Team Yandex Beat Team Spirit 3-1 to Win BLAST Slam VIII

Team Yandex have won BLAST Slam VIII after defeating Team Spirit 3-1 in the Grand Final on October 11. The best-of-five series in Malta started in Spirit's favor, but Yandex responded by winning the next three maps to secure the championship. Team Yandex earned $270,000 for first place, while Spirit took $135,000 as runners-up.

The result closes a tournament that ran from September 29 to October 11 and featured 16 teams competing for a combined $750,000 prize pool. The group portion was played online before the final six teams moved to Malta for the LAN playoffs.

Team Yandex lost the opening map of the Grand Final, then answered with three consecutive wins to take the trophy.

Team Yandex turn the Grand Final around after Map 1

Team Spirit opened the series with a dominant first map. Yatoro finished that game with 19 kills, one death and 12 assists as Spirit recorded 48 kills to Yandex's 19 in 40 minutes and 41 seconds. At that point, the reigning TI champions had the early advantage in the Bo5.

That became Spirit's only map win of the final. Team Yandex took the following three games and closed the series 3-1, turning an early deficit into the BLAST Slam VIII title.

watson and ATF finish with huge series numbers

Across the full Grand Final, watson recorded a 50/12/51 KDA for Team Yandex. ATF finished on 45/20/49, while CHIRA_JUNIOR added 30 kills and 82 assists. Those numbers underline how strongly Yandex recovered after the opening map rather than allowing Spirit to build momentum from their early lead.

Spirit's biggest individual kill total belonged to Yatoro with 40 kills across the series. Larl finished with 39, but Yandex's core trio ultimately produced enough pressure across the remaining maps to close the final in four.

Yandex get the final word in their BLAST Slam VIII rivalry

The Grand Final was already the third Team Yandex vs Team Spirit series at BLAST Slam VIII. Spirit won their first meeting 2-1 during the seeding stage, but Yandex responded with a 2-0 victory in the upper-bracket final to become the first team through to the Grand Final.

Spirit had to reach the deciding series through the lower bracket. They lost the opening map against PARIVISION on October 11 before completing a 2-1 reverse sweep and earning another shot at Yandex later the same day. The final meeting settled the tournament rivalry decisively. Across the three BLAST Slam VIII series, Spirit struck first, Yandex answered in the upper bracket, and the last word belonged to Yandex with the 3-1 championship win.

Team Yandex are BLAST Slam VIII champions

BLAST Slam VIII ends with Team Yandex in first place and Team Spirit in second. Yandex leave Malta with the trophy and $270,000, while Spirit receive $135,000 for their runner-up finish. For Team Yandex, the title also came through the upper-bracket route. They reached the final first, watched Spirit fight back through PARIVISION, then won the rematch that mattered most.

Final score: Team Yandex 3-1 Team Spirit.