Less Games And More At Stake In Valve's First Single Elimination Tournament
The Wang Theatre. Credit: citicenter
Fans and players benefit from a tournament format with more games, but with the Boston Major, Valve has introduced its first, single-elimination tournament. Previously, all TI tournaments and Majors were played in a double-elimination format, offering teams a second chance of redemption. For fans, it gave them more opportunities to view their favorite teams. For players, it gave them another chance to correct their mistakes and readjust to the evolving meta of LAN tournaments.
The Loser’s Advantage
In a single elimination format, CDEC would have won TI5, Digital Chaos would’ve had a first round exit at TI6, and Na’Vi would have been back to back TI champions at TI2, without having to face IG from the loser’s bracket. For Valve events, the winner bracket advantage is having to play less games in the tournament, which gives them more time to rest and prepare, while leapfrogging the team into the prize money (winning the first upper bracket round of TI6 guaranteed at least $936,000). But the advantage is also a double-edged sword, as teams who have to fight through the gauntlet of the loser’s bracket gain more experience and can possibly outgrow the team waiting for them in the winner’s bracket.
Evil Geniuses is a case example for a team who benefits from a double elimination bracket and a longer tournament format. They historically suffer from day one woes, but they also have the kind of players who are flexible enough to adapt and adjust to new strategies through the course of the tournament. During TI5, CDEC wiped the floor with EG in the upper bracket, making them look like every other team CDEC trounced all week. But EG came back through the loser’s bracket to face CDEC again. EG was better prepared and dissected CDEC’s strategy.
Then, most recently, there was team Digital Chaos during TI6, who miraculously made something out of nothing. They were a hastily formed team before the deadline, and by the tournament start they were a long shot to make top 8, even by their captain’s own expectations. But their team coalesced through the lower bracket of TI6 and they finished 2nd place, taking home a cool $3.4 million dollars that they would have never had, if they didn’t have more time.
Logistics And The Fan Experience
The lower, best-of-one filled bracket of TI3. Credit: teamliquid.net
A double elimination bracket generates more games and results in a longer tournament. It’s a second life for players, more entertainment for fans, and more publicity for Valve. Having more games is better for all parties, up to a point.
There can be a balance between the number of games in a series, as Valve has done by reducing best of ones in the loser’s bracket of TI. They could also extend the Grand Finals series to a best of seven, from a best of five, at the cost of player and viewer fatigue. But changing the format from double elimination to single elimination is a severe reduction in the number of games.
The change benefits the logistics of the tournament, namely when it comes to the availability of the venue. The Wang Theater is a small venue with a capacity of 3,600, on the scale of TI’s first events at Benaroya Hall. The new format shaves off two days, 6 to 4, from the usual length of Major tournaments. The event will still extend into the weekdays, but it may not make much of a difference for attendees already committed for the week.
The challenge with a single elimination format is whether the team that wins it all was the best team of the event. This is part subjective, from fans who felt that a team was upset by a pocket strategy or an unfortunate series of events. But it’s also something that can be calculated, using Elo and a Monte Carlo simulation. To put simply, a format with more games played leads to a more “fair” outcome, where the better team is more likely to win. Flip a coin enough, you get your expected outcome.
That’s not to say that single elimination is a format where the winner isn’t the best team. There is a higher chance for upsets, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Every sport would be a chore to watch if the winner was predetermined. Upsets create some of the most intriguing storylines in a tournament. It’s why Americans eagerly fill out their prediction brackets for March Madness basketball, which continues to be a TV rating behemoth, with its 68 team, single-elimination format.
There’s a risk that less games can undermine a tournament’s integrity, but a single elimination bracket isn’t the format that will do it. There will still be a matter of seeding, and in the end, sometimes a great team may just be paired against the one team that can beat them. But a team who can endure through these situations--through potential upsets, the risk of elimination on day one--will be the one that wins the Boston Major, and they'll deserve it.
Memesxd
2nd
3rd lul
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5th m'lord
4rd
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I would much prefer the double elimination format, for a more fair result, and for more games for me to watch and enjoy. This single elimination format just motivates team to pull out pocket cheese strats, and you can't really see the skill of teams like dc or eg who almost always underperform first few matches. I don't even think i'll watch the boston major because of this, for it has no value who wins, because it's just not reliable.
Volvo be like:
Hey, since these stupid buggers will gonna buy the battle pass and Major ticket no matter what format we do... why don't we just change to single elimination? This way, we can reduce the production cost from 6 days to 4 days which saves us about 33% of the cost!
seriously... wtf boston major... wtf valve...
Valve being so greedy. Even trying to cut the cost. They all want to gain but dont want to give some. Getting selfish, eh? FFS, give the fans something they deserve! It is the fans who feed you!
Volvo be like:
Hey, since these stupid buggers will gonna buy the battle pass and Major ticket no matter what format we do... why don't we just change to single elimination? This way, we can reduce the production cost from 6 days to 4 days which saves us about 33% of the cost!
This !
^ you got the point. Greedy valve.
To some extent I agree with what FeralImpulse just wrote, even if I will probably still watch it. For conversely to what OP says, it is not the case that 'There’s a risk that less games can undermine a tournament’s integrity, but a single elimination bracket isn’t the format that will do it'. As far as we know, it could certainly do it, because the lack of a loser bracket skews the importance of the tournament toward seeding (arbitrary) and opponent choice (arbitrary) for teams that do well in groupe stage (assuming this would allow them to pick their first opponents, as was the case in past Valve events).
"Hey, since these stupid buggers will gonna buy the battle pass and Major ticket no matter what format we do... why don't we just change to single elimination? This way, we can reduce the production cost from 6 days to 4 days which saves us about 33% of the cost!"
This exactly.
since when does john titor play dota 2 lul. Go back to your worldline, buddy!
This is poor from Valve, they should really consult the community before making a decision like this. I hope there is a community backlash so they learn from their mistake.
I don't want to see Dota just turned into a valve cash cow, they need to look after the game as they have in the past.
hey
I think this is probably a venue problem. I doubt such a "small" theater is going to want to hold Dota for so long. Also tickets are probably going to be very expensive and in order to avoid paying tons of money to see your favorite team twice they need to shorten the tournament. It's unfortunate and I don't really think single elimination fits Dota, but it appears we are going to have to live with it.
Don't like it and hope it's a once-off, not the start of the new major meta......................[otherwise I'll commence with the volvo reddit flaming]
Let them do what they like.
They gave me dota 2.
For free.
Don't whine.
Enjoy this great free game. And be grateful for what you get.
Fewer games.
I like the change up. sounds like a good change of pace
im fine wiht this change. first imo its good to have a difference between majors and TI beside prizepool. i got less hyped for TI this year because i already watched 3 big Dota tournaments.
also it can make the games really exciting. in double elimination you know that you will get another chance in the lower bracket but in single elimination you either win or you are out.
I'm actually not that annoyed by it, as long as it's a one-off thing.
this is absurd. how cheap can valve get?
Stannis: "Fewer".
Is the Frankfurt Major still going to happen this year or is this taking its place?
nice nice nice nice найс
30th.
Fewer games, not less games please.
Fewer "things", less "stuff" etc etc etc
I like the article! Only part that I think is wrong "Digital Chaos would’ve had a first round exit at TI6,", untrue, since with single elim they should be seeded into Playoffs against their opposite on the bracket. In double elim, top 4's play against each other, and bottom 4's play against each other. DC got 2nd in their group and had to play against the 3rd best of other group(which was WINGS).
If it's single elim, DC would have likely chosen to play against the 7th place team in opposite group. They would have still arguably lost before getting 2nd(lost Semi finals upper bracket vs WINGS), but it wouldn't have been round 1.
The only thing which ever disturbed me is that lowerbracket team needed to play two important series in the final day withowt a much of a rest... Anyway, will be interesting to see.
I really want to hope that this change was prompted by problems around the venue, rather than greed, because that would be a bad turn Volvo takes. As a fan, I would always want to watch more games and if maths says it's more fairer, then it is definitely the better choice to have a lower bracket.
Main flaw double elimination has nowadays is that team (name it A) that came from upper bracket has no advantage in grand final. It should be kinda bo4, starting with 1-0 score in favor of team A.
first i n m yhead xd
I don't see why many people disagree with this, single elimination is way better than double elimination.
Finally there's no greed on this, the fuck, you can't buy points anymore for the Compendium. Valve going GOAT mode.
"I don't see why many people disagree with this, single elimination is way better than double elimination."
Nah, double elimination is always better than single elimination due to larger sample size; therefore, fairer matches. Actually the best format is round-robin since every teams get to fight each other but it eliminates the "wow" factor because it doesn't have grand final and stuff. That's why it's best to combine both round-robin and double elimination.
ok NAVI ROX DONDO BOSS