The War Within S1: MDI Global Finals Preview

The first MDI Global Finals of The War Within are about to BEGIN! The Time Trials have long since concluded, 24 qualifying teams across all regions have been determined, the Group Stage events have played out, and now only eight teams remain. The fight over the MDI championship starts NOW! Will Mandatory be able to keep their championship crown?



This weekend, we’ll watch 2 Chinese teams and 6 teams from EU and NA battle it out to determine who will get to call themselves the MDI champions in the first Mythic+ season of The War Within. Read on for a brief overview of the MDI format, info on each of the Global Finals teams, and our predictions for this weekend’s tournament.



The War Within’s Season 1 MDI Global Finals start at 10am PT / 7pm CET this weekend, and you can watch the livestream on the Warcraft YouTube Channel, or the Warcraft Twitch Channel. If you aren’t able to tune in, we’ve got you covered with LIVE updates and highlights all weekend long over on our MDI Highlights page!

Table of Contents

MDI Format

Throughout Dragonflight, we saw a few changes to the MDI format, and these improvements remained in play for this first MDI of The War Within as well. We departed from the larger 24 team roster to 16, with only two group stages before the Global Finals this weekend. From each group stage, 3 teams advanced, with the remaining 2 slots for the 8-team Global Finals coming from China.

You heard that right: for the first time in years, we will be seeing two competitors from the Chinese region again! Their Time Trials and group stage was handled separately with only a rebroadcast in English, so their teams will come into the finals as a deadly dark horse duo!

Teams are still required to field 1 Tank, 1 Healer and 3 DPS, with no duplicate specs, no teleporting out of the dungeon, and no pulling through walls or other tricks unless they have been cleared with the admins first. Despite these restrictions, we still anticipate a wealth of new and shiny tricks from the teams in the hopes of gaining any competitive edge!

Global Finals Teams Preview

Now that we have our eight finalists, it is clear that this season of the MDI is not as packed with high profile teams as the one we had the pleasure of watching in Dragonflight Season 3. This doesn’t mean that the Finals will be any less competitive, though; we will have raging battles not only over the Championship itself, but also a fight of the regions between West and East, and, while only a handful of teams look capable of truly vying for that number one spot, that means we will also have highly contested matches throughout the Lower Bracket, as well!

After their Group Stage performances, it is no surprise that Mandatory and Perplexed are the absolute favorites to taking home the Championship crown – and Mandatory will want to defend it with everything they’ve got!

While we have a few favorites, as is the case with every MDI, the results of the Group Stage matches have shown how quickly even a veteran team can be left at a loss for words, and possibly drop out of the tournament entirely, if they do not play a perfect dungeon. Given that the new +7 and above affix, Challenger’s Peril, heavily punishes deaths, a single moment of sloppy play could spell doom for even the most experienced players and teams. With some of this weekend’s keys sitting at a daunting +12, the teams will be facing dungeons that are even more demanding of perfection than those they met in the Group Stages.

To better prepare you for the upcoming showdown, let’s look into each and every one of the Global Finals teams and how they have performed thus far.

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Perplexed are the longest-running team in MDI history and they are once again heading to Globals. After claiming the #1 spot during the Time Trials and a very convincing victory in Group A, the team has truly shown up in full force this season and boy do they look ready to win it all this time around.

With multiple insanely fast runs, including a lightning-fast 10:27 run in Siege of Boralus, Perplexed has kept that momentum all throughout the event so far. While the team has historically struggled to overcome the speedbumps they’ve encountered on the road to previous Globals, this time around, Perplexed truly looks ready to take the crown for themselves.

With only four deaths across the entire Group A stage, we can’t wait to see where Perplexed will go this weekend, and what strategies they have kept up their sleeves. The team banned Necrotic Wake three different times in their group weekend, so maybe they have something truly unique in store for that particular dungeon.

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Polish Mountain have surprised most viewers and competitors alike by taking the #2 seed in Group A. The Polish team knocked out Missed Count in the Lower Bracket final, after a very impressive Lower Bracket run. Despite being knocked down early, Polish Mountain kept their cool and ended up going all the way into the Grand Final of Group A, showing up when it mattered most despite that early 0-2 loss in the Upper Bracket.

Polish Mountain met their fair share of struggles in some of their matches, racking up a total death count of 34, and their win against Missed Count came off the back of Missed Count themselves making more mistakes than their opponents. But that is the MDI, and going fast doesn’t matter nearly as much this time around, while playing clean might be all that’s needed to take down the teams that are not as consistent. Despite being the #2 seed of Group A, Polish Mountain come into this tournament as the underdogs, especially compared to some of the bigger names. However, this newcomer team to the MDI has shown that they are more than capable of going toe to toe with the best.

The team banned out Grim Batol three times, so they may either have a super nifty trick up their sleeves, or are hoping to avoid it for safety reasons; it’s difficult to glean their reasoning for those bans until we see their picks and bans this weekend.

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Missed Count are one of the most veteran teams this weekend, coming in as the third place team from Group A. They were definitely hoping for a higher placing, but the loss against Polish Mountain was one of their own making, as the team struggled to play their dungeons as cleanly as they wanted to. In all of their 0-death runs, Missed Count looked incredibly strong, but the lack of consistency definitely caused some issues for them.

However, Group A’s weekend was two weeks ago, and they have had plenty of time to practice in the lead up to Globals. Despite the low seeding, this team expects to go far and aims for a Top 3 finish, if not the crown! While they did ban Ara-Kara thrice over, Missed Count has had all the time in the world to check out other teams’ Ara-Kara tricks, and we can’t wait to see what these MDI veterans have cooked for us this weekend.

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Up next we have our reigning MDI champions: Mandatory! This team has made more than just a name for itself in recent years, after coming up on the scene with a bang. After making it into the Grand Finals of previous MDI and TGP events multiple times, they finally managed to take away the championship from Echo in Dragonflight Season 3, who had been unbeaten in any of the Mythic+ esports events for almost half a decade until that point.

If this team, with the backing of the French organization Mandatory, wasn’t on the map before, they certainly are now, and the big question is whether or not they’ll be able to defend their title. Their performance in both the Time Trials and Group B certainly seem to indicate that they’re ready to blow their competitors out of the water, with only 10 deaths across all games, and incredible times in every single dungeon they’ve played. Not only have Mandatory managed to play clean in almost all their runs up to this point, but they are also so fast that even with a death penalty working against them, they still managed to be victorious in almost all their games.

The Group B final did not go exactly as planned for Mandatory, with their 3-2 victory over Holy Moly being a lot closer than most people anticipated, but the moles came out swinging and pushed Mandatory to their limits. Then again, Mandatory has been one of the few teams in the past who ended up holding back strategies until the Global Finals; hopefully we can see more tinkering and neat tricks out of the team this weekend, as they once more blaze a path to victory.

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Speaking of the devil, or rather the moles, Holy Moly have blown most people away not just with an incredible team logo, but also incredible performances that saw them almost topple the reigning MDI champions. The handful of MDI veterans playing under this holy banner ended up surprising everybody in Group B, and they are one of the teams to watch out for this weekend as well.

With only 11 deaths across all their games, the brave moles clearly kept careful play at the forefront of their minds, which should concern most of the other competitors. Not only that, but the team is crazy fast in all their runs, beating even a team like Mandatory to the finish line or trailing behind by just a few seconds. Holy Moly have now had two weeks to get their minds fully focused on the finals, and with this much time to strategize and practice, the other teams had better watch out for these moles!

The bane of the moles’ existence seems to be Siege of Boralus, which they banned three times, but they may not be able to avoid it again this weekend. With the lightning fast Siege runs we’ve seen from some of the teams joining them in the finals, Holy Moly had better be prepared for this one or they might find themselves on the wrong side of the bracket faster than expected.

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Ducks Can Fly are certainly one of the surprise teams this weekend. This team has had an incredible journey, from being knocked out very early in previous MDIs, never even getting close to the Global Finals, to claiming a qualification spot for this season’s Finals in a nailbiting match against NoTitle that saw the Ducks claim victory by the breadth of a hair, or feather, if you will. 0.3 seconds was the final differential between both teams in their Lower Bracket decider, and with the wind at their backs, who knows how far the Ducks can soar?

Despite this momentum, the ducklings will have a hard time going up against some of the more veteran MDI teams, and with it being their first Global Finals appearance, they might be a bit nervous, too. Their death count sits at 33 so far across all their games, and while their group stage gameplay may not bode well for the team to make it into the Top 3, they’ve already won our hearts and might still make it into the Top 4 with some clean and consistent performances – which they’ve had plenty of time to practice for.

No matter what, this MDI has already been a success story for the team, and at this point only the sky is the limit.

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五只小蛆, or Worms, are one of our two Chinese teams, and this team is one to keep an eye out for! It’s been a while since we’ve had Chinese competitors in the MDI, and watching them perform in their Time Trials and group stage was a lot of fun! Not only did this team not drop a single match against any of their opponents, but they also regularly brought some specs we have not seen in the western MDI whatsoever. Fielding their Elemental Shaman, they ended up with 29 deaths total across their weekend, which is in line with some of the middle-of-the-pack teams of the western group stages. Depending on their form and consistency, this team could go a lot further than many might expect.

That being said, the Chinese MDI group stage wasn’t the most competitive, so Worms’ clean sweep of the entire competition does not necessarily mean that they’ll be able to wrestle with the best of the west. Their runs have been quite a bit slower than those of the western favorites, but depending on how much this squad manages to clean up their play and improve on their strategies, they could be good for a surprise. Worms may even make it into the Top 3!

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法天白紫M, or F.T.B.Z.M, are the second Chinese team to make it to the Globals, and boy oh boy was it a struggle for them to get here. Not only did the team finish an entire seven minutes behind Worms in the Time Trials, but they were knocked off their feet by the #1 CN team twice, in two series that went 0-2 and 0-3 with Worms as the clear victors in every single match. F.T.B.Z.M come into this tournament as the clear underdogs, but while their times may not look particularly competitive, you should never count out any team, especially with deaths being punished so much more this season.

With 45 deaths, F.T.B.Z.M are not too far behind some of their other competitors, and if the team ends up focusing more on simply playing clean, instead of trying to go as fast as possible, they might win a few games off of their opponents’ mistakes and make it into the Top 6 at least! This would already be a big success for the team, who has had no previous MDI experience whatsoever.

This team also ended up playing a lot of comfort picks, from Restoration Shaman to Fire Mage, and we hope to see more spec variety from the Chinese teams this weekend as well!

Global Finals Predictions

While the field is not as tight as previous iterations of the MDI, we expect to see a few different hotly-contested battlefields this time around, instead.

Perplexed, Mandatory, Missed Count and Holy Moly are all in a good position to chase the crown, but Perplexed and Mandatory seem to be a step ahead of the competition in almost every single dungeon so far. While Mandatory was pushed into a five-game series that ended in a 3-2 victory for the reigning MDI champions, we do not expect this to repeat itself this weekend as Mandatory have almost always shown up in top-form for every Global Finals they’ve participated in thus far.

Perplexed, on the other hand, have always been known as a team who may have some of the best performances of the entire Finals, but then will also trip and fall over their own mistakes. With only four deaths so far in this competition, have they figured out the winning formula this time? Truly, Perplexed look as ready as a team can be to take the crown.

Holy Moly and Missed Count are certainly good for a surprise, and if there is any team that can upset the status quo, it’ll be one of them. Between the two, Holy Moly looked a bit stronger thus far, but Missed Count has always been good for a surprise or two. Either way, we expect these above four teams to end up at the top!

As for the rest of the competitors, Polish Mountain are the team that is most likely to upset the aforementioned predictions, as the team already managed to beat Missed Count to the finish line once before. Depending on how well their practice and strategizing went these last few weeks, the mountaineers are the Dark Horse of the tournament. The remaining squads, Ducks Can Fly, Worms and F.T.B.Z.M, will likely fight over a Top 6 finish, but only one of them will be able to make it out alive.

With the changes to the Affix system, and some of this weekend’s dungeons now hitting the +12 key-level, we are eager to observe how teams adjust to the much higher scaling of HP and damage on the enemies. Some of the massive pulls that we’ve seen throughout the group stage are likely no longer possible, or at least much more dangerous, which may make it even harder and riskier to run their familiar speedy routes. These harder keys could easily lead to some upsets of the veteran squads, so we can’t wait for the Global Finals to begin. You’d better not miss a second of the action! Join us on Friday at 10 AM PT/7 PM CET for the Global Finals of The War Within Season 1 MDI!



Thanks for reading our Global Finals Preview, and be sure to visit the OFFICIAL HUB of The War Within Mythic Dungeon International Season 1 for info on the rules, prizes, teams, and the LIVE Event Coverage!

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Links

• Watch the MDI on Twitch
  
• Watch the MDI on YouTube
  
• Official WoW esports Tournament Hub
  
• LIVE Event Coverage on Raider.IO
  
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