Team Spirit sweep Team Yandex to win PARI Universe

Team Spirit avenged their loss to Team Yandex in the grand finals of BLAST SLAM VIII to claim the championship of PARI Universe.

Reigning The International (TI) champions Team Spirit have been crowned as the champions of PARI Universe after they completed an incredible lower bracket run with a 3-0 sweep over Team Yandex in the grand finals on Monday (2 November).

With their victory, Spirit claimed the lion's share of US$125,000 out of the tournament's US$250,000. This also marks Spirit's first tournament win since they claimed their historic third Aegis of Champions at TI 2026 then overhauled their roster during the offseason, as Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov and coach Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov both took a break from professional play with Bohdan “Batyuk” Batiuk and Ilya “IllidanSTR” Pevcaev coming in as their replacements. Spirit have now also avenged their previous loss to Yandex in the grand finals of BLAST SLAM VIII in early October.

Meanwhile, Yandex settle for second place and US$50,000 in consolation.

While Yandex's streak of consecutive tournament wins has now been ended, they remain the dominant power in the scene. Thanks in large part to their signing of star offlaner Ammar “ATF” Assaf in September, Yandex have finished in the Top 2 of the first three big events of the 2026-2027 competitive season. They won back-to-back titles at PGL Wallachia Season 9 and BLAST SLAM VIII, and now add a second place finish at PARI Universe.

Team Spirit go on incredible lower bracket run to win PARI Universe

The eventual grand finalists of PARI Universe both started the tournament strong with dominant runs through the Group Stage, as Yandex finished first in Group A and Spirit claimed the top seed of Group B, with both squads having a 8-1 record.

In the Playoffs, Yandex and Spirit took very different paths to reach the grand finals. Yandex dominated the upper bracket, taking down Astra Invicta and PARIVISION in three games in the first two rounds before sweeping GamerLegion in the upper bracket finals.

Meanwhile, Spirit stumbled to start the Playoffs and were knocked down to the lower bracket after getting upset by OG in a 2-1 reverse sweep. Despite being under threat of elimination, Spirit showcased the same winning form that allowed them to win TI 2026 and went on a rampage through the lower bracket.

The reigning TI champions first swept LEGION in the first round of the lower bracket, pulled off a 2-1 reverse sweep over PARIVISION in the lower bracket quarterfinals, then defeated Team Liquid in three games in the lower bracket semifinals. Spirit then kicked off the final day of the tournament by sweeping GamerLegion to force a rematch of the BLAST SLAM VIII grand finals against Yandex, with the championship of PARI Universe at stake.

While Yandex routed Spirit, 3-1, in the BLAST SLAM VIII grand finals, the PARI Universe grand finals had a very different outcome.

With all the momentum in the world from their fiery run through the lower bracket, Spirit dominated Yandex in 34 minutes to kick off the grand finals. Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk led the way with Anti-Mage, putting up 16 kills and four assists against two deaths to pace his team's 35-15 kill lead in the series opener.

Game two was a much closer affair, with both teams going blow for blow for most of the game before Spirit's teamfight prowess allowed them to take the lead in the late game. Batyuk on Enigma notably secured the 72-minute win for Spirit by catching multiple Yandex heroes with back-to-back Black Holes in the decisive clash.

Yatoro once again topped the kill board for Spirit, this time racking up a whopping 30 kills and 14 assists against four deaths on Outworld Devourer. Denis “Larl” Sigitov on Sand King also pitched in with 17 kills and 32 assists on eight deaths.

Spirit then secured the PARI Universe championship in 51 minutes in game three behind a stellar performance from Batyuk on Timbersaw. Batyuk finished with 15 kills and 19 assists on six deaths out of Spirit's 44-37 kill lead to close out the grand finals.