Team Yandex won two matches Thursday to grab a berth in the upper-bracket final of the $750,000 BLAST Slam VIII event in Attard, Malta.
Yandex defeated LGD Gaming 2-1 in the opening upper-bracket quarterfinal and advanced to face PARIVISION, which had a first-round bye. Yandex fell behind before rallying for another 2-1 victory.
Sixteen teams began the Dota 2 tournament, which will reward $270,000 to the champion ($200,000 player prize, $70,000 team share).
In last week’s double-elimination group stage, the first-place teams in each group (PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, Team Spirit and Team Yandex) advanced to the seeding matches, the second-place teams moved on to a last-chance round, and the other eight teams were eliminated. PARIVISION and Team Spirit won the seeding matches to grab the two first-round byes.
The double-elimination playoff bracket runs through Sunday in Attard, Malta. All matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
On Thursday, Yandex began their day by sandwiching 37- and 32-minute wins on Dire around LGD Gaming’s 53-minute win on Radiant. Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov of Kazakhstan tallied 29 kills and 27 assists against just 11 deaths to lead Yandex.
In the semis, PARIVISION started with a 55-minute win on Radiant before Yandex fought back and won in 52 minutes and 64 minutes, both times on Dire. On the do-or-die third map, watson racked up a 21-2-15 kills-deaths-assists ratio to power Yandex.
The other match Thursday saw Aurora Gaming sweep 1w Team 2-0 in the other upper-bracket quarterfinal. Aurora won a 77-minute marathon before finishing 1w off in 54 minutes, playing on Radiant both times. Oliver “skiter” Lepko of Slovakia tallied 38 kills, nine deaths and 29 assists across the two maps for Aurora.
The tournament continues Friday with three matches:
–Team Spirit vs. Aurora Gaming (upper-bracket semifinals)
–PARIVISION vs. 1w Team (lower-bracket quarterfinals)
–LGD Gaming vs. Spirit/Aurora loser (lower-bracket quarterfinals)
BLAST Slam VIII prize pool (player prize, team share):
1. $270,000 ($200,000, $70,000)
2. $135,000 ($100,000, $35,000)
3. $95,000 ($75,000, $20,000)
4. $65,000 ($50,000, $15,000)
5-6. $35,500 ($25,000, $10,500)
7-8. $20,000 ($12,500, $7,500) — GamerLegion, OG
9-12. $11,500 ($7,500, $4,000) — Xtreme Gaming, Team Nemesis, BetBoom Team, Team Liquid
13-16. $7,000 ($5,000, $2,000) — Level UP, Natus Vincere, MOUZ, Yakult Brothers
–Field Level Media
