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Your First Tournament

Step-by-step guide to running a complete tournament.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

  • System installed and running
  • At least 2 teams created with 5+ players each
  • At least one CS2 server with the modified MatchZy plugin installed

Haven't set up your CS2 server yet? See the CS2 Server Setup Guide for detailed installation instructions.

Add Your First Server

Add your configured CS2 server to the system:

  1. Go to Admin Tools → Servers
  2. Click "Add Server"
  3. Fill in: 
    Name: My Server 1
Host: 192.168.1.50
Port: 27015
RCON Password: <your-rcon-password>
  4. Click "Test Connection" (optional)
  5. Click "Add Server"

Server should show as 🟢 Online.

Step 1: Create Tournament

  1. Go to Tournaments page
  2. Click "Create Tournament"

Basic Info

Name: Weekend Cup 2025
Description: 8-team single elimination

Choose Format

Tournament Type:

  • Single Elimination - Fast, one loss and you're out
  • Double Elimination - Second chance via lower bracket
  • Round Robin - Everyone plays everyone
  • Swiss System - Pairs teams by W/L record

Match Format:

  • BO1 - One map, veto required (7 maps → ban 6, pick sides)
  • BO3 - Three maps, veto required (7 maps → ban 2, pick 2, decider)
  • BO5 - Five maps, veto required (7 maps → ban 2, pick all)
  • Round Robin/Swiss - Pre-set maps, no veto

Select Teams

Check boxes for teams to include:

[x] Team Awesome
[x] Team Legends
[x] Team Alpha
[x] Team Beta
[x] Team Gamma
[x] Team Delta
[x] Team Echo
[x] Team Foxtrot

Power of 2 (2, 4, 8, 16) recommended for elimination brackets.

Map Pool (for BO1/BO3/BO5)

Select maps for veto (current CS2 competitive pool):

[x] Ancient
[x] Anubis
[x] Dust2
[x] Inferno
[x] Mirage
[x] Nuke
[x] Vertigo

Need exactly 7 maps for proper veto flow.

Step 2: Generate Bracket

Click "Generate Bracket"

System creates all matches with proper seeding. View bracket in:

  • Graph View - Visual bracket tree
  • List View - Simple match list

Step 3: Share Team Pages

Before starting, send teams their URLs:

Team Awesome: https://your-domain.com/team/team-awesome
Team Legends: https://your-domain.com/team/team-legends
...

Teams should bookmark these - they'll use them for veto and monitoring.

Step 4: Start Tournament

Click "Start Tournament"

What Happens Next

For BO1/BO3/BO5:

  1. Tournament status → "In Progress"
  2. Teams receive notification to start veto
  3. Teams visit their team page
  4. Interactive map veto begins
  5. When veto completes:
  6. System finds available server
  7. Generates match config with picked maps
  8. Loads match automatically
  9. Teams see server IP on their page

For Round Robin/Swiss:

  1. Tournament status → "In Progress"
  2. System allocates servers immediately
  3. Matches load automatically
  4. Teams see server IPs right away

Step 5: Monitor Matches

Matches Page

Real-time overview:

LIVE MATCHES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Match #1 - Quarterfinals
Team Awesome  11 - 7  Team Legends
de_mirage • Live • 8/10 players

Click any match for:

  • Detailed scores
  • Player connection roster
  • Admin controls

Bracket Page

Visual bracket updates in real-time:

  • Green checkmarks for completed matches
  • Live scores for ongoing matches
  • Winner advancement automatic

Map Veto Process

(For BO1/BO3/BO5 matches)

BO1 Example:

1. Team A bans map
2. Team B bans map
3. Team A bans map
4. Team B bans map
5. Team A bans map
6. Team B bans map
7. Last map auto-picked
8. Team B picks starting side

BO3 Example:

1. Team A bans map
2. Team B bans map
3. Team A picks Map 1
4. Team B picks side for Map 1
5. Team B picks Map 2
6. Team A picks side for Map 2
7. Team A bans map
8. Team B bans map
9. Last map is Map 3 (knife round)

Teams see turn-based interface with:

  • Colored action prompt (BAN/PICK/SIDE)
  • Clickable map cards
  • Veto history
  • Real-time opponent actions

During Matches

Warmup

Players connect and type .ready:

connect 192.168.1.100:27015
.ready

Monitor progress: "8/10 players connected, 5 ready"

Live Match

Automatic updates:

  • Current score
  • Round number
  • Match phase (live, halftime, overtime, paused)

Match Completion

When match ends:

  • Winner auto-determined
  • Winner advances in bracket
  • Next match becomes "Ready"
  • Demo file auto-uploaded
  • Server freed for next match

Admin Interventions

If issues arise, open match modal for:

Quick Actions:

  • Pause/Unpause
  • Swap Teams
  • Restart Round

Advanced:

  • Restore Backup (previous round)
  • Add Backup Player
  • Broadcast Message
  • Force Start / End Match

See Running Matches for detailed scenarios.

Common Issues

Veto stuck:

  • Admin Controls → Skip Veto
  • Manually set maps if needed

No server available:

  • Check server status (Admin Tools)
  • Free up busy servers
  • Add more servers

Player can't connect:

  • Pause match
  • Add as backup player via admin controls
  • Verify Steam ID is correct

Match not auto-starting:

  • Check all 10 players ready
  • Force start via admin controls
  • Check MatchZy console for errors

Post-Tournament

Results

  • Bracket shows full tournament progression
  • Download demos from match details
  • Export bracket screenshot

Cleanup

  • Archive demo files
  • Export team/match data if needed
  • Server status should auto-reset to "Online"

Tips

Before tournament:

  • Test veto with dummy match
  • Verify all servers online
  • Share team pages in advance
  • Have backup servers ready

During tournament:

  • Monitor matches page continuously
  • Have admin controls ready
  • Communicate via broadcast
  • Log any incidents

After tournament:

  • Download all demos
  • Screenshot final bracket
  • Survey teams for feedback

Next Steps