Team Yandex advance to upper bracket finals in BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs

Meanwhile, LGD Gaming and 1W Team have been knocked down to the lower bracket quarterfinals.

The opening day of the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs concluded on Friday (9 October), with five powerhouse teams clashing across three matches in the first two rounds of the tournament's upper bracket.

LGD Gaming and 1W Team were knocked down to the lower bracket after falling to Team Yandex and Aurora Gaming, respectively, in the upper bracket quarterfinals. The day then closed with Yandex facing PARIVISION in the first upper bracket semifinals match, with Yandex emerging victorious to become the first team advancing to the upper bracket finals.

Read on as we break down all of the action in the opening day of the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs:

Yandex defeat LGD to advance to upper bracket semifinals against PARIVISION

The BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs opened with Yandex taking down LGD in three games to bounce back from their loss to Team Spirit in the Seeding Matches and advance to the upper bracket semifinals.

Yandex came out swinging to start the series, drafting an aggressive tri-core of Nature's Prophet for Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov, Slardar for Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov, and Viper for Ammar “ATF” Assaf to dominate the laning stage and snowball from there. While LGD were able to inflict four deaths on ATF within the first 12 minutes, Yandex still ended the early game with the gold lead and never looked back–eventually taking their first win of the series after 36 minutes of action.

ATF paced Yandex's 39-21 kill lead in game one with 11 kills and 14 assists on six deaths, while Watson added 10 kills and 16 assists against two deaths.

Yandex then looked to sweep the series with a signature Huskar pick for ATF to lead a strong mid game timing push alongside Watson's Tiny and CHIRA_JUNIOR's Earth Spirit. While Yandex were able to hit their power spike and get into a winning position, LGD managed to claw things back thanks to some stellar play from Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan on Slark. With Yandex's lineup failing to secure a decisive advantage during their period of peak strength, LGD pulled away in the late game and eventually forced the series to a decider just before the 53-minute mark.

SumaiL notched 21 kills and seven assists against four deaths out of LGD's 41-23 kill lead in game two. Máximo “Wits” Orozco Alza on Windranger added eight kills and 12 assists on three deaths, while Cedric “Davai” Deckmyn on Brewmaster pitched in with seven kills and 16 assists on four deaths.

While LGD put up a good fight in the first two games, Yandex dominated them in the deciding game three and secured the 2-1 series victory after a 31-minute rout. CHIRA_JUNIOR on Earth Spirit put up a clean eight-kill, eight-assist performance to lead Yandex to the upper bracket semfinals. Watson on Templar Assassin also added a game-high 10 kills and four assists on three deaths.

Yandex could not rest on their laurels, however, as they still had to face PARIVISION in the upper bracket semifinals to close out the day.

Aurora sweep 1W down to the lower bracket

The other upper bracket quarterfinals match then saw Aurora sweep 1W, though it was far from an easy series as it took 131 minutes of total game time for Aurora to secure the victory.

Game one saw Aurora draft an aggressive lineup headlined by Oliver “Skiter” Lepko's Nature's Prophet, Rafli Fathur “Mikoto” Rahman's Earth Spirit, and Chung “Ws`” Wei Shen's Dark Seer. On the other side of the field, 1W looked to take things late behind Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko's Lone Druid.

Aurora won the laning stage as expected, then dominated the ensuing mid game teamfights as 1W's lineup still needed time to ramp up. But once Pure's Lone Druid finally came online, 1W finally showed signs of life and repelled Aurora's early attempts to breach their base. That was not enough to turn the tables in 1W's favour, however, as Aurora's superior teamfight lineup still dominated the clashes out on the map. But despite 1W's best efforts, Aurora were able to grind them down to secure their first win of the series after a 77-minute slugfest.

Skiter led the way for Aurora with 15 kills and 16 assists on six deaths, while Ws pitched in with 12 kills and 17 assists on seven deaths.

Game two followed a similar script to that of game one, with Aurora once again making good use of their more aggressive draft to take the lead in the mid game and slowly grind down 1W to submission. 1W were able to draw things out to 54 minutes thanks to Pure's Kez, but a nigh-unstoppable performance on Ursa from Skiter still handed Aurora to secure the 2-0 series sweep.

Skiter put up 23 kills and 13 assists on three deaths in the closeout game, with Mikoto on Earth Spirit adding 10 kills and 17 assists on four deaths. Meanwhile, Pure had 15 kills and six assists against seven deaths in the loss.

Yandex take down PARIVISION to advance to upper bracket finals

The day then closed with one of the most-anticipated matchups of the tournament between the rising powerhouse that is Yandex and the strongest team in the world in PARIVISION. This series delivered on the action as all three games lasted at least 51 minutes, with Yandex defeating PARIVISION in a 2-1 reverse sweep to make their case as the new top dogs of the scene and advance to the upper bracket finals.

Yandex opened the series by picking Lone Druid for Watson as their primary win condition, while PARIVISION countered with a hard-hitting, mobile tri-core featuring Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov on Io, Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko on Storm Spirit, and Evgeniy “Noticed” Ignatenko on Timbersaw.

While Yandex were able to keep pace with their opponents for most of the game in terms of net worth, PARIVISION were the ones dominating the teamfights and squarely had momentum on their side as a result. Yandex's base proved to be a tough nut to crack, but PARIVISION's overwhelming teamfight prowess eventually allowed them to break through and claim the series opener after 55 minutes. No[o]ne paced PARIVISION's 37-21 kill lead with 13 kills and 20 assists on two deaths, while Noticed added 10 kills and 14 assists on just one death.

Game two then saw PARIVISION look to close things out with Satanic on his signature Terrorblade pick, with No[o]ne on Pangolier and Noticed on Slardar initiating the teamfights for their carry. Meanwhile, Yandex looked to outscale their opponents with a strong tri-core of Nature's Prophet for Watson, Dragon Knight for CHIRA_JUNIOR, and Doom for ATF.

Both sides were on relatively even footing early on, but PARIVISION exploded into the lead in the mid game and looked to be in prime position to sweep the series. However, Yandex were able to turn the tables by outplaying their opponents in the ensuing teamfights, with stellar play from Martin “Saksa” Sazdov on Rubick proving to be the difference-maker. The late game then saw Yandex relentlessly besiege PARIVISION's base, eventually forcing the ‘GG’ call just before the 52-minute mark and forcing the series to a deciding game three.

CHIRA_JUNIOR topped the kill chart for Yandex in game two with eight kills and 14 assists on five deaths. ATF and Saksa also notched six kills apiece and combined for 30 assists against 12 deaths between the two of them.

In the decider, PARIVISION once again pinned their hopes on Satanic's Terrorblade, with No[o]ne on Snapfire and Noticed on Doom. On the other side of the field, Yandex went with Kez for Watson, Invoker for CHIRA_JUNIOR, and Pangolier for ATF.

The early game was a bloodbath, though Yandex came out better from those exchanges as they heavily shut down Noticed and prevented him from acting as a proper initiator for PARIVISION. With the threat of the enemy Doom neutered, Watson had free rein to wreak havoc on PARIVISION in the ensuing mid game clashes and give Yandex full control of the game. Satanic managed to keep pace with his counterpart and allowed PARIVISION to stall things out in the hopes of a late game comeback, but Yandex simply could not be denied as they completed the 2-1 reverse sweep after a 63-minute thriller.

Watson willed Yandex to the upper bracket finals with an incredible statline of 21 kills and 15 assists against just two deaths. CHIRA_JUNIOR added 12 kills and 27 assists while ATF had 11 kills and 23 assists, with both players finishing with four deaths.

What's next in the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs?

With the day's results, Yandex advanced to the upper bracket finals and secured themselves at least a Top 3 finish as well as US$135,000 in winnings. They also earn a day of rest as they await their opponent in the upper bracket finals to be determined in the second day of the Playoffs.

Meanwhile, PARIVISION, 1W, and LGD all drop to the lower bracket quarterfinals. PARIVISION will face 1W while LGD will face the loser of the remaining upper bracket semifinals match. Here are the matchups for the second day of the BLAST SLAM VIII Playoffs:

Upper bracket semifinals: