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iMatch Academy

Learn the system, one match at a time

How iMatch turns a list of entries into a finished tournament. Follow the lifecycle below — start with the draw archetypes.

The tournament lifecycle

  1. Setup
  2. Entry
  3. Seeding
  4. Draw
  5. Schedule
  6. Score
  7. Standings
  8. Rating

Draw archetypes

The Draw stage decides who plays whom. Pick an archetype to watch it unfold.

ClassificationEvery seed plays until its exact rank is decided — no byes, no eliminations.Single eliminationLose once and you're out; one champion emerges.Double eliminationA losers bracket gives a second life; lose twice and you're out.Round robinEveryone plays everyone once; a standings table decides the order.Groups → knockoutRound-robin groups filter to qualifiers, who meet in a knockout.Compass drawLose and keep playing — a main draw plus 7 consolation directions; 32 matches, every entrant placed.Swiss & MonradPaired by running standings each round; Monrad allows rematches, Simple swaps to avoid them.Two-stage round-robinGroup round-robins, then cross-seed into divisions by group finish.

Lifecycle subsystems

The stages on either side of the Draw — how seeds are set, how a match is scored, and how results feed back into ratings.

SetupA tournament is a container of events, and each event pins an event format by id + version — so the draw shape is fixed the moment you set it.EntryEntrants are Persons — and they don't need an account: a full account or a shadow person (phone/email, auto-claimed later). Check-in confirms the field.SeedingSort entrants by rating, then place the seeds so the strongest are kept apart — rating binding is the seeding truth.SchedulingPack a block's matches onto your tables under PRIORITY's hard constraints — a player is never in two matches at once, and a table hosts one match at a time.ScoringA game is first to 11 (win by 2); a match is best of five games. Games — not points — decide the match.StandingsRank a group, then break ties the way the system does — head-to-head, then games ratio, then points ratio.RatingResults feed Elo updates: the bigger the upset, the bigger the swing — and the new ratings become the next event's seeds.

Just here to watch?

Spectator guideNo account needed — watch the video on iMatch TV, read live scores and standings on a tournament's public page, and put it all on a TV.