There were two waves of pools, A and B. You could sign up for either pool online, it was up to you if you wanted to play early or later. You could also sign up for both pools. Entry to the tournament was free with purchase of the Wizard World Convention Ticket. Four players from each pool were seeded into a Top 8 bracket, two from winners and two from losers. If you lost without making top 4 in A pool, you could enter B pool and try again for top 4 of B pool. Players were DQd if they did not show up to their match immediately as their name was called. Several several several players were DQd. After top 8 was created, all players were put back in winners, regardless of whether or not they lost in pools. No match was Best of 5 until Grand Finals