Dota 2 Returns To Malta For Expanded BLAST Slam VIII
BLASTtv has announced that the next iteration of its popular Dota 2 tournament, BLAST Slam, will be held in Malta. The early stages of BLAST Slam VIII will take place online, with four days of playoffs being held at the BLAST Arena Studios.
The tournament has been expanded from 12 to 16 teams, with participants playing for their share of the $750,000 prize pool – $550,000 in prize money and $200,000 of team earnings.
As well as featuring 4 extra teams, Slam VIII will dispense with best-of-1 matches. Other than the grand final, which is best-of-5, all rounds will be best-of-3.
BLAST Slam Tournaments
BLAST Slam tournaments started in 2024 and have quickly become some of the biggest top-tier tournaments in the sport. The majority of teams are invited according to their rankings, with a handful progressing through qualifiers to reach the latter stages.
So far this year there have been two Slams. Blast Slam VI, which was the most recent event to be hosted in Malta, in February, saw Team Liquid beat NAVI 3-1 in the final. OG and Team Yandex took 3rd and 4th spots.
May saw Yandex take the win at BLAST Slam VI in Copenhagen. Yandex beat LGD Gaming 3-1 in the final. 3rd and 4th spots went to BetBoom Team and Aurora Gaming.
Expanded Format
The popularity of the event has seen BLAST expand the format of the event.
Slam VIII will feature 16 teams. The teams will be split into 4 groups. Group winners play in seeding matches and the winners advance directly to the upper bracket semi-finals. The losers progress to the quarter finals.
The remaining 4 qualifiers from the group stages compete in Last Chance qualifiers with two progressing to the quarter-finals.
At this point, the six remaining teams will play in a double-elimination bracket, with matches played at the BLAST Arena Studios.
