MDI Group A Preview: Teams and Casters
This weekend, Perplexed (Seed #1), SHEEESH (Seed #6), Team name (Seed #7), Evolving (Seed #12), Soniqs Imperative (Seed #13), Pieces Donkeys (Seed #18), Apes Together Strong (Seed #19), and Winning Lane Kick (Seed #24) are competing in the first MDI Group of Shadowlands Season 2! Want to know more about each of the teams? Read our Time Trials Recap and our writeup on the backstories of the team names!
Table of Contents
Group A Predictions
With the new format, there are two tickets to the global finals up for grabs, which makes this group one of the most exciting because it features SHEEESH and Team name as the 6th and 7th seed, separated in Time Trials by mere seconds, theoretically competing for that spot.
Of course, in practice, anything can happen, so even though Perplexed enters the weekend as heavy favorites to win or at the very least secure a Global Finals qualification, nothing can be taken for granted!
Taking a look at the bracket for the weekend, a particularly exciting early match will be Evolving versus Soniqs Imperative on Day 1 (Friday), as that is also a matchup of teams coming in with basically equal seeding. Of course, the winner of that series is likely to be rewarded with a matchup against Perplexed in the following round, which is a daunting prospect.
SHEEESH and Team name are poised to meet each other early on Day 2 (Saturday) if they can win their first round matches (which shouldn’t be taken for granted, as even the lower seeded teams in this Group contain some renowned players! While upper bracket matches are not definitive results, any team that can win their first two rounds and make it to that Upper Finals will have a fantastic shot at qualifying for Global Finals by winning one of their next two matches.
Games this weekend will be played at keys between level 19 and 22, with a few particularly nasty landmines scattered into the map pool, such as a +22 Necrotic Wake with Fortified Bolstering and Quaking. It’ll be vital for the teams to be able to adapt to these vastly different environments between the different dungeons, a skill that the MDI has largely left untested for the past few years, as the key level has been fixed for the last several seasons. The difference between +19 and +22 may look small, but in practice it’s a full third more health and damage on each enemy, which can dramatically change the best strategy as well as the compositions that are best suited to each dungeon.
Next, let's get to know the host and casters of this season’s MDI!
Meet the Talent - Group A
The Host:
Name: Daniel
Alias: Jackbcastin
Country: Texas
Class: Priest
Bio: They call me a Priest Main. Holy. Disc. Sometimes Mistweaver. but never Shadow. Because I obey the Wowhead guides of my people, the Priests, and punish those who do not. Because I do not forgive those Mages for taking my Power Infusion, or Fairies, or that safe spot in the front on Sludgefist. A thousand whispers of "PI me!" between us, will not be forgotten.
WoW Background: Started playing WoW in Firelands as a Rogue player but when one of my guildies sent me a mess of gems/enchants for my herbing Paladin to heal a Mogu'shan Vaults run in Mists I got hooked on healing. I've been maining Priest since Siege of Orgrimmar and started streaming on twitch as a hobby around that time too after being obsessed with watching Reckful/Venruki/Sodez/Talbadar stream their PvP games at their gaming house. As I was finishing my Finance degree, Blizzard asked if I wanted to take part in a new esports program in Fall of 2017 called the Mythic Dungeon Invitational. I bounced back and forth from DC to Ohio for a month during midterms, somehow passed them, and when I graduated in 2018 the program grew into the Mythic Dungeon International. I moved down to Texas, tried my hand at full time streaming, and picked up the Host role in 2019.
Now I stream, write guides for Wowhead, host the MDI, raid for W13 Soniqs Imperative and slam big keys as Holy/Disc Priest.
Alias: Jackbcastin
Country: Texas
Class: Priest
Bio: They call me a Priest Main. Holy. Disc. Sometimes Mistweaver. but never Shadow. Because I obey the Wowhead guides of my people, the Priests, and punish those who do not. Because I do not forgive those Mages for taking my Power Infusion, or Fairies, or that safe spot in the front on Sludgefist. A thousand whispers of "PI me!" between us, will not be forgotten.
WoW Background: Started playing WoW in Firelands as a Rogue player but when one of my guildies sent me a mess of gems/enchants for my herbing Paladin to heal a Mogu'shan Vaults run in Mists I got hooked on healing. I've been maining Priest since Siege of Orgrimmar and started streaming on twitch as a hobby around that time too after being obsessed with watching Reckful/Venruki/Sodez/Talbadar stream their PvP games at their gaming house. As I was finishing my Finance degree, Blizzard asked if I wanted to take part in a new esports program in Fall of 2017 called the Mythic Dungeon Invitational. I bounced back and forth from DC to Ohio for a month during midterms, somehow passed them, and when I graduated in 2018 the program grew into the Mythic Dungeon International. I moved down to Texas, tried my hand at full time streaming, and picked up the Host role in 2019.
Now I stream, write guides for Wowhead, host the MDI, raid for W13 Soniqs Imperative and slam big keys as Holy/Disc Priest.
The Casters:
Name: Caroline
Alias: Naguura
Country: Italy
Class: Druid
Bio: Naguura. God Gamer. Started playing because I was an impressionable young child and transitioned into a goofy older child and kept playing. I am a full-time streamer, caster and content creator for WoW as well as one of the top 5 coolest people in my remote village in the alps that plays WoW. Multiple world first and former MDI competitor...but my biggest achievement so far was finding the transmog tab all by myself for the first time in 2020. FUN FACT: One time I tried to use Oreo filling as a substitute for milk in a recipe.
WoW Background: I've been playing WoW since vanilla, started out playing Holy Paladin, then switched to Resto Druid and Moonkin. I have been focusing on High end PvE content the whole time and participated in the World First Race for multiple years up until Legion. I got World Firsts with Method and Serenity in MoP, Warlords of Draenor and early Legion. Then started playing high M+ and participated in the very first MDI.
I'm now focusing a lot on stream content, but I'm still doing high M+ regularly and trying to get Hall of Fame with my 2 day raiding guild. I've been casting the MDI since season 2!
Alias: Naguura
Country: Italy
Class: Druid
Bio: Naguura. God Gamer. Started playing because I was an impressionable young child and transitioned into a goofy older child and kept playing. I am a full-time streamer, caster and content creator for WoW as well as one of the top 5 coolest people in my remote village in the alps that plays WoW. Multiple world first and former MDI competitor...but my biggest achievement so far was finding the transmog tab all by myself for the first time in 2020. FUN FACT: One time I tried to use Oreo filling as a substitute for milk in a recipe.
WoW Background: I've been playing WoW since vanilla, started out playing Holy Paladin, then switched to Resto Druid and Moonkin. I have been focusing on High end PvE content the whole time and participated in the World First Race for multiple years up until Legion. I got World Firsts with Method and Serenity in MoP, Warlords of Draenor and early Legion. Then started playing high M+ and participated in the very first MDI.
I'm now focusing a lot on stream content, but I'm still doing high M+ regularly and trying to get Hall of Fame with my 2 day raiding guild. I've been casting the MDI since season 2!
Name: Alex
Alias: Xyronic
Country: USA
Class: Warlock/Mage
Bio: Xyronic is a world first raider playing in the guild Complexity Limit. He has been a high-end gamer in the World of Warcraft scene for the past 8 years, competing in previous seasons of MDI before taking on the mantle of broadcast analyst for the show.
Alias: Xyronic
Country: USA
Class: Warlock/Mage
Bio: Xyronic is a world first raider playing in the guild Complexity Limit. He has been a high-end gamer in the World of Warcraft scene for the past 8 years, competing in previous seasons of MDI before taking on the mantle of broadcast analyst for the show.
Name: Tristan Killeen
Alias: Dratnos
Country: USA
Class: Warrior
Bio: Dratnos is a returning MDI caster who has also been found casting Race to World First (RWF) events and creating content on YouTube and Twitch. He also writes the Raider.IO Weekly Route articles and raids with Hall of Fame guild <poptart corndoG>.
Alias: Dratnos
Country: USA
Class: Warrior
Bio: Dratnos is a returning MDI caster who has also been found casting Race to World First (RWF) events and creating content on YouTube and Twitch. He also writes the Raider.IO Weekly Route articles and raids with Hall of Fame guild <poptart corndoG>.
Name: Peyton Tettleton
Alias: Tettles
Country: USA
Class: Druid
Bio: Peyton Tettleton, known professionally as Tettles, is a Missouri based rapper, Balance Druid player, and part-time swami. Tettles is among the best Balance Druid players of all time, with worldwide critical acclaim. He also has an ongoing rivalry with Dratnos in which he always gets the upper hand.
WoW Background: I started playing World of Warcraft in Warlords of Draenor. Very early on into me starting to play the game with friends I really began to enjoy raiding. Throughout BRF and HFC I climbed the ladder until I was raiding at a World 200 level. After Legion came out I fell in love with M+. I was around pushing score whenever people used Wowprogress as the only scoring metric. I remember whenever Raider.io came out and basically everybody started using them. I participated in one of the Legion MDIs and began casting the MDI and RWF events in BFA. I really enjoy the friend aspect to World of Warcraft, and believe everything is better done in a group.
Alias: Tettles
Country: USA
Class: Druid
Bio: Peyton Tettleton, known professionally as Tettles, is a Missouri based rapper, Balance Druid player, and part-time swami. Tettles is among the best Balance Druid players of all time, with worldwide critical acclaim. He also has an ongoing rivalry with Dratnos in which he always gets the upper hand.
WoW Background: I started playing World of Warcraft in Warlords of Draenor. Very early on into me starting to play the game with friends I really began to enjoy raiding. Throughout BRF and HFC I climbed the ladder until I was raiding at a World 200 level. After Legion came out I fell in love with M+. I was around pushing score whenever people used Wowprogress as the only scoring metric. I remember whenever Raider.io came out and basically everybody started using them. I participated in one of the Legion MDIs and began casting the MDI and RWF events in BFA. I really enjoy the friend aspect to World of Warcraft, and believe everything is better done in a group.
The Group A Guest Caster:
Name: Joe
Alias: Psybearslat
Country: England
Class: Druid (Feral)
Bio: I like to think I have a very unique perspective on Mythic+ in general because of my experiences in WoW. I’ve been playing M+ every season since Legion and have been actively pushing io since BFA Season 1. In that time I’ve mained a Feral Druid and now actively play Feral & Survival achieving top 5 on both specs in season 1 of shadowlands, I’ve also pugged all of my keys as I have never had a permanent premade (surprise, surprise). However, even though I play off-meta and pug 99% of my keys, I’ve also played extensively with some of the best players in the world including, Naowh, Naguura, Zmok, Fem, Andy, Hippo, Wildi, Ricky, Faithy, Mewo, JdotB, etc. If you know them, I’ve probably played with them. In that I know what it’s like to play on all levels of the spectrum, from meta to off-meta, pug to premade, inexperienced players and the best in the world. It’s helped develop my perspective and viewpoint and has developed the way in which I cast as I really know how difficult some of the plays are as well as knowing how dedicated and incredible all of the competitors are and what the average viewers experiences probably are and how they differ from what we might see in the MDI. I’m hoping to bring that unique angle to the cast this weekend.
WoW Background: I’ve been playing since vanilla (originally a Hunter now a Druid main) and really turned competitive when mythic+ released in Legion. I love playing the game for enjoyment first and foremost and try to push io as high as I can on the specs I love - Feral & Survival. More recently I’ve been pursuing my passion for Esports and hosting/casting specifically. I love Blizzard Esports, especially WoW, and won’t stop until I’m standing on that Blizzcon stage!
Alias: Psybearslat
Country: England
Class: Druid (Feral)
Bio: I like to think I have a very unique perspective on Mythic+ in general because of my experiences in WoW. I’ve been playing M+ every season since Legion and have been actively pushing io since BFA Season 1. In that time I’ve mained a Feral Druid and now actively play Feral & Survival achieving top 5 on both specs in season 1 of shadowlands, I’ve also pugged all of my keys as I have never had a permanent premade (surprise, surprise). However, even though I play off-meta and pug 99% of my keys, I’ve also played extensively with some of the best players in the world including, Naowh, Naguura, Zmok, Fem, Andy, Hippo, Wildi, Ricky, Faithy, Mewo, JdotB, etc. If you know them, I’ve probably played with them. In that I know what it’s like to play on all levels of the spectrum, from meta to off-meta, pug to premade, inexperienced players and the best in the world. It’s helped develop my perspective and viewpoint and has developed the way in which I cast as I really know how difficult some of the plays are as well as knowing how dedicated and incredible all of the competitors are and what the average viewers experiences probably are and how they differ from what we might see in the MDI. I’m hoping to bring that unique angle to the cast this weekend.
WoW Background: I’ve been playing since vanilla (originally a Hunter now a Druid main) and really turned competitive when mythic+ released in Legion. I love playing the game for enjoyment first and foremost and try to push io as high as I can on the specs I love - Feral & Survival. More recently I’ve been pursuing my passion for Esports and hosting/casting specifically. I love Blizzard Esports, especially WoW, and won’t stop until I’m standing on that Blizzcon stage!
Closing Thoughts
With a promising lineup of teams and an array of talent entering this weekend’s first MDI Group of Shadowlands Season 2, be sure to check it out the broadcast LIVE, starting today, Friday September 3rd at 10:00 AM PDT. For more info on the prize pool, format, and various language streams, click here.
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About the Authors
Dratnos hosts the The Titanforge WoW Podcast. He’s also an Officer in the World 36th guild poptart corndoG, and a commentator for events such as the MDI and the Race to World First! He streams on Twitch, where he likes to review his friends’ logs.
VitaminP (VP) is the Lead Editor & Assistant Producer of Raider.IO, and is pursuing a Masters of Business Administration. Although VP is currently focused on IRL, she specializes in tanking classes and loves competitive Mythic+. She is a Discord Partner and partnered Twitch streamer, but mostly you can find her editing, doing homework, cooking, playing with her dogs, and catching Pokémon.
