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The ultimate tournament format

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delHospital Poland261 Posts July 09 2011 19:40 GMT #1 There is an ongoing debate on the topic of whether single or double elimination is the better format for Starcraft II tournaments. The proponents of double-elimination observe that single-elimination is unfair to the unluckily seeded – for example, the second-best player could fall to the top player in the first round. It is also very unforgiving, as a player who has perhaps traveled across the ocean to attend the event could be eliminated having only played a single series. At the same time, advocates of single-elimination point out a substantial flaw in the double-elimination format – due to one player being rewarded for not losing any series, the finals happen to be very anticlimactic. Round-robin play it not a solution, either. While it is probably the fairest of all possible formats, it is also one of the least exciting to watch. It turns out, however, that Starcraft II fans can have their cake and eat it. Hereby I present you the solution. Let's begin with a regular double elimination bracket. Now, what if, instead of using the losers bracket to decide the second finalist, we used it one step earlier – to decide two semifinalists? Let's take a look at such a theoretical bracket for a 16-man tournament. These brackets look normal, the only oddity is that the winners bracket and losers bracket finalists do not get to play their matches. Instead, the magic ensues: Thoughts?

stenole Norway869 Posts July 09 2011 20:36 GMT #2 As a spectator, I prefer single-elimination, because it causes all games to be for higher stakes. So you end up caring more who wins. It also leads to a more compact format without having to broadcast all the less important loser bracket games. The format proposed here helps by making it more fair for players. And you get a grand final that doesn't feel like a formality. But semi-finals will still have that same feeling of having already been decided.

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