TOs in several regions these days get seeding wrong, and by that I don't just mean they're bad at identifying skills and regions; I mean they're making errors that are strictly wrong by the requirements of the tournament format. This is a very important issue that can make or break several aspects of an event, most notably the accuracy of the final placings and the tournament experience of attendees. Seeding incorrectly represents a disservice to the players and a disregard for the intended purpose of pools in the first place.
Here I'll discuss how to manage the transition from pools to bracket as a TO. People commonly think of seeding as "how do I separate players by skill" and "how do I separate players by region" and so on, but before going into that, we have to first discuss how to properly satisfy the constraints associated with a pools-to-bracket transition. If you don't get this part right, then it doesn't matter how well you separate players by skill and region -- your bracket would be wrong to begin with. So it's important to learn the fundamentals first.
When transitioning from pools to bracket, there are two golden constraints that should be met:
1. Each bracket section of X players contains a 1st seed vs (X)th seed matchup, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs (X-1)th seed matchup, etc. where X is the number of players who advanced from each pool.
2. Each bracket section of Y players contains exactly Y different players from Y different pools, where Y is the total number of pools in the round of pools immediately preceding bracket.
Confused? Don't be. It's simpler than it sounds. Here's an example tournament and its associated constraints:
Example Tournament
Entrants: 64 players
Pools: 8 pools of 8 players each
Cutoff: Top 4 players advance to a Top-32 Bracket
1. Each bracket section of 4 players contains a 1st seed vs 4th seed matchup, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs 3rd seed matchup.
Given the example above, the first-round should pit a 1st seed vs 4th seed, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs 3rd seed.
2. Each bracket section of 8 players contains exactly 8 different players from 8 different pools.
Given the example above, each bracket section of 8 players should contain exactly 8 different players from 8 different pools. (ex: P1-S1 represents Pool 1 Seed 1)
Every Smash tournament that transitions from pools to bracket should abide by these constraints -- otherwise, it is likely failing to properly seed based on pools results (constraint #1) or failing to minimize the probability of a pools rematch (constraint #2). Keep in mind a different turnout level demands a different pools structure, so be careful not to get tunnel vision regarding the specific numbers associated with these constraints.
In the past, tio tournament organizer has always taken care of both constraints for TOs automatically because it's a piece of software designed specifically for that purpose. If you fill out pools results within a tio event and use the "Advance players to new event" feature, the software does the work for you and the resulting bracket satisfies all constraints automatically. However, now that many regions are using Challonge to run tournaments, it has become increasingly important to truly learn the fundamentals behind the pools-to-bracket transition, and it has also become increasingly apparent when a TO fails to recognize this need and subsequently bombs the seeding of a bracket. Be careful not to fall into this trap. To me, using tio's automatic pools advance feature without understanding the fundamentals behind it is like using a calculator without understanding how to add or subtract.
As a TO, before you even think about how to separate players by skill and region, take the time to understand the constraints of a pools-to-bracket transition and make sure to incorporate them into your tournament.
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Juggleguy is a national tournament organizer, Melee It On Me team member, and Smashboards contributor. You can follow him on Twitter: @JuggleRob
Here I'll discuss how to manage the transition from pools to bracket as a TO. People commonly think of seeding as "how do I separate players by skill" and "how do I separate players by region" and so on, but before going into that, we have to first discuss how to properly satisfy the constraints associated with a pools-to-bracket transition. If you don't get this part right, then it doesn't matter how well you separate players by skill and region -- your bracket would be wrong to begin with. So it's important to learn the fundamentals first.
When transitioning from pools to bracket, there are two golden constraints that should be met:
1. Each bracket section of X players contains a 1st seed vs (X)th seed matchup, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs (X-1)th seed matchup, etc. where X is the number of players who advanced from each pool.
2. Each bracket section of Y players contains exactly Y different players from Y different pools, where Y is the total number of pools in the round of pools immediately preceding bracket.
Confused? Don't be. It's simpler than it sounds. Here's an example tournament and its associated constraints:
Example Tournament
Entrants: 64 players
Pools: 8 pools of 8 players each
Cutoff: Top 4 players advance to a Top-32 Bracket
1. Each bracket section of 4 players contains a 1st seed vs 4th seed matchup, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs 3rd seed matchup.
Given the example above, the first-round should pit a 1st seed vs 4th seed, whose winner plays the winner of a 2nd seed vs 3rd seed.
2. Each bracket section of 8 players contains exactly 8 different players from 8 different pools.
Given the example above, each bracket section of 8 players should contain exactly 8 different players from 8 different pools. (ex: P1-S1 represents Pool 1 Seed 1)
Every Smash tournament that transitions from pools to bracket should abide by these constraints -- otherwise, it is likely failing to properly seed based on pools results (constraint #1) or failing to minimize the probability of a pools rematch (constraint #2). Keep in mind a different turnout level demands a different pools structure, so be careful not to get tunnel vision regarding the specific numbers associated with these constraints.
In the past, tio tournament organizer has always taken care of both constraints for TOs automatically because it's a piece of software designed specifically for that purpose. If you fill out pools results within a tio event and use the "Advance players to new event" feature, the software does the work for you and the resulting bracket satisfies all constraints automatically. However, now that many regions are using Challonge to run tournaments, it has become increasingly important to truly learn the fundamentals behind the pools-to-bracket transition, and it has also become increasingly apparent when a TO fails to recognize this need and subsequently bombs the seeding of a bracket. Be careful not to fall into this trap. To me, using tio's automatic pools advance feature without understanding the fundamentals behind it is like using a calculator without understanding how to add or subtract.
As a TO, before you even think about how to separate players by skill and region, take the time to understand the constraints of a pools-to-bracket transition and make sure to incorporate them into your tournament.
--
Juggleguy is a national tournament organizer, Melee It On Me team member, and Smashboards contributor. You can follow him on Twitter: @JuggleRob
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