Team Spirit sweep Team Yandex in PARI Universe grand final

Team Spirit have won PARI Universe, defeating Team Yandex 3-0 in the grand final on Sunday. It was a statement performance from a roster still playing without offlaner Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov, and it avenged their 3-1 loss to Yandex in the BLAST Slam VIII grand final a couple of weeks ago.

At BLAST Slam VIII in October, Team Spirit's insistence on Outworld Destroyer for Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk became a liability. In the upper bracket final against Yandex, Yatoro was crushed in the laning phase. Spirit lost that series, then lost the grand final 3-1. Yatoro tried the OD twice that tournament and both times looked extremely underwhelming. Yatoro’s choice to play OD brought a wave of criticism from analysts and fans.

At PARI Universe, Yatoro delivered his answer with a performance that left no room for doubt.

Team Spirit vs Team Yandex - 3:0

Spirit opened the series with a quick and dominant 34-minute victory, led by Yatoro on Anti-Mage. Game two, however, went past 70 minutes as Yatoro was on Outworld Destroyer again, but this time, it was different.

Yatoro finished with a 30/4/14 KDA and a staggering 128.4k hero damage while his hard support, Aleksandr "rue" Filin finished the game with two Divine Rapiers on his Techies. Both were dropped by Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov, who fought hard on a Gyrocopter to even out the series, but Spirit's team fight control and damage output were simply too much.

Game three was a 51-minute affair that Spirit controlled from the mid-game onward. Yatoro switched to Clinkz, finishing with 29.4k building damage, but the standout performance came from Bohdan "Batyuk" Batiuk on Timbersaw.

The result flips the script on the season's earlier grand final. At BLAST Slam VIII, Yandex defeated Spirit 3-1 to claim their second consecutive title of the new season, following their PGL Wallachia Season 9 victory. That loss came as Spirit were still adjusting to a life without Collapse, and with Batyuk filling in. This time, Spirit were ready. The sweep not only avenges that BLAST defeat but also signals that the three-time TI champions remain the team to beat in the new competitive season.