BLAST Slam 5 Chengdu: Yandex show further growth while MOUZ dominate Na’Vi

The first day of the playoffs at BLAST Slam 5 Chengdu is now over, with the first set of single elimination matches already concluded and two teams already sent packing from China.

Team Yandex and MOUZ staved off elimination today in the quarterfinals, with both squads now moving on to the next round of this unforgiving format.

Yandex halt the Filipino advance

There really is no counting out a team that has Martin “Saksa” Sazdov in it, especially when you also take into account the fact that Yandex have been on the rise early in this new competitive season since FISSURE Playground 2. They followed through on their development nicely in their series against OG, taking the match in three games exactly as I expected in my BLAST Changdu predictions.

The Filipino squad struck first in this set, bringing out the Venomancer for Andrei “skem” Ong against a Yandex draft that was very vulnerable to his tricks. Specifically, Yandex’s draft was filled with heroes that didn’t appreciate getting their Blink Daggers canceled, like Slardar, Centaur Warrunner, and Batrider.

Ironically, it was actually Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer that stole the show as Dragon Knight. He posted an 11-0 kill-death record this game, and was the driving force behind OG’s success in the first map.

With their backs already against the wall, Yandex bounced back incredibly well in game 2, thanks in no small part to OG’s odd decision to let Naga Siren through the ban phase.

Yandex were quick to pick the hero up for Arman “Malady” Orazbayev, and it was all just Yandex, Yandex, Yandex from there. It also helped that Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov was balling out as Shadow Fiend, which suddenly meant that OG’s highly aggressive gameplan was turned on its head. They were on the receiving end of a beatdown rather than the giving end, and they just couldn’t posture themselves the way they wanted to this game.

Saksa and company then sealed the deal in the third game, punishing OG’s decision to pick Terrorblade by piling on the magic damage. Sand King, Jakiro, and Windranger were more than enough to keep Natsumi- down, and when it wasn’t, watson’s Ursa was there to lay down the law. And although the game was even through nearly 35 minutes of play, Yandex recognized their timings in the late game and capitalized on them to bury OG for good.

Swarmed by mice

On the other hand, Na’Vi really didn’t stand much of a chance in their series against MOUZ. The PGL Wallachia Season 6 champions ran them over in just two games as I predicted, with the first one not even being close.

And I mean it was a shellacking and a half in MOUZ’ favor. They got their hands on Chen, easily one of the most overpowered heroes in the game right now, and just annihilated Na’Vi with it. Melchior “Seleri” Hillenkamp had himself a field day with the hero, burning mana from Na’Vi’s heroes left and right and preventing them from ever establishing a foothold in this game.

Waving goodbye to Navi I guess because damn pic.twitter.com/6PFbS8Zegu

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) December 5, 2025

It got so bad that MOUZ were able to take down a full lane of barracks off of Na’Vi just 19 minutes in. That’s something you definitely don’t see every day. With every lane basically a failure, Na’Vi had to accept that they got completely blindsided in the first game, and so they tapped out in just 23 and a half minutes.

The second game was a little bit closer, clocking in at nearly 48 minutes — but it still ended with MOUZ having all the answers to Na’Vi. MOUZ might have gotten a little nervous seeing Na’Vi pick Broodmother against carry Huskar, but neither Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng nor Daniyal “yamich” Lazebnyy would have any of it.

The two brought the hurt onto Na’Vi, dishing out tons of magic damage and control as Leshrac and Nyx Assassin respectively, against a lineup that desperately needed the freedom to move around and kite. Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan also got in the mix as Mars, hitting clutch Spears of Mars (Q) and Arena of Blood (R) casts just when Na’Vi were about to turn things around in the mid game.

So sadly for Na’Vi, their genius Broodmother pick ended up not bearing the kind of fruit they were hoping for. Not the best showing for this team by any stretch of the imagination, but this outcome was expected from the start anyway. As for MOUZ, they continue their journey in Chengdu, eager to place higher than they did at the previous BLAST Slam in Singapore.