MDI DF Season 3 - Group B Preview

The first Mythic Dungeon International of 2024 is HERE! The Time Trials have concluded, the 16 qualifying teams have been determined, and the action starts now!

Last weekend we saw the eight teams from Group A battling it out, and this weekend Group B will follow suit and decide which four teams will be joining Echo, Last Hope, dawgs, and Legendary in the Global Finals! Read on for a brief overview of changes to the MDI Format, each of the Group B teams, and our predictions for this weekend’s tournament.



The MDI starts at 10am PST / 7pm CET and you can watch it live over 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 Changes

Over the past few years the Mythic Dungeon International has had a very stable format, but 2024 promises to switch things up a bit! Blizzard has decided to shorten the length of the MDI season significantly by reducing the amount of 8-team tournaments, alongside completely removing the Last Stand tournament from the schedule.



This time around, only 16 teams qualified through the Time Trials, instead of the old 24-team format. Following the Group Stage, we will watch the top four teams from Groups A and B advance to the Season 3 Global Finals. Without a second set of Time Trials and no Last Stand, the whole event will be finished in less than a month, with the Season Finals on March 8th already fast approaching!

Over the last few seasons, players and viewers alike have indicated that they feel the MDI is entirely too long an event, and only a handful of teams could afford to dedicate so much time to competing for the most prestigious Mythic+ awards the game has to offer. We’re excited to see how the change in format will affect the overall competitiveness and level of play on display in this season of the MDI!

If you want to find out more about the MDI, the format, prizes, or brackets, make sure to check out the official MDI Season 3 hub here:

Group B Teams Preview

With only two groups instead of three, we are seeing a lot more top teams going head-to-head within a single group! While each group stage does have more qualifying spots under the new format, this will still be a highly competitive tournament, with veteran teams and newcomers alike.

Group B is made up entirely of European teams, and many of them have multiple MDI appearances under their belts already. Both the runners-up from previous MDI years are going to face off in this group, with Mandatory and Perplexed likely taking an early lead.

We also had some surprises during the Time Trials, with Sloth coming in at an unsual 14th place, despite being a team that made it to Globals in both previous MDI seasons. This could really throw the Lower Bracket, and the entire tournament, into turmoil, as they will start their first match against Mandatory!

Group B is going to be an intense battle for those hard-won Global Finals spots, and we’re all looking forward to it!

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Perplexed is as familiar a name in the MDI as Echo, with the team consistently ranking very highly in both the Time Trials and each MDI’s Global Finals. The squad’s roster is as consistent as ever, with the sole newcomer being Xesevi, who took over the healer role in the previous season’s TGP; this will be his first MDI appearance with the Perplexed gang.

As far as veteran teams go, no team can beat Perplexed, with their first MDI victory reaching as far back as Legion, where they took the #1 spot under the name Kjell’s Angels. Since then, the team has consistently placed very highly in almost every MDI, but due to a certain other team’s accomplishments, another Perplexed MDI victory has remained elusive for years.

This group were the only team to get close to Echo’s timer in the Time Trials, being only 14 seconds behind. Maybe this time around, Perplexed will finally get over that last hump and claim another MDI crown for themselves. They have to make it to Globals first, however! Perplexed go into their first match against Bone Buds Resurrected as the clear favorite.

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Mandatory have risen to prominence over the course of the last few events, and were the first team to take down the reigning champions back in Shadowlands, where they knocked Echo down into the Lower Bracket, but couldn’t quite claim the final victory for themselves.

Since then the team has improved even more, and has consistently been considered one of the teams that can take down the MDI titans. A minor roster change brought Stove into the fold, and we’re expecting great things from Mandatory this MDI. While their Time Trial performance put them 30 seconds behind Perplexed and in the 3rd seed, they still had a massive lead over anybody that came after, and Mandatory will certainly be on everyone’s radar once we move on to the Global Finals.

For this tournament, the squad have their work cut out for them, as they will be going up against Sloth first, a team that has made it to the last two MDI global finals as well. Seeing either of these teams drop into the lower bracket on Day 1 is going to cause a lot of issues for any other team down there, and based off of previous tournament showings, this is not as guaranteed a victory for Mandatory as their third seed placement may have promised.

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Bald Bandits is a new name, but the team members are as far from new as you could imagine. With multi-MDI winner Fragnance at the helm, this team boasts many MDI veterans that have played together for a few tournaments now, and they all look ready to rock.

Coming in sixth in the time trials, Bald Bandits was only ~2 minutes slower than the number one team, and this is a squad that can absolutely rise to new heights in a live setting. With all their players being experienced RWF champions as well, the stress and pressure that usually creep up at an MDI event are unlikely to even faze them.

Their first match will be against Come on now, who ended up ~3 minutes slower than Bald Bandits in the Time Trials, but maybe the 11th seeded team can still give the Bandits a run for their money.

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Eclipse is another team that might sound new, but is filled with experienced MDI players and high key pushers. The team came in 7th in this season’s Time Trials, 20 seconds slower than the Bald Bandits, and is the fourth highest-ranked team in this tournament.

With high key pushers and veteran MDI competitors on the roster, the players of Eclipse are no strangers to coming up with new tech and strategies; we were lucky enough to see some of those new strategies in last season’s TGP event, where three of their players played under the Last Minute banner, quickly becoming a team that swooped in and took down some of the most veteran players and teams in the Mythic+ esports circuit.

Eclipse may not necessarily want to showcase their full strength in their first match of Group B, where they will meet Ducks Can Fly, a team that came in over two minutes slower in the Time Trials. But if Ellipse holds back too much in their first match, they could easily find themselves in the Lower Bracket, and that is not a place you want to be in a tournament this stacked!

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We’re happy to see Ducks Can Fly in the MDI once more, as they are waddling back into another Mythic+ event – this time they seem to be ready to battle with the best. After an unfortunate 8th place finish in Group B of the last MDI, the team has now come in 10th in the Time Trials.

The Ducks have consistently played together since BFA, and that kind of familiarity and comfortability with each other’s play and personalities can go a long way in high-stress situations like the MDI.

We’re looking forward to the quack masters taking on Eclipse in their first match, and with how well the Ducks have done so far already, the sky’s the limit for these flying fowl.

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Come on now are the only team of newcomers in Group B, as none of them have had any standout performances in the MDI – yet!

While the team is new to the MDI circuit, they have been playing together on Retail for a long time, pushing themselves to new heights over and over. Individually, some of their players played in previous MDI Time Trials, but they’ve made it to the big stage now with a roster they first built in Season 2 of Dragonflight, and they certainly seem ready to rumble.

Given that they are up against the MDI and RWF veterans of Bald Bandits, this will be a tough first match for Come on now, but maybe the newcomers’ underdog status will give them an edge in this first series.

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The Spaniards from Sloth are back once more, and this time around they seemingly had a bit of an oopsie during the Time Trial stage, barely making it to the next stage of this MDI season with a 14th place finish.

As Sloth has competed in the MDI global finals twice already, their Time Trials seed was certainly a surprise to many long-time viewers, and we’re not sure why the team was unable to put better runs on the board. However, it no longer matters, as the team is here on the Group stage, and they have always been game to throw us a surprise or two.

Taking down veteran teams is nothing new for this squad, and in their first match against Mandatory, they might once again be throwing the entire tournament off with a bombshell performance – although at this point, would that really be such a shock? Still, going up against the MDI titans from Mandatory is no easy task, so Sloth better come prepared!

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Bone Buds Resurrected are the last of the eight teams of Group B, and the team once again returns for the MDI, coming in 15th in the Time Trials.

While not placing very highly, the team has appeared in a few MDIs now; the Buds have never managed to break out of the initial stages of the group tournaments, but maybe this time around, things will be different.

Bone Buds Resurrected will face a tough battle, though, going up against Perplexed in the first match, with over 6 minutes separating the two teams in their Time Trials performances.

Predictions

With the new MDI format, four teams will be qualifying for the season’s Global Finals. This group seems like a foregone conclusion, with the top four teams posting significantly faster Time Trial runs than the others. With Sloth having such a low placement, however, our expectations could easily be turned upside down.

Despite this, we expect smooth sailing for Perplexed and Mandatory, who have consistently shown themselves to be a step ahead of the rest of the competition, even if they never quite manage to take the crown. Still, their group stage performances have always been very consistent, and we do not see that changing for this weekend’s event.

We expect the third and fourth spot to be highly contested, with Eclipse, Bald Bandits, and Sloth battling over these qualifier spots. All three teams could easily make it far in the tournament, and it is purely their seeding that gives the Bandits an edge in this race.

As we expect the Bald Bandits to be knocked into the Lower Bracket by Mandatory in round 2 of the Upper Bracket, it would be impossible for them to face off against one of the other contenders, while we expect Sloth and Eclipse to meet up in the second round of the Lower Bracket. Only one of these teams can make it to the top four, and this Lower Bracket match is where the battle for that last spot will take place.

As for the remaining teams, we would certainly love to see them upset one of the veteran squads, but if history is anything to go by, we have rarely, if ever, seen it happen. Still, you’d better join us on Friday at 10 AM PST/7 PM CET for Group B of the Dragonflight Season 3 Mythic Dungeon International to see how it all plays out!

Language Streams

This season’s MDI can once again be watched on either the official Warcraft Twitch.tv or YouTube channels. In addition to the official English production, you will also be able to follow the event in multiple other languages:

• German: https://www.twitch.tv/kimuh
  
• French: https://www.twitch.tv/cruelladk
  
• Spanish: https://www.twitch.tv/phobyac
  
• Ukrainian: https://www.twitch.tv/ukrainianwow
  

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