Team Yandex expand their trophy collection with a BLAST Slam VII victory: format and full tournament details

Team Yandex, which skipped DreamLeague Season 29, has not lost its form and has become the only team to win all three matches, despite facing some of the top contenders for the championship.

The ex-Heroic roster, now under the new LGD Gaming tag, also put in a strong performance, as did, surprisingly, GLYPH: teams managed to defeat BetBoom Team and Aurora Gaming, and in their head-to-head matchup, the South American roster proved stronger but lost to Falcons, whom GLYPH had defeated.

Team Spirit managed to defeat only Tundra Esports, and lost a lackluster map to BetBoom Team, while Yandex surprised the “dragons” with Night Stalker from CHIRA_JUNIOR. Aurora Gaming, Team Liquid, and Xtreme Gaming also had a rough start, but OG found themselves in the worst position, failing to win a single match.

Team Yandex suffered its first loss in a match against Team Falcons. The teams now occupy first and second place in the group, tied on map score.

LGD Gaming remains in the lead, but today Team Liquid caught up to them in points, as they proved stronger in their head-to-head matchup. Meanwhile, PARIVISION had a successful second day, while GLYPH began to lose positions.

Tundra Esports, BetBoom Team, Aurora Gaming, and Team Spirit have failed to break into the top of the group. OG remains in the “red” zone, but today Xtreme Gaming has also become one of the main contenders for elimination. The team lost all three of today’s matches.

It’s worth noting that in the match against Tundra Esports, XG carry Wang Ame Chunyu once again called an early “GG”, just as he did in the group stage series of DreamLeague Season 29 against Nigma Galaxy in a similar situation. Tundra did indeed have a significant advantage, but the Chinese team had all three sides unscathed.

Team Falcons, PARIVISION, Team Yandex, and LGD Gaming remain at the top of the standings, while Team Liquid has dropped to sixth place after two losses today.

BetBoom Team won all three of its matches, significantly boosting its chances of securing a direct spot in the playoffs. It’s worth noting that BB support Vitaly Save- Melnik played his 1,000th pro-level match for the club in the series against Team Yandex. He became the 33rd player to reach this milestone under a single tag.

OG and Xtreme Gaming each secured two wins today, improving their standings. Team Spirit remains in a dire situation, but a victory over Team Liquid allowed the team to avoid falling into the red zone, where Tundra Esports and GLYPH ended up after a disastrous day.

The fourth day at BLAST SLAM VII has come to an end, and it’s time to summarize the results.

LGD Gaming took first place in the group after a sensational victory over Team Yandex. It’s worth noting that the LGD vs. TY match lasted 111 minutes, making it the longest map of the current patch. Additionally, this match will be remembered for the South American team’s unconventional decision to assign Axe to KJ and Snapfire to Wisper.

PARIVISION, BetBoom Team, and Team Falcons also secured their spots in the playoffs, while Team Yandex, Team Spirit, Team Liquid, Aurora Gaming, OG, and Tundra Esports will compete for a spot in the main stage during the last-chance.

Xtreme Gaming and GLYPH have been eliminated from the competition. However, GLYPH came close to securing a spot in the tournament in their match against Tundra Esports. The South Asian squad played an even game, and Jhocam secured a significant advantage for the team by committing a triple kill on Rubick using Proximity Mines stolen from Techies, but it wasn’t enough for the team to close out the map in their favor.

The fifth day of BLAST SLAM VII has come to an end, and we now know all of the playoff participants.

Aurora Gaming played two series, first defeating Tundra Esports 2:1 and then overcoming Team Liquid, eliminating both teams from the tournament. Windranger appeared in Aurora's draft on nearly every map, alternating between the carry and mid roles.

In the parallel matches, Team Spirit comfortably defeated OG but ran into difficulties against Team Yandex in the playoff qualification match. The roster led by Martin Saksa Sazdov came out on top, proving that it deserved direct invitations to both Esports World Cup 2026 and The International 2026.

Hoodwink once again became the most contested hero despite posting only a 38% win rate. Clockwerk recorded a 70% win rate across 23 games, while Timbersaw was the worst-performing hero, winning only 3 out of 12 matches.

The tournament's playoff stage will begin in five days, giving teams time to prepare for their matches in Copenhagen.

The sixth day of BLAST SLAM VII has concluded, and most of the tournament is now behind us.

Today featured the playoff quarterfinal matches, where Team Yandex advanced to the upper bracket final by first defeating Aurora Gaming 2:0 and then overcoming LGD Gaming.

Notably, on the first map of the series against the Southeast Asian squad, Yandex allowed its opponents to secure no more than five kills over 40 minutes of gameplay.

Meanwhile, Team Falcons comfortably defeated Team Liquid 2:0 and will face BetBoom Team tomorrow in a match for a place in the semifinals.

Special attention should be given to Falcons offlaner Ammar ATF Al-Assaf. Today, the player picked Necrophos at the tier-1 level for the first time in his career and set a record for the hero in terms of gold and experience per minute, finishing the match with 983 GPM and 1400 XPM.

The next match day will feature two lower bracket series, with the losing teams being eliminated from the tournament.

Recall that Liquid was eliminated from the tournament during the first stage. However, due to visa issues, PARIVISION was forced to withdraw from the event, and the vacant spot was given to Liquid.

Team Falcons midlaner Stanislav Malr1ne Potorak encountered a similar issue, forcing the team to continue competing with a stand-in.

The seventh day of BLAST SLAM VII has concluded, and it is time to recap the key results.

The only upper bracket match featured BetBoom Team and Team Falcons, with Vladislav Kataomi Semenov's squad securing a convincing 2:0 victory while dominating both maps from the very beginning.

After dropping to the lower bracket, Falcons faced Aurora Gaming and were eliminated from the tournament following a 1:2 defeat, finishing in 5th-6th place.

The biggest surprise of the day was LGD Gaming's dominant win over Team Liquid, whom many considered the tournament's main favorite. The Southeast Asian roster gave its opponent no chance, and analysts point to Liquid's drafting approach as one of the key reasons for the loss, allowing LGD to play comfort heroes without facing proper counterpicks.

Carry player Yuma Yuma Langlet completed the series without a single death. He finished the first map on Drow Ranger with a 9-0-7 scoreline and then played his signature Naga Siren in the second game, recording 5 kills and 12 assists.

It is worth noting that LGD Gaming signed the former Heroic roster shortly before the event began. Since then, the team has already secured a spot at Esports World Cup 2026 through the European qualifiers.

The penultimate day of BLAST SLAM VII has come to an end, and the tournament is approaching its conclusion.

The first match of the day saw Team Yandex defeat BetBoom Team 2-1 in the upper bracket final, securing a place in the tournament's grand final.

The next series featured LGD Gaming against Aurora Gaming. The Southeast Asian squad emerged victorious, closing out the match with a 2-1 scoreline.

Each map lasted more than 50 minutes, while the deciding game stretched to 111 minutes, making it the 15th longest match in Dota 2 history. Notably, the next longest game was also played by LGD during this tournament, in the group stage against Team Yandex.

In addition, on the deciding map against Aurora , Peruvian mid laner Santiago TaiLung Olivos set a professional Dota 2 record for the highest amount of damage dealt.

Playing Zeus, he finished the game with 276,000 damage dealt. His inventory included three Divine Rapiers, Refresher Orb, Swift Blink and Octarine Core.

Aurora offlaner Chang Ws Wei Shen also set a record, ranking third in history for the amount of health restored. Playing Largo, he restored nearly 70,000 health despite his team's defeat.

Tomorrow will be the final day of competition, at the end of which the tournament champion will be crowned.