on testing a lot of decks and practicing a lot within my various practice groups. It's going to be a lot of work to find the lineup I like the most.
Q - This new season of competitive play has seen a number of changes, most significantly in the the prize payout. What are your feelings about these system changes? What are the benefits and disadvantages?
A - The changes to the prize money payouts is pretty rough, but to be fair, there are no travel costs involved anymore, so the payouts are definitely a bit more reasonable than most people are saying. The benefit is definitely that the cost of travel is zero; however, I think introducing a crowd funding bundle for the MT would add a ton of hype and rejuvenate the drive of a lot of competitive players. The way they structured how you earn points towards becoming a GM is also pretty bad. If I recall correctly, going 6-3 at the MT gives you 0 points towards becoming a GM. This structure still rewards highrolling MT's and not consistency.
While spiking a Masters Tour qualifier on your first try is ideal, we can see from Nejiboston's experience that it isn't always that simple. Earning your way to these events takes a great deal of commitment. He played qualifiers on the NA, EU, and Asia servers to give himself the best possible chance of qualifying for the Masters Tour. If you want to find him online you can visit his Twitter @Nejiboston or find him streaming on Twitch at twitch.tv/nejiboston. We wish him good luck and we hope to see you out there as well in the future. Thanks for reading and as always #RuleTheRoost.