Tournament organizers BLAST has recently revealed some major changes coming to its Dota 2 esports circuit.
The upcoming BLAST tournament formats will see a drastic shift as the organizers look to expand the overall length of the tournament alongside increasing the total number of games being played.
BLAST Slam IV will feature both an online stage and the traditional LAN stage. The tournament is set to run for two weeks, from October 27 until a winner is crowned on November 9.
With this update, BLAST will also enable fans to experience all the action that unfolds during the playoffs first-hand during the second week, with live seats available both in the studio and in the arena.
New BLAST Slam Invites Explained
The invite system for the BLAST Slam events is also seeing a significant change, with the number of direct invites being reduced from 10 to 6, and the total number of participating teams being increased to 12.
Here’s a breakdown of how the teams attending the event will be determined:
- 6 direct invites
- 1 host region hero invite
- 2 European qualifier teams
- 1 China qualifier team
- 1 SEA qualifier team
- 1 Americas invite (based on recent performance at Tier 1 events)
Regional Qualifiers
Three regional qualifiers will run across Europe, China, and SEA for 4 slots to the BLAST Slam events.
Below, we have listed the schedule for the BLAST Slam qualifiers:
BLAST Slam IV
- Open Qualifier 1: 29 September – 30 September
- Open Qualifier 2: 1 October – 2 October
- Closed Qualifier: 3 October – 5 October
BLAST Slam V
- Open Qualifier 1: 6 October – 7 October
- Open Qualifier 2: 8 October – 9 October
- Closed Qualifier: 10 October – 12 October
BLAST Slam Updated Schedule
BLAST has updated the schedule for its upcoming Dota 2 events alongside the aforementioned format changes.
Take a look at the updated schedule for BLAST Slam events here:
- BLAST Slam IV – October 27th-November 9th, 2025
- BLAST Slam V – November 25th-December 7th, 2025
- BLAST Slam VI – February 3rd-15th, 2026
- BLAST Slam VII – May 26th-June 7th, 2026
- BLAST Slam VIII – September 29th-October 11th, 2026
- BLAST Slam IX – November 17th-29th, 2026
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