The Great Push (TGP) 2025: The War Within Season 1 Recap

Key Takeaways

• The Great Push (TGP) is WoW Esports' keystone-pushing format, and it is not the same competition as the Mythic Dungeon International: MDI races a fixed key against the clock, while TGP rewards the highest key a team can complete.
• The War Within Season 1 edition of The Great Push ran from January into February 2025: registration closed on January 17, the Time Trials ran January 22-26, and the Group Stage opened January 31.
• The Global Finals on February 14-16, 2025 carried a $200,000 prize pool, part of a $260,000 combined purse spread across the Time Trials, Groups, and Finals.
• Completing the Time Trials granted the Tempered Banner of the Algari; the title of first TGP champions of The War Within was decided separately at the Finals.
• Mandatory, an international roster drawn from France, the Netherlands, Australia, Bulgaria, and Poland, won the Finals with a +21 push and a final score of 119 for the $80,000 top prize.
• Streamerzone took second and No Speaky took third, while China's Phoenix Gang Media claimed the sixth Global Finals slot.

With the headline results on record, here is the full story of how WoW Esports' first The War Within push tournament came together and how it finished.

What The Great Push Was, and How It Differed From the MDI

Hosted by Blizzard as part of the WoW Esports calendar, The Great Push asked teams to do one thing: complete the hardest Mythic+ keystone they could, with the score set by how high they pushed. That is the detail that separated it from the Mythic Dungeon International. In the MDI, teams race a fixed key level against the clock, so speed decides the winner. In The Great Push, difficulty decides it, and the run only ends when the group either times the key or wipes out of contention.

Because Wowhead and Raider.IO have historically filed both competitions under a shared "MDI: The Great Push" hub, the two names get blurred together in community shorthand. Blizzard's own announcement used "The Great Push (TGP)" throughout, so the cleanest way to read the January 2025 event is as a distinct push-format tournament rather than an MDI spin-off.

The Road Through January 2025

Teams registered on Raider.IO with a deadline of January 17, 2025, which locked in eligibility for both the Time Trials and the run at the combined prize pool. The Time Trials opened the competition as a five-day qualifier on the dedicated Tournament Realms, running January 22-26 and giving every registered team the chance to post a scoring key.

The top sixteen teams from the Time Trials advanced to the Group Stage, which began January 31. From there the racing was broadcast live on Twitch and YouTube, with each group grinding pre-assigned keystones against the clock until only the strongest survived into the Global Finals.

Format Changes for the Season 1 Groups

Blizzard reshaped the group format for The War Within season to make the broadcast tighter and the racing less predictable:

• Each TGP Group ran with eight teams, split into two sets of four.
• Across the first two days, the sets raced three keystones apiece, and the top two teams from each set moved on to the third day.
• Scores were reset on day three, and the four remaining teams faced three new keystones to decide the group winner.
• Two teams advanced from each group, joined by two teams from China, forming a six-team Global Final.

To stop teams from perfecting routes off-camera, practice was deliberately restricted: the dungeons were disabled on the Tournament Realms between stages, so squads had to solve pull timing and cooldown sequencing live on the broadcast. That single rule did more than any other to keep the January 2025 season unpredictable.

Who Won: Mandatory Crowned Season 1 Champions

When the Global Finals wrapped on February 14-16, 2025, the international squad Mandatory, with players from France, the Netherlands, Australia, Bulgaria, and Poland, pushed to a +21 for a final score of 119 and was crowned the first TGP champions of The War Within, claiming the $80,000 top prize. Streamerzone took second for $40,000 and No Speaky took third for $30,000, while China's Phoenix Gang Media rounded out the six-team field in sixth.

The Finals pool was pure Season 1 content, running keys through City of Threads, The Dawnbreaker, Siege of Boralus, The Stonevault, The Necrotic Wake, and Ara-Kara, City of Echoes. Watching the pros grind those routes is the fastest way to learn optimal pulls, and anyone who came away wanting to push your own Mythic+ keys can chase a Keystone Master run of their own on the same dungeon set.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did The Great Push Season 1 take place?

The War Within Season 1 edition ran across late January and mid-February 2025. Registration closed January 17, the Time Trials ran January 22-26, the Group Stage opened January 31, and the Global Finals were held February 14-16 on Patch 11.0.7.

What is the difference between The Great Push and the MDI?

The Great Push scores teams on the highest Mythic+ keystone they can complete, so difficulty decides the winner. The Mythic Dungeon International instead races a fixed key level against the clock, so speed decides it. They are two separate WoW Esports formats that share a dungeon pool.

How big was the prize pool?

The Global Finals carried a $200,000 prize pool, and the combined purse across the Time Trials, Group Stage, and Finals reached $260,000. At the Finals, first place took $80,000, second $40,000, and third $30,000.

Who won The Great Push for The War Within Season 1?

Mandatory, an international roster, won the Global Finals with a +21 push and a final score of 119. Streamerzone finished second and No Speaky third, with China's Phoenix Gang Media taking the sixth Finals slot.

What was the Tempered Banner of the Algari?

The Tempered Banner of the Algari was the in-game reward for completing the Time Trials, so it was a participation cosmetic rather than a champions-only prize. The champion honor itself was awarded to the Finals winner.

Where could you watch The Great Push?

Every stage from the Group Stage onward was streamed live on Twitch and YouTube through the official WoW Esports channels, and the Global Finals broadcast is where Mandatory sealed the title.

Last reviewed 2026-07-20 against Patch 11.0.7 Siren Isle (The War Within Season 1) — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.