Setup & Group Stage

This page covers creating a tournament, adding titles, and running the group stage up to the start of the knockout.

You can set up a tournament with the commands below, one title at a time, or all at once with the setup form. Run /bracket-setup setup-link (Admins/Mods) to get a private link to the form, then upload a CSV or JSON file or fill it in.

Two Tournament Shapes

Shape	Titles	How it runs
Straight bracket	2–32, no groups	Head-to-head matchups from round one
Groups tournament	4–12 groups of exactly 4 titles	Group voting, then a knockout

/bracket-setup create picks the shape from max-titles: 2–32 makes a straight bracket, 36–48 makes a groups tournament.

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Creating Your Tournament

/bracket-setup create

/bracket-setup create name:<text> max-titles:<2|4|8|16|32|36|40|44|48>

Parameters:

• name (required) - Tournament name, up to 100 characters
• max-titles (optional) - Default 32
  • 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 - Straight bracket. This is the most titles it can hold; you can start with fewer.
  • 36, 40, 44, 48 - Groups tournament with 9, 10, 11, or 12 groups

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

Notes:

• The reply is private (only you see it). Use /bracket-setup announce when you're ready to tell the server.
• Only one tournament per server at a time.
• The tournament type (movie, TV, game, board game, book) is set by the first title you add.

Examples:

/bracket-setup create name:"Quick Horror Showdown" max-titles:8
/bracket-setup create name:"Monthly Movie Madness" max-titles:32
/bracket-setup create name:"The Ultimate Horror Cup" max-titles:48

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Adding and Removing Titles

/bracket-setup manage-titles

/bracket-setup manage-titles action:add type:<movie|tv|game|boardgame|book> title:<text> group:<A-L> image:<attachment>
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:remove position:<number> group:<A-L>

Parameters:

• action (required) - add or remove
• group (optional) - Group letter, A–L. Groups tournaments only; leave it out in a straight bracket. When adding to a groups tournament without one, the title goes into the first group with room.
• type (optional) - Needed for the first title. After that, the tournament's type is used if you leave it out.
• title (required when adding) - Title to search for
• position (required when removing) - The title's number from /bracket list-groups
• image (optional, adding only) - Custom image that replaces the poster or cover art

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

Adding:

• Searches TMDB (movies/TV), RAWG (games), BoardGameGeek (board games), or Google Books.
• One match is added right away. Several matches show a menu so you can pick the right one.
• Every group in a groups tournament needs exactly 4 titles before voting can start.

Removing:

• In a straight bracket, /bracket list-groups shows every title as one numbered list. Use that number as position, with no group.
• In a groups tournament, position is 1–4 within the group, and group is required.
• The titles after the removed one move up a number. Check /bracket list-groups again before removing another.

Examples:

# Straight bracket
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:add type:movie title:"The Thing"
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:add title:"Halloween"
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:remove position:7

# Groups tournament
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:add group:A type:movie title:"The Exorcist"
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:add group:D title:"Akira" image:[upload file]
/bracket-setup manage-titles action:remove group:A position:3

Titles can only be added or removed during setup.

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Managing Setup

/bracket-setup resize

/bracket-setup resize groups:<4-12>

Change the number of groups in a groups tournament. Setup only.

• Expanding (e.g., 9 → 12) adds empty groups.
• Contracting (e.g., 12 → 8) only works if the groups being removed are empty. Move or remove their titles first.

Examples:

/bracket-setup resize groups:12
/bracket-setup resize groups:4

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/bracket-setup announce

/bracket-setup announce message:<text> image:<attachment>

Post a public announcement of the tournament.

Parameters:

• message (optional) - Your own announcement text
• image (optional) - A banner image

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

Examples:

/bracket-setup announce
/bracket-setup announce message:"🎬 The Ultimate Horror Cup starts NOW! Vote for your favorites!"
/bracket-setup announce message:"🔥 Monthly Movie Madness starts NOW!" image:[upload banner]

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/bracket list-groups

/bracket list-groups

A text list of the tournament's titles.

• Straight bracket: one numbered list of every title.
• Groups tournament: each group with its titles numbered 1–4, marked as voting open or closed.

The numbers are the position that manage-titles action:remove takes.

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Starting Voting

/bracket open

/bracket open duration:<time>

/bracket open works out what comes next and opens it. From setup:

• Straight bracket: builds the bracket and opens round one. This is how a straight bracket starts. If round one has more than 5 matchups, the bot builds the bracket and asks you to open it by region with /bracket open-matchup.
• Groups tournament: opens every group, as long as each one has 4 titles. If any are short, it lists them instead.

Parameters:

• duration (optional) - How long voting stays open, from 5m to 30d. Examples: 45m, 24h, 3d.

If duration is left out, the bot uses the default voting duration set in the setup form. If the form didn't set one, the default is 24h.

How a straight bracket is built

The bracket is sized to the next power of 2 at or above the number of titles. Any empty slots become byes: those titles go through round one without a vote.

Seeding decides who meets whom:

• Random (the default): titles are shuffled.
• Ordered (seeding:The order I add them in /bracket-setup create, or the setup form): the order of your list is the seed order. Seed 1 meets the lowest seed, 2 meets the second-lowest, and so on, and byes go to the top seeds.
• By rating (seeding:By rating): the same layout, with titles ranked by their rating instead of your order.

Seeded brackets show each title's seed and call out upsets. With ties:Higher seed wins, a tied matchup goes to the better seed instead of a runoff. See Seeded Bracket.

After round one opens, continue with Knockout Rounds.

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Group Stage

Opening groups

/bracket open opens every group that hasn't voted yet. To open only some groups, use /bracket open-groups:

/bracket open-groups groups:<letters> duration:<time>

Parameters:

• groups (required) - Comma-separated letters, e.g., A,B,C,D
• duration (optional) - 5m to 30d. Same default as /bracket open.

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

Examples:

# Open everything that's ready
/bracket open

# Open groups in waves
/bracket open-groups groups:A,B,C,D duration:48h
/bracket open-groups groups:E,F,G,H duration:48h

How members vote

The voting message has a Start Voting button.

1. Click Start Voting.
2. Pick your top 2 titles in each open group. Selected buttons turn purple.
3. Click a selected title again to deselect it.
4. You can change your picks any time before the group closes.

Egg Shen✓ APPToday at 8:05 PM

🗳️ Your Group Voting Dashboard

Vote for your top 2 in each group below.
Your selections are shown in purple.

💡 Click any button to cast or change your vote!

​

Group A - Select 2:

​

Group B - Select 2:

Only you can see this • Your votes update in real-time • Today at 8:05 PM

👤

1. Alien2. The Thing3. Halloween4. Jaws

1. The Shining2. Scream3. Get Out4. Hereditary

👁 Only you can see this • Dismiss message

A member's own group-stage ballot, their picks in purple

Members can check their progress with /bracket my-votes (only they see the reply).

Deadlines

• The bot posts a reminder before a group's deadline.
• Voting closes automatically at the deadline, and results are posted.
• Closing does not open the next step. Run /bracket open when you're ready.
• Use /bracket extend-voting type:group group:A duration:12h to set a new deadline. See Tips & Strategies.

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Closing groups

/bracket close tiebreaker-duration:<time>
/bracket close-groups groups:<letters> tiebreaker-duration:<time>

/bracket close closes every group that is voting. /bracket close-groups closes only the ones you list.

Parameters:

• groups (close-groups only, required) - Comma-separated letters
• tiebreaker-duration (optional) - How long a tiebreaker vote runs, from 5m to 7d

If tiebreaker-duration is left out, the bot uses the default set in the setup form, or 1h if the form didn't set one.

What happens:

• Each group's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place are worked out and posted.
• If places are tied, the bot starts a short tiebreaker vote with a button for each tied title. It resolves itself at the deadline, or an admin can settle it early with /bracket resolve-tiebreaker.
• A closed group can't be reopened.

Examples:

/bracket close
/bracket close tiebreaker-duration:30m
/bracket close-groups groups:A,B,C,D

Results display:

🏁 Group A Results
🥇 The Exorcist
🥈 Halloween
🥉 Night of the Living Dead

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Starting the Knockout

When every group is closed and every tiebreaker is settled, run /bracket open again:

/bracket open
/bracket open duration:48h

It builds the knockout bracket and opens its first round. If some groups are still voting or in a tiebreaker, it lists them instead.

How the knockout is filled:

• The top 2 from each group go through.
• The best third-place finishers fill the remaining spots, up to the next power of 2 (at most one per group). These are the wildcards.
• Group winners are placed first, so any byes go to them. Runners-up and wildcards are shuffled in.
• Titles from the same group are kept apart in the first round where possible.

Groups	Top 2	Wildcards	Knockout starts at
4	8	0	Quarterfinals
8	16	0	Round of 16
9	18	9	Round of 32 (5 byes)
12	24	8	Round of 32

Output:

🏆 Round Of 32 - Knockout Stage Begins!

🗳️ Voting is now open!
Vote for ONE title in each matchup below.

⏰ Voting closes in: 24 hours

🎟️ Wildcards (Best 8 Third-Place)
1. The Thing (12 votes, Group E)
2. Alien (11 votes, Group C)
...

If the bracket looks wrong, /bracket regenerate rebuilds it from the group results. Any knockout voting already under way is discarded.

→ Continue to Knockout Rounds

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Quick Reference

Command	Purpose
/bracket-setup setup-link	Private link to the setup form
/bracket-setup create	Start a new tournament
/bracket-setup manage-titles	Add or remove a title
/bracket-setup resize	Change the number of groups
/bracket-setup announce	Share the tournament publicly
/bracket list-groups	Numbered list of titles
/bracket open	Start voting, open the next groups, or start the knockout
/bracket open-groups	Open specific groups
/bracket close	Close every open group
/bracket close-groups	Close specific groups
/bracket my-votes	Check your own votes

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→ Back to Overview | Knockout Rounds | Command Reference | Tips & Strategies