This November, Singapore will play host to Southeast Asia's first major Dota 2 LAN tournament since The International 2022.
The stage is now set for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs, where six teams will fight for the lion's share of a US$1 million prize pool in the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 7 to 9 November, in what will be the first major Dota 2 LAN tournament in Southeast Asia since The International (TI) 2022.
Western European powerhouse 
Tundra Esports and TI 2025 champions 
Team Falcons lead the field after topping the BLAST Slam IV Group Stage. They will be joined by four teams that survived the Play-Ins, namely the newly-revamped 
MOUZ, rising South American squad 
HEROIC, as well as Eastern Europe's 
Team Spirit and 
Aurora Gaming.
Here's how the six teams that qualified for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs punched their tickets to Singapore:
Tundra, Falcons lead the six teams qualified for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs in Singapore
BLAST Slam IV kicked off with 12 teams competing in the Group Stage from 14 to 18 October in a single round-robin with best-of-one matches. The Top 2 teams from the Group Stage earned a direct berth to the semifinals of the Playoffs, the third to eighth-placed teams advanced to the Play-In, while the ninth to 12th-placed teams had to fight through the Last Chance Playoffs.
Tundra claimed the top seed of the Group Stage, having won their first four matches and finishing with a 9-2 record. Their only losses came at the hands of Aurora and Team Aureus. It's an impressive start to the new season for the new-look Tundra squad, which welcomed back
Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko and signed 
Matthew “Ari” Walker to replace 
Remco “Crystallis” Arets and 
Martin “Saksa” Sazdov.
Tundra will be among the biggest favourites to claim the championship in Singapore. Not only did they top the Group Stage and received a direct berth to the semifinals, they will also have fan-favourite Indonesian star 
Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon playing on stage in his home region.
Still fresh off claiming this year's Aegis of Champions back in September, Falcons grabbed the second seed of the Group Stage with a 9-2 record, only losing out on the top spot by virtue of losing their match versus Tundra. Falcons notably earned their spot in the semifinals, despite playing with Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov in place of 
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko for their first three matches. Skiter notably suffered an elbow injury ahead of the Playoffs, but managed to recover enough and play from his team's fourth match onward.
Despite only finishing second in the Group Stage, Falcons should be the hands-down favourite in the Playoffs by virtue of being the reigning TI champions. Whether they can carry their championship form from TI into Singapore remains to be seen.
With the top two spots locked up by Tundra and Falcons, HEROIC (7-4), Spirit (7-4), MOUZ (7-4), 
Natus Vincere (6-5), Aurora (5-6), and Aureus (5-6) advanced to the Play-In. Meanwhile, 
Team Liquid (4-7), 
BetBoom Team (4-7), 
Execration (2-9), and 
Yakult Brothers (1-10) were forced into the Last Chance Playoffs.
MOUZ, HEROIC, Spirit, and Aurora survive BLAST Slam IV Play-Ins
The Play-Ins then followed on 19 October, starting with the Last Chance Playoffs where Liquid defeated Yakult Brothers in three games while BetBoom swept Execration. That then finalised the Play-In matchups, with Liquid set to face HEROIC while BetBoom were paired with regional rivals Spirit. Meanwhile, MOUZ were pit against Aureus. Aurora went up against NAVI in another all-Eastern European showdown. The winners of the Play-In will advance to the quarterfinals of the Playoffs, and get to play in front of the live audience in Singapore.
MOUZ soundly swept Aureus in the first match of the Play-In proper to secure the first quarterfinal spot, an impressive feat when considering the squad came in as a last-minute replacement for 
PARIVISION. MOUZ's new international roster–featuring the likes of Crystallis, 
Nai Zheng “MidOne” Yeik, 
Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan, Daniyal “Yamich” Lazebnyy, and Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp–are now set for their LAN debut.
Up next was the Aurora-NAVI showdown, where Aurora pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep after grinding out 73 and 58-minute wins in games two and three. Aurora are looking like another exciting team playing in Singapore, as they are the third international lineup featuring Southeast Asian talent qualified for the Playoffs. The team recently signed Rafli Fathur “Mikoto” Rahman and Chon Kien “Oli” Chan to reinforce their Eastern European core of Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko, Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek, and 
Miroslaw “Mira” Kolpakov.
The third match of the Play-In then saw HEROIC pull off an impressive 2-0 sweep over Liquid, culminating with a 70-minute thriller in game two. Following their commendable Top 6 finish at TI 2025, not many expected HEROIC to have a strong start in the new season after parting ways with 
João “4nalog” Giannini to make way for the return of 
Cedric “Davai Lama” Deckmyn and offlaner 
Adrian “Wisper” Cespedes Dobles switching to the mid lane. Instead, HEROIC won the first tournament of the new season at FISSURE Universe: Episode 7, and have now qualified for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs.
Meanwhile, Liquid's new roster with former 
Gaimin Gladiators players 
Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard and 
Erik “tOfu” Engel have yet to find their footing. The team only managed third place in FISSURE Universe: Episode 7 and had a disappointing run at BLAST Slam IV, having been one of the bottom four teams in the Group Stage and missing out on the Playoffs.
Finally, Spirit took down BetBoom in three games to grab the final spot in the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs. This will be Spirit's first tournament since team captain Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov announced a break from competitive play earlier this month. Time will tell if 
Nikita “Panto” Balaganin can prove himself a worthy replacement for Spirit's legendary captain in Singapore.
BLAST Slam IV Playoffs
The BLAST Slam IV Playoffs will take place from 7 to 9 November in front of a live audience at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and will follow a single-elimination format where all matches are a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series. Here are the matchups for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs:
Quarterfinals:
- MOUZ vs Team Spirit
- Aurora Gaming vs HEROIC
Semifinals:
- Tundra Esports vs winner of MOUZ vs Team Spirit
- Team Falcons vs winner of Aurora Gaming vs HEROIC
Grand finals:
- Semifinals winner 1 vs Semifinals winner 2
Up for grabs in the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs will be the lion's share of the US$1 million prize pool (with US$750,000 awarded as Prize Money while US$250,000 are awarded as Team Earnings). The Top 4 teams will also earn direct invites to BLAST Slam VI, which will host its Playoffs in the BLAST Arena Studios in Malta in February 2026.
Here's the prize pool breakdown for the BLAST Slam IV Playoffs:
- Champions: US$400,000 (US$300,000 in Prize Money, US$100,000 in Team Earnings) and direct invite to BLAST Slam VI
- 2nd place: US$200,000 (US$150,000 in Prize Money, US$50,000 in Team Earnings) and direct invite to BLAST Slam VI
- 3rd-4th place: US$80,000 (US$60,000 in Prize Money, US$20,000 in Team Earnings) and direct invite to BLAST Slam VI
- 5th-6th place: US$50,000 (US$35,000 in Prize Money, US$15,000 in Team Earnings) and direct invite to BLAST Slam VI
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