2025 Masters (January)
The 2025 WFG Masters was held from January 14 to 19 at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ontario. It was the fourth Grand Slam event and third major of the 2024–25 curling season.
A new scoring rule is being tested at the event where a team will lose the hammer after two consecutive blank ends. The decision was made following three straight blanks between Brad Gushue and Mike McEwen in their round robin match at the 2024 National. The goal is to increase scoring and make the game more entertaining for spectators.
For the first time in Slam history, a draft was held to select the round robin pools. The top four seeds on both the men's and women's sides chose their opponents via snake order with the top seeds Bruce Mouat and Rachel Homan getting first pick as well as their choice of crossover pool. The pools were chosen by teams Mouat, Yannick Schwaller, Mike McEwen and Brad Gushue on the men's side and Homan, Silvana Tirinzoni, Kerri Einarson and Kim Eun-jung on the women's side.
Teams Jordon McDonald, Kayla Skrlik and Danielle Inglis made their top tier Grand Slam debut.
Prior to the event, elite curlers representing 15 men's and 15 women's teams released a "Proposal for Fair Play in Curling" outlining concerns over new foam pad technologies being used by some teams. Their worry was that the new foam, despite being compliant with World Curling specifications "appears to enhance sweeping performance", contrary to the goals of the 2016 sweeping summit, which was held following the Broomgate scandal. Team John Epping was one rink that used the new foam broomheads, which were manufactured by BalancePlus. His rink was asked not to use them for the event.
For the first time since 2006, Brad Gushue finished with a winless record at a Grand Slam of Curling event.
Following the round robin, the top three seeded teams got to choose their playoff opponents for the quarterfinal round. It was the first time the quarterfinal matchups were decided in this way. The choices were made, in order, by Brad Jacobs, Matt Dunstone and Ross Whyte on the men's side and Anna Hasselborg, Kim Eun-jung and Rachel Homan on the women's side.
Qualification
Sixteen teams will compete in the Masters. They include the seven top-ranked teams on the World Curling Federation's Order of Merit rankings as of December 10, 2024, the seven top teams on the Year-to-Date rankings as of December 10, the Tier 2 winner of the 2024 Tour Challenge, and a sponsor's exemption. In the women's division, the top eight teams on the Year-to-Date rankings qualified as Tier 2 winner Christina Black accepted an invitation to the 2024 National instead of the Masters as it conflicts with the 2025 Nova Scotia Scotties Tournament of Hearts.Men
Top men's teams as of December 10:| # | Order of Merit | Year-to-Date | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | WomenTop women's teams as of December 10:
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