Esports Glossary
Group Stage
A preliminary phase where competitors are divided into smaller groups and play a round-robin or swiss format. Top finishers from each group advance to a knockout playoff. Group stages are used to narrow large fields before the main bracket.
Related Terms
Round Robin
A group-stage format where every participant plays against every other participant once.
Playoffs
The knockout phase of a tournament where the remaining competitors play elimination matches.
Seeding
The process of ranking competitors before a tournament to structure the bracket so that stronger teams do not meet in early rounds.
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