Team Yandex and Team Spirit Set a PARI Universe Grand Final

Team Yandex and Team Spirit will play for the PARI Universe title on Sunday, November 1, in a best-of-five grand final. Field Level Media reported on November 1 that Yandex swept GamerLegion 2-0 in the upper-bracket final, and that Spirit then beat the same opponent 2-0 in the lower-bracket final. That put both teams into the last series of the $250,000 Dota 2 event.

The pairing brings together the two teams that finished their groups with perfect records. Yandex went 4-0 in Group A and Spirit went 4-0 in Group B, according to the final standings Field Level Media published on October 28. Only one of them took the direct route to the final. Yandex won the upper-bracket final, while Spirit reached the grand final from the lower bracket.

Field Level Media, reports of October 23 to November 1, 2026. Dollar amounts as printed by Field Level Media.

What the final decides

The PARI Universe is a Dota 2 tournament for ten teams with a $250,000 prize pool, according to Field Level Media. The champion receives $125,000 in total. Field Level Media reported that this is split into $80,000 for the players and $45,000 for the club.

The runner-up is already guaranteed $50,000, of which Field Level Media lists $32,000 for the players and $18,000 for the club. The best-of-five on Sunday therefore decides which of the two finalists takes the larger of those two prizes. A best-of-five is a series in which the first team to win three games takes the series. Field Level Media reported that every earlier playoff series was a best-of-three, where two game wins are enough.

Dota 2 is a five-against-five game in which each team defends a base on one side of a shared map. The two sides are called Radiant and Dire, and Field Level Media's match reports note which side each team played in each game. In the two finalists' most recent wins, every game was played on Dire: Yandex won both of its games against GamerLegion on that side, and Spirit did the same in the lower-bracket final.

How the group stage ended

The event opened on Thursday, October 22, with a round-robin group stage. Each of the ten teams was placed in one of two groups of five, and every team played every other team in its group once in a best-of-three. According to Field Level Media, the top four teams of each group advanced to a double-elimination playoff, and the last-placed team in each group was eliminated.

The groups, as Field Level Media listed them on October 23, were these. Group A held GamerLegion, Team Yandex, Team Liquid, OG and 1w Team. Group B held Team Spirit, LEGION, Astra Invicta, PARIVISION and BetBoom Team.

Yandex opened its event on October 22 with a 2-0 win over GamerLegion, in 37 and 33 minutes, both on Dire, as Field Level Media reported on October 23. The same report had Spirit beating LEGION 2-0, PARIVISION beating Astra Invicta 2-0, and Team Liquid beating 1w Team 2-0, with a first game of 77 minutes in that last series.

The second day produced four more 2-0 results, according to Field Level Media's report of October 24: PARIVISION over LEGION, Astra Invicta over BetBoom Team, OG over 1w Team, and GamerLegion over Team Liquid. The GamerLegion and Liquid series was the longest of the day in total time, with games of 52 and 71 minutes.

On Saturday, October 24, GamerLegion beat 1w Team 2-0, Yandex beat OG 2-0 with games of 61 and 71 minutes, and Spirit beat BetBoom Team 2-0. LEGION beat Astra Invicta 2-1, winning in 37 and 48 minutes and losing the 55-minute game in between, Field Level Media reported on October 25. It was the only series of the day that went to a third game.

Sunday, October 25, brought another set of results. Field Level Media reported that Yandex beat 1w Team 2-0, Spirit beat Astra Invicta 2-0, PARIVISION beat BetBoom Team 2-0, and OG beat Team Liquid 2-1, with OG winning games of 48 and 67 minutes. After that round, Yandex, Spirit and PARIVISION were each 3-0 in matches, and the two winless teams, 1w Team and BetBoom Team, were described by Field Level Media as close to elimination with one day of group play left.

The tiebreaker in Group B

The group stage closed on Monday, October 26. The final standings that Field Level Media printed on October 28 were as follows.

Group A was settled by its records alone. Group B was not. Three teams, LEGION, Astra Invicta and BetBoom Team, all finished at 1-3, and only two of them could take the last two playoff places. Field Level Media reported that the three teams played one-map tiebreaker matches on Tuesday, October 27. A one-map tiebreaker is a single game instead of a best-of-three, so each result is decided in one sitting.

LEGION beat Astra Invicta in 34 minutes. Astra Invicta then beat BetBoom Team in 52 minutes. LEGION beat BetBoom Team in 41 minutes. That gave LEGION two wins, Astra Invicta one and BetBoom Team none, and Field Level Media reported that LEGION and Astra Invicta advanced while BetBoom Team was eliminated.

In Group A, Team Liquid finished at 1-3 and still qualified, because the top four of five teams in each group moved on. GamerLegion's 3-1 record included the 2-0 loss to Yandex on the opening day. 1w Team lost all four of its series and finished last in the group.

The playoff, step by step

A double-elimination playoff gives every team two chances: a team that loses once drops from the upper bracket to the lower bracket, and a team that loses there is out. Field Level Media reported that all playoff series were best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.

The upper-bracket quarterfinals were scheduled for Wednesday, October 28. Field Level Media listed the four pairings on October 28: PARIVISION against Team Liquid, Team Yandex against Astra Invicta, Team Spirit against OG, and GamerLegion against LEGION. Each pairing matched a Group A team with a Group B team.

Field Level Media's reports of October 31 and November 1 cover the late rounds. On Friday, October 30, Spirit won two series to reach the lower-bracket final. In the first, it beat PARIVISION 2-1. PARIVISION took Game 1 on Radiant in 44 minutes, then Spirit won Game 2 on Dire in 38 minutes and Game 3 on Dire in 49 minutes. In the second, Spirit beat Team Liquid 2-1: Spirit won Game 1 in 45 minutes, Liquid levelled in 47 minutes, and Spirit took the deciding game in 37 minutes.

Team Liquid had earlier beaten OG 2-0, according to the same report. Field Level Media wrote that Spirit ousted Team Liquid, and that Yandex and GamerLegion would meet in the upper-bracket final on Saturday, with the loser facing Spirit later that day.

Saturday decided both finalists

On Saturday, October 31, the playoff reached its last two series before the grand final. Field Level Media's report of November 1 gives the results.

In the upper-bracket final, Yandex beat GamerLegion 2-0, in 38 and 53 minutes. The loser of that series dropped into the lower-bracket final, where it met Spirit, as Field Level Media had described on October 31. Spirit then beat GamerLegion in two games of 56 and 47 minutes, again both on Dire. That ended GamerLegion's event and sent Spirit to the final.

Each finalist therefore won its last series without dropping a game, and both of those series were against GamerLegion, who finished third.

Where every team finished

The playoff is not over, but eight of the ten final placings are now known. Field Level Media's report of November 1 lists them with the prize each position carries, using the prize table the outlet had printed since the group stage.

GamerLegion finished third. Field Level Media's prize table gives third place $30,000, of which $20,000 goes to the players and $10,000 to the club. Team Liquid finished fourth, a position worth $15,000, split $10,000 for the players and $5,000 for the club in the same table.

OG and PARIVISION shared fifth and sixth place, which carry $10,000 each. Astra Invicta and LEGION shared seventh and eighth place, with $5,000 each. Field Level Media's table shows no club share for the places from fifth to eighth, so that money goes to the players only. 1w Team and BetBoom Team finished ninth and tenth, positions that carry no prize money.

Field Level Media's table puts the two teams that finished last in their groups, 1w Team and BetBoom Team, in the ninth and tenth places. BetBoom Team was the Group B side eliminated after the tiebreaker, while Astra Invicta and LEGION, the two teams that advanced through it, are placed seventh and eighth.

What comes next

The best-of-five grand final between Team Yandex and Team Spirit takes place on Sunday, November 1, according to Field Level Media. The first team to win three games will be champion and will receive $125,000, with $80,000 for the players and $45,000 for the club. The loser takes home $50,000.

Yandex and Spirit were drawn into different groups, according to the group lists Field Level Media published, so the title series is a meeting between teams that did not face each other in the group stage.

The reports used here end at the point where the final is set. They do not include any result from the grand final, so the outcome is not part of this article.

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