BLAST Slam VIII playoff field set

Published October 8, 2026

PARIVISION and Team Spirit have secured direct places in the upper-bracket semifinals of BLAST Slam VIII, putting both teams straight into the final four of the Malta playoffs. Six teams remain from an original field of sixteen at the first Tier 1 tournament of the 2026-27 season, with the LAN playoff portion scheduled to run from October 8 to 11. After four groups, decider matches, seeding matches and a Last Chance stage, the event has narrowed to a bracket in which neither direct semifinalist must play an opening playoff series before the decisive rounds.

The two teams arrive at the top of the bracket after ending TI 2026 on opposite sides of the grand final in Shanghai. Team Spirit beat PARIVISION 3-2 there, claiming the Aegis of Champions and becoming the first organisation to win three Aegises of Champions. Most of Spirit’s players are now two-time or three-time champions. PARIVISION, meanwhile, were one game from the same prize as TI runners-up. Their positions in Malta preserve the central competitive thread from Shanghai, but BLAST Slam VIII is not a rematch yet. Direct advancement establishes a top-four finish for both sides; the remaining playoff field must still decide whether either TI finalist reaches the closing stages again. PARIVISION skipped the first event of the new season entirely before returning at BLAST, where the team reached the playoffs without dropping a single game. That opening run provides a separate measure of its form from the Shanghai result, while the bracket position gives the team time before its first LAN series.

Spirit advance despite key competitive breaks

Team Spirit’s semifinal berth comes with a notable change around the team. Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov and coach Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov have decided to take extended breaks from competitive play. Their absences leave Spirit without two figures identified as pillars of the team that built its dynasty, adding a specific uncertainty to an otherwise familiar place near the top of an international event. Spirit skipped PGL Wallachia Season 9, as PARIVISION did, and arrived at BLAST after a slower start to the new season. The team has been through comparable early-season circumstances before and is known for taking the start of a season slowly. Its route through the opening stages nevertheless put it back among the leading contenders from Shanghai, even as the roster situation changes the context of that status.

The early BLAST Slam VIII results placed Spirit directly into the semifinal round. They defeated Team Yandex 2-1 in a seeding match to secure that position after skipping PGL Wallachia Season 9. The result separated Spirit from the teams required to begin in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. It also makes the key competitive question more precise: Spirit have already reached Malta’s decisive phase, but must sustain the level associated with the TI 2026 title run without Collapse and Miposhka. The playoff format does not answer that question in advance, since the next opponent has yet to emerge from the quarterfinal side of the bracket. What is confirmed is that Spirit’s path to the semifinals included a win over the Wallachia champions, rather than a draw that merely placed them there. That distinction gives the seeding result its own value alongside the team’s championship pedigree and the personnel changes surrounding the new season.

Four teams open the knockout route

Team Yandex, LGD Gaming, Aurora Gaming and 1win make up the quarterfinal side of the upper bracket. Yandex enter Malta after winning PGL Wallachia Season 9, the organisation’s first championship with Ammar “ATF” Al-Assaf in the offlane. Its dominant Wallachia run ended with a 2-0 victory over LGD in the upper-bracket final and a 3-0 sweep of NAVI in the grand final. LGD finished third at that event after reshaping away from a full Chinese lineup and signing Western players. SumaiL postponed retirement to play for the team, and the early result at Wallachia gives the roster a defined benchmark before it meets Yandex again. The other quarterfinal places Aurora against 1win in their first official match of the new competitive season. Aurora’s post-TI change brought Oliver “skiter” Lepko into the carry role. 1win finished eighth at Wallachia after a year with its roster together, while Aurora finished in the top six there but fell short of expectations. Both teams therefore arrive with a reason to treat the series as more than an opening bracket fixture.

• Team Yandex vs LGD Gaming: ATF will meet his former Falcons teammate and captain, Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu, in the opposing offlane.
• Aurora Gaming vs 1win: the series is their first official meeting of the new competitive season.

Playoff position	Confirmed detail
PARIVISION	Reached the BLAST playoffs without dropping a single game.
Team Spirit	Known for taking the start of a new season slowly after similar circumstances in the past.

The Malta playoffs begin on October 8 and conclude on October 11. Beyond the semifinal advantage held by PARIVISION and Spirit, the bracket offers an immediate measure of how quickly new-season roster changes and Wallachia form can translate onto the BLAST LAN stage.