We are pleased - very, very pleased - to release the tournament structure for the Brawl of America.

So.  You already know that the Brawl of America is bringing the ten top teams from the WFTDA North Central region to Saint Paul to play for three berths at Nationals.  The games will go as follows:

Game 1: Seed 9 v. Seed 8
Game 2: Seed 7 v. Seed 10
Game 3: Seed 1 v. Seed 6 (quarter-final)
Game 4: Seed 2 v. Winner Game 2 (quarter-final)
Game 5: Seed 5 v. Seed 4 (quarter-final)
Game 6: Seed 3 v. Winner Game 1 (quarter-final)

Game 7: Loser Game 3 v. Loser Game 1
Game 8: Loser Game 5 v. Loser Game 2
Game 9: Loser Game 7 v. Loser Game 8 (determines 9th/10th place)
Game 10: Winner Game 3 v. Winner Game 5 (semi-final)
Game 11: Winner Game 6 v. Winner Game 4 (semi-final)

Game 12: Loser Game 4 v. Loser Game 6 (determines 7th/8th place)
Game 13: Winner Game 7 v. Winner Game 8 (determines 5th/6th place)
Game 14: Loser Game 10 v. Loser Game 11 (3rd/4th place - winner goes to Philadelphia)
Game 15: Winner Game 10 v. Winner Game 11 (Championship - both teams go to Philadelphia)

So for those who don’t want to dig through all of that, here is what you should know:
- Seeds seven and ten will play each other for a spot in the quarter-finals.
- Seeds eight and nine will play each other for a spot in the quarter-finals.
- Winners of the quarter-finals are the only teams that have a chance to advance to Nationals.
- If a team loses a semi-final, the team will play in the 3rd-place bout. 
- This year, the winner of the 3rd-place bout wins a berth at Nationals - THE LOSER DOES NOT.
- Both teams in the Championship bout will go to Nationals.

Oh, you wanted to know who’s playing when?  And the actual schedule?  Keep watching this space.  There’s more to come, and soon.

In the meantime, enjoy an earlier effort to release the structure to you:

The autumn descends
Upon Saint Paul’s September
As does the derby

Seed One and Seed Six
Hunt for a berth to go forth
...

See, we had a thought to do the whole announcement of the structure as haiku, but once we realized that ‘consolation bout’ was five syllables alone, that put the kibosh to it pretty quickly.