No Loser's Bracket

Danskheart·Aug 6, 2014·2 votes·1,805 views

So... I just read through the World Championship 2014 setup and was astonished when I found out that....

There is no Loser's Bracket.

Why? I thought after the let-down that was last year's World Championship, and the incredible success story that has been the last two DotA 2 Internationals, they would have definitely included a loser's bracket this time.

To give people an idea of what i'm getting at - SKT1 had a 3 game stomp against Royal last year. It was the most anti-climactic thing in eSports history. Had there been a losers bracket, they would most likely have gone up against Najin Blacksword again; which, judging by their 1st best of 5 (it ended 3-2), would have been a MUCH better Final Series. During the International 3, it allowed the epic finale between Na'Vi and Alliance.

Riot, I implore you - Please. For the sake of your viewers and fans, don't repeat last year. Include a Loser's Bracket.....

And increase the number of bans.

5 Comments

Angry MonsterAug 6, 20142 votes

it is a best of 5s after the group stages. Loser brackets would double the length of the tourney.

When it is a best of 3 loser brackets are acceptable due to the rounds not taking 6 hours each.

It is already a month of games. Are you sure you need a 2 month tournament?

RhlaxAug 6, 20141 votes

Riot, I implore you - Please. For the sake of your viewers and fans, don't repeat last year. Include a Loser's Bracket.....

I have watched LOL eSport since Since 2 WC. I spectate a lot of sports. I'm just not sure if a loser's bracket is really needed... but who knows I might be a minority here.

Wretched KittyAug 10, 20142 votes

Is there a loser's bracket in baseball, basketball, football...even soccer (or football to every nation that isn't in North America)? The answer is no. Sometimes you get a 4-0 World Series, it sucks, i know, but that tends to happen from time to time. The level of competition will rise to the occasion, I have no doubt.

The only time you need a loser's bracket would be if there is an element of randomness to the game, case in point - Magic: The Gathering. You have to shuffle your deck of a minimum of 60 cards, of which you can have no more than 4 copies of a single card. Sometimes you just have a really crap starting hand and then you have a crap mulligan and another, and another. Its the element of randomness that comes with a deck of cards.

Skill based sports should not include loser's brackets imho, but hey, what do I know? ;)

RhlaxAug 16, 20141 votes

Good points. I agree with everything you said. (kind of a late reply)

Sometimes you have boring finals, but hey shit happens... not only that, the boring finals make the exciting finals even more special... had there being a losers' bracket last year and suppose Najin blacksword faced SKT in the final.. that would be unfair.. because SKT had already beat them already..