BLAST Slam 4 Viewer’s Guide — Format, schedule, and more

Less than a day separates the Dota 2 community from BLAST Slam 4, the first major tournament of the new competitive season. It comes with a rather weird schedule and format, with the LAN portion of the event taking place three weeks from now rather than in the next few days or so.

When and where is BLAST Slam 4 taking place?

BLAST Slam 4 is happening in two stages, one online and one in Singapore. The group stage will be held between October 14th to the 18th. After this, there will be a last chance playoff and a play-in stage on the 19th, both of which will also be held online.

BLAST Slam IV is bringing Dota back to SEA this month.

PREPARE FOR CINEMA 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8aQb0rzFvl

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) October 10, 2025

Then, once November 7th rolls around, the remaining teams will play at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, this time in an offline setting. The grand finals will be held on November 9th. I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen a Dota tournament done like this before, so it’s something new to me and possibly to the community at large.

Which teams will be participating?

12 of the strongest Dota teams, seven of which were invited directly by BLAST, will be playing for the chance to become BLAST Slam 4 champions. The other five participating clubs were determine through regional qualifier tournaments, spanning the Americas, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. The full list of teams is as follows:

With so many new rosters, it’s hard to call who will come out on top here but I’ve given it a go in my power rankings for this event.

How does the format work?

Okay, this is where it gets kind of complicated. The group stage will pit all 12 teams in a single best-of-one round-robin group. The top two squads coming out of this stage will be seeded directly into the semifinals, immediately guaranteeing them at least a top 4 finish. Those in 3rd-8th place will go to the play-in stage, while the rest will have to fight for their tournament lives in the last chance playoff.

The last chance playoff and the play-in will all feature best-of-three sets, all of which are single elimination matches. Two teams will proceed to the play-in from the last chance playoff, but only four teams will come out of the play-in while the rest are eliminated. This leaves exactly have of the field, who will then play in the LAN segment of the event in Singapore.

What’s at stake?

$1 million in prize money, with all participating teams receiving a slice of the pie. There’s also an additional prize bracket for each squad, labeled “Team Earnings”, which further bolsters the rewards. The full breakdown is as follows:

Where can I watch the games?

You can catch all the action at BLAST Slam 4 on BLAST’s official Twitch and YouTube streams.