GWENT Masters is back with the new competitive season! This article will provide you with all the necessary information about its schedule, format, prizes, and other key aspects.
SCHEDULE
GWENT Masters Season 2 officially kicks off on January 9th, with the start of the Ranked Season of The Wolf.
PRO RANK AND MMR
The Pro Rank is the highest achievable rank in the game’s standard Ranked Play. It is the entry point for players wishing to join the world of GWENT esports. Each Ranked season lasts 1 calendar month and at the end of each one, the top 200 Pro Rank players are rewarded with Crown Points.
Each game you play with a faction unlocks a portion of its fMMR. To unlock 100% of a faction’s fMMR, a player needs to complete at least 25 games with that faction. Similarly, playing 20 games will only unlock 80%, and so on.
Though your current overall and faction MMRs will constantly shift depending on the results and amount of matches you play, your ranking placement will be based on the highest overall MMR you have achieved during the Ranked Season. This is called ‘peak MMR’. For example, if you are ranked 3rd with 8200 MMR at any point in a season and lose a number of games, causing your current overall MMR to drop significantly, you will remain ranked 3rd until the end of that season — unless another player surpasses your overall peak MMR of 8200.
The Pro Rank rating is global and takes into account players participating in Ranked Play across all regions GWENT is currently available in. After a Ranked Season ends, all MMR is reset. The top 500 Pro Rank players will retain their top positions, while other players will be demoted to rank 3, but will still be able to climb back next season and join the race immediately.
Players can check their ranking, as well as their global MMR, at any time on the Rankings page. Additionally, the distribution of fMMR between different factions will be visible in-game via a player’s profile.
CROWN POINTS
Throughout GWENT Masters, players will be competing for Crown Points. These are used to reward the best GWENT players for their achievements during GWENT Masters — as well as determine participants of the Season 2 Final event (World Masters) in December 2020.
Players will receive Crown Points for placing in:
- the top 200 of the Pro Rank at the end of each season
- official GWENT Open tournaments organized by CD PROJEKT RED
- licensed GWENT tournaments not organized by CD PROJEKT RED
Starting with January’s Ranked Season, and spanning up until September 2020, players who finish in the top 200 of the Pro Rank leaderboard will receive Crown points according to their placement.
Contrary to the previous season, Crown points will no longer give players direct invitations to GWENT Open tournaments, but they still will be useful in the long run. Players with the most Crown Points will be invited to the World Masters event in December 2020, along with the winners of the 4 GWENT Open tournaments.
ONLINE QUALIFIERS
Each month (from February to September) the top 16 and top 64 players from the Pro Rank leaderboards of the previous month will be invited to play in online qualifiers leading to the closest GWENT Open. For example, based on January 2020 (Season of The Wolf) Pro Rank standings, participants of 2 Online Qualifiers in February 2020 will be selected.
The 1st online qualifier will be held monthly for the top 16 players in the Pro Rank leaderboard of the previous month. The format of this tournament will be double elimination. Winners of both lower and higher brackets will reserve their spot at the closest upcoming GWENT Open tournament. The 14 players who do not qualify in the 1st online qualifier will be able to try again in the 2nd online qualifier in the same month.
The 2nd online qualifier will be held monthly for the top 64 players in the Pro Rank leaderboard of the previous month. The format of this tournament will consist of 2 stages:
Day 1 – Swiss system for top 64 players (6 rounds)
Day 2 – Double elimination system for top 16 players based on Day 1 results.
Winners of both lower and higher brackets will reserve their spot at the closest upcoming GWENT Open tournament.
The official rulesets of online qualifiers, their schedule, and other important details will be communicated in advance before each tournament of that type.
OPEN
GWENT Open is the main type of the official GWENT Masters tournaments. Each GWENT Open event will see a total of 8 participants:
- 4 finalists of 2 Online Qualifiers held 1 month prior to GWENT Open
- 4 finalists of 2 Online Qualifiers held 2 months prior to GWENT Open
Example: If a GWENT Open is held in April 2020, it will comprise of 4 finalists of 2 online qualifiers held in February 2020 and 4 finalists of 2 online qualifiers held in March 2020.
There will be a total of 4 GWENT Open events during a GWENT Masters series, with each one offering a 10 000 US dollars base prize pool, as well as a guaranteed spot in the upcoming World Masters event for the winner. All other participants will also receive Crown Points for placing as follows:
- 2nd place – 10 CP
- 3rd-4th place – 5 CP
- 5th-8th place – 1 CP
WORLD MASTERS
The season will conclude with the GWENT World Masters — the ultimate tier of official tournaments organized by CD PROJEKT RED. A total of 8 players will compete in this grand finale tournament from among:
- up to 4 winners of previous Open events
- up to 7 players with the most Crown Points accumulated over the Ranked Seasons leading up to GWENT World Masters.
The total prize pool of the GWENT World Masters will be at least 50 000 US dollars prize pool.
PRIZE POOLS
The offline GWENT Masters tournaments organized by CD PROJEKT RED each have a different base prize pool:
- GWENT Open – 10 000 USD
- Quarterfinal match stake – 500 USD
- Semifinal match stake – 1000 USD
- Final match stake – 1000 USD
- Additionally, each participant receives 500 USD, and the winner 1000 USD
- GWENT World Masters – 50 000 USD
- Base prize pool distribution TBA
How much prize money a participant receives depends on the result of the match. For example, during a quarterfinal match of a GWENT Open tournament the participants will be competing for 500 USD. If the overall match result is 3:0, the winner will receive 500 USD and the loser will receive 0 USD, if it would be 3:1 the winner gets 375 USD and the loser gets 125 USD, if it would be 3:2 the winner gets 300 USD and the loser gets 200 USD.
Additionally, with Season 2 we’d like to give the most devoted GWENT Masters fans the ability to contribute to the prize pool of their favorite competition. Prior to each GWENT Open, and the 2020 World Masters, we will place special offers on select items in Shupe’s shop. Each purchase of such items will contribute the percentage of revenue to the prize pool and will be distributed equally between all participants. We’ll be sharing more information on this later, so stay tuned for updates!
LICENSED TOURNAMENTS
Third-party partners can apply for a license from CD PROJEKT RED to host their own GWENT tournaments. They will be required to follow the official conduct and ruleset of GWENT Masters, with any additional rules on top needed to be approved by CD PROJEKT RED. Contrary to the previous season, there is no minimum required cash prize for this type of tournament. In addition to Crown Points rewards for placing, CD PROJEKT may provide additional spots in 64-players Online Qualifiers for the tournament winners — the exact amount of Crown points and/or additional qualification rewards will be determined between the tournament’s organizer and CD PROJEKT RED. Each licensed tournament should have open qualifiers to select participants, and can be held either on-site, or online.
COMMUNITY TOURNAMENTS
These are tournaments organized by the player community. The prize pool of these events should not exceed 10 000 US dollars and getting a license from CD PROJEKT RED will not be necessary to organize one. Community tournaments can take place online, as well as on-site. However, players will not receive Crown Points for either participating or placing in them.
If you’d like to host your own community-powered GWENT tournament, make sure to check out and follow the official GWENT community tournament guidelines on the website.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @GWENTMasters for regular updates!
