With the GWENT Masters series coming to an end, here is everything you need to know about its final Fifth season starting on January 10th!
We've updated the official ruleset to reflect the changes that were introduced between S4 and S5, as well as clarified and extended some rules.
New format
Following the other changes the game is going through and by analyzing the feedback from pro players about the previous season's format, we introduced a number of changes to the season 5 schedule and structure. Let’s see them!
Mid-Season Tournament
Instead of multiple Opens each with its own qualification path we’re introducing a new type of event - the Mid-Season Tournament. As you can guess from its name, it’s going to happen in the middle of the year - in early July. Prior to the playoff stage which will be played exactly like Opens of the past (8 players, single elimination), 16 players will battle it out in the Dual Tournament (also commonly known as GSL) format. In this format, 4 players will be randomly seeded into 4 groups which then will use a double elimination bracket to define the top 2 players from each group that will be invited to participate in the Mid-Season Tournament play-off stage. These 16 participants to play in the group stage will be invited from the winners of the top 16 and the top 64 qualifiers using the same rules as previously.
The prize pool of the Mid-Season tournament will be 20 000 USD + 50% of the proceeds from sales of special esports bundles that will be available in the shop prior to the tournament. 2 000 USD out of the sum will be distributed among 8 players who will make it to the group stage, but fail to advance to the playoff.
In addition to the monetary prize, the winner of the Mid-Season tournament will automatically reserve a spot in World Masters at the end of the year.
World Masters
Similar changes in the qualification path are introduced to World Masters S5. 12 winners of the August-October qualifiers will be placed in 3 groups with 4 players each and play in the same Double Tournament format as the participants of The Mid-Season tournament to determine 6 best players to join the final stage of the competition. Who will be the other players?
Well, we already mentioned that the winner of the Mid-Season tournament will receive a direct invitation to the World Masters playoff. The final available spot will go to the player with the most Crown Points accumulated throughout the whole season. If a player with the most Crown Points will qualify through other means (for example by winning Mid-Season Tournament), they will be replaced by the next player with the highest number of Crown Points in the global rankings.
Similar to the Mid-Season tournament the total prize pool will consist of the guaranteed prize (40 000 USD) and extra 50% of funds generated by sales of esports bundles. 1 500 USD out of this sum will be distributed among 6 players who will make it to the group stage, but fail to advance to the playoff.
Changes in Crown Points distribution
The end-of-season Crown Points rewards for the top 200 players in Pro Rank will remain the same as in season 4.
Crown Points rewards for online qualifiers will be removed.
Mid-Season Tournament participants will be eligible for Crown Points rewards based on:
- Successful qualification to the group stage - 5 points
- Group stage placement: 3rd place (in each group) - 3 points, 4th place - 2 points
- Play-off stage placement: 2nd place - 10 points, 3rd and 4th places - 5 points, 5th-8th places - 4 points
Have a great new season of competitive GWENT!