MDI Season 3 Finals Spotlight: DONUTS AND DESPAIR

By Hulahoops — Jul 8 2022 04:50 HKT

Season 3 of the Shadowlands MDI may very well be the most fierce the competition has ever been in the esport. Veteran teams with many wins under their belt will be challenged by newcomers with something to prove. We are expecting the Global Finals, the culmination of these past months of intense play, to be one of the best yet! You can check out all of the MDI action this weekend on the official World of Warcraft YouTube Channel, starting at 10am PDT / 7pm CEST, starting Friday July 8th. If you’re unable to watch the broadcast but want to stay on top of the competition, we’ve got you covered with our live updates and analysis all weekend long over on our MDI Highlights page!

One of these newcomer teams is Donuts and Despair, who is absolutely a team that you should be watching this weekend! While they have a couple of players with some MDI experience, as a team, they’re brand new to the scene this Season, and they are already having an impact. Read on to learn a bit more about Donuts and Despair and what they’ll be bringing to the table in the Global Finals!

Team Members
Team History
Season 3 So Far
Q & A

Donuts & Despair: The Rookies

Team Members

Donuts and Despair (D&D) is tanked by Yipz, a familiar name in the Mythic+ community. Not only is he a strong multi-classer, but he is also a multi-role player! Although Yipz is tanking for D&D, he is best known as being a long-time Warlock main and is also a “purist” in that he plays without WeakAuras or add-ons. Yipz is one of the players on the team with some MDI experience under his belt, having played on the team Goosy Bad in BFA Season 4, but this Season is his first appearance in the esport since then!

Two of the team’s DPS, Crypticzz and Anarchy, have also competed in the MDI. They first started competing when they were teammates with Yipz back in BFA Season 4 on Goosy Bad. They both took a break during Season 1 of Shadowlands, but we saw Crypticzz in Season 2 on the team Incarnation as a DPS. In the Season 2 Great Push tournament, Crypticzz continued to play with Incarnation, and they were joined by Anarchy for this exciting event.

The last two members on the team are Smacked (DPS) and Timbermaw (Healer), who are both brand new to the MDI this Season. Timbermaw has been a fixture on the high end of the Mythic+ leaderboards this expansion, but is new to the esport itself. Timbermaw is a raider in Vodka, which is where he met Yipz, Crypticzz and Anarchy. The other three players were all in the guild when Timbermaw joined in Ny’alotha, and they started doing keys together on live servers. Crypticzz left the guild after Castle Nathria to join Limit (recently rebranded to Liquid), and Yipz left after Sanctum of Domination to join BDGG. Anarchy and Yipz are still in the guild, but Anarchy is currently taking a break from raiding. As they’d all been pushing keys together on live for a while, it seemed only natural for them to form a team as a group for the MDI. When they needed a 5th to round out the squad, Yipz recommended they ask Smacked, who is in BDGG with him. It looks like he was a good recommendation!

Team History

Donuts & Despair is a newly formed team this Season, and they’ve certainly joined the MDI scene with a unique name. When asked what the motivation was behind the team’s name, Timbermaw explained that it was “probably a combination of Yipz liking donuts and us always being in despair.”

Back in BFA Season 4, when Yipz, Crypticzz, and Anarchy all played together on Goosy Bad, they earned multiple 4th place finishes in the individual Cup weekends. This earned them a spot in the Global Finals for that Season, but unfortunately they were eliminated in the first round.

In Season 2 of Shadowlands, when Crypticzz played with Incarnation, they made the 8th seed in the Time Trials, placing them in the Group C weekend tournament. They managed to win Group C, solidifying their place in the Global Finals for Season 2! They finished Season 2 with a 4th place finish in the Global Finals, eliminated by Ambition.

All 3 of the players on Donuts & Despair with previous MDI experience have been able to make it to the Global Finals, so while they have only played in a couple of tournaments, they do have experience on the big stage!

Season 3 So Far

One of the reasons we’re excited to see Donuts and Despair compete this weekend is because they are a newcomer team with two rookie players, and yet they’ve already had notable success just in their first Season. They surprised everyone by placing 2nd in the Time Trials, even beating Echo’s time in Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit. This performance earned them a spot in the Group C weekend, where they won the whole tournament!

They did have to take a brief detour into the Lower Bracket after losing 2-1 to Sloth in the Semi-Finals, but they managed to fight their way through the Lower Bracket for a rematch against Sloth in the championship match-up. A decisive 2-0 sweep over Sloth earned them a win!

D&D’s last pull of Mists of Tirna Scithe, taking the Group C championship win

It is definitely not typical for a brand new team to qualify for the MDI with such a high seed in Time Trials, and then to move on to win their very first Cup tournament. Donuts & Despair has already made their mark, and people are noticing!

Q & A

Now that we’ve provided you with some backstory on Donuts & Despair, we wanted to delve a little deeper and learn more about what it’s truly like to compete in the MDI. We asked the players a handful of questions about life in the MDI, and this is what they had to say:

Q-1: How do you cope with the pressure, stress, and anxiety of competing on a World Stage, both as an individual and within your team?

Yipz: Blame timber

Crypticzz: Putting yourself in stressful situations and higher stakes is uncomfortable. However, I found that fooling yourself into being confident enough times will translate to actually being confident. I never was particularly great at that, but I have been working on it. It helps that before the match everyone is energetic and projecting that same positive, confident approach.

Q-2: What role do people outside of your team (partner, family, friends, etc.) play in supporting you as an MDI competitor?

Yipz: Giving motivation can help a lot, especially in high pressure moments.

Crypticzz: Friends hyping us up is a nice confidence booster..

Q-3: How do you maintain your mental and physical health during the MDI Season, especially in situations where you or your team don’t perform as desired?

Yipz: Make sure to get outside and stay active. Getting fresh air and taking time to yourself can help to maintain a strong mental throughout the tournament

Crypticzz: I try to always be critical of myself. I would acknowledge that maybe my team has made a mistake but personal reflection is most important. There is always something to learn either about your performance or yourself.

In short, it’s always the healer’s fault; blame them instead.

Q-4: Describe a typical MDI Competition day for you. Do you have any routines or rituals you follow? Any superstitions? Anything you make sure you do the night before?

Yipz: Good music and own.

Crypticzz: The night before, I usually try to wind down a bit earlier because I suck at sleeping. Nevertheless, I always end up playing the MDI matches sleep deprived. Additionally, before starting a match, I do a quick simulation of the keystone run in my head. I try emphasizing some important assignments or cooldown usages etc. This is to help anticipate what is happening rather than trying to play more reactively and trying to remember what I am supposed to do in the moment.

Q-5: What do you look for in your teammates? What are the important traits to being a good teammate? Why did you decide to join your current team?

Yipz: Good problem solving skills and a positive attitude. They are my friends.

Crypticzz: I think the most important thing is having a good attitude. The social aspect of a team is always the most challenging thing to manage from my experience. Everyone has different ideas and thoughts on how to overcome obstacles. It is important to be able to understand and debate different perspectives. Being able to ask questions or criticize how an event is unfolding without having to worry about it being perceived as a negative or toxic is super important. Most of us have been friends for several years. We have a mutual respect for each other’s ability. We are all trying to improve and show our best. Sometimes, these debates can be hard to settle and the net time difference is difficult to quantify. As a result, timing a section and comparing speeds is often a surefire way to determine what is best.

Q-6: If you have been playing in the MDI for a number of years, what is it that keeps you competitive and passionate about the esport? If you are newer to the MDI, what motivated you to join?

Crypticzz: I think Mythic+ is a lot of fun, but regular live keys can get a bit monotonous. The challenge, stakes, and intensity is what fuels both my adrenaline and drive to compete.

About the Authors

Hulahoops has been playing WoW since Vanilla. She has recently shelved Retail to go back and re-experience TBC in all its glory, but will one day make her way back to the Shadowlands. In her hey-day, Hulahoops could be found raid-leading in Mythic Progression, or competing in the MDI with her team Angry Toast. Hulahoops is a Holy Paladin in every sense of the term: she moderates the Hammer of Wrath Paladin Class Discord, and she was a practicing Lawyer for 7 years. Judgment isn't just a spell! Hulahoops decided to put the law books away and follow her passion for gaming and esports by joining the team at Raider.IO. In her capacity as General Manager, Hulahoops oversees events, content, and more!

Picco is an old-fashioned WoW gamer that started back in Vanilla and has played ever since. She is a healer by heart and is currently maining Restoration Druid. She loves Mythic+ and has a great passion for events like the MDI and TGP. Picco is part of the KeystoneMasters team and enjoys jiggling around with ideas for fun new formats of community tournaments. She is also a Mod for several streamers and guilds, particularly during the RWF. Outside of WoW, Picco is a Sprout in FF14, where she explores with her Lala Summoner.