Your First Tournament¶

Step-by-step guide to running a complete tournament with MatchZy Auto 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 enhanced 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:

Click Servers in the sidebar
Click "Add Server"

Fill in:

Name: My Server 1
Host: 192.168.1.50
Port: 27015
RCON Password: <your-rcon-password>

Click "Test Connection" (optional)
Click "Add Server"

Server should show as 🟢 Online.

Step 1: Create Tournament¶

Go to Tournaments page
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
Shuffle Tournament - Individual player competition with dynamic team balancing (see Shuffle Tournaments Guide)
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 4, pick 2, decider with side pick)
BO5 - Five maps, veto required (7 maps → ban 2, pick 4, decider with knife round)
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 a map pool from the dropdown:

Options:

Active Duty - Default 7 competitive maps (recommended)
Ancient, Anubis, Dust II, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Vertigo
Custom Pools - Any pools you've created (see Managing Maps)
Custom - Manually select maps for this tournament

Requirements:

⚠️ Need exactly 7 maps for proper veto flow
Active Duty pool automatically has 7 maps
Custom pools must have exactly 7 maps (warning shown if not)

Tip: Create reusable map pools in the Maps page for quick selection in future tournaments.

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

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:

Tournament status → "In Progress"
Teams receive notification to start veto
Teams visit their team page
Interactive map veto begins
When veto completes:
System finds available server
Generates match config with picked maps
Loads match automatically
Teams see server IP on their page

For Round Robin/Swiss:

Tournament status → "In Progress"
System allocates servers immediately
Matches load automatically
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 (CS Major Format):¶

1. Team A bans 1 map (first of 2)
2. Team A bans 1 map (second of 2)
3. Team B bans 1 map (first of 3)
4. Team B bans 1 map (second of 3)
5. Team B bans 1 map (third of 3)
6. Team A bans 1 map
7. Team B picks starting side on remaining map

BO3 Example (CS Major Format):¶

1. Team A bans 1 map
2. Team B bans 1 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 B bans 1 map
8. Team A bans 1 map
9. Team B picks side for Map 3 (decider)

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

Players, Skill Rating & Stats¶

All players added to teams are also created in the global Players list with a display Skill Rating.
New players without an explicit rating start at the default Skill Rating (1500) unless you override it when creating/importing the player.
After each match, player ratings are updated automatically using the OpenSkill engine, and detailed stats (ADR, K/D, MVPs, damage, etc.) are stored.
You can open any player's public page (/player/:steamId) to see:
Skill Rating history for all tournament types (not just shuffle)
Match history with per-map stats
Performance metrics and trends

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¶

Running Matches - Detailed match operations
Admin Controls - All admin features
Troubleshooting - Fix common issues