Defending champions Team Liquid headline direct invite list for BLAST Slam VII

With the Dota 2 competitive season heating up, BLAST has already unveiled the eight teams receiving direct invitations to Slam VII. The tournament offers a $1,000,000 prize pool and is scheduled to kick off on May 26, 2026, from the BLAST Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Leading the charge is Team Liquid, who will enter the competition as the defending champions. Liquid secured their place at the top after a dominant performance at BLAST Slam VI: Malta, where they defeated Natus Vincere in the grand finals.

Interestingly enough, NAVI are not on the direct invite list despite being the runners up of Season 6.

Liquid are joined at BLAST Slam VII by BetBoom Team, Tundra Esports, Team Falcons, Team Spirit, and Team Yandex from the Eastern and Western European regions. The international flavor of the event is brought by the Southeast Asian, OG line-up alongside South American powerhouses HEROIC.

BLAST Slam VII qualifiers

While the direct invites promise top-tier action, the BLAST Slam VII lineup is not yet complete. Four additional slots are available, bringing the total number of participating teams to twelve. The final four teams heading to Copenhagen in May will be determined through regional qualifiers, which are set to begin on March 30, 2026. The allocation of slots for the regional qualifiers is as follows:

• Europe: 2 slots
• Southeast Asia: 1 slot
• China: 1 slot

The seventh edition in the Slam series will bring a format change designed to maximise the amount of Dota 2 played, including a double-elimination bracket for the playoff stage and a new Last Chance Qualifier to the playoff system, which replaces the Play-In format used at previous editions.

With the revamped format promising over 38 matches and significantly more gameplay hours, fans are in for a marathon of high-level Dota coming our way in May.