Winners Bracket: R1: 4 games (8 teams), 12 teams get bye R2: 8 games (16 teams) ← includes 4 R1 winners + 12 byes R3: 4 games R4: 2 games R5: 1 game (Winners Final)
6 losers from WB Round 1 play in 3 games. LB2: 3 winners from LB1 + 8 losers from WB Round 2 = 11 teams? That doesn’t work (odd number). This is the trap. 20 team double elimination bracket excel
He then protected all cells except the team name entry cells so no one could accidentally break the bracket mid-tournament. The next morning, Mark printed 8 copies of the Excel sheet (legal size, landscape). He taped two sheets together to make one giant bracket. The teams loved it. No byes were unfair. Every loss had a path. Winners Bracket: R1: 4 games (8 teams), 12
One coach said, “I didn’t know Excel could do that.” Mark smiled. “Excel can do anything. It just needs the right logic.” If you want to build it yourself in 10 minutes: This is the trap
=IF(ISBLANK(E2), "", "Winner of Game " & A2) But he kept it simple at first: just empty cells for user input. This is where beginners cry. In double elimination, after Round 1, the losers drop down to the losers bracket and must fight through to meet the winners bracket champion in the finals.