Battle bracket setup

This guide walks competition organisers through running battle rounds (1‑vs‑1 elimination matches and trios) where competitors are seeded based on the results of a prior qualifying round. It assumes you have administrator role or higher on the competition.

When a federation has configured battle class rules, the Round Guide generates the entire skeleton (placing round, all battle layers, B‑final) automatically for any count. When class rules are not configured, you build the skeleton by hand. Either way, the seeding steps below are the same.

Federation admins: see Battle class rules for how to configure class rules so the skeleton is generated automatically.

Overview

Battle rounds work in two parts:

Round skeleton — created once, before the battle starts. A parent battle round contains child rounds, one per match (final, B‑final, semis, quarters, trios).
Seeding — done after the previous round has been judged and confirmed. The Assign to match button seeds the bracket automatically in most cases.

Bronze / B‑final rounds have no special status in the system — they are normal child rounds that you populate with the losers of the prior round. When class rules set up round_others_id, the Assign teams button routes losers there automatically; otherwise, you place them by hand.

The two tools you’ll use

Assign to match — a button on a battle round. Reads placements from a source round (the round you pick) and automatically pairs competitors using the standard tournament fold (seed 1 vs bottom, seed 2 vs second-to-last, …). Works for any count, including the 7-competitor bye.
Per‑team match selector — on the round‑results screen, each team has a dropdown for Match. Use this to override seeding, handle trios, and place B‑final competitors.

Glossary

Seed N — the competitor that placed Nth in the prior (qualifying) round.
Quarter / Semi / Final — successive layers of a knockout bracket.
B‑final / Bronze — the match between the two semifinal losers, dancing for 3rd place. By the rules, the B‑final is danced before the final.
Trio — a single match among three competitors where the judge selects who advances.
Crosses — a trio judged using select (cross) judging rather than 1v1 match judging.

Two‑step pattern for every battle round

Set up the round skeleton in the round editor before the battle starts. Create the parent battle round and the child rounds (one per match) with the right Number of competitors and Number advancing.
Seed teams after each judging layer is closed and confirmed: click Assign to match on the round you want to seed and pick the source round.

That covers every case except the B‑final, which always requires a manual step (assign the two losers) unless round_others_id is pre-configured on the semifinal round.

By bracket size

2 competitors — direct final

Skeleton. A single Final child, 2 competitors.

Seeding. Run Assign to match on the parent, sourcing the qualifying round. Both competitors go into the Final automatically.

Bronze. None.

3 competitors — trio semifinal

Skeleton.

1 Trio Semifinal child — 3 competitors, 2 advancing
1 Final child — 2 competitors

No bronze child. The competitor who does not advance from the trio is automatically 3rd.

Seeding the trio. Place all three competitors into the Trio Semifinal via the Match dropdown, or run Assign to match sourcing the qualifying round.

After the trio is judged. Run Assign to match on the parent round, sourcing the trio round. The two advancing competitors are moved into the Final automatically.

4 competitors — 1v4, 2v3 with B‑final

Skeleton.

2 Semifinal children — 2 competitors each, 1 advancing
1 B‑Final child
1 Final child

Seeding the semis. Run Assign to match on the parent round, sourcing the qualifying round. Produces 1v4 and 2v3 automatically.

After the semis are judged.

Final. Run Assign to match on the parent, sourcing the semi round. The two winners are seeded automatically.
B‑Final. If round_others_id is configured, the Assign teams button on the semi round places the losers automatically. Otherwise, use the Match dropdown to assign the two losers by hand.

5 competitors — 5th eliminated, then 4‑bracket

Skeleton. Same as the 4‑competitor case.

Step before seeding. Advance only the top four seeds from the qualifying round. Seed 5 stays out and is locked at 5th in the standings.

From here on, follow the 4‑competitor flow.

6 competitors — two trios (crosses) + B‑Final + Final

This size uses crosses (select) judging for the trios rather than 1v1 match judging.

Skeleton.

2 Trio children — 3 competitors each (select judging), 1 advancing, 1 to B‑Final
1 B‑Final child
1 Final child

Seeding the trios. Run Assign to match on the parent, sourcing the qualifying round. The standard fold produces:

Trio A: seed 1, seed 6, seed 5
Trio B: seed 2, seed 3, seed 4

If the round guide generated the skeleton from class rules, this seeding follows automatically. Otherwise, place each competitor in the right trio via the Match dropdown.

After the trios are judged.

Final. Run Assign to match sourcing the trio parent. The winner from each trio advances.
B‑Final. Assign the runner‑up from each trio by hand via the Match dropdown (or automatically if round_others_id is set on the trio round).

7 competitors — one bye + adjusted bracket

Skeleton.

4 Quarterfinal children (one will hold only seed 1 — the bye)
2 Semifinal children
1 B‑Final child
1 Final child

Seeding the quarters. Run Assign to match on the parent round, sourcing the qualifying round. The bracket generator produces:

Battle	Competitors
Quarter 1	Seed 1 (bye — no opponent)
Quarter 2	Seed 4 vs Seed 5
Quarter 3	Seed 2 vs Seed 7
Quarter 4	Seed 3 vs Seed 6

Seed 1 is automatically placed alone in their battle and advances without competing.

After the quarters are judged. Run Assign to match on the semifinal round, sourcing the quarter round. Produces:

Semi A: Seed 1 vs Winner(4‑5)
Semi B: Winner(2‑7) vs Winner(3‑6)

After the semis are judged.

Final. Run Assign to match sourcing the semi round. Automatic.
B‑Final. Assign the two semi losers by hand.

8 competitors — standard 8‑bracket with B‑final

Skeleton.

4 Quarterfinal children
2 Semifinal children
1 B‑Final child
1 Final child

Seed the quarters. Run Assign to match sourcing the qualifying round. Produces 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5 automatically.

After the quarters. Run Assign to match on the semi round sourcing the quarter round. Produces W(1‑8) vs W(4‑5) and W(2‑7) vs W(3‑6).

After the semis.

Final. Run Assign to match sourcing the semi round. Automatic.
B‑Final. Assign the two semi losers by hand (or automatically if round_others_id is configured on the semi).

9 or more competitors — standard bracket

Skeleton. Add one more qualifying or placing layer above the quarters. The bracket below (quarters → semis → B‑Final → Final) stays the same.

Seeding flow. Run Assign to match at each layer in turn:

Qualifying / Placing result → top N advance to the quarter parent.
Run Assign to match on the quarter parent, sourcing the placing round.
After each layer, run Assign to match on the next parent sourcing the previous one.
B‑Final is always manual unless round_others_id is set.

For 9–20 competitors, typically advance the top 8 to quarters (1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5).

For 21 or more, a pre-qualifying round filters down to 16 or 8 before the standard bracket begins.

Quick reference

Size	Quarter seeding	Semi seeding	Final seeding	B‑Final
2	—	—	automatic	—
3	—	manual / auto	automatic from trio	none
4	—	automatic (1v4, 2v3)	automatic	manual or auto
5	—	automatic (top 4 only)	automatic	manual or auto
6	—	automatic (fold) or manual	automatic from trios	manual or auto
7	automatic (seed 1 bye)	automatic (collapse)	automatic	manual
8	automatic (1v8 … 4v5)	automatic	automatic	manual or auto
9+	automatic at every layer	automatic	automatic	manual or auto

“auto” = automatic when round_others_id is configured on the semifinal by the federation admin.

Operator checklist

For every battle round:

Confirm the round skeleton exists (parent round + all child rounds). If the class uses the Round Guide, it is generated automatically; otherwise, build it by hand.
After the prior round is closed and confirmed, run Assign to match on the next parent round, sourcing the previous round.
For the B‑Final: if not routed automatically, go to the round‑results screen and set each loser’s Match dropdown to the B‑Final child.
Repeat for every layer until the Final and B‑Final are complete.

Known limitations

B‑Final routing is manual unless the federation has configured round_others_id on the semifinal round. This is the most common source of bracket errors — double-check before closing the semi.
Trio seeding for size 6 — the standard fold places seeds (1, 6, 5) in Trio A and (2, 3, 4) in Trio B, which matches most federation rules. If your federation uses a different grouping, override it via the Match dropdown.
Size‑5 elimination — only the top four seeds enter the bracket; seed 5 must be manually confirmed as 5th place in the standings.