Who maintained their form after TI: BLAST Slam VIII group stage recap

BLAST Slam VIII became the first tournament of the new season to bring together most of the top teams. Following The International 2026 and the roster reshuffles, the championship has already shown which teams managed to maintain their form and which have yet to benefit from their lineup changes. CyberScore analyzed the group stage results and the performances of the tournament's key teams.

Team Yandex

Team Yandex continued its successful run following victory at PGL Wallachia Season 9, where the team claimed its first title with Ammar ATF Al-Assaf in the offlane position.

At BLAST Slam, the squad won Group C without dropping a single map. It first defeated MOUZ before securing a 2:0 victory over BetBoom Team, which finished fourth at TI15. This confirmed that the team's success was not limited to the previous championship, where the competition had been less challenging.

However, its unbeaten streak eventually came to an end. In the seeding match against Team Spirit, the squad won the opening map but lost the next two, finishing the series with a 1:2 score. It was the team's first defeat since winning Wallachia, although it still secured a place in the playoffs.

PARIVISION

PARIVISION currently looks like the most convincing team at the championship. The TI2026 runners-up retained their previous roster and won all six maps, becoming the only team to complete both the group stage and the seeding match without a single defeat.

However, their opening opponent, Level UP, could hardly be considered a serious test. The match against the revamped LGD Gaming proved far more revealing, also ending in a 2:0 victory.

The squad then left Aurora Gaming with no chance of success. The first map ended in less than half an hour with a dominant 33:3 kill score. Victory on the second secured a direct spot in the upper bracket semifinals.

Unlike most of their competitors, the TI runners-up managed to avoid roster changes after the season ended, and judging by their opening matches, their established synergy remains intact.

Moreover, the organization officially signed Alan Satanic Gallyamov, who had previously been playing for the team on loan.

Team Spirit

For Team Spirit, the tournament became the first real test following the changes made after their victory at The International 2026. Magomed Collapse Khalilov and coach Yaroslav Miposhka Naidenov decided to take a break. Bogdan Batyuk Batyuk from the club's academy took over the offlane position, while Ilya Illidan Pivtsaev became the new coach.

Ilya Yatoro Mulyarchuk had previously noted that changing a coach can have a greater impact on a team than replacing a player, as it affects strategies, match preparation and the overall vision of the game.

Despite the roster changes, the reigning world champions won Group B, defeating Team Nemesis 2:1 and 1Win Team 2:0. However, they lost the opening map of their first series before managing to turn the match around.

A similar situation occurred in the clash against Team Yandex for a spot in the upper bracket semifinals. On the first map, the squad surprised everyone with its draft, picking Viper for Yatoro against Ammar ATF Al-Assaf's Huskar. However, the experiment ended in defeat. The team then won the following two maps to secure the series victory.

Thus, even after the lineup changes, the TI champions have maintained their position among the favorites. At the same time, both three-map series showed that the updated roster does not always start matches successfully, but is capable of adapting as the games progress.

OG

For OG, the start of the new season has been mixed. The revamped roster, featuring the return of Topias Topson Taavitsainen, opened the tournament with a 1:2 defeat against BetBoom Team. However, the squad then secured a convincing 2:0 victory over MOUZ, earning another chance to face its previous opponent.

The rematch became one of the biggest surprises of the group stage. After losing the opening map, OG won the next two and eliminated BetBoom from the championship. Notably, Topson picked Invoker in the second game, extending his winning streak on the hero to nine consecutive matches. The Finnish midlaner last lost on Invoker two and a half years ago, when he was playing for Tundra Esports.

However, in the Last Chance stage, the squad suffered a 1:2 defeat against 1Win Team and finished the tournament in 7th–8th place.

Despite the early elimination, the updated roster has already shown that it can compete against strong opponents. Nevertheless, the victory over BetBoom remained its biggest achievement at the tournament.

BetBoom Team

For BetBoom Team, the start of the season proved to be one of the most disappointing among the tournament favorites. After finishing fourth at TI, the organization changed its role distribution: Vitaly Save- Melnik moved from position four to the midlane, while Georgy swedenstrong Zainalabidov took over his previous role.

In the opening match against OG, the new midlaner looked confident and managed to outperform Topson, helping his team secure a 2:1 victory. However, the squad then suffered a 0:2 defeat against Team Yandex and dropped to the lower bracket of Group C, where it faced its opening opponent once again.

This time, BetBoom failed to come out on top. Despite winning the first map, the squad lost the next two and finished in 9th–12th place, failing to advance beyond the group stage.

For a team that finished second at the Esports World Cup 2026 earlier in the summer and reached the top four at TI, this was a disappointing start to the season. The first tournament with Save- in the midlane showed that the revamped roster still lacks consistency, despite several successful series.

Team Liquid

Team Liquid achieved a similar result, although unlike BetBoom, the organization has yet to finalize its new roster.

After Michal Nisha Jankowski moved to the inactive roster, Zheng MidOne Yeik Nai temporarily took over the midlane, while Adrián Wisper Céspedes Dobles made his debut in the offlane position.

The championship got off to a difficult start, as the squad needed all three maps to defeat Yakult Brothers. This was followed by a 1:2 loss against Aurora Gaming, despite winning the opening game.

The decisive clash came against GamerLegion in the lower bracket of Group D. On the first map, the opponent secured victory with a carry Lone Druid, while on the second, they surprised everyone by picking Meepo, a hero rarely seen on the professional scene. The series ended in a 0:2 defeat, leaving the squad out of the playoffs with a final placement of 9th–12th.

However, the current roster is unlikely to be considered final. Coach William Blitz Lee has already announced that the updated lineup will be revealed within two weeks. Therefore, BLAST Slam VIII was more of an intermediate stage in the rebuilding process than a full test ahead of the new season.

After the first five days of competition, PARIVISION, Team Spirit and Team Yandex have delivered the strongest performances. The first two have already secured their spots in the upper bracket semifinals, while Yandex will begin its playoff run in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, BetBoom Team, OG and Team Liquid have been eliminated early, despite their results from the previous season.

BLAST Slam VIII takes place from 29.09.2026 to 11.10.2026. The championship features 16 teams competing for a $750,000 prize pool. You can follow the tournament in our live coverage.

Previously, CyberScore reported on the announcement of a new FISSURE tournament called PARI UNIVERSE.