> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://countertrade.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://countertrade.gitbook.io/docs/leagues-and-seasons/playoffs-and-finals.md).

# Playoffs and finals

How playoff seats are seeded, how arena playoffs and duel brackets run, why the champion is decided by the final rather than the points table, when a season has no champion, and the awards a season gr

After the qualifying stages, a season narrows to the players who won seats, and ends in one deciding battle or one deciding duel. Every stage after the qualifiers starts everyone from zero: the points you earned getting there decide your seed, not a head start.

## Seeding

Playoff seats are seeded from the qualifying stage's finalized table. Your **seed** is your starting rank in the playoffs: the first qualifier is seed 1, and so on. Players who came through the last chance are seeded after every direct qualifier — in a Creator Cup, as seeds 25–30 — and are never mixed in by points.

If a seeded player is removed from the season or disqualified before the playoffs, the next reserve takes the seat.

## Arena playoffs and the final

A Creator Cup plays its playoffs in three arenas of 10, one battle each. The 30 seeds are dealt across the arenas in turn — "1-2-3, 3-2-1…" — so each arena gets a fair share of the top seeds. The Overview tells you which arena you are in: "Seated by your qualifier place".

The playoffs score with the same point table as the qualifiers. The top three of each arena and the best fourth place by ROI go on to the final: 10 finalists.

The **final** is one battle. It scores no points: "Your place is your prize." Your place in it is your season result, and the season's prize split pays the top places — for example 50% / 30% / 20% of the pool.

Other seasons have no playoffs. A Weekly League goes from its regular season, through a last chance, to the final, and an Equity Race season is a single long battle that is its own final.

## Duel brackets

A Duel Cup ends in a single-elimination bracket of one-on-one duels: "Win your duel to go on." A 16-seat bracket plays 8 duels, then 4, 2 and 1. The **BRACKET** tab appears once it is drawn.

* **Byes.** If the field is not a power of two, some players get a bye into the next round.
* **Forfeits.** A player who does not show forfeits the duel. If neither shows, the higher seed goes through.
* **No third-place duel.** Second place is whoever lost the last duel; third is never played for, so a bracket season awards no podium.

## Who becomes champion

The champion is **whoever wins the final**. It is not the player at the top of the points table.

The two are often the same — a strong qualifying run earns the best seed — but they can differ, and when they do the final carries the title. Your standing and your title stay on your record as separate facts.

Where a season ranks players who did not trade below everyone who did, the champion is the best-placed finalist who traded. If the winner of the final is disqualified or removed from the season before it completes, the title passes to the next finalist still in the season.

### A season with no champion

An arena final can end without a champion: if it is voided, or if no finalist traded in a season that requires trading. The season still completes, but nobody is named champion, and the final's prize money goes back to the season's vault — see [Rewards and records](/docs/leagues-and-seasons/rewards-and-records.md#when-finalists-do-not-trade).

A duel bracket always has a champion, because a missing result is settled by forfeit or by seed.

## Awards

Awards are granted once, when the season completes — never earlier, and never while it is still running.

| Award                | Who gets it                                                                  |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Champion**         | The winner of the final                                                      |
| **Finalist**         | Everyone seated in the final. In a bracket, the two players in the last duel |
| **Podium**           | The top three of an arena final who traded. Bracket seasons award none       |
| **Season completed** | Every member still in the season when it completes, however far they got     |

Awards are permanent. A player removed from the season or disqualified before it completes receives none, whatever their earlier results.

When the season is complete, the Overview's **YOUR SEASON** card says how your season ended — **CHAMPION**, **FINALIST** or **ELIMINATED** — and the season's record appears on your profile. See [Rewards and records](/docs/leagues-and-seasons/rewards-and-records.md#your-season-record).

## Related

* [Standings and qualification](/docs/leagues-and-seasons/standings-and-qualification.md)
* [Rewards and records](/docs/leagues-and-seasons/rewards-and-records.md)