Team Yandex awaits foe in grand final of BLAST Slam VII

Field Level Media|published: Sun 7th June, 01:57 2026

YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year.

Team Yandex downed BetBoom Team to advance to Sunday's grand final at the BLAST Slam VII playoffs in Copenhagen, Denmark.

BetBoom Team, after losing 2-1 in the upper-bracket final on Saturday, can earn another shot at Team Yandex and the $300,000 top prize if they can get past LGD Gaming in the lower-bracket final earlier Sunday. LGD Gaming eliminated Aurora Gaming 2-1 in the lower-bracket semifinal on Saturday.

The $1 million event began with a 12-team group stage last month. Group play was a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams started in the upper-bracket quarters.

The fifth- and sixth-place teams proceeded to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings began in Round 1 of that stage. The bottom two teams were eliminated.

On Saturday, Team Yandex dropped the opening match of the upper-bracket final in 30 minutes to BetBoom Team, which was on green. Yandex drew even with a victory in 42 minutes on green, then closed out the match with a 64-minute triumph on red.

Alimzhan "watson" Islambekov of Kazakhstan had a 20-2-10 kill-death-assist ratio to lead Team Yandex in the second game, as well as pacing the team with a 10-3-9 K-D-A in the decisive third game. Danil "gpk" Skutin of Russia led BetBoom with a 12-2-11 K-D-A in the first game.

LGD Gaming followed a similar pattern in the lower-bracket semifinal, losing the first game in 51 minutes to Aurora Gaming, which was on red. LGD rallied with 50-minute victory on red, and a marathon 111-minute win, also on red.

Yuma "Yuma" Langlet -- who is from Nicaragua, resides in Germany and has competed for Belgium -- led LGD in Game 2 with a 20-2-13 K-D-A. Langlet also came up big in the third game with a 13-13-26 K-D-A.

Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko of Russia posted a 14-0-13 K-D-A in Game 1 for Aurora Gaming, and teammate Rafli "Mikoto" Fathur Rahman of Indonesia had a 15-1-25 ratio.

Sunday's schedule

Lower-bracket final: BetBoom Team vs. LGD Gaming

Grand final: Winner vs. Team Yandex

BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)

1. $300,000, $100,000

2. $150,000, $45,000

3. $70,000, $23,000

4. $50,000, $17,000 - Aurora Gaming

5-6. $40,000, $15,000 -- Team Falcons, Team Liquid

7-8. $25,000, $10,000 -- Team Spirit, PARIVISION

9-10. $15,000, $5,000 -- OG, Tundra Esports

11-12. $10,000, $2,500 -- Xtreme Gaming, GLYPH