Fnatic proved that their win against Natus Vincere in the group stage was no fluke, as they repeated the feat with a 3-1 victory in the grand finals of the XMG Captain's draft invitational.
The captain's draft's format places the less-used heroes into the spotlight, usually providing viewers with entertaining combinations and hero choices which we may not see in the more standard captain's mode. In the first game, we saw the Ukranian team going for a carry Sandking, while the European mix settled for a Sniper on their middle lane. Excellent movement from the supports had Fnatic completely taking control of the game from start to finish, and the highlight reel includes an Ultra kill from Trixi's Elder Titan.
Na`Vi drew even after winning the second game, wherein Fnatic's line-up featured an Ursa, a Morphling, an Alchemist and a Bounty Hunter. While Fnatic's killing potential was not far behind their enemies, they were far less inferior in pushing and during team fights. While most of their hero had single-target attacks, Na`Vi's had multiple heroes who could deal AoE damage in the likes of Death Prophet, Kunkka and Sven.
The third game was a rout for Fnatic, winning the game in just under 20 minutes. Seven out of the ten heroes played in this game were melee, which is why Fnatic's Slark assisted by a Treant Protector and a Dark Seer completely thrived and dominated. Slark was present in literally all skirmishes, finishing with six kills and assisting on his team's other seven kills.
Despite being ahead 2-1, Fnatic played the fourth game as if they were behind. They were able to pick an Ember Spirt and a Luna, who was supported by the support duo of a Crytal Maiden and a Slardar. Natus Vincere, on the other hand, played a strong early/middle-game line-up which had four intelligence-based heroes, including a carry Necrophos. While the Ukranian team had some success in shutting down the offlane Clockwerk, it was Fnatic who was cruising through and scoring kills at will. Na`Vi conceded the game in the 37th minute, where the enemy Luna was already sporting a 6-0-16 KDA record, and the Ember sporting an even more impressive 16-1-15.
Aside from the setback against Fnatic, Natus Vincere was stellar throughout the tournament. They finished the groups with a 4-1 record to notch first place, and they defeated third ranked Sigma.int on a dominating 3-0 series to advance into the finals. Meanwhile, Fnatic entered the last playoffs with the lowest seed and had to endure a tough series against Alliance, which the former won 3-2, to advance into the Championship.
Prize Distribution:
Champion: 
Fnatic - $10,000 + 50% of DotaTV profit
2nd Place: 
Natus Vincere - $5,000 + 25% of DotaTV profit
3rd/4th: 
Alliance - $2,500 + 12.5% of DotaTV profit
3rd/4th: Sigma.int - $2,500 + 12.5% of DotaTV profit
The XMG Captain's draft invitational, the first major tournament of its kind, started last February 18. Aside from the teams mentioned above, RoX.Kis and Team Liquid also joined the tournament. However, they placed into the bottom two of the tournament and thus did not make it into the playoffs.
Captains Draft is a game mode wherein the captains will choose from only 24 randomly selected heroes: eight Strength, eight Agility and eight Intelligence heroes. Two heroes will be banned initially before the picking phase. The heroes will be drafted in a 1-2-2-2-2-1 order.
