It looks like Europe’s streak has finally been broken with the Hearthstone Masters Tour Online: Madrid. Chinese player Zheng “iGXc” Qianhao took home the Madrid trophy and $32,500 in prize money. He also became the first ever Chinese players to win a Masters Tour.
For those keeping score, the first five Masters Tours were all won by European players. French player Zakarya “xBlyzes” Hail won Arlington and Los Angeles. Another French player, Enzo “Warma” Flock, took home the trophy in Jönköping. Italy’s Simone “Leta” Liguori grabbed the victory in the Asia-pacific leg and Spain’s David “Frenetic” Quiñones took the top spot in Montreal.
In his journey to the championship, iGXc first took on Korea’s Hi3 in the Quarterfinals. The match was exciting, with Hi3 winning the first two games. However, iGXc managed to turn things around and win the next three games to move to the Semifinal. Here he faced off against France’s Gaby. While Gaby won the first game, iGXc didn't take any chances and won the next three games.
The Grand Final was against another Asia-Pacific Grandmaster, Japan’s Yashima “Alutemu” Nozomi. The first two games went in favor of iGXc, and while a sweep seemed imminent, Alutemu prevented that with a win of his own. Despite losing in the third game, iGXc continued with his Mage deck to get the win.
With this, that means there’s only one more tournament before the 2020 competitive year ends, and it’s going to be the Hearthstone World Championship this December. This is the biggest Hearthstone tournament of the year and is going to be conducted online. Eight of the world’s best players are going to come together and battle for the title of World Champion and a large share of the $500,000 prize pool.
New Expansion
The World Championship comes just as Hearthstone releases its new expansion. Titled Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, this new expansion arrives on November 17 and is expected to bring with it 135 new cards. The new expansion isn’t only going to offer new content, it will also make changes to the Hearthstone progression system and even offer a new game mode.
You can read more about this new expansion here.
