Please feel free to comment/criticize, but this system may work just as well or even better than ladder play. Suppose, after the power-matching rounds, you divide the seeded teams into groups of four. In a 36-team ICT, for example, the teams would then be divided into nine playoff brackets, and would play three games to determine final finish. However, 32 of the 36 teams would play one "up-down" round before the round-robin playoffs start. Teams 1 and 2 after power-matching automatically make the top bracket. Teams 35 and 36 automatically make the lowest bracket, so those four can go to lunch early. The rest of the teams would play a one-game playoff similar to English soccer playoffs for advancement to higher divisions. In other words, 3 would play 6, and 4 would play 5 for the right to compete in the top bracket. The losers become the top two seeds in the second bracket, and would join the winners of the 7-10 and 8-9 matches. Losers there would be in the third bracket with winners of 11-14 and 12-13, etc. At the end of the three round playoffs, the teams with the best records get the higher finishing spots. Ties go to the team with the higher seed entering the round robin. Top two teams still make the finals; if there happens to be a three-way tie at 2-1 the top two seeds make it, or if there is a 3-way at 1-2, the top seed gets the #2 position in the finals. With this system the top six teams still have a chance to win before the fourth-to-last (or "up-down") round, and the last round does not get excessive weight. -Adam
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