BLAST Slam VIII Malta Field Set as MidOne's Team Liquid Exit and PARIVISION, Spirit Take Top Seeds
Six Dota 2 teams are heading to Malta for the BLAST Slam VIII playoffs from 8 October. Team Liquid, with Malaysia's MidOne standing in, are out.
The online stage of BLAST Slam VIII is over. Six teams will travel to Malta for the playoffs, which run from 8 to 11 October. Team Liquid will not be one of them. Malaysian mid laner Yeik Nai "MidOne" Zheng was standing in for the side.
Liquid's run ends in Group D
Liquid brought in MidOne after regular mid laner Nisha took a break from competition. They started their group with a close 2-1 loss to Aurora Gaming. Aurora lost the first game, then won games two and three, the last of them running 64 minutes.
That loss sent Liquid to the Group D decider against GamerLegion on 2 October. GamerLegion won 2-0, with games of 41 and 40 minutes, and Liquid were knocked out.
Liquid had plenty of company. Level UP, Xtreme Gaming, Team Nemesis, NAVI, BetBoom Team and MOUZ also went out in the group stage.
Group winners and seeding matches
The 16 teams were split into four GSL-style groups, with every series a best-of-three. The four group winners were:
- Group A: PARIVISION
- Group B: Team Spirit, the reigning International champions
- Group C: Team Yandex
- Group D: Aurora Gaming
On 3 October these four teams played seeding matches to decide who would start the playoffs in the upper bracket semi-finals. PARIVISION swept Aurora 2-0. Hotspawn reported a 33-3 kill lead in a 27-minute first game, and PARIVISION closed out the second game in 43 minutes.
Team Spirit beat Team Yandex 2-1 after losing the first game. In the decider, rookie Batyuk landed a five-man Vacuum and Wall combo on Dark Seer that turned the game.
Last Chance: two reverse sweeps
The four group runners-up played in the Last Chance stage for the final two spots. Both series were reverse sweeps:
- LGD Gaming 2-1 GamerLegion. LGD were heavily beaten in game one and then won the next two. Wits played Nature's Prophet in the deciding game and went 11/2/9 with 949 GPM.
- 1win Team 2-1 OG. OG took game one, but 1win won games two and three in 24 and 28 minutes. That loss ends the event for Topson, who recently returned to OG.
The Malta bracket
PARIVISION and Team Spirit go straight to the upper bracket semi-finals. In the opening round:
- Team Yandex vs LGD Gaming
- Aurora vs 1win Team
The playoffs are a double-elimination bracket at BLAST's studio in Malta. Every series is best-of-three except the grand final, which is best-of-five. The total prize pool is US$750,000. The champions get US$270,000, with US$200,000 going to the players, and second place gets US$135,000.
This is the first tier-one Dota 2 event since The International 2026. It is an early look at which rosters have come out of the off-season in good shape, and so far the Eastern European teams are on top.
Key takeaways
- Team Liquid, with MidOne standing in, lost to Aurora and GamerLegion and went out in the group stage.
- PARIVISION and Team Spirit won their seeding matches and start the playoffs in the upper bracket semi-finals.
- LGD Gaming and 1win Team took the last two playoff spots with reverse sweeps.
- The playoffs run from 8 to 11 October in Malta, with US$270,000 for the winners.
FAQ
Is MidOne playing in the BLAST Slam VIII playoffs? No. Team Liquid went out in the Group D decider after a 2-0 loss to GamerLegion.
When are the BLAST Slam VIII playoffs? They run from 8 to 11 October at BLAST's studio in Malta.
What is the prize pool? US$750,000 in total. The winners get US$270,000.
Sources: GosuGamers, Hotspawn, Dot Esports, Field Level Media