The three closed qualifiers for BLAST SLAM VIII finished on 30 August 2026, filling the first four of the tournament's 16 slots. Natus Vincere and Level UP came through Europe, Yakult Brothers won China, and Team Nemesis took Southeast Asia. All four are now locked into a $750,000 Tier 1 event that runs from 29 September to 11 October, with playoffs on LAN at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta.
It is the first Tier 1 competitive milestone of the post-International season. The International 2026 ran 13–23 August in Shanghai and ended with Team Spirit beating TEAM VISION 3-2 to lift a third Aegis; since then the Dota 2 calendar has been dominated by disbandments and free agency rather than matches at the top level.
Europe: Na'Vi and Level UP take the two slots
The European bracket, run by Relog Media as part of the RES Unchained 5 series, was an eight-team single-elimination gauntlet with two qualification slots — meaning both semi-final winners advanced and no grand final was needed.
Natus Vincere opened with a 2-0 over Summer Bear on 29 August, then closed out MOUZ 2-0 in the semi-final at 13:50 CEST on 30 August. The Na'Vi five listed for the run were gotthejuice, Niku, pma, daze and Riddys.
Level UP had the harder road. They entered through Open Qualifier 2 as the winners, beat Pipsqueak+4 2-1 in the quarter-final and then edged Team Lynx 2-1 in the semi-final to convert an open-qualifier run into a Tier 1 slot. Their roster: WoE, Ainkrad, bb3px, queezy and Htrd.
MOUZ and Team Lynx finished 3rd-4th and missed out.
China: Yakult Brothers survive a three-round bracket
The Chinese closed qualifier, organised by GGTV, offered a single slot across eight teams. Yakult Brothers took it the long way — 2-0 over The goal of all life is death in the quarter-final on 29 August, a 2-1 semi-final win over Cloud Rising at 13:00 CST on 30 August, and a 2-1 grand final over Team Resilience at 16:15 CST the same day.
Yakult Brothers fielded Lou, Emo, Beyond and kaka alongside 天命. Team Resilience, who had swept Animals Incoming 2-0 and advanced past Crescent by forfeit, finished second and got nothing.
Southeast Asia: Team Nemesis qualify with a rebuilt roster
Southeast Asia was the only one of the three brackets to run without a forfeit. Team Nemesis, playing the JaCkky, Ken, Jabz, Jhocam and NARMAN line-up the organisation announced on 13 August, beat Team 6seven 2-1, swept Direborn Esports 2-0 in the semi-final, and closed the grand final 2-0 against Execration at 16:30 SGT on 30 August. Arthur is listed as the coach.
Ice Cream Men — the roster carrying jikroy, MooN, iceiceice, dalul and Varizh — went out 1-2 to Execration in the semi-final.
What BLAST SLAM VIII actually is
BLAST SLAM VIII expands the series from the 12 main-event teams of SLAM VII to 16, although the prize pool moves the other way — down from $1,000,000 at SLAM VII. The group stage begins 29 September on European servers: four GSL groups of four, all series Bo3. Group winners go to Seeding Matches, second-placed teams drop to a Last Chance stage, and the bottom two of each group are eliminated. Six teams survive to the double-elimination playoffs at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta from 8 to 11 October, with a Bo5 grand final.
The prize pool is $750,000, split by BLAST into $550,000 of player prize money and $200,000 in team earnings.
Twelve slots remain, and Liquipedia currently lists all of them as invites still to be announced — including one carrying an America region label. Those invitations are the story to watch, because BLAST is picking a field out of a scene that is still rearranging itself. Vici Gaming disbanded on 16 August, REKONIX pulled out of Dota 2 on 19 August, Virtus.pro disbanded its international roster on 24 August, and LGD Gaming's South American line-up came off contract the same day.
At the top of the table the picture is steadier. Liquipedia's rankings, last updated 30 August, put PARIVISION first on 1,826 points ahead of Team Yandex (1,778), Team Spirit (1,760), BetBoom Team (1,758) and Team Falcons (1,755).
Note that BLAST SLAM VIII is not the first Tier 1 event of the new season. Liquipedia lists PGL Wallachia Season 9 for 17–27 September, which gets there first.
When did the BLAST SLAM VIII qualifiers finish? All three closed qualifiers ran 29–30 August 2026 and concluded on 30 August. The last match of the slate was the European semi-final between Natus Vincere and MOUZ at 13:50 CEST (11:50 UTC).
Which teams have qualified for BLAST SLAM VIII so far? Natus Vincere and Level UP from Europe, Yakult Brothers from China, and Team Nemesis from Southeast Asia. Twelve more slots are still to be filled by invitation.
When and where is BLAST SLAM VIII? The tournament runs 29 September to 11 October 2026. The group stage is online on European servers; the playoffs are on LAN at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta from 8 to 11 October.
How big is the BLAST SLAM VIII prize pool? $750,000 in total — $550,000 in player prize money plus $200,000 in team earnings.
What patch were the qualifiers played on? Gameplay patch 7.41e, released on 30 July 2026, which is still the current version.
Sources: Liquipedia Dota 2 (BLAST SLAM VIII main, Europe, China and Southeast Asia qualifier pages; Player Transfers portal; Liquipedia Rankings), BLAST.tv and the Steam news feed for Dota 2. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
