Team Yandex Beat Team Spirit 3–1 to Win BLAST Slam VIII

Team Yandex won BLAST Slam VIII on 11 October, beating Team Spirit 3–1 in the grand final at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta. The win was worth $270,000 from a $750,000 prize pool, according to the organiser.^[1] (One outlet reported $300,000; we use BLAST's figure.)

The 16-team Dota 2 event ran from 29 September to 11 October.

Three meetings with Spirit

Yandex and Spirit — the reigning International champions — met three times in Malta:^[1]

On the way, Yandex also beat LGD 2–1 and PARIVISION 2–1. Spirit reached the final through the lower bracket, beating PARIVISION 2–1.

How the final went

Spirit took game one behind Yatoro on Ursa. Then Yandex won three maps in a row:^[2]

• Game two: ATF on Timbersaw finished with 20 kills and 7 assists.
• Game three: Watson on Nature's Prophet went 14/0/14 — no deaths.
• Game four: Watson posted 19 kills and 14 assists, ATF 13 kills and 22 assists.

Spirit took home $135,000 for second place.^[2]

Why this win matters

Yandex came to Malta as champions of PGL Wallachia Season 9, but that title came without beating both of the scene's strongest rivals. Here they went through Spirit twice and PARIVISION once, which makes this a much stronger result.^[3]

The key change is ATF, who joined after Team Falcons left the Dota 2 scene. His numbers in the final — 33 kills across the last two maps — show why the move has worked so quickly.^[3]

For bettors

Head-to-head results inside one event are a useful sign of form, but Dota 2 swings with patches and drafts. Before betting on a rematch, check how each team's hero pool fits the current patch — our Dota 2 betting page and the guide to Dota 2 objective markets explain what to look at, and map handicaps and series betting covers best-of-five finals like this one.