tldr: In double elimination brackets, the team from the winners bracket is punished for losing their 1 match in the grand finals. Should the grand final match reset after the team from losers bracket wins the first best of 3?
Recently, I've noticed that most double elimination brackets in CS events don't give any benefit to the team coming from the winners bracket once they reach the Grand Finals. Sometimes, events with a best of 5 grand final will award the first map to the winners bracket team by default.
However, especially in Qualifiers, the grand final is often just another best of 3. The team from the losers bracket can beat the team from winners by just winning one bo3. If the team from winners loses, then they're severely punished since they only lost one match and subsequently their first place finish; meanwhile, the team from losers scoops up first place.
Scrolling through recent big event qualifiers on Liquipedia, I found an example in the IEM Rio NA Closed Qualifier: Liquid lost one match in the semis but still beat Legacy in one best of 3 in the grand finals to qualify.
In a double elimination bracket, should the team from losers have to win twice? It seems to me like the team from winners is punished for taking their one loss in the grand finals instead of taking a loss earlier in the tournament.
1 Comment
No, such qualifiers should just be single elimination. Double elimination only needed when there are more than 1 slot, so that if 2 best teams face each other early, both still can qualify.