Top 7.2 is a better cut structure for Magic tournaments.
I designed it together with my close friend César Garrido. He disliked tournament systems that made intentional draws the correct play or turned rounds into games where nothing was really at stake.
1. Top 8 comes from bridge, not from Magic
Since the early Pro Tours (starting with the Junior division in New York 1996), Magic has used “Swiss plus Top 8”. That model was not built for Magic. It was copied from contract bridge, where it had already been used for decades.
In bridge:
- finishing high in Swiss gives a large advantage in the knockout stage,
- you cannot agree results in advance and matches do not end in a draw.
There, the structure pushes you to score as high as possible and forces you to play.
In Magic, intentional draws are legal and the reward for finishing first in Swiss is very small. Using the same skeleton produces bad incentives.
2. The real problem with Top 8 two rounds before the end
Consider a normal event with Swiss plus Top 8 when there are two Swiss rounds left.
At that point, there are usually between two and four undefeated players. For each undefeated player, under Top 8, the optimal plan is:
- intentionally draw in the penultimate round,
- intentionally draw again in the last round.
With those two draws:
- they are effectively guaranteed a Top 8 spot,
- they avoid the risk of losing and falling out of the elimination stage,
- they give up very little, because what really matters is being one of the eight, not exactly which Swiss place you occupy among them.
The structure tells the players who are doing best that, once a draw secures their Top 8 slot, playing real matches in the last two Swiss rounds is a mistake. The Swiss phase becomes almost only a filter to decide who reaches the second, elimination tournament.
3. How Top 7.2 works
Top 7.2 keeps:
- the same number of Swiss rounds as Swiss plus Top 8,
- the same total number of elimination rounds.
It adds one rule at the end of Swiss:
- Take the player who finished 1st after the last Swiss round.
- If that player won both of their last two Swiss rounds, then:
- they receive a bye to the semifinals,
- exactly seven players enter the playoff bracket (seeds 1 to 7),
- the 8th-place player after Swiss does not play elimination that day.
- If the first-place player did not win both last rounds, the event runs a normal Top 8.
“7.2” is shorthand: seven players in the bracket when the condition is met, and “.2” refers to the last two Swiss rounds.
4. Why Top 7.2 is better than Top 8
Table 1 plays instead of drawing
Under Top 7.2, the first seed has a clear target in the penultimate and last Swiss rounds: win both and skip quarterfinals. If they fail to win both, there is no bye.
Playing for the win at table 1 increases the chance to win the whole tournament, while double-drawing gives up that advantage. The system now rewards playing those matches. Table 1 actually plays in the last Swiss rounds, and that table always contains the two best records at that moment.
In some situations, other top tables (for example table 3 or 4) also stop being correct to “lock eighth with a draw”, because finishing eighth can stop being enough.
The Swiss phase becomes truly relevant
With Top 8, once you are clearly inside the eight, Swiss is almost only a yes/no filter. With Top 7.2, the best Swiss performer who also finishes 2–0 in the last two rounds receives a large structural reward: they have to win one fewer elimination match to take the tournament. Swiss is no longer just about entering the bracket; it also decides a big advantage inside that bracket.
Same number of rounds, guaranteed extra real matches
Top 7.2 removes one quarterfinal (the 1 vs 8 pairing).
In exchange, when the bye happens you guarantee at least two extra real matches compared to Top 8: the penultimate and last Swiss rounds at table 1, which under Top 8 would typically be intentional draws. Those are exactly the most important matches at those moments of the tournament, because they always face the two players who are doing best.
5. Intentional draws under Top 7.2
Top 7.2 does not remove every intentional draw from a tournament. At some lower tables there will still be situations where a draw is the best move for both players.
What it fixes is the worst place for an intentional draw: table 1 in the last Swiss rounds. At that table you always have the two best records facing each other. Those are the games players come to tournaments to play and the games spectators most want to watch. Top 7.2 is built so that those matches are actually played instead of being replaced by intentional draws.
6. Recommended round counts and Top 15.2
Top 7.2 only defines the cut. The recommended Swiss and playoff rounds by attendance are:
| Players | Swiss rounds | Playoff rounds |
|---|---|---|
| 9–16 | 5 | 2 (Top 3.2) |
| 17–32 | 5 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 33–64 | 6 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 65–112 | 7 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 113–128 | 7 | 3 (Top 8) or 4 (Top 15.2) |
| 129–204 | 8 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 205–226 | 8 | 3 (Top 8) or 4 (Top 15.2) |
| 227–372 | 9 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 373–408 | 9 | 3 (Top 8) or 4 (Top 15.2) |
| 409–682 | 10 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 683–744 | 10 | 3 (Top 8) or 4 (Top 15.2) |
| 745–1260 | 11 | 3 (Top 7.2) |
| 1261–1364 | 11 | 3 (Top 8) or 4 (Top 15.2) |
Rows with a single playoff option use Top 7.2.
Rows that offer “Top 8 or Top 15.2” are ranges where cutting one player with 7.2 could exclude a player with only one loss. In those cases you either use a normal Top 8, or, if time allows, use Top 15.2, which applies the same idea at Top 16 level and adds one elimination round.