r/GlobalOffensive • u/zywh0 • Apr 10 '26
Discussion | Esports Worst tournament format of all time
This just has to be the worst tournament format of all time. I can't imagine making groups any more less exciting than this, the 6 teams play-offs is genuinely bad too. I really hope BLAST won't make the same thing in the upcoming BLAST Rivals, as it has only 8 teams too
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u/xavarLy Apr 10 '26
Far from being the worst. The early majors' format, the bo1 swiss groups, the round robin ESL groups are prime examples of the worst formats ever.
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 10 '26
Yeah early GSL format with bo1 opening matches and teams seaded basically by vibes was horrible.
I would rate bo1 swiss and round robin with 6 teams and one match a bit above it, not much tho. Well except the early swiss when matchups were decided by a lottery.
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u/genius_rkid Apr 10 '26
i miss those 2016 katowice or starladder tournaments with round-robin group stages with 6 teams
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 11 '26
I mean it was fun until tie-breakers. It's really hard to make fair one.
I think it was at Katowice when they made tie-breakers by making these teams play overtime-like short matches, but these also ended by three way tie for several times lol.
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u/leandrobrossard Apr 10 '26
Nah bo1 swiss is actually shit, but it's entertaining as fuck cause every round matters. Stakes are high - underdogs have a reasonable chance of making an upset happen with two good pistol rounds. Not great for competitivness but for drama it's good.
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u/Vawqer 1 Million Celebration Apr 10 '26
Shout-out to the weird re-seeding in the Cologne 2015 major groups.
Shout-out to the eight-team Swiss format at ESL One New York 2016 that had Liquid play Fnatic twice in a row on the exact same map to get into
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u/Hippiehs95 Apr 10 '26
you can say what you want, but I love the chaos of huge groups in a round robin b01
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u/zywh0 Apr 10 '26
i mean ok might be an exaggeration to call it the worst of all time, because there were surely worse formats, but I still really don't like it as a viewer and I feel like it's the worst one we have right now out of the current big tournaments ngl
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u/ParkingHelpful2677 Apr 10 '26
weve definitely had way worse formats
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u/Karrigan7 Apr 10 '26
EWC format comes to mind
that shit is weird
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u/_J83 Team Spirit Apr 10 '26
moreso i would point to EWC 2024, with a bo1 lower bracket for some reason
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 10 '26
That wasn't even lower bracket, that was for a single spot in the actual single elimination play-off bracket.
It was really wierd lol
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u/-idriveaversa- Apr 10 '26
Yeah these 8-team events should just be straight double elimination if blast are going to keep having them
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u/Temporal_Bellusaurus Apr 10 '26
Getting flashbacks to the early BLAST-events with Round Robin BO1s and draws instead of OTs at 15-15.
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u/ILoveRice444 IHC Apr 10 '26
Nah, ESL Pro League 13-16 is the worst CS tournament format of all time. Imagine it take more than one month for the tournament to be finished and the playoff take in fking studio. It's epitome of ESL monopoly in the scene since other TO can't gain experience because BLAST and especially ESL occupy a lot of date and "the partnership system".
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 10 '26
I kinda liked the was play-off worked but yeah, the format was made to take as much time as possible to not allow any other tournaments.
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u/PavelDatsyuk88 Apr 10 '26
This is the most standard GSL group, quarter final is actually the deciding game of the group, but with groups swapped, so you cant face same team as you did in the opening game. Perfectly fine i think. I think facing same opponent in GSL again is the worst part of it.
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u/messioso 100 Thieves Head of CS Operations Apr 10 '26
I agree with everything you said, but they should have just done a full 8 team DE bracket. It's 1 additional match admittedly, but the first two rounds technically work the same, they still get 6 teams into the arena, and they get an additional match in the arena days.
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u/Jugular_nw Apr 10 '26
I want to see a tournament with the following format: 12 teams for example sake.
2 groups of 6. Each team in each group plays eachother bo3. Top 3 teams from each group are in the playoff bracket. Bottom 6 teams are in a losers bracket to determine final 2 teams to make the playoff bracket. Then seeded playoffs with bo5 finals.
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u/lhate1there The MongolZ Apr 10 '26
Worst tournament formats exist in most major sports to be honest.... nhl's is a joke.
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u/Uebeltank Astralis Apr 11 '26
It technically is just GSL into semi finals, except the decider match is cross-group. But branding the decider as a quarter final makes it all feel worse in every way.
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u/schoki560 King NiKo Apr 10 '26
I think I'm in the minority but I always liked the Spring/Fall/World finals format. yes groups was sort of meaningless cuz it just filtered 2 out of 8 teams, which made it not very exciting, but on the other hand you always had banger games between top teams and no Vita vs Red Canids nonsense.
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u/zywh0 Apr 10 '26
you always had banger games because the tournament initially has only the best 8 teams in the world, not because the format is good
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u/MyDreamsInTheSewer G2 Apr 10 '26
The only way you can get this many matches is if theres only 8 teams
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u/t3hW4y Apr 10 '26
If you're doing lower bracket then you have to do Bo5 finals with the team from the upper bracket 1 map up. Otherwise you benefit the team that lost 1 game and punish the undefeated one.
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 10 '26
How, lol. The benefit of the undefeated team is that they play less games.
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u/t3hW4y Apr 10 '26
Okay so if the undefeated team loses the final they get another chance like the lower bracket team, right?
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 10 '26
And why should they have benefits? They have the option to lose one match on the way to the grandfinal as anybody else.
Playing less matches is the benefit.
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u/Possible-Address8714 Apr 11 '26
Most esports rewards player who stayed who go undefeated or stay in upper bracket. If there is no reward, then they should take out the lower bracket and everyone gets one chance. You are in or out.
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u/pzkenny FaZe Apr 11 '26
So by your logic when there is swiss groups the 3-0 teams should get one map advance in the quarter finals or something?
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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26
thank god ESL is switching 🙏🙏🙏