Thijs - The end of Grandmasters

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As the title says, here ends my journey in GM. This season has been a tough season & even I didn't want to share it public yet, I already made the decision it would most likely be my last one aswell even if I wouldn't end up relegating.

What did make me to come to this decision? It wasn't an easy decision for me. I have been enjoying and competing so much over the last 8 years and I still do. But in the last seasons Grandmasters started to feel more like an obligation to me than that I was really enjoying it. At the start GM was very fun to compete in but in the last 2 seasons I didn't feel the satisfaction that I needed to continue in GM.
I'm playing to be the best, to show that i'm the best but aswell i'm playing for you, the public. The move from Twitch to Youtube + the difficult situation we're in with no live events with people made me lose a big part why i'm competing, you.

The decision to leave GM was already in my mind last season where I already wrote a simular message on paper. I wanted to give it one more try this season and see if it was a temporally feeling that would maybe just vanish away. But i've realized the feeling actually got even stronger and decided it's better for me to not continue in GM.

The memorial moments in Prague 2015 where I became European Champion with a stadium full of people, in 2018 when I won EU vs CN and drove the Aston Martin. These are just only a few of them, competing at the highest level has given me so many memories that I will never forget & made me who I am now.
It still hurts. I have had one goal for a long time only & that was to become the World Champion. I have won many titles & championships but this will forever stink on me I couldn't, even being very close. I'm very sure that in 2015 if I won the semifinal vs Ostkaka in a very memorial match, I would be the World Champion.

Will this be the end of my career? Definitely not as a person in Hearthstone. I love the game, the community, everything. I love competing aswell in tournaments, invitations ect., just GM is not the place for me anymore & I will not try to requalify. I think it's a combination of the direction GM aswell as my personal struggles in it.

I will never forget what 8 years competing at the highest level did to me and my life. Thanks to you I found something in my life I'm so passioned about, I love doing so much and I have been incredible supported by you every day as i'm writing this in tears. I will be forever gratefull for that to you, thank you from the deepest of my heart. ♥️

Thijs

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