For a third season in a row, Virtus.pro have laid claim to Summit championship titles as they overpowered Fnatic 3:1 in the grand finals of Dota Summit 8.
As two time defending champions, Virtus.pro took the express train to the grand finals undefeated from the group stage through the playoffs. With boastful confidence, the CIS team sauntered through the event, appearing as guest casters on the couch, with cameo's in the background and effortlessly taking down teams.
Fnatic has quickly become a rising force in the SEA region, pleasantly surprising fans with their reignited form and spark since the addition of Abed 'Abed' Yusop. The team snatched the first place position in their group stage after only dropping one game to OpTic Gaming and then bested OG 2:1 in the semifinals playoff series.
Brimming with real hope, Fnatic challenged Virtus.pro only to be knocked down quickly in the first match with Vladimir "No[o]ne" Minenko and Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev at the forefront of the battle with spectacular performances. Fnatic shook things up in the second match serving VP their only loss in the entire event. While their victory may have lit up some hope for the SEA team, it fueled Virtus.pro's drive for winning and the CIS plowed through Fnatic in the following two matches to secure their championship title.
Both Fnatic and Virtus.pro received a 25% penalty in points for not playing with their full roster as VP played with coach Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov, who stepped in for Alexei "Solo" Berezin on vacation for the remainder of 2017. Fnatic had replaced Steve 'Xcalibur' Ye mid roster lock after a trail of unsuccessful qualifiers and last place finishes at events. This is Fnatic's first set of points awarded to the team and brings Virtus.pro to 900 points, tied with Team Liquid for second place with Team Secret in the lead with 1230 points.
Dota Summit 8 PrizePool:
1st place: $120,000 + 112.5 DPC - Virtus.pro
2nd place: $60,000 +67.5 DPC - Fnatic
3rd-4th place: $36,000 +30 DCP Team Kinguin/OG
5th place: $18,000 - compLexity Gaming
6th-7th place: $9,000 - OpTic Gaming/ Evil Geniuses
8th-9th place: $6,000 - LGD Gaming/Sacred
