The structure is an important part of any successful tournament, an essential element that will keep the players and audience invested in the competition, through progress, twists and storytelling. And in this respect, having a choice when selecting the structure best suited to the situation is key. That is why we took on building a comprehensive tournament engine that handles a lot of different tournament structures, adjustable and complementary.
Our structures are split into two categories, the ones for Duel matches, and those designed for Free-for-all matches:
Structures for Duel matches
The Duel structures, built around matches involving two participants, are the most common, just like in regular sports. Either two players or two teams will face off, in an organized series of match, some with elimination involved, some without. There are four bracket-based structures, and three ranking-based ones available on Toornament:
- Single or Double-Elimination Brackets, Bracket Groups and Gauntlets
- Round-Robin Groups, Leagues and Swiss Systems
All structures come with advanced seeding options (ability to manually create matches in a league, or switch participants in a Double-Elimination loser’s bracket) and match format customization (to have your matches played in Best-of 1, semifinals in Best-of 3 and grand finals in Best-of 5 if need be).
Structures for Free-for-All matches
With the advent of the Battle Royale genre, we had to come up with solutions for organizers to smoothly organize their competitions, with tools built with this new way to compete in mind. Up to 100 players per game, matches spanning a dozen of games, results based on in-game rank and kills? All of this is covered in our FFA Structures, that come in 3 variants:
- Simple Stage, to create matches at will, for all purposes
- Single-Elimination FFA Bracket, built with the same logic as its Duel counterpart, but on another scale entirely
- FFA Bracket Groups, for when you have so many players you need to have them split into groups
These structures work conjointly with an advanced match format built to accommodate the Battle Royale features, among others.
So if you plan to organize an esports event, and are looking for the best structure, here is the Structure Guide you need to read to take your pick!