Single Elimination

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	Single Elimination

The single elimination tournament structure removes players from an event after their first match loss. You'll see single elimination used in two places on Magic Online. Small events (typically less than sixteen players) use single elimination rather than Swiss draw. Larger events (seventeen or more players) will use a Swiss structure that often cuts to a single-elimination top-8 playoff.

In small events, players are randomly paired for the first round. Each following round, the remaining players are paired by their rankings after the first round. The player with the most points is paired with the player with the fewest points, the player with the second most against the player with the second fewest, and so on.

When a large event cuts to a single-elimination top-8 playoff, players are paired according to the final standing after Swiss rounds are complete. The highest qualified player is pitted against the lowest qualifying competitor for the quarterfinal round. The ladder for the single-elimination seeding looks like this:

If a round ends before a winner is determined, the following methods are used to resolve the situation:

Players are between games when the round ends, and one player has more game points than the other:
The player with the most game points wins the match and advances to the next round.

Players are between games when the round ends, and both players have identical game points:
Competitors play an additional game, with the winner advancing to the next round.

Players are involved in a game when the round ends:
Competitors finish the game they are playing when the round ends. At the end of that game, the player with the most game points wins the match and advances to the next round. If both players come out of that game with equal game points, the competitors play additional games until a winner can be determined based on game points.

Top-8 Booster or Rochester Draft
If the top 8 players from Swiss rounds are playing off in a Booster or Rochester Draft, they'll be seated at the draft table in the following order: 1st, 6th, 4th, 2nd, 8th, 3rd, 5th, 7th.

In Rochester Draft, the first seeded player chooses which position is to be the first active player in the draft.