Well. I've been riding the Team Spirit bandwagon for weeks now, telling anyone who'd listen that they're built for deep bracket runs, and Yandex just threw me off that wagon at highway speed. A clean 2-0 sweep in the BLAST Slam VIII upper bracket final, and a grand final spot secured with it.

Esports.net has the report, and the short version is simple: Yandex took the series 2-0, and Spirit now have to go the long way around. Anything beyond the scoreline is me watching through my own eyeballs, so take the vibes accordingly.

What I'll say from those eyeballs, clearly labeled as opinion: the sweep felt earned, not lucky. When a team takes a series off Team Spirit, it usually means they had answers ready, and my read is that Yandex were the sharper side on the day. Whether that's preparation, form, or Spirit having an off series, I can't prove from a scoreline alone. The discourse after any sweep always skews toward doom for the loser, so let me be fair here. Getting swept doesn't mean Spirit played terribly. Sometimes the other team is just better for one series.

And so Yandex wait. Grand final spot locked, feet up, watching the lower bracket like the rest of us.

Spirit aren't done, but the road got harder. They drop into a lower bracket final against PARIVISION, with the winner taking the last grand final spot, and that matchup feels like a real 50/50 to me before you even factor in the emotional whiplash of getting swept the day before. I haven't watched enough of PARIVISION at this event to give you a confident read, which might itself be telling, but I'm not going to pretend I know their form better than I do. Reset fast or go home. That's the assignment for Spirit now.

For Yandex, this is the statement win of the tournament. Nobody in my circles had them as a finalist pick, and I'll admit I didn't either. Beating Team Spirit is one thing. Beating them 2-0, with a grand final berth on the line? That's a team that thinks it can win the whole thing. I've covered enough of these to know the danger of crowning a team before the trophy's lifted, so I won't. But whoever comes out of that lower bracket final should not walk in assuming Yandex got here on a hot streak.

As for my Spirit prediction? I'm not deleting it, I'm just filing it under "delayed, not denied." They've got one more chance to prove me half right. And if you watched that upper bracket final, I want to know: did Yandex win it or did Spirit lose it? Because I keep going back and forth, and the answer probably decides the whole tournament.