For whatever reason, the organisers wanted to experiment with a double elimination gimmick this year. Several options were discussed, but they have now settled on a rather confusing set up that I'll try and describe clearly.
The group stage will run as normal, right up to the group final stage resulting in eight group winners. Instead of then going to the quarter-final draw, the characters who were knocked out of the tournament by a group winner (2nd place only in the case of rounds one and two) get another attempt. At 4 losing characters per group winner, that's 32 total. No other losers get another chance, no matter their circumstances or performances.
These characters are shuffled into the Losers Block, which is a bit of a misnomer as it's actually eight mini-blocks consisting of a character who lost [to a group winner] in round one, a character who lost in round two, a character who lost in round three, and a character who lost in a group final. The drawing is otherwise random, so it doesn't have to be the four characters who all lost to the same group winner.
The Losers Block(s) are staggered across three rounds running in quick succession and lasting for a total of two weeks. In the first round, the character who lost in round one faces off against the character who lost in round two. The winner of this match then faces off against the character who lost in round three. The winner of this match then faces off against the character who lost in round four. Still sound confusing? Try it in graphic form.
After three rounds in the Losers Block, the 32 characters will have been whittled down to 8. These and the group winners then get shuffled into what would normally be the quarter-final draw. The tournament then finishes as normal, except starting with a round of 16 instead of the quarter-finals.
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. Nếu Miho và Ryuuka vẫn thua thảm hại thì tức là sau trận Nodoka, phe Saki đã bỏ cuộc chơi.
