Dota 2: Six teams remain at BLAST Slam VIII — but Team Liquid are already out

Six teams are left at the Dota 2 tournament BLAST Slam VIII. The playoffs start in Malta on Thursday, Oct 8. Team Liquid, NAVI and BetBoom Team are already out. Outside the game, Balu Team left Dota 2 and HULIGANI built a new team. Here are the biggest stories of the week.

Which teams play the BLAST Slam VIII playoffs?

Six teams play the playoffs: PARIVISION, Team Spirit, Aurora Gaming, Team Yandex, LGD Gaming and 1w Team. PARIVISION and Spirit skip the first playoff round.

BLAST Slam VIII has 16 teams. The total prize pool is $750,000. The winner gets $270,000 of it: $200,000 for the players and $70,000 for the team.

On Saturday, Oct 3, the four group winners played two extra matches. The two winners skip the first playoff round. Spirit beat Team Yandex 2-1, as we reported. Yatoro, Spirit's star player from Ukraine, finished the series 34-9-36 (kills, deaths, assists).

How did PARIVISION beat Aurora Gaming?

PARIVISION beat Aurora Gaming 2-0 on Oct 3. Game one took under 28 minutes, and Aurora got only three kills in it.

PARIVISION2:0Aurora Gaming

Game 1PARIVISION won · 27:57Game 2PARIVISION won · 43:57

PARIVISION won43:57Kills 37 : 27

PARIVISION ahead · up to +20.1k gold (min 43)Aurora Gaming ahead · up to +2.1k gold (min 19)

0:0043:57

PARIVISIONWon

1. Player and heroK / D / ANet worth
2. SatanicTemplar Assassin12/5/1440.2k
3. NoticedDoom1/6/2124.3k
4. No[o]ne-Snapfire11/4/2229.0k
5. 9ClassRubick7/5/2119.2k
6. DukalisTechies6/7/1914.1k

Aurora Gaming

1. Player and heroK / D / ANet worth
2. skiterNature's Prophet5/8/1525.0k
3. MikotoStorm Spirit4/6/1420.4k
4. WsNecrophos16/6/625.3k
5. MiraDark Willow1/9/1710.0k
6. kaoriEnchantress0/8/1710.3k

MVP · Game 2

Satanic

PARIVISION · Templar Assassin

K/D/A

12/5/14

Net worth

40.2k

Gold/min

934

Damage

44.1k

Best of Aurora Gaming

Ws

Aurora Gaming · Necrophos

K/D/A

16/6/6

Net worth

25.3k

Gold/min

706

Damage

24.6k

Match data from Valve via OpenDota. K/D/A = kills, deaths, assists (green = strong, red = weak game). MVP = our score from kills, assists, deaths, net worth and hero damage.

WindrangerField reporter · dota2news.com

What to remember

Six Dota 2 teams are left at BLAST Slam VIII. PARIVISION and Spirit skip round one. GamerLegion beat Liquid, then got only one kill against LGD.

Oct 5, 2026 · dota2news.com

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Game one ended 33-3 in kills after 27:57. Game two was closer and took 43:57. Satanic, PARIVISION's player from Russia, went 24-5-22 over both games. He played Ursa and Templar Assassin.

How did LGD Gaming and 1w Team reach the playoffs?

LGD Gaming and 1w Team both lost game one of their last match for a playoff spot. Then both won the next two games and took the last two spots.

LGD lost a 60-minute first game to GamerLegion, 40-10 in kills. Then LGD came back. LGD won game two 28-1 in kills, and SumaiL did not die once on Slark. LGD won game three after 45 minutes. Wits from Peru led LGD with 18-5-30.

1w Team did the same against OG. OG won game one in 44 minutes. Then 1w won in 25 and 28 minutes. In game three, OG got only 4 kills, and 1w got 28. bzm from Bulgaria led 1w with 24-7-33.

OG and GamerLegion finish 7th-8th and get $20,000 each.

33-3

kills, PARIVISION vs Aurora, game one

28-1

kills, LGD vs GamerLegion, game two

28-4

kills, 1w vs OG, game three

$270,000

for the BLAST Slam VIII winner

Team Liquid, NAVI and BetBoom are out

Some famous teams did not make the playoffs. Team Liquid, the TI 2024 champions, finished 9th-12th and won $11,500. They played without their mid player Nisha, who left the team on Sept 28.

NAVI finished 13th-16th and won $7,000. In late September, NAVI took second place at PGL Wallachia Season 9 (our story). BetBoom Team and Xtreme Gaming also finished 9th-12th.

Why did Balu Team leave Dota 2?

Balu Team, a club from Ukraine, stopped its Dota 2 team this weekend. The club says it sees no players for a new team right now, so it stops Dota 2 for now.

Four players are now free agents: players with no team who can join any team. They are Kaeioet, diman4ig, qute and Akamu. Player chipikao stays under contract. Coach Rakuzan now represents the club as an ambassador. Balu Team says it may come back to Dota 2 later.

HULIGANI build a new team for the PARI Universe qualifier

HULIGANI showed a new team on Oct 3. Only ssnovv1 is left from the team that played The International 2026. TI is Valve's world championship, the biggest Dota 2 event of the year. Four new players joined him.

The new team plays the PARI Universe qualifier from Oct 5 to 8. In a qualifier, teams play for a spot in a bigger event. It is played online, and only one team gets a spot in the main event. HULIGANI's first opponent is Team Synapse.