An MMO that has stood the test of time by being around for almost two decades is World of Warcraft. Considering how long it has been around, it is pretty surprising that the number of tournaments for this game is quite limited.
Mythic Dungeon Invitational
When it comes to the PvE side of WoW, the main tournament that runs throughout the year is the MDI. This tournament is available to anyone who decides to compete, and because of that, it starts off with Time Trials.
Time Trials
During the Time Trials, teams that applied to compete in the event will have to finish two dungeons of their choice in the fastest way possible, and the fastest teams get to advance to the Group Stage of the esports tournament.
Group Stage
The Group stage has teams that qualified through Time Trials split into three different groups: A, B, and C. Brackets are formed for double-elimination, so there is a winner’s and a loser’s bracket.
Unlike Time Trials, the Group stage will have pre-determined dungeons and affixes in each part of the bracket, and the team that performs better than their rival two out of three times will continue through the winner’s bracket, while the loser goes to the loser’s bracket where they can make a comeback in the tournament by not dropping another game.
From each group, two teams advance to the Global Finals.
Last Stand
Once the Group stage is concluded, there is another set of Time Trials called the Last Stand. It follows the same format as the Time Trials, but without groups, so only two teams advance to the Global Finals stage.
Global Finals
In the last stage of the tournament, teams compete for a part of the $300,000 prize pool. The format is a double-elimination bracket, and the matches are played the same way as in the Group stage.
The Great Push
While the principles of this tournament are very similar to the MDI, it is a much smaller event that is packed with action.
Qualifiers
Instead of Time Trials, it has a Proving Ground phase. Teams are given two dungeon keystone combinations, and in the few days of Proving Grounds, they are required to push them as high as possible. The top six teams with the highest keystones will compete over the course of three days.
Main Event
The first day reveals four dungeons that the teams have to push as high as possible, the second day adds another dungeon to the pool, and the third day adds the final dungeon to the pool. Each day, the worst-performing team is cut, so on the final day, only four teams compete. The prize pool is $20,000 but is split between the top six teams.
The winning team is the one who manages who has the highest number when levels of keys are combined.
Arena World Championship
While the first two tournaments follow the PVE side of WoW, Arena World Championship (AWC) is the PVP side. The format for the event is 3v3, and the tournament is split into two phases, the Cup and the Circuit. The overall prize pool for AWC is $700,000.
The Cup Phase
Both EU and NA regions have their own cups, and games are played each week, and anyone can participate in the tournament as long as they have a team of three players; it is possible to register with four players on a team for flexibility (but games are still 3v3).
Top eight teams from each region advance to the Circuit part of the tournament. The top players are ordered by the number of points accumulated throughout four weeks, and they are given to the top 12 teams each week.
The Circuit Phase
Once the best eight teams from each region are chosen based on the points accumulated in the Cup phase, they will compete in a round-robin format where each team will play one another in a best of five match.
Top four from the round-robin phase move on to the AWC Finals, where the champion is determined.