• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 14:37
CET 19:37
KST 03:37
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy7ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool48Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
Potential Updates Coming to the SC2 CN Server What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2) Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open RSL Season 4 announced for March-April WardiTV Team League Season 10 KSL Week 87
Strategy
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Frigid Storage Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death
Brood War
General
mca64Launcher - New Version with StarCraft: Remast RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site How much money terran looses from gas steal? ASL21 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group C [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro24 Group B 2026 Changsha Offline Cup
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1475 users

Single elimination or double elimination? - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
AndAgain
Profile Joined November 2010
United States2621 Posts
July 09 2011 09:16 GMT
#41
On July 09 2011 18:10 Talin wrote:
Ugh, the results of the poll are so discouraging.

I really dislike any form of double elimination in Starcraft. Single elimination tournaments are pretty much a tradition, and all Korean competitions are single elimination. If you lose a BO5, there's no reason at all for you to stay in the tournament in any way.



The thing that makes double elimination superior is that it reduces the luck of the draw factor. In single elim, the 2nd best player can lose to the best player in the first round. With double elim, there's still a chance for that to be the final (as it should properly be.)
All your teeth should fall out and hair should grow in their place!
RaiKageRyu
Profile Joined August 2009
Canada4773 Posts
July 09 2011 09:19 GMT
#42
I'm really surprised people actually like double elimination. It's kinda good for players but messy for spectators. I actually find shorter tournaments better for double elimination. With a larger player pool, you will have so many games in the losers, it's not practical to see them all and it's harder to schedule it. Winner and losers still need to played in parallel too. Right now your getting every game shown on the main stage one by one. This cannot happen with double elim system. Single-elim gives the clearest concise picture of how a tournament can go down.

With a single elimination, I can easily piece together who plays who by just seeing the bracket once. I can't do that with dbl elim without a bracket check online. It also allows a spectator to imagine how a tournament plays out. Remember bracket contests? You never see those with double elim.

Korean ESPORTS has used single-elim for a decade. Almost every major sport uses single-elim and it's not just cause of time restraints and for the casual audience that it's used. I'll tell you why:

LESS is MORE

People figured out years ago single-elim games create better games. Yes, that's right better games. There's a reason why season games and group stages don't get as many views as when playoffs start: Player's aren't really in danger yet. That's the beauty of single-elim: You either Win or you're finished.

Single-elim also has greater drama, as the reason why they allow games to start off with smaller sets start of the tournament is not just cause of time restraints but to allow for upsets. That's right UPSETS. Whether most people realize this or not, it is upsets that help tournaments become memorable. (e.g. MC vs ThorZain - TSL3, Huk vs July, DHS2011) This is incentive for viewers to tune in to early stages of a tournament. It balances the top end of a tournament that has greater prizes on the line with the harder fight for survival at the bottom end of a tournament. Keeps you watching start to finish.

Double-elims do rank players better in order from 1st to X, but single-elims are just that much more exciting. Every stage of the tournament is that much more important. Does it suck Ret loss 2-0 right off the bat against Puma? Yea it does. But, it's also part of the many story-lines that will make up this tournament due to this format. It turned the start of the tournament into something must see and gives a weight of importance to every match.

This is why I am pro for single-elimination. It gives great benefits to organizers and unbeknownst to most viewers, it them gives the most epic showing.
Someone call down the Thunder?
St3MoR
Profile Joined November 2002
Spain3256 Posts
July 09 2011 09:21 GMT
#43
single elimination, less games but being bo3 / bo5 already is a fair advantage to solid players, being single you have:

- tradition
- potential royal roaders and lucky runs
- every game is epic, you lose, you go home
- it won't always be won by the best player, but the player who wins always deserves it, variety.

so yes, less games but probably the same amount of dramah
Prophet in TL of the Makoto0124 ways
Torumfroll
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
290 Posts
July 09 2011 09:33 GMT
#44
I usually favor the single elimination format over double. However, I think the NASL grand finals should have been double elimination. Flying across the globe for a single bo3, only to get eliminated is just awful in my eyes. They have scheduled the tournament over 3 days, I'm sure they could have squeezed in a losers bracket somewhere there. They don't even have to broadcast the games, just let them play on the side or something.
Talin
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Montenegro10532 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-09 10:30:45
July 09 2011 10:25 GMT
#45
On July 09 2011 18:16 AndAgain wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 09 2011 18:10 Talin wrote:
Ugh, the results of the poll are so discouraging.

I really dislike any form of double elimination in Starcraft. Single elimination tournaments are pretty much a tradition, and all Korean competitions are single elimination. If you lose a BO5, there's no reason at all for you to stay in the tournament in any way.



The thing that makes double elimination superior is that it reduces the luck of the draw factor. In single elim, the 2nd best player can lose to the best player in the first round. With double elim, there's still a chance for that to be the final (as it should properly be.)


I do see your point, and I can't really argue that it's wrong (because it isn't). Honestly I can't really articulate why I don't have a problem with that, hopefully someone else will do it better, but I'm going to try anyway.

I think it's conceptually wrong to get into the moot area of considering that there are players who are among the best, but they got unlucky with draw, they got a hard opponent or a hard matchup or hard maps, so they need a second chance or a third chance or a fourth chance to get less unlucky, but even then he might get unlucky again or he might get extremely lucky, and might win having to only play "easy" opponents... you can get stuck forever in that line of thought.

Elimination tournaments are essentially about players eliminating one another until there is only one player remaining, which means that one player can always eliminate another who is better than some player from the other side of the bracket. You can't really change that, so why even try?

The thing is that elimination tournaments are not designed to give a clear and accurate ranking of best players. The tournament isn't meant to determine the "best player", or second best, or third best. The tournament determines the tournament winner, and how successful the player was in the tournament. There's always a big difference between a good player and a successful player. Bisu is pretty fucking good at BW, but his individual league performance is now a running joke in the community. MC is extremely successful at SC2 - but is he actually that good skillwise? We can have opinions one way or the other.
Jibba
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States22883 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-09 10:32:18
July 09 2011 10:29 GMT
#46
Keep in mind we would've (potentially) gotten to see more games yesterday if NASL had used a double elimination format. Not every game needs to be a stage game, so you set up 2/4 stations backstage and have the losers bracket play out there. Run those games in the downtime between Winner's bracket games.
ModeratorNow I'm distant, dark in this anthrobeat
Antipathy
Profile Joined June 2008
United States222 Posts
July 09 2011 10:51 GMT
#47
As a competitor, I really like formats that lend themselves to having the results as a good representation of skill differentiation for that event. Thus, I really like round robin seeding and double elimination brackets.

As a spectator, single elimination brackets are much easier and more fun to follow. Upsets and drama are fun to see.
"All give some, some give all"
Yaotzin
Profile Joined August 2010
South Africa4280 Posts
July 09 2011 11:06 GMT
#48
Single elim because double elim games tend to be devoid of excitement, and it makes the finals have a dumb format. There's a reason no serious sports use double elim!
Sandermatt
Profile Joined December 2010
Switzerland1365 Posts
July 09 2011 11:12 GMT
#49
It would be cool to have tripple elimination tournaments.
ThaSlayer
Profile Joined March 2011
707 Posts
July 09 2011 11:14 GMT
#50
Single elimination is fine. But what NASL needed to do was to make the R8 a BO5. Imagine pros flying all over just to get knocked out in a BO3
Woony
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Germany6657 Posts
July 09 2011 11:21 GMT
#51
IMO single elimination for leagues like GSL and double elimination for international events like NASL. Flying people across the planet to have them loose in 15 minutes is kinda stupid.
n0ise
Profile Joined April 2010
3452 Posts
July 09 2011 11:26 GMT
#52
As I see it, double-elimination is more likely to have the better player higher ranked at the end of the day.

Only issue being time-constraints.
arterian
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada1157 Posts
July 09 2011 11:26 GMT
#53
On July 09 2011 20:21 Woony wrote:
IMO single elimination for leagues like GSL and double elimination for international events like NASL. Flying people across the planet to have them loose in 15 minutes is kinda stupid.


I agree with this.
http://www.twitch.tv/arterian
hmc
Profile Joined July 2011
495 Posts
July 09 2011 11:32 GMT
#54
Definitely double elimination for leagues like NASL. It pains me to see Ret go 8-1 in the regular season, then sent out to CA from Europe just to lose 2 games in 15 minutes and not get the chance to fight in a losers bracket.
lololol
Profile Joined February 2006
5198 Posts
July 09 2011 11:32 GMT
#55
Double elimination is good for earlier rounds, group play and such, but it's terrible for finals.
I'll call Nada.
PeZuY
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
935 Posts
July 09 2011 11:40 GMT
#56
Double Elimination since it gives more games + varieties. Every way much more entertaining than single elimination.
oursblanc
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1450 Posts
July 09 2011 11:43 GMT
#57
Does anyone actually prefer BO3 single elimination to double elimination?
An oasis of horror in a desert of boredom!
Crovea
Profile Joined July 2010
Denmark100 Posts
July 09 2011 11:48 GMT
#58
On July 09 2011 18:19 RaiKageRyu wrote:
I'm really surprised people actually like double elimination. It's kinda good for players but messy for spectators. I actually find shorter tournaments better for double elimination. With a larger player pool, you will have so many games in the losers, it's not practical to see them all and it's harder to schedule it. Winner and losers still need to played in parallel too. Right now your getting every game shown on the main stage one by one. This cannot happen with double elim system. Single-elim gives the clearest concise picture of how a tournament can go down.

With a single elimination, I can easily piece together who plays who by just seeing the bracket once. I can't do that with dbl elim without a bracket check online. It also allows a spectator to imagine how a tournament plays out. Remember bracket contests? You never see those with double elim.

Korean ESPORTS has used single-elim for a decade. Almost every major sport uses single-elim and it's not just cause of time restraints and for the casual audience that it's used. I'll tell you why:

LESS is MORE

People figured out years ago single-elim games create better games. Yes, that's right better games. There's a reason why season games and group stages don't get as many views as when playoffs start: Player's aren't really in danger yet. That's the beauty of single-elim: You either Win or you're finished.

Single-elim also has greater drama, as the reason why they allow games to start off with smaller sets start of the tournament is not just cause of time restraints but to allow for upsets. That's right UPSETS. Whether most people realize this or not, it is upsets that help tournaments become memorable. (e.g. MC vs ThorZain - TSL3, Huk vs July, DHS2011) This is incentive for viewers to tune in to early stages of a tournament. It balances the top end of a tournament that has greater prizes on the line with the harder fight for survival at the bottom end of a tournament. Keeps you watching start to finish.

Double-elims do rank players better in order from 1st to X, but single-elims are just that much more exciting. Every stage of the tournament is that much more important. Does it suck Ret loss 2-0 right off the bat against Puma? Yea it does. But, it's also part of the many story-lines that will make up this tournament due to this format. It turned the start of the tournament into something must see and gives a weight of importance to every match.

This is why I am pro for single-elimination. It gives great benefits to organizers and unbeknownst to most viewers, it them gives the most epic showing.



As a spectator, i'd rather see a longer tournament, than seeing my favorite players lose a bo3 and see him go home without a second chance.
ROOT4ROOT
Chrs
Profile Joined June 2011
United Kingdom4 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-09 12:57:59
July 09 2011 12:57 GMT
#59
Double elimination is the format that - on average - gives a result that's closer to the ranking of "skill" of the players because there are more games and therefore anomalous results are less likely to adversely effect the outcome. Additionally, double elimination is better for some players, as it means that the drawing of early-round brackets doesn't stop someone's tournament dead when they play a considerably better player in the early rounds, leaving them with a disappointing low-ranking place when they could have done much. Seeding is used sometimes so it can be counteracted.

However, pure "fairness" is not the only thing one would take into account when choosing a format. Double elimination takes more time and requires more games to be played which makes it unsuitable for a short event - although more games is arguably a good thing for a few reasons (More games to watch! More ad revenue, etc.) it doesn't always suit a tournament. More games means that casters/referees must do more work (and maybe be paid more) and it takes more time.
As also mentioned, the idea that "Loser goes out" does add more tension to each game and makes every game count, so for spectator's it has some good points.

Overall, I'm in favour of double elimination when appropriate (and that tends to be when there's a lot of money or a big title on the line) but there are times when single should probably be used (Smaller tournaments in a restricted amount of time). A tournament is - afterall - supposed to hand out the first place prize to the best player and any method that makes this more likely is good in my eyes (Assuming there aren't practical issues stopping its implementation).

I'm not a fan of extended series; they seem to give a further advantage to someone who's probably (In that they won the first round) better anyway.
bokchoi
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Korea (South)9498 Posts
July 09 2011 13:02 GMT
#60
Double elimination is generally, the better format. Makes it so the best player will usually win. However, a lot of tournaments use single elimination, probably due to time constraints? Double elimination is a lot more taxing on the players, staff, etc. I mean it definitely sucks to fly all the way from wherever to the US, lose 2 games and be out of the tournament, but due to the streaming schedule and what not. It would be impossible for the NASL to have done double elimination with a 3-day finals. TBH, the 3-day finals seems a bit long already...
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 5h 23m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
elazer 228
TKL 205
UpATreeSC 177
ProTech84
JuggernautJason82
OGKoka 74
MindelVK 50
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 20439
Calm 4021
Mini 856
EffOrt 667
Shuttle 298
ggaemo 251
firebathero 146
actioN 107
Mind 70
Mong 48
[ Show more ]
Aegong 38
IntoTheRainbow 12
Bale 10
ivOry 7
Dota 2
Gorgc8958
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps2742
Other Games
Grubby2739
FrodaN1143
ceh9609
Beastyqt449
DeMusliM273
KnowMe123
QueenE96
C9.Mang048
Rex21
ZombieGrub11
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream27
StarCraft 2
ComeBackTV 14
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 20
• Reevou 2
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix5
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV727
• lizZardDota269
League of Legends
• Nemesis2659
• TFBlade742
Other Games
• imaqtpie862
• Shiphtur161
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
5h 23m
KCM Race Survival
14h 23m
The PondCast
15h 23m
WardiTV Team League
17h 23m
OSC
17h 23m
Replay Cast
1d 5h
WardiTV Team League
1d 17h
RSL Revival
2 days
Cure vs Zoun
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Team League
2 days
Platinum Heroes Events
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
3 days
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Light vs Calm
Royal vs Mind
Wardi Open
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
OSC
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Rush vs PianO
Flash vs Speed
Replay Cast
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
BeSt vs Leta
Queen vs Jaedong
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-24
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

2026 Changsha Offline CUP
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.