by hsdecktech - 4 years ago     show comments

Just before the new year, former Americas Grandmaster, Amnesiac, announced via twitter that he planned to retire from competitive Hearthstone and step down from his position as a Grandmaster. He explained that he had lost the fire that fueled his competitive career for the past several years, and that he wanted to leave on top instead of dwindling over time. Although generally loved by the community, Amnesiac had gotten some heat for his performance as a Grandmaster for breaking broadcast rules by having his roommate present on stream, for skipping a match, and for admitting in interviews that he had not practiced as hard for Grandmasters as he had for his dominant tournament performances that earned him the spot. Amnesiac’s decision to leave now could be seen as the best decision for him and for the game as a whole.

At the time of Amnesiac’s announcement, tournament grinder PapaJason was the money leader for the Americas spot based on his performances in Masters Tour Stops last year, so many people expected him to take Amnesiac’s spot, per the official rules. There has been no official Blizzard announcement confirming as much, but after a week of speculation (and, presumably, some back-end work to make it official), PapaJason has taken to his twitter to confirm that fact. Therefore, we should expect to see PapaJason representing the United States in this year’s revamped Grandmasters system, also announced earlier today. Congrats, PapaJason!