Team Yandex conquers BLAST SLAM VIII
A long and arduous journey through BLAST SLAM VIII was finally at its end, as the grand finals between Team Spirit and Team Yandex crowned a champion. While the two teams had met only a day prior in the upper bracket final, with Yandex sweeping the winners of The International 2026, Spirit were back and hoping for revenge.
The path to the grand final for Spirit began with a hard-fought victory over PARIVISION in the lower bracket finals, before they had their shot at revenge over Yandex in the grand finals of BLAST SLAM VIII.
Yandex march to victory
There was almost nothing separating these two juggernauts when it came to a grand final’s series. Spirit came out swinging with a monstrous Ursa for Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk, as he ended 19-1-12 and guided his team to an early series lead. But Yandex’ newest addition was not to be outdone, with Game 2 seeing Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf’s Timbersaw helping to tie up the series with a 20-3-7 score.
On the back of their victory, Yandex looked unstoppable once again. An unkillable Nature’s Prophet from Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov was at the forefront of the next game victory, before a close Game 4 between the two teams would be the decider. Even with Spirit holding their own throughout the game, finding crucial pickoffs at times, it was not enough to quell the intensity of Yandex’ lineup.
Having already been crowned champions of PGL Wallachia Season 9 just a few weeks ago, Yandex were back on top once more, showing a strong performance to claim the BLAST SLAM VIII title. Both grand finalists will now begin their preparations for PARI Universe, coming later in October.
