Who will prevail?: BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs preview, predictions, and more
After a week of intense Group Stage, Last Chance and Seeding stage matches, and a few days of rest, BLAST SLAM VIII returns tomorrow (Oct. 8) with the Playoffs. If we’re honest, there haven’t been too many surprises. We’d liked to have seen a BetBoom or Team Liquid make the cut, but ultimately these aren’t the teams of earlier in the year, and with new rosters comes new uncertainty.
That’s why we’re bringing you a full preview of the first matches of the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs, so you can try and make sense of this confusing, early 2026-2027 Dota 2 pro season. Here’s our predictions and preview of the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs:
BLAST SLAM VIII groups, Last Chance, and Seeding recap
After a slightly too-long GSL-style group stage, BLAST SLAM narrowed the remaining teams to eight, giving us a chance to see PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, Team Spirit, and Yandex head straight to the finals (after some seeding matches), and LGD, GamerLegion, 1w, and OG battle for survival.
Image credit: BLAST
In the seeding matches, we managed to see that despite taking a break for a few weeks, TI15 finalists PARIVISION haven’t missed a beat. Neither have Team Spirit, TI champs, who defeated Yandex, albeit with a single loss. This isn’t the Team Spirit of TI15, missing Collapse and having some stand-ins, but it was still enough to handle Yandex.
In the Last Chance portion, LGD managed to sneak past a reinvigorated GamerLegion. Despite GL looking in the best form they have in months, they struggled to land the knockout punch against a more stacked LGD lineup. This LGD team is scary, one that can’t be counted out, and one of the reasons future predictions aren’t going to be as easy as previous tournaments.
Finally, 1w managed to put on the kind of performance we’d expect from them, albeit against OG. Even that matchup wasn’t as decisive as we’d like, with OG scoring a win on the back of a Topson carry on Pangolier. 1w have made the playoffs, but they’ll have to level-up to advance any further.
BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs predictions
Team Yandex vs. LGD Gaming
It’s perhaps a sign of the changing of the guards in the post-TI roster shuffle period that we’re not predicting a straight 2-0 for Yandex. Despite the reinforcement of ATF, the team struggled against TI champions Team Spirit and might not make the grade against a star-studded LGD team, despite handling them at PGL Wallachia. The markets agree, although a strong showing from LGD could flip the script, especially if they start playing more like a team than they currently have.
Aurora Gaming vs. 1w Team
We’d really like to say 1w Team can handle Aurora but we’ve not seen that kind of absolute capability from this team for almost a calendar year. The once mighty former Tundra stack has finally shown signs of life in its last-chance defeat of OG, but they’re firmly a B+ player in the world of late 2026 Dota, and we’d have to put Aurora, with its veteran EEU squad ahead of them. And the prediction markets agree with us, to a degree
PARIVISION vs. TBD
The markets haven’t opened on this one yet, and rightfully so since we don’t have a guaranteed opponent. But if we go with our gut, and previous predictions, we’re expecting this to be Yandex facing off against familiar foe PVISION. And even with the addition of ATF to that lineup, we’re inclined to believe that PARIVISION will come out on top.
Stick with Win.gg for more coverage of BLAST SLAM VIII as the event continues.
Featured Image Credit: BLAST
Michael is a eight-year veteran of the games writing space, but has being playing them for as long as he can remember. With bylines across the internet, he’s used his expertise to cover esports, prediction markets, mainstream gaming, streamers, and more besides.
View full profileRead Also
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2
Dota 2