I also strongly dislike double elimination. King of the Desert was one of the best tournaments of recent times because single elimination meant there was actually some tension in the games and upsets meant something.
In my opinion double elimination exists to paper over the relatively small size of our competitive scene. There just aren't many players outside the top 32 who have a realistic chance of a decent run in a tournament, so instead of opening the door to more players and more one-sided rounds the temptation is to use double elimination to ensure there are a decent number of competitive matches. The cost is that there's far less reason to care about the matches.
It would be cool to see a single elim tournament structured like the FA Cup – hundreds of players, with the higher seeded players entering in later rounds. That way the early rounds aren't all one-sided and lower rated players have a chance to experience some tournament play (and maybe even make it onto one of the popular streams). It would be a nightmare to organise but I live in hope.
In my opinion double elimination exists to paper over the relatively small size of our competitive scene. There just aren't many players outside the top 32 who have a realistic chance of a decent run in a tournament, so instead of opening the door to more players and more one-sided rounds the temptation is to use double elimination to ensure there are a decent number of competitive matches. The cost is that there's far less reason to care about the matches.
It would be cool to see a single elim tournament structured like the FA Cup – hundreds of players, with the higher seeded players entering in later rounds. That way the early rounds aren't all one-sided and lower rated players have a chance to experience some tournament play (and maybe even make it onto one of the popular streams). It would be a nightmare to organise but I live in hope.