How a group of early-morning raiders swiped a World First title away from WoW’s pro guilds

Throughout the entirety of World of Warcraft’s Shadowlands expansion, only five guilds claimed World First kills across the game’s 31 raid bosses. Four of them were sponsored (or went on to be sponsored) by major esports organizations. The fifth was a group of players who just happened to clock in early. 

In WoW, the Race to World First is considered the pinnacle event of the game’s esports scene. Although the event isn’t sponsored in full by Blizzard Entertainment, organizations still field 20-player WoW rosters to complete a new raid faster than any other team.