Introducing the Bracket System for the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational

On 6—7 August, the best European StarCraft II and World of Warcraft players will compete in Warsaw, Poland at the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational. But before talking about the prizes and the participants, let’s have a look at the bracket system.

In order to get to the finals and fight for fame and prizes, the competitors in both the StarCraft II and World of Warcraft arena tournaments will have to go through a double-elimination bracket.

The double-elimination bracket system is a little more complex than the single-elimination one, but the advantage is that it gives everyone a second chance. A player would need to lose two games to go out of the competition entirely, and could still win the tournament even if he loses his first game.

The double-elimination tournament is divided into two brackets: a Championship Bracket (upper bracket or winner’s bracket) and a Consolation Bracket (also known as the lower bracket or loser’s bracket). These two brackets can be seen as single-elimination brackets; however if a player loses a game in the Championship Bracket he will be moved to the Consolation Bracket instead of going out of the tournament.

Here is how it works:

• Everyone goes into the Championship Bracket at first. At the end first round, the winners advance to the next stage of the Championship Bracket. The losers are moved to the Consolation Bracket.
  
• The first losers will have to face each other, and the winners will advance to the next stage of the Consolation Bracket. The losers go out of the tournament.
  
• The next stage of the Consolation Bracket is conducted between the winners of the first stage of the Consolation Bracket and the losers of the second stage of the Championship Bracket.
  
• Every time a player or team advances in the Consolation Bracket, they will have to face the loser of the previous stage of the Championship Bracket.
  

Here is an example of a double-elimination tournament during the European Warcraft Invitational 2010:

In the forthcoming 2011 European Battle.net Invitational, the StarCraft II players will have to get through a best-of-three match in order to advance to the next stage of the bracket, while the World of Warcraft teams will have to win a best-of-five match, so get ready for lots of action!

Check our blog for more information about the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational, and don’t forget the Facebook event page!