Team Yandex reinforced that they are the leading roster in Dota 2 by defeating Team Spirit 3-1 to win BLAST Slam VIII on Sunday.
BLAST Slam VIII saw Team Yandex defeat both Parivision and Team Spirit (twice) on their way to the $300,000 first place prize and their second trophy of the season.
Team Yandex elevated after AFT signing
The team added Ammar ‘ATF’ Al-Assaf in the off-season, an off-season that saw the end of Team Falcons’ participation in Dota 2 as the longstanding Falcons roster went their separate ways.
The Off-Laner has already provided proven impact in his first two tournament showings with the strengthened Yandex roster, securing BLAST Slam VIII and PGL Wallachia Season 9 in September.
It was difficult to make immediate conclusions from that PGL Wallachia victory, as the event did not feature the two rosters that were presumed to be Yandex’s competition for the upcoming season: TI 2026 winners Team Spirit and Parivision.
PGL saw Yandex take down 1win, Aurora, LGD Gaming, and finally NAVI in the Grand Final to take the trophy, but in the end the victory just left fans wanting those clashes between Yandex and Parivision/Team Spirit.
How Yandex won BLAST Slam VIII
Yandex met both Parivision and Spirit at BLAST Slam VIII, as Yandex handed Parivision their first defeat since the permanent signing of Alan ‘Satanic’ Gallyamov in the Upper Bracket in a 2-1 contest.
In the Upper Final, Yandex really showed their trophy credentials with a 2-0 over Spirit, demolishing them in a Game 2 that lasted only 33 minutes.
The Grand Final saw Yandex rematch Spirit, falling to a 0-1 deficit after Game 1 but never looking back as Alimzhan ‘watson’ Islambekov shined across the series as Yandex emerged as 3-1 Grand Final winners and BLAST Slam VIII champions.
For Yandex, the tournament definitively proved that they are at the top of the Dota 2 mountain, but the question that remains is whether they can maintain that supremacy over the year, especially if Magomed ‘Collapse’ Khalilov returns to action after voluntarily benching himself after TI to take a break from pro play.
Will Yandex continue to dominate? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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