Tips & Strategies

Utility commands, plus ideas for pacing and keeping members engaged at different tournament sizes.

Utility Commands

Extend Voting Deadline

/bracket extend-voting type:<group|knockout> duration:<time> group:<letter>

Parameters:

• type (required)
  • group - A group in the group stage
  • knockout - Every open matchup in the current knockout round
• duration (required) - The new time left, from now. 5m to 30d. Examples: 30m, 12h, 2d.
• group (required when type is group) - The group letter, e.g., A

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

How it works:

• The new deadline is now + duration. It replaces the old deadline rather than adding to it, so duration:12h on a group with 20h left shortens it to 12h.
• Group voting is extended one group at a time.
• Knockout voting is extended for every open matchup in the current round at once.
• You can run it as many times as you like.
• The original voting messages aren't edited; the reply shows the new deadline.

Examples:

# Group A closes 24 hours from now
/bracket extend-voting type:group duration:24h group:A

# Every open matchup in this round closes 12 hours from now
/bracket extend-voting type:knockout duration:12h

Output:

✅ Extended voting for Group A

⏰ New deadline: 1d
📅 Exact time: 6/28/2026, 11:30 PM

Requirements:

• Groups: the group must be open for voting.
• Knockout: the tournament must be in the knockout with at least one matchup open.

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Matchup Images

Versus images for matchups are made with the separate /image command, not /bracket:

/image matchup:1A
/image title1:"Godzilla" title2:"King Kong"
/image

Start typing in matchup: to pick from this tournament's matchups, voting ones first.

/image with no options lists the active tournament's current matchups. It needs an OpenAI API key and has per-user and per-server limits. See AI Image Generation for all options, limits, and configuration.

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Cancel Tournament

/bracket cancel

Who can use: Administrators and Moderators only

• Ends the active tournament right away. It can't be undone.
• Clears the tournament's votes and voting stats.
• Lets you create a new tournament.

When to use:

• The tournament stalled with no participation
• You want to start over with different titles or a different format

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Pacing Strategies

Fast (1–2 Weeks)

Best for: Active communities, live events, quick competitions

Group stage:

• /bracket open duration:24h to open every group at once
• /bracket close the next day
• Done in 1–2 days

Knockout:

• /bracket open and /bracket close for each round, 24h voting
• Round of 32 and Round of 16 are opened by region: run /bracket open-matchup region:1 through region:4 together
• Done in 5–7 days

Example timeline (8 groups):

• Days 1–2: Group stage
• Day 3: Round of 16
• Day 4: Quarterfinals
• Day 5: Semifinals
• Day 6: Finals

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Medium (2–4 Weeks)

Best for: Most Discord communities

Group stage:

• Open 4 groups at a time with /bracket open-groups groups:A,B,C,D duration:48h
• Stagger the batches to keep steady activity
• Done in about a week

Knockout:

• Split big rounds across days by region: /bracket open-matchup region:1 Monday, region:2 Tuesday, and so on
• 48h voting
• Done in about 2 weeks

Example timeline:

• Week 1: Group stage (4 groups every 2 days)
• Week 2: Round of 16 (region by region)
• Week 3: Quarterfinals and Semifinals
• Week 4: Finals (48–72h voting)

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Slow (1–2 Months)

Best for: Building anticipation, feature-focused events

Group stage:

• Open 2 groups at a time with 2–3 day voting
• Done in 2–3 weeks

Knockout:

• /bracket open-matchup matchup:1A duration:3d to feature one or two matchups at a time
• 3–7 day voting
• Build a "match of the week" around each one

Example timeline:

• Weeks 1–3: Group stage (2 groups every 3 days)
• Weeks 4–5: Round of 16 (1–2 matchups a week)
• Weeks 6–7: Quarterfinals and Semifinals
• Week 8: Finals (7-day voting)

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Choosing a Size

Straight Bracket (2–32 titles)

Structure:

• No groups; head-to-head from round one
• 8 titles start at the Quarterfinals, 16 at the Round of 16, 32 at the Round of 32
• A bracket that isn't full gives byes (e.g., 12 titles in a 16 bracket: 4 byes)

Tips:

• 8 or 16 titles is a good weekend or monthly event.
• Want the favorites kept apart until late? Use Ordered seeding in the setup form: list order is seed order, 1 meets the lowest seed, and byes go to the top seeds. Otherwise seeding is random.

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Small Groups Tournament (4 groups, 16 titles)

Structure:

• 4 groups of 4
• Top 2 go through = 8 titles
• No wildcards needed
• Knockout starts at the Quarterfinals

/bracket-setup create makes groups tournaments of 9–12 groups; use /bracket-setup resize groups:4 during setup to shrink one, or set it up with the setup form.

Tips:

• Open all groups at once.
• Can finish in under a week.

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Medium Groups Tournament (8 groups, 32 titles)

Structure:

• 8 groups of 4
• Top 2 go through = 16 titles
• No wildcards needed
• Knockout starts at the Round of 16

Tips:

• Open 4 groups per day (2 batches).
• Open the Round of 16 by region.

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Large Groups Tournament (12 groups, 48 titles)

Structure:

• 12 groups of 4
• Top 2 go through = 24 titles
• Best 8 third-place finishers = 8 wildcards
• 32 titles start at the Round of 32

Tips:

• Open 4 groups at a time (3 batches).
• Use 48h voting for the group stage.
• Mix region and single-matchup opening in the knockout.
• Plan for 3–4 weeks.

Challenges:

• Needs more admin attention
• Risk of voter fatigue
• Needs steady promotion

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Engagement Tips

Keep Members Involved

During the group stage:

• Announce when new groups open
• Post reminders 6–12h before close
• Share interesting voting trends

During the knockout:

• Build hype for marquee matchups
• The bot posts the bracket after each decided matchup; share it, or draw it any time with /bracket view
• Highlight close votes
• Start prediction threads

Use Matchup Images

When:

• Key matchups (semifinals, finals)
• Possible upsets
• Community-requested battles

Tips:

• Add a prompt to /image for a themed look
• Make the image before the matchup opens
• Save images for a recap post

Use the Regions

Build narratives:

• "Region 3 is the bracket of death"
• "Region 4 has all the underdogs"
• "1A is the match of the week"

Create rivalries:

• Predict which region's winner takes the title
• Track which region performs best

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Quick Reference

Command	Purpose	When to Use
/bracket extend-voting	Set a new deadline	Low turnout, requests for more time
/image matchup:	Versus image for a matchup	Hype key battles
/bracket cancel	End the tournament	Stalled tournament, need to restart
/bracket status	Check progress	Regular monitoring
/bracket my-votes	A member's own votes	Help members track their votes

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Related Pages:

• ← Back to Brackets Overview
• Tournament Setup →
• Knockout Rounds →
• Command Reference →