BLAST Slam 3 Playoffs: Team Spirit Light the Stage On Fire

Wherever Team Spirit goes, great games of Dota 2 are sure to follow — as they just showed at BLAST Slam 3 against ESL One Raleigh champions PARIVISION. After dispatching Team Liquid yesterday in the first day of the playoffs, Spirit took all the momentum they gathered from the first day and brought it to bear against their foremost rivals from their home region.

The series went all three games, with absolute barn burners in games 1 and 3. The entire set was a dazzling display of professional Dota, one befitting two of the very best teams in the world right now.

Game 1 — Raddan Brings Out the Clinkz, Chaos Ensues Over 78 Minutes

The first game of the series was a real preview of what was to come for the rest of the match. Game 1 went on for much longer than most probably expected, clocking in at a whopping 78 minutes — officially the fourth longest game of Patch 7.38c. This game was all about Illya “Raddan” Mulyarchuk, whose Clinkz pick worked out really well even though the hero hasn’t really been a meta favorite in this tournament, or even in this patch, for that matter.

An absolutely INSANE Roshan fight between Spirit and Parivision 😅

📺https://t.co/FnOCwJvlNA pic.twitter.com/jbhqg5kkgz

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) May 8, 2025

The best carry player in the world put in 17 kills and only died thrice in more than one hour of playtime, despite PARIVISION’s best efforts to contain him. Winning his lane alongside Yaroslav “Miposhka” Naidenov helped plenty, of course, setting up Raddan nicely for the mid to late game. What they didn’t know, however, is that the game would go the distance — something that doesn’t normally favor Clinkz from the carry position.

But fortunately for Team Spirit, they have Raddan on their side. Bro just didn’t care that the game was going ultra late, as he just hunkered down and remembered just who the hell he really is. Even though Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov had the better late game carry hero in the form of Terrorblade, it ended up not mattering.

Part of why it ended up not mattering is because Miposhka was playing Elder Titan — a hero that doesn’t care about Terrorblade’s insane armor one bit. He channeled his inner International champion in this game, dishing out the magic damage in teamfights to help Team Spirit secure the first map.

Game 2 — PARIVISION Heavily Outdraft Spirit

Well, losing to first pick Morphling certainly wasn’t on my bingo card for this series, but Spirit somehow managed to do it anyway. It’s like they were trying their hardest to throw away the momentum they had coming out of game 1, especially after picking Abaddon, Silencer, and Templar Assassin in response.

Not really the best idea against Morphling, especially that last pick — because Morphling has huge amounts of armor in the late game. And speaking of armor, Spirit’s draft had none of that either, which Satanic was more than happy to exploit as, you guessed it, Morphling.

PARIVISION take a DECISIVE 30 minute game and send us to a game 3! 🥶https://t.co/FnOCwJvlNA pic.twitter.com/Dxj9fjFKJB

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) May 8, 2025

Interestingly, it almost looked like the outdraft would be inconsequential, because Spirit actually held a significant net worth lead in the mid game. This was thanks in no small part to Aleksandr “rue” Filin’s Bounty Hunter and the Track (R) gold they were earning from kills. But some rather questionable decisions from Denis “Larl” Sigitov as Storm Spirit allowed PARIVISION to claw their way back into the game.

And given that Satanic was playing a hero that basically no one on Spirit’s side could stop at all, it was just a matter of leveraging that advantage from there. PARIVISION completed the turnaround in 33 and a half minutes, thus making this matchup a real series.

Game 3 — Never Give Magnus to Collapse

With the series decider bearing down on them, Team Spirit turned to ol’ reliable in the draft after PARIVISION foolishly forgot to ban the hero: Magnus for Collapse. Collapse made a name for himself at TI10 with this very hero, and four years later, it’s still a hundred percent his best and most comfortable pick.

It showed in game 3, and I’m sure PARIVISION regret not respecting the Collapse Magnus after what transpired. Satanic had himself a great game as Nature’s Prophet, making it look like PARIVISION might close the book on the series after winning the second game and snatching momentum away from Spirit. In addition, Edgar “9Class” Naltakian was making the position 4 Terrorblade work really well, thanks to his Orchid Malevolence and clutch Sunder (R) usage throughout the game.

Collapse Mag. DM Enigma.

📺 https://t.co/FnOCwJvlNA pic.twitter.com/TFeSCIHzzR

— BLAST Slam (@BLASTDota) May 8, 2025

But again, Collapse’s Magnus is simply inevitable. He showed everyone just why he is so feared on the hero, getting all the game-changing Reverse Polarities and Skewers alike. This helped Spirit chip away at PARIVISION’s big mid game advantage, which Raddan simply laughed at as Gyrocopter once he got his Daedalus.

The final teamfight that sealed the deal was also another masterclass by Collapse, as he held onto his Reverse Polarity patiently when he and his team went to contest Roshan. The timing was absolutely perfect when he finally entered the pit and let it rip, stunning Satanic long enough for Larl to swoop in as Ember Spirit and steal the Aegis from PARIVISION.

PARIVISION hadn’t been rendered completely dead in the water after this, actually, as they were even able to chase down Raddan up onto the high ground just south of the pit and get rid of him. But the rest of Team Spirit were having none of it, as Larl and rue (the latter playing position 4 Slark as sort of a cheeky “insult” to 9Class) just cleaned up the rest.

With no buybacks left available to them, PARIVISION just capitulated as Spirit ran down mid to finish the game. This result thus eliminates PARIVISION from the tournament, and allows Spirit to take revenge for ESL One Raleigh. Team Spirit will move on in the bracket, and will face Team Tidebound in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

But even with PARIVISION going home, this was undoubtedly one of the best matches of the tournament, with plenty of sick moments throughout. I’d say this was possibly a preview of what the TI14 playoffs might look like, should these two squads go up against each other there in September. Team Spirit will have the last laugh today, but I’m sure there’s going to be plenty more history made between these two teams for the remainder of the season.