To understand a”modified swiss” tournament, you must first understand what”swiss style” is. “Swiss style” works like this:
Round One: All players are paired randomly.
Round Two: The winners of round one will play each other. The losers of round one will play each other.
Round Three: The players with 0-2 records play each other, likewise with the 1-1s, and the 2-0s.
Round Four: the 0-3s play each other, as do the 2-1s, the 1-2s, and the 3-0s.
However, it is sometimes not possible to pair players with exactly the same records (due to drops or draws), so you may have to play up or down a record.
After an amount of rounds (set at the beginning of the tournament based on the number of players), the player with the best record wins. Ties are broken by how tough your opponents were.
A”modified swiss style” tournament works much the same way, until after the last round. Instead of the best record winning, the top eight(8) players (this number may vary depending on the tournament) go on to play in a single-elimination tournament. They are paired based on their tournament ranking at the end of the regular swiss rounds.
1 vs. 8
2 vs. 7
3 vs. 6
4 vs. 5
This feeds into a single-elimination finals which feeds into the finals. Whoever wins the finals wins the tournament.