The Mythic Dungeon International Returns With a $300,000 Prize Pool at BlizzCon 2026!

Posted 2026/05/05 at 12:06 PM by PopularTopular

Speedrunning is back and the season is underway—gather round and prepare to tune in for the Mythic Dungeon International in Season 1 of Midnight! This peak Dungeon programming premieres this weekend, kicking off the year of competitions for dedicated dungeoneers across the globe. Here’s what to expect and when to tune in as the speedrunners set off on the road to BlizzCon 2026.

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Time Trials

The Mythic Dungeon International celebrated its return in mid-April with a period called “Time Trials”—the open qualification stage in which hopeful competitors from around the world gather on the Tournament Realm to test their speedrunning skills in assigned dungeons. From April 15 to April 20, registered teams raced against one another to secure the fastest times in the two dungeons at the highest level possible. At the end of these trials, the twenty-four teams with the speediest runs qualified to compete in the next stage of the Tournament: Groups.

HHLNpEBacAAzOFy.jfif Groups Stage

The Groups Stage is the month-long period in which the top twenty-four teams face off against each other in weekly competitions. Each weekend, eight teams compete in a head-to-head speedrunning format in the hopes of securing one of the top two placements and qualifying further in the competition. The matches will be streamed and broadcast live on the official Warcraft Twitch and YouTube channels starting at 10:00 am PDT / 19:00 CEST each day:

Group A – May 8, 9, 10
Group B – May 15, 16, 17
Group C – May 22, 23, 24
Group China – May 29, 30, 31

This season’s Groups stage sees the introduction of two major shifts in format: the removal of map bans and a modified Spec Variety Rule. The updated Spec Variety Rule is tailored for the return of the speedrunning format, restricting specializations to ensure a varied representation for the duration of each series. Be sure to tune in to find out what the teams do with their increased control of spec bans and watch how they navigate the map pools of each series!

Interested in Co-Streaming MDI? Fill out this form and join the MDI Discord.

Season 1 Finals

The penultimate stage of the Tournament joins the top six teams from the global region and the top two from China together in a single bracket to culminate the competition for Season 1 of Midnight with $100,000 in prizing on the line. While eight hopeful teams will enter the weekend, only half of the competitors will see it through to the next stage: as the top four teams from the Season 1 Finals, including at least one team from the China region, will advance to BlizzCon 2026.

Global Finals

Once the fastest frontrunners have finished facing off in the Season 1 finals, the competition will close in for the most challenging course yet: the Global Finals – live from BlizzCon 2026 in Anaheim, California! The Global Finals will bring together the top four teams of the world’s most driven and daring dungeoneers in an awe-inspiring and action-packed weekend at the renowned convention as they compete for the title of World Champions and their share of the $300,000 BlizzCon 2026 prize pool.

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Stay Connected

Interested in learning more about the road to BlizzCon 2026? Check out the previously published announcement article.

Keep up with the latest news, trailers, and more by following WoW Esports across multiple platforms.

Comment by PupperrTime for a snooze fest of a straight line follow the arrow Dungeon route bc we have to make rules for every innovation in a route.Comment by nameer1230boring 5h stream for pushing keys, its not the original MDIComment by SquidzaTime for a snooze fest of a straight line follow the arrow Dungeon route bc we have to make rules for every innovation in a route.Comment by VegiLet's hope this year they provide seating for it. Last time if you wanted to watch you had to stand around monitors. The only e-sport that got actual seating last time was overwatch. Although, I imagine if they do that again they'll have a lot of empty seating seeing where overwatch's popularity is these days.Comment by dancharveySuch a long gap between everything else and the finals. Will we even be in season 1 at that point? LolComment by dancharveyAlso can we please do away with the spec ban nonsense? It does nothing for audience engagement, makes the teams playing have to do dumb math, and only serves to make blizz feel good about class tuning.Comment by addictedtopixelsI know I shouldn't be talking but damn what a waste of money...Comment by TheRealArchoni love how everyone is just fed up with this now XDComment by lovelywazWe should start a GoFunMe for this small indie company so they can increase the prize "pool". 😢

Most of those who participate, and certainly the top ranking ones, make more from streams and sponsorship and this is only to get them more exposure and more followers for their channels. 🥱😴Comment by jokeychanThey got my hopes up with the "time trials" wording..

Bring back fixed key levels. I don't care which team can push the highest, I want to see the ridiculous strategies people come up with to complete a lower key in the fastest time.

I want to see tech that people keep a secret just for this event. I want to see a rogue solo tank a miniboss againComment by AowenThey got my hopes up with the "time trials" wording..

Bring back fixed key levels. I don't care which team can push the highest, I want to see the ridiculous strategies people come up with to complete a lower key in the fastest time.

I want to see tech that people keep a secret just for this event. I want to see a rogue solo tank a miniboss againComment by BenedictionLet's just boycott the MDI...I don't watch it anyway, boring as hell.Comment by 2561701" will win their share of the $300,000"
ok so they will get the bill for the power they used while the rest goes to the cube crawl division.Comment by NeylSoooo Global Finals at Blizzcon will be for season 2 dungeons ? Or still S1 ones ?