Who Will Win BLAST Slam 1?

BLAST Slam 1, the first ever professional Dota 2 event hosted by Denmark-based studio BLAST, is happening on November 26th. Featuring a unique twist on a familiar format as well as a $1 million prize pool, BLAST’s first foray into the Dota 2 scene should prove to be an exciting prospect.

But which team do we think is most likely to win the inaugural BLAST Slam? We’ve got the front runner lined up against the other squads in our rundown of the competition at BLAST Slam 1.

Team Falcons: Crushing Dominance

It’s painfully obvious and definitely not a hot take at this point, but the dominant Team Falcons absolutely possess the best chance of finishing in first place at BLAST Slam 1. After hitting a temporary albeit pretty significant roadblock in the form of missing out on the TI13 grand finals, the ever-present Falcons have really hit their stride in this new Dota 2 season.

WE ARE YOUR BACK-TO-BACK-TO BACK DREAM LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

— وتستمر هيمنة أبطال العالم! 🫡🔥
صقورنا هم أبطال بطولة الدريم ليق للعبة دوتا 2 للمرة الثالثة على التوالي في 2024🏆🦅#FalconsAreHere – #DreamLeague pic.twitter.com/apQ9CsiluA

— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) November 10, 2024

They have so far won two straight major tournaments in the year:  BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, and DreamLeague Season 24. Two in a row might not sound like a lot but in Dota terms, it really is.

And where everyone is trying to play a fast, early game-focused style that seeks to end the game quickly with heroes like Broodmother, Enchantress, and Pugna, the Falcons have stuck to their slow, methodical playbook.

How do they do it?

It’s been working almost flawlessly thus far, showing that they are not a squad whose gameplan is not to be dictated solely by the overarching metagame. Indeed, each member of this roster is just so gifted both mechanically and in terms of game sense that the meta almost doesn’t matter to them.

We should mention, however, that the format does throw our prediction for a slight loop. This team is known for starting off rather slowly in group stages, just like they did at DreamLeague where they ended up in a lukewarm fourth place after some struggles early on in Group Stage 2. The fact that the playoffs at BLAST Slam 1 will be single elimination, King of the Hill style, means that Falcons will be put on a strict timer, if you will, if they don’t earn the higher seeds coming out of the group stage.

They won’t have much time to make a comeback like they did at DreamLeague if they don’t put in the results early, but at least coach Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling is back with them to cook up their drafts. His impact on their play cannot be overstated, and we’re sure they’ll be leaning on his expertise in order to get the best start to the tournament possible.

But again, they can’t afford to rest on their laurels too much even after winning everything under the sun lately. They might just get blindsided by a cheeky strategy or two if they don’t take things seriously right away.

And Then, There’s Everyone Else

We’re not even kidding when we say every other club playing at BLAST Slam 1 is just following in Falcons’ wake. The gulf between them and Falcons is quite large right now, and all of them will have to figure out how to either emulate their success so far this season or find a strategy that works against them specifically.

BetBoom Team is the closest in this regard. Though they kind of got rolled over by Falcons in the DreamLeague grand finals anyway, they at least managed to take one map off of them in a best-of-five scenario. If there’s anyone that stands a chance of upsetting Falcons at BLAST Slam 1, it’s them.

PARIVISION is another that we’d like to mention here. Their top 4 finish at DreamLeague was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the tournament, considering how new this roster is to begin with. Out of all the squads at DreamLeague that tried the fast-paced style, they were the ones that made it work best. It’s no shame losing to Falcons like they did in the lower bracket of DreamLeague, but they could very easily have gone further in the tournament.