MDI Time Trials Analysis & Cup Preview: EU/Asia Division #3

Welcome back to another MDI Time Trial analysis article! If you missed the previous articles in this series, you can find all the previous articles in this series (and more) here! This is the final cup for the EU&Asia region, and the standings are hotly contested, with four teams vying for two slots to compete against the Americas&Oceanic teams in the BFA Finals of the MDI, and with two teams who have already locked up their spots.

The Teams

The top six seeded teams from the first two cups in this region have all re-qualified. Learn more about those teams in the article for the first cup.

Perplexed have put the pedal to the metal and have earned the first seed in this weekend’s tournament. By qualifying for the cup, this team has clinched one of the four spots in the Finals tournament, but with time trial times like these they are clearly looking to make a statement this weekend and claim their first Cup victory.

Method EU have won both of the first two EU&Asia cups and have locked up an invite to the Finals. They’ve earned the second seed this weekend, just two seconds behind Perplexed, with a blazing fast Atal’dazar that was somehow completed in under 10 minutes!

For the second cup in a row, Deplete from Beyond are the third seed. Their trajectory is looking good, as they rallied from a disappointing cup one finish to earn third at the second cup. They have 180 total points right now, and are tied for third. Depending on where the other teams finish, it’s likely that fourth place or better this weekend is good for a Finals invite, while fifth or sixth may set up a tie for the final invite.

Self Reliance have earned the fourth seed, and are in the running to get to the Final tournament. They only have 150 total points, however, and are currently tied for fifth. They’ll likely need a third place finish to lock up an invite, while a fourth place finish probably would result in a tie for the final invite, though how the other teams finish is also relevant.

The Boys had a pretty bad cup 2, but their strong finish in cup 1 has left them with 180 total points, tied for 3rd with Deplete from Beyond. The fifth seed this time, they’ll be trying to get a fourth place finish or better to likely lock up a spot in the finals.

Paint for Fem have earned the sixth seed this time. They’re tied with Self Reliance at 150 total points, so they likely need a third place finish to lock up an invite to the grand finals, while fourth would probably result in a tie. Though they finished last cup with a disappointing 5th/6th place, they were able to take a map off of Method EU, a rare feat that speaks to this team’s potential.

Finally, we have two new teams joining the MDI for this cup as our seventh and eighth seeds, ECLATAX and Diegal way. With just one cup played, neither one can qualify for the finals tournament, barring an extremely unlikely outcome. That scenario is: one of the two could join a five-way tie for an invite if they won the tournament, second through fourth were the other newcomer team, Perplexed, and Method EU, fifth and sixth were Self Reliance and Paint for Fem, and seventh and eighth were Deplete From Beyond and the Boys. The odds of that happening are astronomically low, but not technically impossible!

The Time Trial Dungeons

These are the dungeons that were played during the Time Trials:



Each team got unlimited practice runs and five official attempts for each dungeon over a period of five days. Awakened was the fourth affix active in every dungeon. Keystones were set to level 19.

The first dungeon was Atal’Dazar with Fortified, Skittish, and Necrotic active. Here the meta was dominated by double Unholy comps, with the top seven runs featuring the exact same composition and rounding out their DPS with a Hunter. The most impressive thing from this dungeon was Method EU, who had the best time by the better part of a minute, and brought the total time in the dungeon below 10 minutes.



The second Time Trial Dungeon was Tyrannical/Volcanic/Sanguine Motherlode. Here, the teams again agreed on the best composition, which was triple Hunter. Perplexed put up the top time in this dungeon, with an impressive 14:26 that makes the Motherlode times from previous cups look like weekly keys found in the group finder.



The final dungeon was Mechagon Workshop, and the active affixes were Fortified, Explosive, and Grievous. Here, the teams again generally agreed on triple Hunter, but they did not all choose the same tank! Three of the eight teams went with Vengeance Demon Hunter instead of the standard Protection Warrior. This is a tank that can withstand a lot of punishment and brings a great deal of mob control, but we’ll have to wait till we see it in action this weekend to see exactly how it’s being used. It’s worth noting the best time was once again put up by Perplexed and they were using the Warrior rather than the DH.



Be sure to catch the action this weekend as we see which teams earn their way into the Finals!

Related Interviews

- Method EU Team Spotlight (MDI 2019 Blizzcon Finals)
- Paint for Fem Team Spotlight (MDI 2019 Summer Season)
- Drjay Player Spotlight (2019)
- Sjeletyven Player Spotlight (2019)
- Ashine Player Spotlight (2019)
- Anda Player Spotlight (2020)

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