BLAST Slam 1 Was Great, And I Can’t Wait for More

Denmark-based tournament organizer BLAST, famous for the BLAST Premier series of Counter-Strike 2 tournaments, hosted their first Dota 2 production over the last week in the form of BLAST Slam 1. Given that this was their first foray into Dota 2 since their founding in 2017, I would have forgiven them for any Dota-related hiccups on the production side of things.

Instead, what I got was practically flawless execution of the product itself. BLAST should be commended for setting such a good standard for themselves and for the rest of the Dota 2 scene — on their first try, no less. The overall atmosphere of BLAST Slam 1 was very relaxed and freeform without needing to lean into a “make-yourself-at-home” production style, and it worked fantastically for the kind of vibe they were going for.

Slacks and Reya Unleashed

The two standout elements of the entire broadcast, at least for me, had to be Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner and Alexandra “Reya” Roberts. When I mentioned the down-to-earth vibe the production had throughout the entire broadcast run, this is what I meant. These two really let loose on camera at BLAST Slam 1, and of course the downtime segments in between matches were all the better for it.

Seriously, these two were really unhinged and I love them both for it. The “your mom” jokes may be off-putting to some people, but as someone whose university years were spent watching old school, near-unfiltered esports casting segments, I didn’t realize how much I missed the crazy, insane humor from the days of esports yore.

Reya even got to put her VTuber avatar onscreen for everyone to see, thus allowing her to be herself and… herself, twice over. Kudos to BLAST for letting the broadcast team just be themselves and shoot the [expletive] for nearly a week straight.

Smooth Sailing

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering BLAST’s proven expertise in this regard, but the production itself was also pleasantly free of any hitches. From my home in Manila, I was able to watch the stream without seeing any lag or breaks due to video buffering — which is great for someone like me that lives in a country with notoriously slow internet connections.

That is us for the first #BLASTSlam!

We hoped you loved it and we can't wait to see you all again soon🫶@_NatTea | @sheepsticked | @TeaGuvnor | @FearDotA pic.twitter.com/iag9fXQ2xh

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) December 1, 2024

BLAST Slam 1 was therefore a pristine first attempt by BLAST at hosting a major Dota 2 LAN, and my faith in them to do more of the same in the future is now very solid. And speaking of which, it’s great to know that they’re (tentatively) booked all the way up to 2026; BLAST does plan on getting all the way up to BLAST Slam 9 as of the time of writing.

The only real complaint I and many others had was with the broadcast interface. The in-game overlay was terrible to be quite frank, with the game timer and set win count in particular obscuring far too much of the map. Yes, I did appreciate that the information was available at all times during a game, but there are ways to make that true without having it take up such a huge portion of the screen.

Blistering Pace, Exciting Times

The format also deserves some praise here. The gauntlet bracket was easily the highlight of the entire show, as it helped shake things up in the competitive order and provided us with some real cardiac games. Big points to BLAST for turning to the King of the Hill bracket style in their first ever major Dota 2 tournament.

🏆CHAMPIONS🏆

Congratulations @BetBoomTeam! pic.twitter.com/BmWrm6rRkC

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) December 1, 2024

What I didn’t like about the format though is that all the group stage matches were Bo1s. Adapting to your opponents is a large part of what makes professional Dota 2 so compelling, and Bo1s just don’t allow for that for obvious reasons. Of course, given that the BLAST Slam 1 only had one single day for the group stage, this doesn’t come as a surprise in terms of logistics. If future editions of the tournament could add a second group stage day to accommodate Bo2s, though, that would be great.

All in all, though, a banger of a tournament by BLAST. I’m stoked to see what BLAST Slam 2, 3, and beyond have to offer.