BLAST SLAM VIII begins to reveal the post-TI pecking order.
Four teams have already secured their places in the Seeding Stage of BLAST SLAM VIII, four have been eliminated, and the remaining eight will return tomorrow for one final chance to keep their tournament alive. More importantly, BLAST is beginning to give us a clearer picture of a post-TI landscape that spent the last few weeks buried beneath roster changes, stand-ins and incomplete lineups.
PARIVISION and Team Spirit have picked up almost exactly where they left off at The International. Both swept their winner matches 2-0 to secure first place in their respective groups. Neither has given much indication that the offseason dulled the edge that made them two of the strongest teams at TI.
Team Yandex have been similarly convincing. They arrived at BLAST only days removed from winning PGL Wallachia Season 9, where they dropped just two games across the entire tournament before sweeping NAVI 3-0 in the Grand Final.
The bigger question coming into this stretch was how quickly ATF would settle into a roster that had already been successful with DM. So far, the answer appears to be: very quickly.
Aurora's route there came at the expense of Team Liquid, but both teams remain interesting for very different reasons.
Liquid arrived at BLAST in a strange position, having lost both Nisha and Ace during the post-TI shuffle and entering the tournament with MidOne standing in. Despite that, the early returns have been surprisingly encouraging. Wisper in particular has looked comfortable in the new setup, and Liquid pushed Aurora to three games before falling 2-1 in the series that decided the group's first Seeding Stage spot.
Aurora, meanwhile, are still finding out exactly what their own new roster looks like. Skiter's arrival gives the team another former Falcons piece to build around, but the transition has not looked completely seamless yet. Even so, Aurora have done enough to secure their playoff path early.
At the other end of the bracket, Level UP, NAVI, Yakult Brothers and MOUZ have reached the end of their SLAM VIII runs.
NAVI's exit is perhaps the most striking given what happened only days ago. The young roster finished second at PGL Wallachia Season 9 after making a lower-bracket run all the way to the Grand Final, only to bow out of BLAST before the weekend. Wallachia offered a very different field, however, with several of Dota's biggest teams absent and others competing with stand-ins, while BLAST has brought much more of the post-TI elite back together.
That leaves eight teams and four decider matches tomorrow:
- Xtreme Gaming vs LGD Gaming
- Team Nemesis vs 1w
- OG vs BetBoom Team
- GamerLegion vs Team Liquid
For the winners, the road continues into the Last Chance Stage and one more opportunity to reach the LAN playoffs. For the losers, SLAM VIII ends here.
