NAVI has earned the chance to qualify for BLAST Slam VIII. To do so, the Ukrainian team will first have to compete in the RES Unchained 5 closed qualifier, which will determine the two teams that advance to the tournament.
Eight teams will begin competing on August 29. The qualifier will follow a single-elimination format, with each series played to the best of three. NAVI’s first opponent will be Summer Bear.
The format leaves no room for error: to advance to BLAST Slam VIII, a team must win two matches in a row. Four teams received direct invitations to the closed stage, while four others advanced through the open qualifiers.
NAVI heads into these decisive matches fresh off a triumph at the EPL Masters I in Dota 2. The Ukrainian team won the tournament without dropping a single map and earned $50,000 in prize money.
NAVI’s roster for the tryouts will be as follows:
- 🇺🇦 Taras “gotthejuice” Linnikov — carry
- 🇺🇦 Artem “Niku” Bachkur — mid
- 🇺🇦 Yuriy “pma” Prots — offline
- 🇺🇦 Stanislav “Riddys” Mitroshkin — Support
- 🇰🇿 Tamir “daze” Tokpanov — Support Captain
- 🇩🇰 Aske “Cy-” Larsen — Coach
If NAVI advances through both qualifying rounds, the team will secure a spot at BLAST Slam VIII. The main tournament will take place from September 29 to October 11 in both online and LAN formats. The prize pool will total $750,000.