BLAST Slam 5 Chengdu: Yandex bust Falcons’ doors down while Tundra march to another grand final

BLAST Slam 5 in Chengdu is really heating up now, with the semifinal matches now complete after a full day of competition.

Two teams remain in contention for the title and the rest of the $1 million prize pool, with one result being particularly surprising, to say the least.

Stuck in the nest

The match between Team Yandex and Team Falcons is one that I was personally anticipating heading into the second day of BLAST Slam 5, even though I predicted that Falcons would just sweep Yandex out of the tournament. This was because I’ve been eager to see how much better Yandex can get throughout this season, and whether or not they might be one of the best underdog squads of the new year.

They answered my question with much aplomb, starting in the first game of the series. Martin “Saksa” Sazdov wasted no time letting Falcons know just what Yandex were all about, going to his signature Shadow Demon in order to give them the early advantage in this match. I mean, how often do you see someone put in 11 kills from the soft support position?

His support play throughout this game was simply invaluable for Yandex. He controlled Falcons’ lineup well and saved his teammates where applicable with Disruption (Q), and brought tons of damage amplification with Disseminate (W). Amazingly enough, Falcons kept the game very even through the first 30 minutes or so, but the floodgates broke wide open shortly after. Seemingly unconcerned about getting more kills at this point, Yandex focused on taking Falcons’ barracks, although honestly they would have just run them over either way.

The second and final game of the series went more or less the same way that the first one did, with the net worth values for both teams being balanced through the early to mid game.

Our road at the BLAST Slam V ends here.

Thank you for the support. We will come back stronger. #FalconsAreHere – #BLASTSlam pic.twitter.com/XCTV6pMAva

— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) December 6, 2025

Falcons did put up a slightly better fight this time around, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Oliver “skiter” Lepko as Weaver and Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak as Pangolier, but Yandex were just too locked in at the end of the day. Evgeniy “Noticed” Ignatenko flexed his muscle from the offlane position as Dragon Knight, dishing out more or less the same amount of hero damage as Alimzhan “watson” Islambekov’s Morphling.

Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov joined the party as Primal Beast, putting in six crucial kills to help make space for the two aforementioned cores. Falcons did their best to stave off Yandex’s strong late game timings, but there just wasn’t much they could do to prevent the inevitable. With skiter in particular now far behind watson at this point, it was just a matter of keeping it simple and solid for Yandex. They did exactly that, thus sending Falcons packing early in shocking fashion.

Tundra make it look effortless

Not to be outdone by a team that has yet to win a top level LAN, Tundra Esports came to play today against MOUZ. I thought this would be a much more competitive series between these two squads today given how it went last time they met, but MOUZ were just totally outclassed this time around.

5 out of 5 blast finals pic.twitter.com/po1YcZEknH

— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) December 6, 2025

Tundra were obviously in a hurry to get this match over with, as they pulled out all the stops from the get-go. They went with carry Muerta for Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko and Ember Spirit for Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov, with their draft topped off with an Axe pick for Neta “33” Shapira. The first two cores had the time of their lives this game, able to just impose their will throughout the almost 30 minute contest.

Yes, that’s right: it took them a mere 29 minutes and 52 seconds to put MOUZ away. Not even Remco “Crystallis” Arets could save his team from defeat in the first game, as he wasn’t even able to make the most of his 13 minute Battle Fury timing. Tundra’s aggression just prevented him from farming in peace, which meant that MOUZ’ late game win condition was just never going to be there.

Game 2 was also relatively easy for Tundra, as they punished MOUZ for their draft’s weakness in the laning phase as well as for their overall lack of damage. Carry Abaddon has been in vogue for what seems like an entire year now, but it really didn’t look that great in the grand scheme of things for Crystallis. Sure, he managed to score six kills and more or less grab the items that he wanted, but the damage issues persisted throughout the entire game.

Closer and closer to victory! pic.twitter.com/oj7qgebpGV

— TUNDRA (@TundraEsports) December 6, 2025

Recognizing this, Tundra just ran at them at almost every turn. No need to fear reprisal if your opponents have no firepower, after all. Matthew “Ari” Walker and Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon put on a real show in this game as Hoodwink and Jakiro respectively, showing once again why they are one of the most fearsome support duos in the world.

Thus, Tundra find themselves in their fifth consecutive BLAST Slam grand final. They now have a chance to win four in a row, a feat that would be utterly unprecedented should they accomplish it tomorrow. And given their advantage on paper against Yandex, they shouldn’t find it too difficult to bring home yet another trophy.