BLAST Slam VIII Groups Are Set

Published September 24, 2026

The groups for BLAST Slam VIII have been drawn, placing 16 Dota 2 teams into four sections of four ahead of the tournament’s September 29 start. Team Spirit will share Group B with NAVI, 1w Team and Team Nemesis, while the new OG lineup has been placed in Group C with BETBOOM TEAM, Team Yandex and MOUZ. The draw defines the opening field before the event moves toward its LAN playoffs in Malta.

Group A brings together PARIVISION, Xtreme Gaming, LGD Gaming and Level UP. Group B contains the four-team Eastern European-heavy set of Spirit, NAVI, 1w and Nemesis. BETBOOM, Yandex, OG and MOUZ form Group C, while Aurora Gaming, Team Liquid, GamerLegion and Yakult Brothers complete Group D.

The distribution matters beyond the team names because BLAST Slam VIII arrives at the beginning of a new competitive cycle. Several tier-one lineups have been updated since The International 2026, and the tournament will be an early event for some of those combinations. The draw now identifies which opponents each group must navigate first without treating any team as qualified or eliminated before matches begin.

Four groups, four different tests

Group A combines PARIVISION and Xtreme with an LGD roster built for the new season and Level UP. Group B puts the reigning TI 2026 champion Spirit in the same section as NAVI, 1w and Nemesis. Those pairings create familiar regional matchups, but the announcement itself confirms only the group allocation, not the order or outcome of individual series.

Group C is similarly dense with recognised organisations. BETBOOM TEAM and Team Yandex are joined by OG and MOUZ, making the section a direct early comparison for teams entering the season from different starting points. Group D spreads its field across Aurora, Liquid, GamerLegion and Yakult Brothers. Together, the four sections account for every one of the 16 announced participants.

BLAST Slam VIII is scheduled to run from September 29 through October 11 with a $750 thousand prize pool. The playoffs will be staged as a LAN in Malta. Those confirmed logistics distinguish the event-wide announcement from a single match preview: the group draw sets the opening structure, while Malta is reserved for the later playoff phase.

For roster-watchers, Groups B and C offer the clearest immediate reference points. Spirit enters the same group as three other teams from the wider Eastern European scene, and OG begins alongside BETBOOM, Yandex and MOUZ. The draw does not decide which new lineup is strongest, but it does establish the first competitive neighbourhood in which each will be measured.

Dates and venue at a glance

The tournament window covers nearly two weeks, beginning on September 29 and ending on October 11. The announced Malta LAN applies to the playoff stage, so the venue detail should not be read as a claim that every group match will be played there. The prize pool is fixed at $750 thousand across the event.

With the draw complete, the useful next layer of information will be the match schedule and the route from each four-team group into the playoffs. Until those results exist, the table below is the definitive snapshot: four named groups, four teams in each and no competitive outcome attached to the order in which they were announced. The distribution also keeps every team’s three named group opponents in one place, making the table a complete opening-stage reference rather than a partial list of headline matchups.

• Tournament dates: September 29 to October 11.
• Event details: $750 thousand prize pool, with the playoff stage held as a LAN in Malta.

Group	Teams
A	PARIVISION, Xtreme Gaming, LGD Gaming, Level UP
B	Team Spirit, 1w Team, NAVI, Team Nemesis
C	BETBOOM TEAM, Team Yandex, OG, MOUZ
D	Aurora Gaming, Team Liquid, GamerLegion, Yakult Brothers

The draw gives every participant a defined opening field before the new season settles into form. Its most immediate value is practical: supporters can now track four complete groups and know that the surviving playoff competition will ultimately move to the Malta LAN.