Into blocks: the snake
Players are ranked by dGrade — highest first, ties broken alphabetically — then dealt into the blocks in a snake (serpentine) order: the top tier goes one per block (Block A, B, C…), the next tier deals back in reverse (…C, B, A), and so on, zig-zagging down the list.
Worked example, 3 blocks: ranks 1→A, 2→B, 3→C, then 4→C, 5→B, 6→A, then 7→A, 8→B, 9→C… Each block gets one top-tier, one mid-tier and one lower-tier player.
The effect is balance: no block gets all the strong or all the weak players, and the top seeds are spread apart so they don't meet until the knockout.
Into knockouts: two styles
After block play, qualifiers are placed into the bracket in seed order — seed 1 top, the bracket spreading seeds so the strongest can only meet late. One choice per competition covers every bracket in it:
Ranking-tiered (balanced draw, by dGrade)
Players are tiered by block finishing position — all block winners first, then all runners-up, and so on — and ordered within each tier by dGrade. Block winners become seeds 1…N, runners-up N+1…2N. Two properties worth knowing:
- Balanced halves — finishing position drives the tier, rating breaks the tie, so each half of the draw is roughly equal in strength.
- No throw incentive — a player's seed depends only on how they finished and their rating, never on which opponent they'd draw. There's no way to engineer an easier path by losing a dead block game.
Block-protected (no same-block R1)
Block-mates are woven to opposite parts of the draw (A1, B1, A2, B2…) so two players from the same block can't meet again in the first round — you've already played them; round one gives you a fresh opponent. The trade: two block winners can meet earlier than a pure ranking draw would allow.
Which rating
Seeding uses each player's dGrade on the basis chosen per competition — their current dGrade, or their highest in the last 12 months (which uses the higher figure for a player whose grade has dropped during the year). Unranked players seed by their estimated dGrade.
When seeding goes stale
If ratings or the roster change after seeding — a withdrawal, a replacement, a Refresh dGrades — and the rank order shifts, the affected blocks are flagged so you can re-seed deliberately. Brackets have their own alarm: a ⚠️ when one is missing an eligible finisher. The tool never re-seeds behind your back.
Related
- Format — choosing the rating basis.
- Knockout setup — choosing the knockout style.